14th January 2012 - Staines Reservoir and the Thames Path at Weybridge

Firstly, I want to apologise for the lack of photos on the blog so far.  I have a film SLR, so I shall add photos when I get the film developed!

We've been reading about a lot of interesting sightings at Staines Reservoir on the London Bird Club Wiki page, including Black-necked Grebe and a Great Northern Diver so we hot footed it down first thing on Saturday morning.  However, we were so excited we didn't stop to think about sunrise until we were driving past Heathrow and it was still pitch black.  We arrived 40 minutes before sunrise, but luckily it was light enough to be able to see the nearest birds on the water.  I'd recommend going to Staines Reservoir in time for sunrise as it is beautiful - dress up extremely warmly though!  Our first bird was a lovely lonesome Tufted Duck, but being so enthusiastic about seeing new species, we spent a good 10 minutes peering through the scope trying to turn it into a Scaup.  There was a good turnout of Cormorant, with some excellent flying shots as the sun came up, but knowing my luck I didn't catch a good one!  On the edge of the reservoir we got our first Meadow Pipit of the year, socialising with a few Pied Wagtails.  Stuart was especially excited about the Goldeneye, a favourite of his. 

At around 9am we decided we were quite cold enough and with no Diver or Black-necked Grebe in sight, we headed to meet the Civil Engineering Group for a wander around the Thames path near Weybridge.  This was a surprisingly productive walk, with Stuart spotting my first ever Redwing, with 4 more following.  We also saw weird behaviour from a pied wagtail - it landed in the water and floated around like a duck for a while.  Bizarre!  Any ideas?

We popped back to Staines for the sunset, hoping still for the Diver or Grebe, but no chance!  I've just checked the sightings and they're back again - not impressed!  Did get a lovely Smew though, which was a nice close to the day.  





Staines AM

Thames Path

Staines PM

1

Tufted Duck

Mallard

Tufted Duck

2

Coot

Canada Goose

Coot

3

Cormorant

Redwing – NEW FOR LIFE LIST!

Black-headed Gull

4

Black-headed Gull

Robin

Gadwall

5

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Cormorant

Starling

6

Meadow Pipit

Blue Tit

Shoveler

7

Pochard

Great Tit

Pied Wagtail

8

Great Crested Grebe

Sparrow

Great Crested Grebe

9

Wigeon

Parakeet

Cormorant

10

Goldeneye

Egyptian Goose

Lesser Black-backed Gull

11

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Teal

12

Goldfinch

Long-tailed Tit

Smew

13

Crow

Mute Swan

Grey Heron

14

Starling

Coot



15

Mallard

Moorhen



16

Teal

Song Thrush



17

Gadwall

Crow



18



Greenfinch



19



Magpie



20



Blackbird



21



Jackdaw



22



Starling



23



Wood Pigeon



24



Black-headed Gull



25



Grey Wagtail



26



Grey Heron



27



Greylag Goose




My year list for 2012 comes to 61.

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