Swan feed, at the WWT Welney

This weekend, I was back in Cambridgeshire visiting family.  While I was there, I took a trip to the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust at Welney to experience one of their winter swan feeds.

Each winter thousands of swans and migratory ducks flock to the Ouse washes from their breeding grounds in Iceland and Arctic Russia for winter.  To help them out, the WWT provides daily feeds to boost their own foraging and it's quite a spectacle.

At the last count, taken on the 18th December, there were; 1075 Bewick swans and 2427 Whooper swans, not to mention nearly 8000 Widgeon, over 1000 Mallard, over 500 Teal, nearly 500 Pochard and over 300 Tufted Ducks, amongst many other species of water fowl.

We arrived around 30 mutes before the feed and were met with a large amount of Whoopers and a few Mallard mixing with the Pochards, Mallards and Teals in front of the observatory.

There were a large amount of young swans, which is one of the beautiful things about the experience; the family groups of swans returning to Welney with their new brood of signets.

After a brief introduction by one of Welney's wardens, giving some background as to why there are so many swans and waterfowl returning to the reserve, the feed started.  And, in all honesty, the birds went a little crazy.

Thousands of birds appeared in front of the observatory taking full advantage of the free food and, with it, out went any pleasantries and manners.  If any birds got too close, they soon knew about it.



The water was soon turned to a jacuzzi as ducks, swans, pochards and teal all fought to get at the feed.

While the swans had the advantage of their long necks, the other fowl has to make do with furiously kicking their legs to get at the rapidly sinking pellets.

Once all of the feed had sunk to the bottom, it was left to the swans to pick up the leftovers.

It was a great experience and I will definitely be returning in the new year.  Hopefully when the waters which covered the Ouse wash had receded somewhat.

The River Thames in autumn

Last weekend I was full of good intentions to head to the Wetlands centre and snap some of the autumn migrants that are now regularly dropping in. I didn't, however, account for the shortening days or how fast the light goes when it begins to. As a result, on Saturday I ended up having a walk along the banks of the River Thames and, in hindsight, I'm quite glad that I didn't make it to the WWT.



The sunset on Saturday evening turned out to be spectacular. At low tide, as the sun descended slowly, I was afforded beautiful views of the river and the bird life it supports.



Groups of Mallards were to be found which, with the sunset behind them, looked beautiful.



I also saw a Great Crested Grebe in its winter plumage, hunting for its dinner.







As I continued to wander up the river back, a family of Mute Swans swam past.



I also spyed a Grey Heron fishing for dinner. I'm not sure how good this particular Heron was as, the few times it did go for a fish, it appeared to fall on the target rather than decisively striking. It posed for a nice photo though.



Once the light had gone, I began to head home. On my way back I heard a Robin in one of the trees chirping away to anyone who listened. I managed to snap this shot of it using a flash and am quite pleased with the result.

The following day I again, attempted to get myself to the Wetlands centre. This time it was public transport that stopped me getting there. With no bus in sight after 20 minutes of waiting in the cold, I decided I would walk instead. Again, it was low tide as I strolled along the river and, again, I was tempted to take photos along the river bank instead of going over to the WWT.



The Great Crested Grebe was out fishing again and, this time, I was able to get a better lit shot of it.





The fog began to draw in as the sunlight faded making for lovely atmospheric shots.



Before the fog got too bad, which it did... very quickly, a murmuration of Starlings were flying just above the bridge. It wasn't the largest murmuration ever seen but it was still fascinating to watch.

Wetlands Centre - Chasing Hawkers and Moorhens

Last weekend I decided to get out of the house to take some photos and I suddenly realised how lucky I was being in the location I am in terms of nature reserves.  The WWT centre around the corner, and at least two nature reserves, Barnes common and the Leg of Mutton, as well as Richmond Park to name but a few areas. One of the major advantages of starting at the WWT centre, as I did on this occasion, is that you can pretty much guarantee there will be photo opportunities. Also, the ability to see what had been attracted to the site over the past few days, by looking at their wildlife sightings page on their website website and taking a look at their twitter stream, are a great help in planning a visit.

I arrived and managed to tag along with one of the warden walks. This allowed me to see one of the smallest and probably most photographed invertebrates at the centre over the past few weeks; a Wasp Spider. Introduced to this country from the continent, it is usually confined to the south coast but, due in large part to global warming, their range is slowly extending north and they have been spotted as far as Cambridge. Sporting natures warning colours, black and yellow, they are not poisonous, although I've read that they can bite. They are very beautiful to look at though.

From there, I decided to leave the warden and the group to it and head towards the wildside, admittedly my favourite area of the centre. On the way it was lovely to see the many of the wild flowers still in bloom near the RBC rain garden.





On my way towards the wildside, I spotted a Moorhen finishing the lunch it had obviously bought from the cafe. "This cuppa support conservation..." - yes, it certainly looks like it!



After a spot of lunch for me, I finally got to the wildside. I decided to walk around to where I'd seen the Kingfisher a couple of weeks earlier but the island had been given a pretty close hair cut, so there was no where the Kingfisher could perch, even if it did decide to visit. However, I did get a nice shot of a Moorhen, reflected in the water.



I also spotted one (ok, two) of the newest editions to the wetlands centre; newly born Little Grebes. Judging from their size, I would say they were only about a week old and Mum and Dad were, understandibly, very protective of them, hiding them under their wings on their back.



I noted there were a couple of large Migrant Hawkers patrolling the edge of the pond and proceeded to spend the next hour or so attempting to get a photo of one in flight, completely in vain I might add. However, as I continued my walk, I spotted another which seemed all to keen to have it's photo taken, hovering right in front of me, giving me plenty of time to check camera settings, etc, before taking these photos.









This was obviously the spot to find animals who wanted to have their photo taken, as a Moorhen posed gracefully for me as well.



I went into the wildside hide and managed to get a nice photo of some Mallards flying over.



Finally, on my way to the exit, a couple of baby lizards were pointed out to me. Thanks to the guy who drew my attention to them.



From the Wetlands centre, I decided to have a walk to the Leg of Mutton nature reserve on my way home. To be honest, there was not a lot to see, due mainly to the fact I didn't have a lot of time to spend looking. Another Migrant Hawker decided it wanted to have its photo taken, so I gladly obliged.



Also, I think it's safe to say, there are plenty of Cormorants who call the Leg of Mutton home. I spotted eight on this pontoon alone and there were many more to be seen on the others around the reservoir.



It was also nice to see the Swan signets I'd seen earlier in the year all grown up. Six in total, all still in their juvenile plumage but looking to be doing very well.



Finally, I spotted a group of Long-tailed Tits flying from tree to tree just before I left the reserve. A nice day, lots of walking, but well worth the effort.

Barnes Common - A different location and 2 nice discoveries

This weekend I decided I'd try somewhere new to take some photos. I was aware of where Barnes common is, I'd walked past it, been in taxis and buses which went past it, but never actually had a walk through it. So that's what I did. In the process, I made a couple of nice little discoveries.

Discovery 1: the stream that runs through Barnes common is the same stream that runs under Priest's Bridge (when I think about it, where it's located and the direction it runs, it's kinda obvious). I'd crossed this stream at Priest's Bridge many times before, as I was walking to Barnes station, and have been intrigued by this clear running stream, where it went and what delights it had to offer.



I started to explore the stream and saw a few damselflies busy going from one plant to the next. As I got closer to the group of plants they seemed to like, a female Beautiful Demoiselle (Calopteryx Virgo) landed right next to me, giving me a beautiful shot.



Unfortunately, at this point, the damselflies were about as much as I could see on the stream, so I moved on.

As I moved away from the stream I began to notice all of the wild flowers there were in the semi-cut grass. Barnes common seems to be fairly managed whilst being given the freedom to grow slightly wild, allowing lots of beautiful flowers and grasses to call it home.



As I continued my walk I, somehow, managed to spot 2 mating Squash Bugs (Coreus Marginatus) on a dock leaf.



As I continued with my walk I heard a Wren flying about, chirping, but couldn't quite see where it was. I then heard a young wren's call in a nearby tree, so I went to see if I could spot them. That's where I made discovery no. 2.

Discovery 2: 3 beautiful baby Wren's, perched in the tree, doing their best to hide until Mum/Dad came back.





In the second photo, there are 3 babies. The middle one is slightly hidden, looking up, hence why you can't see its face like you can with the outer 2.

I finished my walk via Barnes pond. My aim was to see if there were any other damselflies and also to see if the heron I'd seen hanging out there so regularly wanted to have a photo taken. It would appear not, on both counts.

However, there were a few Mallards to be seen and a group of ducklings as well. Not a bad pay off I suppose.





I also spotted a caterpillar, which I believe is a Buff Ermine Moth (Spilosoma Luteum) basking in the sun on the fence around the pond.



And the final photo from my walk, a nice shot of an Egyptian Goose having a little swim.