Old Moor

We spent a couple of hours at Old Moor last Saturday morning. There was a colder vibe in the air, it was definitely Autumnal and we saw fungus and plenty of berries around the reserve.

The Sunflower field was still full of flowers

We went first to the Reedbed Hide where we watched a Little Grebe successfully fishing right in front of the hide. There were Great Crested Grebes, Swans, Gadwall, Coot ,Heron, Moorhen, there had been a Spotted Crake seen from here over the past couple of days but we didn't see any sign.

By the Bittern hide we saw lots of these blue Beetles devouring the plants

*Edit* Alder Leaf Beetles - thank you! 

A Kingfisher flew across the path in front of us at one point but we couldn't see where it had gone. We saw a rabbit on the bank of the Mere and watched Canada Geese and a lone Common Gull. There were lots of Lapwings, which often flew up in a panic as they seem to do. We managed to pick out a couple of Golden Plovers in with them at one point though there was a large flock of Plovers there we only saw them flying off in the distance.

Lapwings & a Golden Plover

Through the viewing screen onto the apple trees we saw a Robin and a female Blackcap. From the hides we saw Spotted Redshank, a Dunlin, Greenshank, Teal, Chiffchaff, Shelduck and Pied Wagtail. Possibly 3 Black-tailed Godwits too but they were a bit distant for me to be sure.

We took a look at the Tree Sparrow Farm, where we accidentally spooked a Pheasant, a Squirrel was trying to bypass the Squirrel proof feeders and the odd Great Tit and Goldfinch were in the trees.

A good morning and three new birds for the year too.

Old Moor

Despite Friday's late night we were up and off to Old Moor early Saturday morning. A much better day weather wise, back to warm temperatures and sun.

Now apparently the Bitterns are flying around the reserve at the moment, of course not when we were watching, three times we just missed them. We even sat at the Bittern bus stop for half an hour and stilled missed one that flew up briefly after being mobbed by birds......we'd been tracking a small bird, which turned out to be a Reed Bunting, a beautiful bird............but not a Bittern. Oh well.

We did see lots of damselflies and butterflies though including my favourite - the Brimstone.

Blue-tailed Damselfly

Azure Damselfly?

Speckled Wood

Not sure on these two?

And my first ever Dingy Skipper

This Heron was in one of the pools

There are lots of Gulls on the reserve, mostly Black-headed, also Lesser black-backed and Herring. The Gulls were spooked at one point but we were too far away to tell by what.

A couple of Shelduck were asleep

At the Field pool west hide a family thought they had views of a Temminck's Stint, they'd heard at the visitors centre one had been seen but my id skills with waders aren't the best and it was just too distant for good enough views with the binoculars. Luckily a nice chap with a scope came in and he and a second chap who soon followed confirmed it was indeed the Stint and we had a lovely view through the chaps scope! We watched it walk up and down a small strip of sand in the middle of the water, it was only when a Gull landed in the same place you realise just how tiny the birds are.

The Stint is on the tiny strip of sand in the middle of the water!!

We moved on and discovered an exodus happening from the Wader Scrape hide, I think the family had shown the photos they'd got of the Stint and everyone was off for a look. So the hide was very quiet in the end. We managed to find the two Sanderlings that had been seen on yet another strip of sand, they were again too far for my camera but they were there..........

My husband spotted a single Avocet amongst the Gulls.

Moving on to the Field Pool East Hide we sat watching a few Tufted Ducks, Gadwalls, Coots and Swans, with a couple of Lapwing flying around off to the side. A chap sat there commented he thought he had a Black-necked Grebe, we got on it and yes it definitely was, a single one, near the back of the pool. It stayed up that end mixing up with the Tufted Ducks. 

This Coot held a bit of a squabble with some of the birds then displayed it's tail feathers at them all!

It was I think past lunchtime by now so we had a picnic near the entrance, a Holly Blue flying around the bushes by us as we ate. We had a great morning and I added two lifers to my list!