Draycote Water

Great Crested Grebe

Sundays at Draycote Water can be a challenge and it pays to arrive early if the crowds are to be avoided! Early (0700) usually means poor light and coolness, but this is in preference to the "sweating" hordes! The water looked empty and indeed it was very quiet. I chose to walk to Toft and back and then to the Valve Tower and Back. Walking along Farborough Bank the Buzzard pair were already in the air and the call of a Curlew was heard but not located. Five female and two male Goosander loafed off the spit and seven Meadow Pipits competed with the Pied Wagtails. The drake Smew was not seen, probably having now left for his breeding grounds. The hedgerows behind the sailing club produced a mixed flock of tits and finches including a Goldcrest and a  Brambling. The thickets near the picnic area stopped me in my tracks with the "nasal" call of a Willow Tit. Perseverance paid off with a brief sighting before it disappeared along the hedgerow. The drake Scaup was with the Tufted Ducks off Hensborough Bank and a Raven flew over Draycote Bank "honking". At least four Chifchaffs were calling around the site but I was denied any other migrants.

Pied Wagtail

Record shot of Brambling

Todays Sightings:

Kestrel; Magpie; Rook; Carrion Crow; Wood Pigeon; Goldfinch; Greenfinch; Blackbird; Pheasant; Dunnock; Robin; Black Headed Gull; Cormorant; Great Spotted Woodpecker; Canada Goose; Coot; Tufted Duck; Great Crested Grebe; Pied Wagtail; Herring Gull; LBB Gull; Mallard; Goldeneye; Wren; Buzzard; Curlew (h); Goosander; Starling; Meadow Pipit; Gadwall; Wigeon; Chaffinch; Green Woodpecker; Song Thrush; Jackdaw; Teal; Chiffchaff; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Moorhen; Long Tailed Tit; Gret Lag Goose; Reed Bunting; Brambling; Goldcrest; Yellowhammer; Skylark; Willow Tit; Scaup; Raven.