Two hours at the Reservoirs
Not garden related, but I thought that I give a brief account of my 2 hours at the Reservoirs this morning. If you are thinking about going to your local Reservoirs/Reserve/Lake/?, maybe this will encourage you|=)|.
My local Reservoirs is Walthamstow Reservoir Complex (10 large Reservoirs, there's more info about it in the Opus on BF); there's everything there from Peregrines to Pied Wagtails - Goosanders to Goldeneyes - Common Gulls to Great Blacked-backed Gulls. There was even a Dusky Warbler over there recently (which is why I never went until it had gone, I like it when it's nice and quiet over there|=)|) So to this morning:
Well firstly, it was cloudy, dull, and cold, but as the weather forecast was for bright and sunny spells, I wasn't too surprised. I did my usual route walking round, well I have a number of routes as I can't see all of the Reservoirs in 2 hours, and my joints can't handle much more than that (*can hear violins*). Basically where I walk depends on what I aim to see, and how I feel when I wake up in the morning. OK, I'll be honest, mostly I don't have a plan, as I'm not bothered what I see, I always see birds and mammals, sometimes some fish, so I always go home happy.
Today I had a couple of species that I wanted to see that I knew were there; Slavonian Grebe, Smew, Goosander, Goldeneye, Shelduck, Grey Wagtails (because they run away as soon as they see me), and I wanted to see where the Peregrines were nesting, oh, and get a better picture of a Green Woodpecker. When I got there, I changed my mind about the Slavonian Grebe and Goosander, as they are close to where the Dusky Warbler is/was seen, and I didn't feel like dodging scopes and tripods if it was still showing.|=)| Anyway, enough of the plan.
This is becoming a long post, I think I'll just give the highlights. I saw all of the usual suspects:
- Canada and Greylag Geese
- Shovellers
- Gadwalls
- Teals
- Tufted Ducks
- Mallards
- Pochards
- Great Crested Grebes
- Little Grebes
- Great, Blue, and LT Tits
- Blackbirds
- Magpies
- Carrion Crows
- Black-headed, Common, Herring, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- Cormorants
- Grey Herons
- Chaffinches
- Egyptian Geese
I also saw Shelducks and Grey Wagtails, and got rubbish pictures of both.
It was just a little crazy over there though, Cormorants were almost constantly flying back and forth with twigs for their nests on the islands, as were the Grey Herons. The Green Woodpecker had also decided to move to one of the islands, and was calling most of the time that I was there, oh and in between the calls was drumming. The drumming was very loud considering it was coming from 100 yards away on the island; it may have been a GSW doing the drumming, not sure.
Every bird seemed to be fighting or displaying. I saw loads of male Chaffinches fighting in mid-air (there are 100s at these Reservoirs). Geese were at it too, though not in flight. There was a Greylag that was flying back and forth for over an hour, calling all of the time. Damn, this post is getting too long; let's just say that it was a hive of activity.
So hopefully you get the idea that there's a lot going on, so get out there and see it before it's too late.|=)| But don't forget it's happening in your gardens too.
I've attached a couple of pictures taken in low light, just to give an idea of what I saw.
