A Windy Wander

After the lashing rain over night (never heard rain so loud, I guess driven by the wind!) I wasn’t sure the weather forecasters would be right and that we would indeed have a sunny morning, but we did (windy, but dry and sunny) and so I headed out onto the patch to see what I birds could see (I must be able to improve on Mondays, first walk of the new year, and the 45 species I had that day), and with the light better, see what I could photograph.

Starting out heading straight for the lakes, I was shocked by just how much rain had come down over night, and the last few days, the usual complex of small pools and couple of larger lakes were no more in fact there was just one big lake, the flood plain was obviously doing it’s job!

The first birds of note, new for the year and not ones I have seen often was a circling flock of 30 Golden Plover, they did a couple of circuits before heading off west towards Stony Stratford. On the lakes were the usual Mute Swan, Teal, Tufted Duck, Wigeon etc. and quite an impressive flock of Lapwing, all of which were pretty nervous and kept taking to the skies.

Northern Lapwing in Flight – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

Mallards – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

Continuing Around the Lakes

Carrying on around the lakes and beside the river it became obvious that the reason for the high water levels was indeed the river running very high, in fact so high there is little room left for more water, another heavy night and it will likely burst its banks. Due to the high water the numbers of ducks in the areas that would have been little pools seemed to be down.

Greylag Geese in flight – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

The species numbers ticked along nicely without anything hugely exciting, but I was soon passed Mondays total, when I stumbled on a small area where the flood water was in amongst the tress and bushes and a small band of birds were drinking, Blue Tit, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song thrush and Magpie were all within a small area, and the first bird allowed me some interesting photos.

Blue Tit, down for a drink – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

Another of the Blue Tit, down for a drink – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

Blue Tit, down for a drink – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

Final Knockings

I carried on along the river, adding a few more birds (and one Robin photo), before heading up towards home over the cattle fields, when I suddenly flushed a Green Sandpiper from in amongst the flooded pasture.

European Robin – Manor Farm, Milton Keynes

Full details of walk and birds below.

Date: 15/01/2015
Time: 3 hours 4 mins
Distance: 4.5

Full Species List

Species	Count
Greylag Goose	X
Canada Goose	X
Mute Swan	X
Gadwall	X
Eurasian Wigeon	X
Mallard	X
Eurasian Teal	X
Common Pochard	6
Tufted Duck	X
Common Pheasant	1
Great Crested Grebe	2
Great Cormorant	21
Grey Heron	3
Little Egret	1
Eurasian Sparrowhawk	1
Common Buzzard	1
Common Moorhen	X
Eurasian Coot	X
European Golden-Plover	30
Northern Lapwing	X
Green Sandpiper	1
Black-headed Gull	X
Common Gull	X
Herring Gull	1
Lesser Black-backed Gull	1
Feral Pigeon	X
Stock Dove	1
Common Wood-Pigeon	X
Eurasian Collared-Dove	3
Common Kingfisher	1
Common Magpie	X
Eurasian Jackdaw	X
Rook	1
Carrion Crow	X
Great Tit	X
Blue Tit	X
Long-tailed Tit	X
Eurasian Treecreeper	1
Eurasian Wren	X
Goldcrest	2
Robin	X
Blackbird	X
Fieldfare	X
Redwing	X
Song Thrush	5
Mistle Thrush	2
Starling	X
Dunnock	X
Grey Wagtail	1
Pied Wagtail	5
Reed Bunting	1
Chaffinch	5
Bullfinch	1
Greenfinch	1
Goldfinch	X
House Sparrow	1