Still walking the George

I'm still strolling the four mile circuit of the reservoir as often as I can in search of something interesting and watching the movement of birds on and around it. The twitch to Wales on Friday was a nice distraction and Saturday / Sunday saw me busy with the kids school fate and baby sitting duties so by the time I got over the George on Monday I'd had three days off.

I got a good soaking walking around on Monday but found my first ever Nuthatch for the site so the soaking was worth it. My second Pochard of the summer was present with a drake on north basin and a Common Sandpiper on the causeway was a welcome June tick too in a total of 55 species for the day count. 

The bread put out for the horses attracts a good few birds too

Pochard

Yesterday I visited a little later in the day, traffic problems on the M25 split over into surrounding roads making it an interesting couple of miles down to the reservoir but my local knowledge allowed me to navigate around the back roads to a degree. On arrival I found a Common Sandpiper on south basin and at the causeway a Little ringed Plover before finding a new bird not only for June but for the year in the form of a Lapwing on the north side of the causeway and I think this is the first I've ever had on the deck here too. For the day I had a species count of 51 and found it a little harder as many of the birds had gone quiet. 

Crow

Crow

Tufted Duck

Lapwing

Lapwing

Little ringed Plover

Common Sandpiper and LRP

Little Grebe

Cormorants

Cormorant

Cormorant

Common Sandpiper

Tufted Duck

My year list for the reservoir is now 115 with the recent additions of Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch and now Lapwing whilst the site has seen a total of 131 species so I've missed 16 despite my best effort. I struggled to hear Treecreeper in the spring where as younger ears picked them up. I missed Whinchat although I think we've only had the one bird so far this year. Henry had two Snipe and a Spotted Redshank in the mist on a day I didn't make it over but these birds were gone within minutes of his finding them. Other birds seen this year that I've missed include Coal Tit, Rook, Yellowhammer Pintail, Brambling, Med Gull, Sandwich Tern, Redstart, Brent Geese, Green Sandpiper, Stonechat and Redpoll.

My life list for the George stands at 139 with a couple of historical records still to be submitted when/if  I can pin down the dates with some accuracy.

I do love a list 

onwards and upwards!

11th June at the George

Had another visit to the George on Thursday before Fridays Welsh adventure. Best of the action came in the form of the five Raven which for the first time had taken an interest in the bread that's always put out for the horses in West paddock.  I watched them for a while and managed a couple of images but there was little else of note within the 54 species seen on this visit.

Western Reef Heron

Since the Western Reef Heron was found up in north Wales last weekend I've been watching news and admiring peoples ability to drop everything and go to see it. For me time is rarely on my side with these things unless they're close enough for a dash that still allows me to fulfil my family commitments. I've found myself less ready to put in the hard miles required for some of the distant twitches and of course there's also an equation to be made over cost too. All that said and I still very much wanted to see the Reef Heron and with Friday free I told the Jims I was thinking of making the trip and they were willing and even committed to stopping overnight if two days were required.

Setting off at 2am we covered the 282 miles with just a quick coffee stop on the way and arrived at Foryd Bay for 7am. On arrival at the hide we found only familiar faces. All that way from home and I bump into Essex birders, Mike, Steve, John and John along with Chris from Herts and Shaun from Staines plus a couple of Herts/Essex guys who's names I didn't know. News was that the bird was present at 5.30am when they arrived but the tide had pushed it off and it hadn't been seen for over an hour. We set about checking the area and within moments Jim had found the bird out to the far east corner from the hide. We had our lifer! The bird was first found according to a face-book post in Pembrokeshire on 13th May and appeared next at Foryd bay on 5th June. It's the first record of this species for Britain and as such has caused quite a twitch throughout the week. We enjoyed the bird and the company for a couple of hours before heading off to make the most of the miles we'd put in to get to the area.

South Stack was just 45 minutes drive away so we decided on that as our next target hoping to get Dad some much wanted coastal ticks. On arrival we had two Chough before we'd even got out of the car and then walked down to the Lighthouse where I thought it a good idea to walk down the steps to the bottom of the cliff not thinking about the climb back up. Here we picked up thousands of Guillemot, hundreds of Razorbill, Kittiwakes, Gannet and Fulmar. Puffin were hard work but we found two and three Shag. Four Raven flew around the Lighthouse calling and I picked up a few Manx Shearwater out in the bay. From South Stack we headed a bit further round the coast to Holyhead Fish Quay in search of Black Guillemot which we quickly found. Our last venue of the trip would be Cemlyn which is home to the largest Sandwich Tern colony in Wales. Among the Sarnies we found a few Common and a few  Arctic Terns along with five Med Gulls. Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Oystercatcher made up the best of the rest. Great place to visit. From here we headed for home arriving back at about 9pm after what was a good days birding.

Arctic Tern

Sandwich Tern

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

Arctic Tern

Sandwich Tern

Raven

Chough

Chough

Chough

Lesser Black backed Gull

Chough

Guillemot

Raven

Year list now 221 (Reef Heron, Shag, Chough, Manx Shearwater, Puffin and Black Guillemot)

Life list now 456

All about the George

I have one eye on a certain Heron 280 miles away but it's 280 miles away. Never say never but for now the other eye is locked in at the KGV where I'm still finding the time and motivation to give it a go every couple of days. The four mile walk feels so much easier now it's become routine and I'm still enjoying the slim pickings it brings.

A little history lesson

           (Completed 5th March 1913 and water was let in by King George V.  with Queen Mary.)

 Since my last post on 7th I've walked it twice, once on Monday and again today. On Monday I found a young recently fledged Mistle Thrush and then one of the parents which was remarkably my first of the year which I find amazing accepting I've done 31 laps of the reservoir in that time but in my defense the fields are hard work in the early mornings with the sun coming up in your face oh and  I also got a good soaking on Monday for my trouble.

Today I added Pochard to the June list and found another surprise in the form of a Little Grebe which is far from common as a summer visitor but I have bumped into a few recently. Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Buzzard and Red Kite were all seen today and I found the five Ravens back up in the north west corner. The day was really all about fledglings though and having already seen young fledge from Raven, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Magpie, Crow, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Stock Dove, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Linnet today I added to that list of site breeders with Great Spot Woodpecker, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler. To my surprise I found the family party of Lesser Whitethroats in an area I've never seen or heard them in this year. A nice walk bringing the June list to 74 and the total reservoir year list to 113.

Oystercatcher

Mallard

Pochard

Sedge Warbler

Whitethroats

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

London

The overall year list for the UK remains at a modest 215 due to a lack of adventure on my part which the Heron could yet provide if it hangs around for me.