Cowpen Bewley Woodland Park, Billingham. UK (3 Viewers)

Had my first visit to Cowpen Bewley on Saturday. Allthough it was cold and quite breezy manged to see some great birds and also some firsts for me: tufted duck, pochard & goosander.
Failed to see the ring-necked duck due to a combination of bad bins and cold shaking hands I think!
Still had a good couple of hours though, it is a very nice place.

A couple of questions:

I thought there was a hide there, have I been mistaken?

How do birders tackle a place like this, do you have a set route which you follow and wait in different places? With all the little paths and tracks I was unsure which way to go.

Is there only the one feeding station? I saw the one near the car park next to the sunken car tyre sculpture.

Matt

mattwhite said:

Had my first visit to Cowpen Bewley on Saturday. Allthough it was cold and quite breezy manged to see some great birds and also some firsts for me: tufted duck, pochard & goosander.
Failed to see the ring-necked duck due to a combination of bad bins and cold shaking hands I think!
Still had a good couple of hours though, it is a very nice place.

A couple of questions:

I thought there was a hide there, have I been mistaken?

How do birders tackle a place like this, do you have a set route which you follow and wait in different places? With all the little paths and tracks I was unsure which way to go.

Is there only the one feeding station? I saw the one near the car park next to the sunken car tyre sculpture.

Matt

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matt the hide sometimes mentioned is in one corner of the lake though its no longer used as a hide so there isnt actually a usable hide at the park, people still mention it in terms of giving a location of a sighting.

the feeding station is easily missed you have to go back out the car park entrance and in front of you is a chain link fence just of to the right is a gate you go through there and follow the small path round and that leads to the viewing part of the feeding station, always best to take some food with you incase its empty.

as for ways to look round its one of those great places that you can just wander about and take in as little or as much as you like

DS

deansmith said:

matt the hide sometimes mentioned is in one corner of the lake though its no longer used as a hide so there isnt actually a usable hide at the park, people still mention it in terms of giving a location of a sighting.

the feeding station is easily missed you have to go back out the car park entrance and in front of you is a chain link fence just of to the right is a gate you go through there and follow the small path round and that leads to the viewing part of the feeding station, always best to take some food with you incase its empty.

as for ways to look round its one of those great places that you can just wander about and take in as little or as much as you like

DS

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There's a bit of an update on the hide Dean. It's now in use.

mattwhite said:

Had my first visit to Cowpen Bewley on Saturday. Allthough it was cold and quite breezy manged to see some great birds and also some firsts for me: tufted duck, pochard & goosander.
Failed to see the ring-necked duck due to a combination of bad bins and cold shaking hands I think!
Still had a good couple of hours though, it is a very nice place.

A couple of questions:

I thought there was a hide there, have I been mistaken?

How do birders tackle a place like this, do you have a set route which you follow and wait in different places? With all the little paths and tracks I was unsure which way to go.

Is there only the one feeding station? I saw the one near the car park next to the sunken car tyre sculpture.

Matt

Click to expand...

The RN Duck was there on Saturday but it was sticking to the far side of the lake from twin benches by the railway lines when I was there.

There's a hide in the NW corner of the lake - far right from the twin benches - but it's kept locked. A key can be obtained from the warden but only on days the centre is open and has to be signed out. Really though the hide isn't well placed as it faces SW into the sun for most of the day not to mention few birds venture into that corner. It was brought up to 'health and safety' spec. at the end of last year so it can be used by visitors though it's little cramped for headroom.

As regards paths I usually vary my route each visit though when the going is soft I tend to stick to the main track over to the lake. Birds can be found just about anywhere though more so in Spring and early Summer. In Winter most are either around the lake or around the car park area. There's map boards and leaflets with maps available in the car park. The other main place that holds birds through the year is by Cloff Bridge - turn right as you come out of the car park and follow the cycleway for about 1km until you reach a bridge with handrails though this winter it's not been as good as previous years. From the bridge there's a stile on the downstream side that takes you along Claxton Beck back towards the lake but it's a bit clarty at present.

There are feeding tables in the car park which can be very active. The feeding station 'proper' though is opposite the car park entrance through a narrow gate in the fence. There's two places to view through the screen.

Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Matt

A bit of a dull afternoon but I may not be able to visit tomorrow which would be usual next visit so I went today instead. Just a walk over to the lake and back as the paths are clarty especially after the cross-country running yesterday.

The Ring-necked Duck was still there though at first I thought it was missing. It had been asleep on the west side of the grassy island though it did come out but remained distant.

Only one Goosander female present today. Also just one Goldeneye, a female.

Still lots of Tufted Duck and Coot and a Pochard.

Whilst sat on the twin benches a flock of Goldfinch flew into the alders behind me - 34 in total. They only stayed a few minutes before heading back east towards the tip. It may have been due to either a Kestrel hovering over the field or a Sparrowhawk making the rounds of the lake bushes. LTT x4 flew by in front of me flitting between bushes. A GSW was calling from the trees by the hide.

I made it this morning after all. A good deal brighter skies today as well.

Pretty much the same as yesterday though on the lake a male Goldeneye flew in around 10.00am. No sign of the female today.

The lake was pretty frozen over as well today about 70% frozen with a 20m edge in front of the twin benches. Throwing out some food soon brought the birds over though the ducks had to wait for the ice-breakers aka Mute Swans to clear a narrow channel for them to swim up. It was quite a comical sight.

A single Grey Heron was in the SW corner. The RN Duck and Goosander were still present. A brown coloured Sparrowhawk was on the west side.

Two Brambling a male and female were making infrequent and very brief visits to the right-hand table in the car park. Whilst stood waiting for them to appear a pair of GSW were getting frisky circling over head as they chased each other around.

Ian,

Love the reflection of the goldeneye in picture 3

Ray

a quick stop of this morning and was put onto the rn duck straight away didnt see goosanders though

adswildlife said:

a quick stop of this morning and was put onto the rn duck straight away didnt see goosanders though

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The RN Duck was showing well this morning giving quite close views at times. Nice to see it in a bit of sunshine for a change.

A drake Goldeneye was present but there was no sign of any Goosander today.

It was good to see a pair of Water Rails as well. A couple of times they flew along the north shore along the edge of the reeds chasing each other.

A Brambling was still coming to the car park tables when I arrived but there was no sign of it when I left.

Will be visiting this site a lot more now I'm kinda living in Billingham most of the time. What happened to the bridge (as you come in and keep going left) and any idea when it'll get replaced?

scaly_piscine said:

Will be visiting this site a lot more now I'm kinda living in Billingham most of the time. What happened to the bridge (as you come in and keep going left) and any idea when it'll get replaced?

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It was a shame to lose the bridge as it made for a nice circular walk. It was condemned on H&S grounds a couple of months ago. A new one has been ordered and is supposed to be awaiting delivery and installation but accoeding to the warden there's no date set for when the work will be done. Hopefully it will be sooner rather than later as that section of beck was pretty good for birds.

Saturday 10am

Cold morning visit, went straight to lake as had not been for some time and wanted to see RN Duck.

As I got there IanF was leaving so it was a safe bet that the RN was going to be close by.

It took about 40 minutes sat on the bench for it to pluck (not sure thats the best word to use when talking about ducks!) up the courage to come closer.

Egret sat in trees 200m across lake, at some point it left without me seeing where it went.

Goldeneye was giving good views too.

Gadwall always remained over other side of lake.

A lovely sunny day for a change and despite the heavy frost the lake wasn't too bad for ice with just the southern end frozen.

When I arrived there were four Grey Herons perched in the trees/reeds along the west side of the lake. A Sparrowhawk was sat just below and behind one of them (photo)

It was nice to see both male and female Goldeneye back on the lake as well as the Ring-necked Duck which was giving the closest views I've had. It was even diving for the occasional peanut with the Tufties right in front of the benches. Unfortunately that was just before Ray arrived. I think they must have moved away when we got up to leave.

Whilst sat chatting with BF member Davy Tee who'd come to see the RN Duck the Little Egret flew into the trees on the west side and shuffled around a between trees before settling down. By then there was only one Heron left.

Lots of gulls again but only Black-headed, Common and a Herring Gull.

We bumped into Chris Sharp of TBC who'd seen some Redpoll so we followed along to look for them. They were in the alders between the visitor centre and the small hill. Initially there were 20-25 but a short while later another group arrived taking the flock to around 40. A few Goldfinch, Chaffinch and tits were feeding with them. Every now and again they were dropping to the ground to drink from puddles or the wet frosty grass. Meanwhile a Sprrowhawk circled over head a couple of times but perhaps stayed away because I was there. A Kestrel male and later a Kestrel female also circled several times over the same area.

Back at the car park the Brambling had been seen a couple of times but never showing well and very briefly today. The feeding station was busy on and off with the usual suspects. A GSW flew in while I was there but only stopped a second or two. Also several visits from LTT but only two today.

Just as I got picked up from the car park a Little Egret was flying down Cow Bridge Beck so that maybe the same one as had been on the lake. I've often seen one by the weir just down from the sewage works fence.

My thanks to Ian for pointing out the Ring Neck and Redpolls Yesterday. Had a fantastic day in the county.

Fairly bright this morning with some frosty ice still around but also a good bit of cloud cover. Quite a few birders present today as well.

The car park tables were as usual pretty active when I arrived. Brief views again of the Brambling though on and around the left hand table today. Around 20 Tree Sparrow and a dozen Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting coming and going.

The alders between the visitor centre and the small hill held around a dozen Redpoll and 20 Goldfinch mostly staying in the trees on the edge facing the hill. A Woodcock and three Pheasant were in that same section of wood.

No sign of the RN Duck the last two days. Apparently the lake was pretty much frozen over yesterday with very few birds on the lake. Today it was 50% ice free and quite a few birds with Gadwall c.20 having increased in numbers again. No Goldeneye though. Just one Sparrowhawk in the trees on the west side and another in flight circling above.

Very little seen between the hide and the cycleway following Claxton Beck, just a few Magpie. No sign of any Little Owl though several Tree Sparrow were in the hedges along that section.

Heading back down to Cloff Bridge LTT x4 were flitting about in the trees by the bridge and Goldfinch c.15 were in the hedges 20m further along but then nothing else until reaching the car park area again.

I called into the feeding station for 30 mins. LTT x3 were in and out every few minutes as were the regulars. The female Brambling was present at least 15 mins of the time I was there. A GSW flew and for around 5 mins but always staying at the back in cover. A Wren and at least two Coal Tits were showing well and seemed a little more settled than usual staying in view for longer periods.

I forgot to mention I found a Canon viewfinder cover beside the twin benches on the lake. Maybe a from Canon DSLR 350D-400D-500D size. Let me know if you've yours.

IanF said:

I forgot to mention I found a Canon viewfinder cover beside the twin benches on the lake. Maybe a from Canon DSLR 350D-400D-500D size. Let me know if you've yours.

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Owner traced and viewfinder returned.

A quick visit this morning following a report of a possible Smew on the lake. No sign of it but the Ring-necked Duck was back again though staying distant and mostly asleep. Also male and female Goldeneye back as well.

IanF said:

I forgot to mention I found a Canon viewfinder cover beside the twin benches on the lake. Maybe a from Canon DSLR 350D-400D-500D size. Let me know if you've yours.

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Thanks Ian "missing view finder cover" arrived in the post today:t: I owe you big style as ever.

seggs said:

Thanks Ian "missing view finder cover" arrived in the post today:t: I owe you big style as ever.

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Glad to be of help Steve.

A pretty good visit this morning.

I nearly didn't bother with it being so overcast and looking like rain but as it was fine still I made the effort.

On arriving in the car park a stoat was dashing backwards and forwards in front of the tables chasing after a rat. Several minutes it was around before disappearing under the bushes. A shame the light was so poor.

Following the hedge to the railway I passed two LTT and a snall group of Redpoll c.6 and two Siskin.

The lake was quite busy. The RN Duck was still present as were a male and female Goldeneye. Also a female Goosander was back. Still lots of Coot and Gadwall as well.

It was difficult to keep count of the Sparrowhawks as they seemed to be everywhere with two in the bushes on the west side plus another one or possibly two regularly flying around the margins of the lake. That was in addition to a male and female Kestrel that keep popping up.

The high point of the day though was a Peregrine Falcon. Just as a flock of Teal c.12 appeared over the lake coming into land a Peregrine suddenly appeared and grabbed a drake Teal almost overhead. As a bunch of feathers fluttered down it carried it 30-40m before letting go and from around 40m there was an almighty splash as the Teal plummeted straight down into the water. I was surprised to see it pop up have a shake and then head to the bank where it preened before paddling off to join the other Teal. Meanwhile the Peregrine landed on a pylon of the west side of the lake. After a rest it began chasing the pigeons around but never caught one. It then landed on one of the twin pylons north side of Calxton Beck before eventually heading north after flying over the hill. Quite a spectacle to see.

Meanwhile a pair of Water Rail were creating quite a rucous in the NE corner chasing each other around and constantly squealing. Still pretty secretive though as I only ever got glimpses of them in the reeds.

Meanwhile late morning the sun came out briefly and the RN Duck and drake Goldeneye came over with the tufties, Coots and Mallards giving some great views.

In the bushes either side of the twin benches were Great Tit, Blue Tit, Reed Bunting, Robin, Dunnock, LTT x2, several Blackbirds and a Song Thrush, plus the ever present Magpies.

Heading back to the car park I called in at the feeding station for 30 mins. No food at all out but after providing some peanuts and sunflower hearts the activity was soon pretty frantic with lots of tits and Yellowhammers and Treesparrows and Chaffinches. The Brambling briefly came in but only to the far end table.