Charlecote Park, Warwickshire

We took the opportunity of a free and hopefully dry day last Thursday to 'nip' down to Charlecote Park for a walk and who knows what we might see!

The answer was not a lot.... on the birding front it was pretty quiet. We started with some Deer by the entrance to the park.

The little hide near the house provided us with Blue, Greatr and Coal Tit, Goldfinch, Chaffinch and a House Sparrow! We walked both the West and East side of the extensive grounds hoping for some Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, which we have seen in the past, a couple of Cormorants and a Grey Heron showed down by the river, but too far for photos. So took pictures of rutting Jacob's Sheep,

and more Deer.

The East Side of the park was a tad more successful, with Mallard, Mute Swan, a Sparrowhawk,

and a Buzzard,

Finally a couple of Jays showed nicely.

When adding the common corvids, we tallied 18 species of birds all together, plus a lovely walk!

A Kingfisher Afternoon at Upton Warren

On Thursday we had a couple of hours spare in the afternoon and I was keen to see the work that had been done at Hen Brook. We very rarely used the Hen Brook hide when visiting, as in recent years you are just confronted by a wall of reeds blocking any views.

The transformation is spectacular and within minutes of sitting down a Water Rail put in an  appearance, popping out briefly on two more occasions before we moved on down to the Flashes. It was way to quick for me to get a photo, but seeing is the main thing. A big well done to the Wildlife Trust for making what looks like a great habitat for the coming winter and spring.

The flashes were pretty quiet, still a single Avocet in residence, plus I counted eleven Curlew out on the scrapes.

There were a good number of Shovelers and Teal about.

 A few Lapwing, a Little Grebe and of course plenty of Black-headed Gulls. After our obligatory coffee, we walked back to the car and the short drive over to the Moors, seeing this feller on the way.

A resting Red-veined Darter.

The weather was getting quite dull when we arrived at the Moors, we watched the activity on the feeders at the North Moors for a while, but only Blue, Great and Coal Tits were seen, with little on the water except for some Mallard and single Mute Swan.

So we carried on to the Lapwing Hide, the main interest at the start were two Mute Swans harassing another Swan, wherever it went, they headed towards it and proceeded to have a go at it. This is the main aggressor in attack mode,

 then the chase. This went on for a good 30 minutes.

Meanwhile there was a lot to see:
Little Grebe,

 Snipe,

 Lapwing,

 Grey Heron

 and Shoveler.

But the start of the afternoon was the Kingfisher, it came along and perched on a stick in front of the hide, making five fishing attempts, being successful four times. The photos are a bit grainy as it hard turned very dull and was also starting to rain.

 I wasn't quite quick enough to follow the dive,

 but got his return.

 Looking up as a raptor got the Lapwings up.

 Off he goes....

A great afternoon!