Thursday 29 November 2018

Potteric Carr

A couple of Saturdays ago we spent the day at Potteric Carr, another cold and sunny day. We had lovely close encounter with a Roe Deer as we walked through the Beeston Plantation, we just stopped and looked at each for a few moments and then it was off through the woods.

The woods were full of Tits, Goldcrests and Robins.




The sun brought out a few Darters





There was also lots of fungi out including some beautiful Fly Agaric, the fungus in the bottom photo was the size of a dinner plate!






We saw flocks of birds rising up over Huxter Well Marshes as we walked around them including Greylag Geese, Lapwings, Black-headed Gulls, Swans....




We discovered a Marsh Harrier was no doubt the reason for the panicking birds!


Mute Swans


Black-tailed Godwits


It rained as the sun shone whilst we sat in the hides. 




The cattle graze part of the reserve, they're really curious!




My photo doesn't do it justice but these clouds looked amazing



A drake Pintail was with the Shovelers on the lagoon. I've only seen female Pintails before.




We lingered at the hide a little while as it started to get dark to see the start of the thousands of Starlings gathering in the distance, no photos as they were too distant but we watched through the binoculars as more and more joined and they swirled around the Pylons, some have been roosting on the reserve. It's a breathtaking sight to see so many birds move as one. There's a link here to some footage taken the day before by our local news - Starlings or here  

As it started to get dark we had to leave, it's quite a trek back to the entrance from the marshes but worth it to see the Starlings!



10 comments:

  1. Lovely photos - the cows are impressive.
    The starling murmuration sounds wonderful - years and years ago when I worked near Birmingham City Centre I used to watch thousands of starlings whirling round the sky before roosting. An incredible sight :)

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    1. I love seeing Highland Cattle, they graze a few reserves round here. We used to have the Starlings in Leeds city centre too but many years ago and they put up preventative measures on many buildings to stop them :(

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  2. How wonderful and magical to see the starling murmuration and the shy roe deer. Gorgeous rainbow too:)

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  3. Glad you got your male Pintail. Beautiful rainbow, and can you imagine being a starling in that cloud of birds? It must quite an amazing experience! Another fun outing Pam!

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    1. Thanks Sondra. It would be quite something!!

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  4. Lovely to see the starlings! I like all the fungi too, another lovely day out!

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    1. There's something special about seeing the Starlings like that!

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  5. A wood full of Goldcrests and Robins sounds pretty inviting to me.

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    1. It was a lovely moment, especially as there was nobody else about either!

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