Andrew
Sunday 12th January 2003, 01:41
Here is my diary entry for today's visit to Stover Country Park in Devon . . . .
06-01-03
Location : Stover Country Park, Devon. SX835752
On the A38 at Kennford there were 2 Buzzards with one on a lamp post and the other in flight over the dual carriageway. A short distance later, a beautiful small Merlin perched on a wire running over the road. This was turning out to be a nice day before we had even got to Stover. Checking out the sightings board and chatting to the warden put me into a good mood on a freezing day as there had been Goosander, Water rail, Snipe and Redpolls reported recently. I kicked off the easy way by sitting at the feeding station and watched the first six of 12 Coal Tits, one of 4 Nuthatches, five of 13 Blue Tits, four of 10 Great Tits and one of 21 Robins. The real treat here was the Nuthatch as it came to the window seed feeder regularly, meaning I was all of only eighteen inches away. I could see the fluffy pale vent feathers in minute detail with each bordered by a rufous edging. The proximity of the birds was so much that if someone wanted to count the feathers, they could easily do so. As I arrived at the lake I was dismayed to see it was frozen solid save for around the small ‘island’. Immediately obvious were a lot of today’s totals of 136 Mallards and 153 Black Headed Gulls along with 4 Mute Swans being fed by a family. Among the gulls roosting on the frozen water were only 4 Herring Gulls but there was a pleasant sight of 3 Common Gulls. Roosting in a tree overlooking the lake were 5 Cormorants that dispersed as the day wore on probably headed to sea for nourishment. A bit further along the path was a large group of water birds and gulls in a feeding frenzy courtesy of the same family. Among these birds were many of the aforementioned species along with the first lots of 12 Moorhen, 6 Coots and one the day’s only 2 Tufted Ducks, which sported a whiteness around the bill. It was the eye colour and bill shape along with the head structure that dismissed Scaup. After a nice study of the ducks and gulls I was rudely forced to move on by a loose cocker spaniel charging towards my feeding friends and scattering them in a melee. I caught up with Mum who was enjoying a spectacle in the woods where some fat balls and feed had been put out for the birds, and four squirrels too! Here there were many birds seen earlier at the feeding station supplemented by one of 4 Dunnocks, four of 5 Wrens, 2 Magpies, three of 7 Chaffinches, a nice count of seven of today’s Blackbirds interacting with each other. Two of today’s 4 Jays flew across and I followed one back to the bridge where I lost it but was blessed with a detailed inspection of a dark plumaged Buzzard through my scope. It was so dark a non birder would have thought they’d seen an eagle! It soon flew off with grace through the dense trees like a hot knife though butter. From the other side I could see 6 Pochard in the edge of the unfrozen patch of water. Between here and the next bridge I scanned the marshy reed fringed edges of the lake for the reported Snipe and Water Rail with no success until I was twenty metres from the bridge where a movement was pointed out to me and I was happy to glimpse one of 4 Water Rails, the views were not very good as they were very apprehensively moving through the reeds. I identified them by virtue of it’s smaller size in comparison to a Moorhen and the lack of a blackness to the rear under tail feathers along with the greyish front. The bill was very much longer than a Moorhen’s but the light off the water prevented me seeing it’s colour. I was pleased with this as this was a new bird for me. I continued, despite not being able to feel my cold feet, to the hide where there was a cornucopia of feathered delights including the remainder of many passerines mentioned earlier, enhanced by 4 Long Tail Tits and a Marsh Tit on the feeder. All the Tits and a Nuthatch were using the large feeder with several Robins and Chaffinches feeding on the tit bits dropped below accompanied by a delightful Grey Squirrel with three more around the thinly wooded area. Other birds seen in the woodland floor were a Fieldfare, 3 Song Thrushes and some Blackbirds sifting through the dead leaves for some grub. In the distance a dazzling Great Spotted Woodpecker bobbed up an oak tree occasionally stopping to drill into the bark. I was having a great day so far and made my way back round the rest of the lake when I found myself staring at a Gull that looked out of sorts roosting by itself in the middle of the lake and set up my scope to find a ‘Herring’ sized Gull with some obvious differences. The bill was green with a black band, the head was streaked from forehead to the nape of the neck, the legs and feet were a definite green. The front and underparts were white flanked by light grey wings tipped with black wing tips (primaries) with white ‘spots’ on them and with all this I had discovered a second winter Ring Billed Gull which really got me all excited. I watched it for a long while and moved on to the lakeside viewing area to scan the other gulls and looked back for it only to find it had gone. Uncannily enough, I did not see anything else on the way back to the information centre where I informed the ranger of the gull. With this I happily left for Trago Mills to indulge in a nice huge pasty and a cuppa. To finish off the day’s sightings there were 6 Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail in the car park at Trago. One first winter Pied became friends with me feeding on scraps of my pastie which rounded off a top notch day’s birding. Upon arriving home I discovered the Ring Billed Gull had been seen later around three in the afternoon.
Hope you liked that report?
06-01-03
Location : Stover Country Park, Devon. SX835752
On the A38 at Kennford there were 2 Buzzards with one on a lamp post and the other in flight over the dual carriageway. A short distance later, a beautiful small Merlin perched on a wire running over the road. This was turning out to be a nice day before we had even got to Stover. Checking out the sightings board and chatting to the warden put me into a good mood on a freezing day as there had been Goosander, Water rail, Snipe and Redpolls reported recently. I kicked off the easy way by sitting at the feeding station and watched the first six of 12 Coal Tits, one of 4 Nuthatches, five of 13 Blue Tits, four of 10 Great Tits and one of 21 Robins. The real treat here was the Nuthatch as it came to the window seed feeder regularly, meaning I was all of only eighteen inches away. I could see the fluffy pale vent feathers in minute detail with each bordered by a rufous edging. The proximity of the birds was so much that if someone wanted to count the feathers, they could easily do so. As I arrived at the lake I was dismayed to see it was frozen solid save for around the small ‘island’. Immediately obvious were a lot of today’s totals of 136 Mallards and 153 Black Headed Gulls along with 4 Mute Swans being fed by a family. Among the gulls roosting on the frozen water were only 4 Herring Gulls but there was a pleasant sight of 3 Common Gulls. Roosting in a tree overlooking the lake were 5 Cormorants that dispersed as the day wore on probably headed to sea for nourishment. A bit further along the path was a large group of water birds and gulls in a feeding frenzy courtesy of the same family. Among these birds were many of the aforementioned species along with the first lots of 12 Moorhen, 6 Coots and one the day’s only 2 Tufted Ducks, which sported a whiteness around the bill. It was the eye colour and bill shape along with the head structure that dismissed Scaup. After a nice study of the ducks and gulls I was rudely forced to move on by a loose cocker spaniel charging towards my feeding friends and scattering them in a melee. I caught up with Mum who was enjoying a spectacle in the woods where some fat balls and feed had been put out for the birds, and four squirrels too! Here there were many birds seen earlier at the feeding station supplemented by one of 4 Dunnocks, four of 5 Wrens, 2 Magpies, three of 7 Chaffinches, a nice count of seven of today’s Blackbirds interacting with each other. Two of today’s 4 Jays flew across and I followed one back to the bridge where I lost it but was blessed with a detailed inspection of a dark plumaged Buzzard through my scope. It was so dark a non birder would have thought they’d seen an eagle! It soon flew off with grace through the dense trees like a hot knife though butter. From the other side I could see 6 Pochard in the edge of the unfrozen patch of water. Between here and the next bridge I scanned the marshy reed fringed edges of the lake for the reported Snipe and Water Rail with no success until I was twenty metres from the bridge where a movement was pointed out to me and I was happy to glimpse one of 4 Water Rails, the views were not very good as they were very apprehensively moving through the reeds. I identified them by virtue of it’s smaller size in comparison to a Moorhen and the lack of a blackness to the rear under tail feathers along with the greyish front. The bill was very much longer than a Moorhen’s but the light off the water prevented me seeing it’s colour. I was pleased with this as this was a new bird for me. I continued, despite not being able to feel my cold feet, to the hide where there was a cornucopia of feathered delights including the remainder of many passerines mentioned earlier, enhanced by 4 Long Tail Tits and a Marsh Tit on the feeder. All the Tits and a Nuthatch were using the large feeder with several Robins and Chaffinches feeding on the tit bits dropped below accompanied by a delightful Grey Squirrel with three more around the thinly wooded area. Other birds seen in the woodland floor were a Fieldfare, 3 Song Thrushes and some Blackbirds sifting through the dead leaves for some grub. In the distance a dazzling Great Spotted Woodpecker bobbed up an oak tree occasionally stopping to drill into the bark. I was having a great day so far and made my way back round the rest of the lake when I found myself staring at a Gull that looked out of sorts roosting by itself in the middle of the lake and set up my scope to find a ‘Herring’ sized Gull with some obvious differences. The bill was green with a black band, the head was streaked from forehead to the nape of the neck, the legs and feet were a definite green. The front and underparts were white flanked by light grey wings tipped with black wing tips (primaries) with white ‘spots’ on them and with all this I had discovered a second winter Ring Billed Gull which really got me all excited. I watched it for a long while and moved on to the lakeside viewing area to scan the other gulls and looked back for it only to find it had gone. Uncannily enough, I did not see anything else on the way back to the information centre where I informed the ranger of the gull. With this I happily left for Trago Mills to indulge in a nice huge pasty and a cuppa. To finish off the day’s sightings there were 6 Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail in the car park at Trago. One first winter Pied became friends with me feeding on scraps of my pastie which rounded off a top notch day’s birding. Upon arriving home I discovered the Ring Billed Gull had been seen later around three in the afternoon.
Hope you liked that report?