Trip reports

Virginia Water Lake - by Geoff Allan

Wednesday, 11 February 2009

Weather: - Sunny start cloudy later, cold. - Virginia Water Lake is a part of Windsor Great Park, formerly the hunting grounds of royalty and it remains a royal parkland. It also allows us lowly mortals to wander freely (well almost) wherever we wish. The day started at 9.30 am in the car park adjacent to the A30. When everyone was assembled we had a total of six people which, because of the recent weather and the fact that the lakes were almost completely frozen, was a very good number and I thank them for their bravery in turning up and having to put up with me.
We started by looking out at the lake which was frozen, not thick ice but nevertheless frozen. We then started our walk in an anti-clockwise direction. The first birds were black-headed gulls with a few tufted duck and mallard sheltering under the trees by the shoreline. We carried on to the waterfall which had a lot of water flowing through it where we picked up on robin and grey wagtail. Continuing our way along the track, taking care because of the conditions, we came across a medium sized flock of siskin. I like siskin as they are a pretty greenfinch like bird that has a recognisable black cap on the male. We carried on along the track and it was strange that we did not see any birds feeding on the ground as the chaffinches that were there were in the trees. We heard first and then I found a nuthatch looking for food. Further on we found more siskin but not the hoped for brambling. Woodland walks rarely produce large species counts but there is always the chance of something different. We walked along the road and across the bridges and with the lake frozen there was little to see. There was however a male mute swan breaking the ice so that the female had an easy passage. Things appear to be the same in the animal world as well! We made our way back through the valley gardens and heard and then saw a great-spotted woodpecker. After that we found our first ground feeders, a male and female blackbird - thank you Nigel. Heading back to the cars and passing the totem pole near the pond to the right we had mallard, pochard, tufted duck and mandarin. At the end of the mornings walk we had a total of 26 different species and yet again I had a very good day in very good company.

Geoff Allan