Trip reports
Wednesday Walk to Staines Reservoir - by Peter Hambrook
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
A slightly vague weather forecast made it unclear whether rain should be expected, but in the event it stayed dry for our visit, although the strong north-easterly breeze kept it cool.
Bird-wise, it was pretty quiet, not even the usually reliable black-necked grebes were present, however we were alerted to the presence of yellow wagtails by a fellow birder. They were not easy to find, but eventually Nigel spotted four of them flying up from the water's edge along the central causeway. For some reason best known to those involved, at least one of them was being persistently chased by a pied wagtail. Elsewhere it appeared that most of the local cormorants were resting on one small area of the banking with over 25 birds present. The common terns had long deserted their nesting rafts which had become roosts for the local black-headed gull population. Coots and tufted ducks were the most obvious birds present but there was also a good number of great crested grebes, shovellers and mallards plus a scattering of other ducks. Waders were represented by a few lapwings and a solitary common sandpiper.
Not a bad morning's walk but rather light on migrants given the time of the year. My thanks for their company to the ten or so group members present, as well as potential new member Lorraine.
Peter Hambrook