A few inches of snow overnight produced a good haul of birds displaced by the hard weather at Staines Moor today. Frustratingly I only had a compact digital camera on me and not my SLR and so I missed out on some decent photographic opportunities.
The narrow muddy edges of the River Colne are proving very attractive for birds looking for unfrozen ground on which to feed, and a walk along the whole stretch of the river at the moor produced 1 male and 1 female Pintail briefly before flying off east, 2 Dunlin, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2+ Common Snipe, 3 Water Pipit, 1 Water Rail, 1 Little Egret, 3 Gadwall, 2 Common Teal, 3 Little Grebe, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Common Gull and 60+ Black-headed Gull (a good count here). Overhead there was a little movement with 59+ Northern Lapwing NE, 1 Common Buzzard N, 30 Lesser Black-backed Gull E and small numbers of Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Linnet.
Adjacent Stanwell Moor produced 1 Woodcock (flushed along the footpath between Stanwell Moor and King George VI Reservoir), c.180 Linnet feeding on the seeds of London Plane trees with smaller numbers of Goldfinch and Chaffinch, 17 Fieldfare, 8 Redwing, lots of Robin and Blackbird, a single Skylark over S, 1 Meadow Pipit, 1 Eurasian Sparrowhawk, 4 more Gadwall, 1 more Eurasian Teal and a Red Fox. Back by the car, a Little Egret on a tiny stream in Stanwell Moor Village looked very out of place.
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| Male Pintail on the bank of the River Colne briefly before flying off east with a female |
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A frozen Staines Moor, looking south from The Butts. It's hard to imagine that
in 4-5 weeks time the first Northern Wheatears could be passing through here. |
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| Looking north along Bonehead Ditch |
A nice winters day setting - Very Scenic.
ReplyDeleteSome really nice local records there, Lee - Pintail has been very tough to see in the Staines area in the past couple of years, and Woodcock is another good one on this patch.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally I thought the name of the mound in the NW corner of the moor was The Butts, rather than The Bundles, but may be wrong.
Of possible interest, in recent weeks there has been a male Tawny Owl holding territory in the main strip of woodland by the Bonehead Ditch. First I have recorded at Staines Moor, though I've never been there at night much!
Best wishes,
Rob Innes (Staines birder)
Hi Rob,
ReplyDeleteI've seen Woodcock along Bonehead Ditch in the past when there's been severe weather, so I was really hoping for one yesterday. Many thanks for the gen on the Tawny Owl. I've not been at the moor in the evening for a long time but I might give this bird a try. You are absolutely right about The Butts. I got my sites mixed up and so I've changed the caption.
Cheers,
Lee