A trip to Lodmoor today and what a lovely sunny afternoon it was. Some great highlights especially the Avocet, which has been here for awhile and a Garganey. There was also an Australian Black Swan, just to give an extra bit of interest to my walk which saw me add a few more birds to my 2020 bird list.
I parked up at the end of Southdown Avenue Here and walked anti-clockwise around the reserve. First birds of note were a small flock of Bearded Tits calling away in the reedbeds. Further along and close to the Park and Ride, 2 Greenfinches flew into the hedgerow. Always a good spot for Greenfinches along here, plus Bullfinches, though I didn't see any of the latter today.
As I headed towards pools there were at least 5 Water Rail squealing away close to the path. You might not see them but definitely hear them.
At the pool Here a Kingfisher was fishing in the shallows. I've not seen Kingfisher at this location before, normally you can see them by the overflow that runs out to the sea Here. The reserve is quite full of water still, so lots of places for the Kingfishers to visit. The knock on effect with so much water was that there weren't many waders and there wasn't a single Black-tailed Godwit to be seen.
As I carried along the path, all the birds were suddenly put up by a passing raptor and as everything came back down an Avocet appeared on the mud bank opposite to where I was standing.
Also along here were many Black-headed Gulls, a few Mediterranean Gulls, 2 Common Gulls, Herring Gulls and a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. Plenty of ducks with Teal, Gadwall and a few Mallard, and also a Black Swan which was a bit of a novelty. Obviously an escapee, but no rings or any visible tags to tell where it was from.
The path adjacent to the beach road was quite interesting as a few Cetti's Warblers were calling away and I even glanced a tail or two, which is about as much as you see of Cetti's.
The shallow pools along this stretch seemed to have more birds than the rest of the reserve with at least 300 Lapwing, 4 Dunlin, dozens of Snipe, Cormorants, more gulls, an Oystercatcher, lots of Teal and Gadwall, plus a Garganey which was resting up on an area known as "The Hump" Here.
Here are a few images from this afternoon:
Avocet
Avocet
Lapwing
A Lapwing and 4 Dunlin
The Black Swan
Black Swan
A pair of sleeping Teal
A distant shot of a Kingfisher
Just about caught it in flight.
And its next perch
Birds Recorded: Cormorant, Grey Heron, Canada Goose, Shelduck, Mallard, Gadwall, 1 Garganey, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Peregrine Falcon, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Avocet, 300+ Lapwing, 4 Dunlin, Snipe, Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, 1 Kingfisher, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Cetti's Warbler, 1 Goldcrest, Bearded Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Starling, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch and Reed Bunting