Trip reports

Wraysbury Gravel Pits

Sunday, 18 January 2009

Our programme of bird watching walks really gets going with our visit to the old gravel pits at Wraysbury. For 2009 we decided to add a visit to Staines Reservoir in the afternoon after the interesting birds that were recorded there in 2008. 7 members assembled in the bright winter sunshine, a pleasant surprise considering the forecast from mid week and the stormy rain that had lashed down the previous evening. The pleasant sunshine meant that the bird's plumage detail showed extremely well in the optics. Our first reward was the beautiful goldeneye, a male and female diving for food on the lake. One of the benefits of a group outing is that there is always a chance that someone will be looking in the correct direction. This was proven when a flock of siskin were spotted in the alders directly behind the group on the far bank of the river. Later a peregrine falcon was seen perched on the top of an electric pylon near the railway at the far end of the lake. Fortunately this individual returned to this perch as we approached giving wonderfully clear views. Other birds were observed on the waters of the lake; shoveler, pochard, great crested grebe, gadwall, cormorant, mute swan, canada goose and coot. In the trees we saw blue, great and long tailed tit plus a few ring-necked parakeets flying over. Our next stop was the fishing lake with the over grown edges. This is a favourite haunt of the smew. Unfortunately this year there were none to be seen. The consensus is that the icy cold spell in early January forced this diver to relocate to an unfrozen habitat. Undaunted we carried on to inspect the scrub. Here there were a number of fieldfares feeding on berries. Our route took us along a narrow path that has become more over grown over recent years. Here we found another Wraysbury speciality, goosander, a male and two females. We carried on to the swampy ground at the end of the lake. We were surprised to find that the path was not blocked. Normally we find the way through under water, forcing us to divert via rough ground back to the cars. At the very end of the lake we found some mandarin ducks, a little grebe, kingfisher and grey heron. The causeway between the two basins of Staines reservoir was our afternoon extension. Here we were hoping to locate a visiting rarity, but this year we were only able to find typical birds. There were coot, pochard, golden eye, great crested grebe, shoveler, mallard, wigeon and mute swan. Black headed gull and common gull completed our list for the day.