Lonsdale Reservoir last Sunday

I have been so busy and/or tired this week that I am only just managing to get this out now. I went to Lonsdale Reservoir last Sunday and, at last, mission Little Grebe was successful with a pair by the reed bed at one end of the reservoir :) #39 for the year.


I had barely started going round that a jogger asked me if I'd seen the owl, then by the tree I met some people who'd come specially to see it, so it's become a local celebrity it seems :)



Nearby I heard a Chiffchaff, then another on the other side which I spotted briefly. #40. The male Kestrel was sitting in a tree, I didn't spot its mate. Jackdaws, Stock Doves, but no Egyptian Geese.
A crow was picking up nesting material on the path, and another one was making a strange noise I don't recall hearing before:

Crow

On the water, there were still a few Common and Black-headed Gulls, but not that many. I couldn't see any Shovelers, but there were still some Tufted Ducks, Teals and Pochards. There had been mention on the Londonbirders wiki of likely unclipped Mandarins so I has a good look for them. Finally found them, and they gave me the run-around initially, moving from one side to the other, hiding behind the vegetation, but I think I finally got photos showing full winged birds. #41






Last visit I had done, over a month ago, a pair of Grey Herons had started building a nest on one of the rafts. They were still there:




This time, from the other side, I noticed that there was a second one, much lower one, on another raft:



Back closer to the nest, I was busy photographing the Mandarins when I heard noise from the herons' nest: the other had arrived for an exchange, the end of which I managed to video:

Nesting Grey Herons

Now that I have a bike, it will hopefully be less than a month before my next visit, with not having to spend 1hr30 just to get there and back anymore...

Lonsdale Reservoir, 31 January

I left home early this morning to visit the Lonsdale Reservoir again. Glorious clear blue sky, and it was pretty chilly, but I wasn't quite expecting the reservoir to be partially covered in ice.

First of all, the owl was in the same place and easily visible even from the Thames Path. From there, I managed to find an angle to view that hole I mentioned in my previous post, and, unfortunately, it had been wishful thinking on my part. Nevermind...

Gratuitous shot of a sleepy owl

In the next tree, a pair of Egyptian Geese was very noisy. I noticed one of them had a metal ring on its right leg, so I tried to photograph it and got a much better result than I had thought initially. A quick search told me that I am probably missing 2 digits, so I'll have to try and get the rest of it at another visit.





Almost as soon as I came off the Thames Path and entered the wooded area, after 2 wrens had crossed the path in front of me, my attention was caught by another bird arriving very fast through the trees. It landed in one of the trees bordering the path and was immediately mobbed by a few crows and flew back in the direction of the reservoir: a Sparrowhawk! Brilliant! Year tick #36.
Further on, a pair of Jackdaws were having a go at a Kestrel, just like my previous visit, but, unlike then, it was a female.
Few birds were on the reservoir, but up to about 10 Coots, a pair of Mute Swans (year tick #37), 7 Shovelers and 2 Tufted Ducks were sharing the small portion of open water. Up to around 110 Black-headed Gulls congregated on the ice in a fairly tight area, a lot of them preening. There were 5 Common Gulls among them, and just as I was leaving I noticed a Herring Gull ( year tick #38).

Only 3 additions to the year list, but a very enjoyable walk. And I managed to avoid the mad robin again, which is no bad thing...


A few more photos in my Lonsdale Reservoir album.

Lonsdale Reservoir - first visits

I discovered this reservoir in Barnes by accident last year on my way to a Thames21 cleanup by Barnes Bridge. I visited it twice last year, loved it and decided to add it as a second patch. Last Sunday was my fourth visit, my third had been on previous weekend when the reservoir was actually still frozen and the few birds on there were just a few gulls. It also started raining buckets just as I entered the area making scanning the trees rather difficult. Still, I had managed 23 species, but I failed to find the pair of Jackdaws I had since on previous visits, or heard during the cleanups on the foreshore. No such problem this time, I found them almost immediately, very busy mobbing a male Kestrel. It was probably the one I had photographed back in November as it was sitting in a tree above the path.

Kestrel looking straight at the camera
For a bigger version and 2 more photos, click on photo.

On the same tree were a few Stock Doves, another bird I don't get to see on my Fulham patch. It's the same thing for Collared Doves which I saw in my previous visits last year, but I couldn't find any this time.

The reservoir itself had a lot more birds than on my 1st visit (not difficult): a few Shovelers, Tufted Ducks, Mallards and 1 Pochard, Coots & Moorhens, Gulls of the Common & Black-headed variety and 1 Lesser Black-Backed, 2 Grey Herons. But, as hard as I tried, I couldn't find any Little Grebe (apparently they haven't come back since the big freeze).

I am used to seeing Egyptian Geese on the foreshore, so it threw me up slightly when on my first visit I saw 2 up in a tree. They were surrounded by Ring-Necked Parakeets making quite a racket as per usual.

Makes you wonder if this photo was really taken in the UK...

If I had paid more attention to reports of Egyptian Geese I probably would have noticed a few of those were of birds in trees and I wouldn't have been quite so surprised... This photo was taken back in November but I saw a pair in the same tree at my first visit this year. The second visit, it was another tree, but was it the same pair?

When I got about 2/3 round, I met with another birder coming in the other direction. He asked me "Have you seen the owl?" "No, where?" He tells me where, it was around the area when I'd seen the Jackdaws and Kestrel shenanigans, which had obviously distracted me. I wasn't surprised, it had looked good to me and I had checked some of the holes, but obviously not enough of them. I walked a bit further and from the other side saw what could be an owl in that tree & took a photo. When I got to the tree in question I tried to find the hole but just couldn't get an angle on it. I went round the tree and found this one, asleep:


I think no more of the other one until I get home and look at the photo on the computer. Is it just me, or can you see 2 eyes and a beak?



Furthermore, I chatted later that day with someone who'd been to the reservoir and had seen 2 of them earlier in the week. My plan is to go there again early tomorrow morning and have another good look for them. As well as for the grebes.

Total for this year is #35 so far.