The Deskbound Birder: pintail

Showing posts with label pintail. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 November 2019

Pennington Marsh - 12th November

After dropping Tobias at school I had a short wander around Pennington Marsh. It was a beautiful clear day but in the Force 5-6 NW wind it was distinctly cold and wintery. The water levels in the lagoons were high as was the tide and there were large numbers of Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Shoveler, Brent Goose, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit and Dunlin on the flooded meadows. There was a single white-headed Ruff amongst the Godwits and at least three Water Pipit forced to the edges of the marshes by the high-water. A male Marsh Harrier caused the birds to fly also flushing around 75 Golden Plover from the marshes. A single Chiffchaff was present in the Bramble of the old landfill.

Water Pipit - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Chiffchaff - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Grey Heron - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Oystercatcher and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal and Dunlin - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Brent Goose, Wigeon, Teal, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Wigeon and Pintail - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler, Lapwing and Black-headed Gull - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Shoveler and Wigeon - Pennington Marsh, Hampshire

Friday, 22 February 2019

Slimbridge WWT - 22nd February

We were at our cottage in Cowley in the Cotswolds for Sarah's birthday weekend and as Sarah was at the spa with her girlfriends on the Friday and Tobias had a play date with cousins and so I did the decent thing and headed to Slimbridge for a few hours. It was a warm day with hazy sunshine and I spent my time in the hides along the eastern side of the reserve. Here are a few images from the morning.

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Pair of Pintail, the drakes were avidly displaying today - Slimbridge WWT

Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Shelduck were seen mating and nest prospecting - Slimbridge WWT

Tufted Duck were actively displaying - Slimbridge WWT

Redshank, Ruff, Wigeon and Pintail - Slimbridge WWT

Great-crested Grebe - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan. The last Bewick's were seen on 27th February. I counted 70

at the reserve today mainly on Tack Piece - Slimbridge WWT

Bewick's Swan - Slimbridge WWT

Lots of aggression amongst the Greylag Geese today - Slimbridge WWT

Greylag Geese - Slimbridge WWT

Greylag Goose - Slimbridge WWT

The highlight of the morning was the flock of around 150 Greater White-fronted Goose which showed very well on the Tack Piece. Most were still gathered in their family groups with the ganders looking particularly fine - Slimbridge WWT

Greater White-fronted Goose - Slimbridge WWT

I ran the moth trap at the cottage on the Friday and Saturday night but it was a little chilly and I caught only four species as below.

Pale Brindled Beauty

March Moth

Common Quaker

Hebrew Character

Wednesday, 9 January 2019

Slimbridge WWT - 23rd December and 4th January

The Christmas and New Year period has been a whirl-wind for me this year with little time for birding and much time wiped out by Tonsillitis such that all I could eat for a good few days was raisins - so, low on energy, feeling rubbish and with social commitments my time in the field and time on this blog has suffered.

We were in Gloucestershire for much of the period with short visits back to Romsey and over to the Isle of Wight at New Year. I made two short visits to Slimbridge on 23rd December and 4th January. I spent much of my time in the hides along the eastern side of the reserve overlooking Tack Piece and northwards across towards the River Severn. There were huge numbers of Lapwing, Golden Plover and Wigeon on Tack Piece forming quite a wildlife spectacle. Highlights were two Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, 22 Ruff, 12 Common Crane, 103 Bewick's Swan, 85 Barnacle Goose, 112 White-fronted Goose and, a good record for Slimbridge, a single adult Dark-bellied Brent Goose.