Tuesday 3 January 2017

Potteric Carr

We spent some time at Potteric Carr on Monday, it's only the second time i've been and it's changed a little since last time with a lovely new visitors centre/cafe.

It was cold and there was plenty of frost and ice around, the sun was a bit hit and miss but did melt the ice in places during the day. The sun hitting the reeds did look beautiful though.




Walking in the woods around the Beeston Plantation brought us plenty of Long-tailed Tits (which were actually all over the reserve), Redwings, Blue and Great Tits. Plus we spooked a couple of Roe Deer, I always love seeing them, even if the view is of the white tail bobbing as they're running off!

We spotted a snipe on the Willow Marsh and even more LTTs were around the hide.


If you get out a magnifying glass you can just see the snipe on the edge of the island!!


The sun didn't make for good viewing out of the Willow Pool hide, far too bright, but there were Rats, Pheasants, Chaffinch, Tits and Mallards there. I managed a couple of bad photos but the sun glare wasn't great.


Down on the marsh walk and it was a little quiet at first, picking up Shovelers, Little Egret, Gadwall and Goldcrest at Piper Marsh. We spent a while in the Roger Mitchell hide and saw a couple of possible Bearded Tits but frustratingly not enough of a view to say for sure! There was plenty of Gulls, a Water Rail running backwards and forwards between the reeds and a Marsh Harrier flying over the reedbeds in the distance.

In the meadow by the hide a pair of Stonechats were showing beautifully alongside the path.




We watched a group of Shovelers all swimming together in a circle, i've never seen this before, the photo is a little dull as light was fading but you can see them all huddled together.


One of the many Long-tailed Tits we saw, this one shaking a tail feather!


And a Goldfinch in the sun.


There was a lot of fungus on the reserve, these are a few of them






This one was my favourite though i'm not sure what it is?

As we headed back to the visitor centre we realised we'd seen almost 50 species and I commented it would be great to see an owl now to finish off the day. A lady by the centre said we'd just missed a Short Eared Owl (a bird i've never seen)! Typical!

We ended up staying and watching the Starling murmuration after using the facilities, lucky we did as the Owl made another appearance - day made!




You can just see the owl here above the flock

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a superb day out with some great sightings. Glad you managed to see the owl finally :) Not an expert but I think your last fungi photo could be an Earthstar?
    Apologies if you get this comment twice - the computer crashed half way through typing the first one!

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    1. It just came through once! :) It was a really good day, suffered for it afterwards though, possibly walked a little further than my back was ready for! Yes Earthstar it is, thank you, great name for a spectacular fungus!

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  2. It's great that you did manage to see the owl! Potteric Carr is on my list - it's another of the many reserves I've never visited. It looks like there's plenty to see. That last mushroom is an earthstar and I also noticed you saw puffballs and horses hoof fungus.

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    1. It's a really good reserve, quite big too, you can easily spend a day there. Thanks for the names, the Earthstar is really quite something, i've never seen one before.

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  3. An interesting day all round with lots to see and enjoy, those Earthstars are wonderful and have to be one of my favourite fungi species. Nice pics of the Stonechats and I am glad you managed to spot a Short-eared Owl in the end.

    Hope you are well and a belated Happy New Year :-)

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    1. Fantastic aren't they! The Stonechats were very obliging, quite close to the path and seemingly not too bothered by people!

      Thank you and to you also :)

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  4. One place I would like to visit. You got to see some lovely things, Owl and very jealous you got to see a Earthstar.
    Amanda xx

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    1. P.S you might find some of my other blogs keep popping up as if I've posted... Just up dating my records. Sometimes I have forgotten to changed the date...!
      Amanda xx

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    2. Oh definitely go, it's a great place! The Earthstars were right outside one of the hides!

      Ah yes I did wonder why I can see House Martins on your Eccup List as if you've just posted about them! xx

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