After seeing the Ospreys Keith and I headed back towards the reserve’s visitor centre. On the way, we saw two Red Legged Partridges on the path ahead of us.
Back near the centre we met up with Sue, who having completed her craft shopping had scouted out a Treecreeper nest in another part of the reserve, so we headed off in that direction. It took a lot of patience and attempts to some decent photographs of the Treecreepers as they brought food back to the nest – we presume they were feeding young already. They move so fast once they land on the tree – you see them, they are in the nest and then away again. But patience and many attempts paid dividends in the end.
Butterflies were prevalent as soon as the sun came out and we recorded at least 5 species with Orange Tip being the most prevalent.
We also found a pair of Grat Crested Grebes who were displaying
We made our way back to the car and went onto the reserve’s second visitor centre at Eggleton. We only added a couple of species here, most notably our only wading bird of the day – Northern Lapwing. But as we were walking back to the carpark from the centre we added Bullfinch, Song Thrush and Collared Dove to the days list in quick succession.
And so we started off on the journey home, but the day still wasn’t quite finished as near Norman Cross on the A1 we were treated to the sight of 8 Red Kites in the air together, circling over the road. The recovery of this species once limited to a few birds in West Wales is one of the great conservation successes of the past 20 years.
An excellent end to an excellent day’s birdwatching, with some fantastic photography opportunities.
Red-legged Partridge [sp] (Alectoris rufa)
Common Pheasant [sp] (Phasianus colchicus)
Greylag Goose [sp] (Anser anser)
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca)
Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna)
Gadwall (Anas strepera)
Mallard [sp] (Anas platyrhynchos)
Eurasian Teal [sp] (Anas crecca)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Great Crested Grebe [sp] (Podiceps cristatus)
Grey Heron [sp] (Ardea cinerea)
Little Egret [sp] (Egretta garzetta)
Great Cormorant [sp] (Phalacrocorax carbo)
Western Osprey [sp] (Pandion haliaetus)
Red Kite [sp] (Milvus milvus)
Common Buzzard [sp] (Buteo buteo)
Common Kestrel [sp] (Falco tinnunculus)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)
Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus)
Lesser Black-backed Gull [sp] (Larus fuscus)
Common Tern [sp] (Sterna hirundo)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Eurasian Collared Dove [sp] (Streptopelia decaocto)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Western Jackdaw [sp] (Coloeus monedula)
Rook [sp] (Corvus frugilegus)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Sand Martin [sp] (Riparia riparia)
Barn Swallow [sp] (Hirundo rustica)
Willow Warbler [sp] (Phylloscopus trochilus)
Common Chiffchaff [sp] (Phylloscopus collybita)
Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)
Eurasian Reed Warbler [sp] (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)
Eurasian Blackcap [sp] (Sylvia atricapilla)
Garden Warbler [sp] (Sylvia borin)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Eurasian Treecreeper [sp] (Certhia familiaris)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
Song Thrush [sp] (Turdus philomelos)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
Eurasian Tree Sparrow [sp] (Passer montanus)
Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)
Common Chaffinch [sp] (Fringilla coelebs)
European Greenfinch [sp] (Carduelis chloris)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Eurasian Bullfinch [sp] (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
Common Reed Bunting [sp] (Emberiza schoeniclus)
Unidentified small white spp (Small white / Green-viened white)
Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines)
Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io)
Small Tortoiseshell [sp] (Aglais urticae)
Speckled Wood [sp] (Pararge aegeria)
Red-tailed Bumblebee
White-tailed Bumblebee
Pete's Favourite Things 