Weston Turville and Wilstone Reservoirs

Yesterday the sky was a bit brighter than it has been, so we decided to go for a drive. Paul pays close attention to the various local groups on Flickr, and there have been some interesting bird sightings coming out of the Tring reservoirs.

We started at Weston Turville, where there was not a bird to be seen. Definitely no sign of the osprey who was spotted there! And there was a howling wind and I'd left my hat in the car, so we moved on pretty quickly.

The Wilstone reservoir was much more profitable. And if there had been a bit more sun would have produced a really memorable day of photography. As it was we got a couple of bursts, enough to illuminate the teal flashes on the sides of the teals, but not for long enough to get a really good lapwing in flight.

Goldfinches

You can see from this lapwing how much difference a bit of sun makes

Yellow legged gull

Grey wagtail

Egret

There was a steady stream of cormorants carrying nesting materials to this island in the middle

Great spot for lapwings

This pied wagtail wasn't keen on having his picture taken

Teals

Teals

Goldfinch

 We had a pair of goldfinches squabbling in the garden this morning. At one point one of them lost sight of the other and perched on the fence for a couple of minutes. It wasn't too bothered by me or the cat, but busily scanned the skies for the other. As soon as the other one turned up again, they were off in a flurry of wings.

Small birds

It was cold and clear today, and the small birds were out in force. They weren't all keen on posing nicely though.

Treecreeper

Wren

Chaffinch

Goldcrest

Blue tits

Siskin

Long tailed tit

Redwing & the Big Garden Birdwatch

These are from Tuesday. It was too grey to photograph on Saturday morning

We've done a count in the Big Garden Birdwatch for the last few years. And it's been the general rule that for the hour of the count there has been hardly a bird to be seen. This year was very different. The redwings made their first appearance of the year, to eat the holly and cotoneaster berries. There were birds everywhere.

We counted:

• 6 redwing
• 2 wood pigeons
• 2 collared doves
• 2 blackbirds (both male)
• 4 blue tits
• 3 great tits
• 1 black cap
• 1 coal tit
• 4 sparrows
• 1 robin
• 6 long tail tits
• 1 jay

You don't count overflying in the birdwatch, but the skies were pretty busy too:

• 4 magpies
• 1 little egret
• 1 black headed gull
• 4 crows
• 1 heron

The heron looked like it was about to land on our roof, but it veered off when it saw me.