Moor Green Lakes

In chilly weather compensated by excellent light that enhanced the lovely scenery of the site six members embarked on the first Covid-era walk since the last one in March, also at Moor Green Lakes. The car park feeders were full of great and blue tits with the odd chaffinch barely having a look-in. Nuthatches were calling and a couple of wrens sang. Two Egyptian geese were the sole occupants of the paddocks. As we approached the lake a goldcrest flitted across the path while scanning of the water produced sightings of tufted ducks, coots and the first of the 150+ wigeons that we were to see. A handful of lapwings on the island were joined by another thirty as we watched. Distant gadwall, shovelers and a single pochard were spotted and then we were able to admire a female goldeneye quite close as she dived. From the viewpoint six wintering goosanders including two drakes came into view while a red kite sailed above us and soon seemed omnipresent throughout the morning. At the junction we first headed east along the river and quickly picked up some great crested grebes, mute swans, grey herons and a little egret by the water while four fieldfares flew over us. A few siskins appeared briefly in willows and we finally spotted some goldfinches.

Heading back on the west path we heard some long-tailed tits well before we could spot them. Then we found a large feeding flock of lesser redpolls on alders with a single redwing overflying them. A stonechat was a surprise sighting while a little grebe seemed asleep in the reeds. It was a splendid morning of birding that produced a final sightings count of a satisfying fifty species topped off by a roe deer.

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