The best thing about opening the hides in the morning is the wildlife is often very close, and this morning when I opened the Tern Hide I was greeted by close views of the birds on Ibsley Water including:
Lapwing
Several little grebes, very difficult to photograph as they kept diving.
Wigeon (left and right) and coots (middle)
A pair of Egyptian geese. There was also a snipe just left of these birds but I couldn’t get a photo of it before it disappeared.
A great crested grebe in winter plumage
Other birds reported on the reserve today include:
Bittern, great white egret, shelduck – Ivy Lake
goldeneye, green sandpiper, 7 little egrets – Rockford Lake
Kingfisher – Education centre dipping pond
The evening starling roost was big but nowhere near as big as yesterday, perhaps some of the birds have moved on already.
The great white egret turned up in front the new camera on Ivy Lake too, here is a photo from the TV screen in the education centre:
I spotted a pair of Egyptian Geese in a cowfield near home at 11am today, 3 miles south of Ringwood. I wonder if these are the same pair? Not at all flighty – just the other side of the hedge from me. Whooper Swan in the same field too.
Yes could be, although they are unfortunately fairly common now in the Avon valley. Was it a whooper or a bewick’s swan? Bewick’s are more frequent down here.