Almost the Best of the Rest of January 2023

The remainder of January seemed to fly by. We were balancing our birding with some major upheavals in our personal lives and I was actually busy at work for a change so our opportunities to get out and about other than at weekends were very limited. But naturally we still found time for a couple of decent trips out to see some more interesting species.

Friday 20 January

I had some business to attend to near Daventry. Mrs Caley accompanied me and it gave us a chance afterwards to check out a Little Owl territory (for the second time this year) and their favoured tree. They weren't at home, at least they couldn't be seen, making it four failed attempts already in 2023 to find Little Owls. We briefly dropped into Boddington Reservoir on the way back home and added Goosanders (2 drakes and 3 ducks), and a Grey Wagtail to our year list.

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

Year List additions;

81) Goosander, 82) Grey Wagtail

Saturday 21 January

This was an Owl of a day. There is a new go-to place to see Owls that used to be a well kept secret but is now very much out-of-the-bag. Eldernell provides easy access to the Nene Washes, a large RSPB reserve east of Peterborough where, with luck, all five breeding species of Owl can be found as well as other scarce birds such as Cranes and Hen Harriers. We started visiting Eldernell a few years ago primarily to see Short-eared Owls but recently a Long-eared Owl roost has been discovered there, and they can normally be seen relatively easily and at close quarters. It's not far from another well known site for Owls at Deeping Lakes. The whole fenland area is a hotspot for both wintering and resident Owl species.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)

This year a roosting Tawny Owl had been discovered as well, in a small wood west of the main carpark and had been showing well at the entrance of large hole in a tree on most days. The best time of day to see the Tawny is mid-morning when the sun shines directly at the hole. We arrived at an already full carpark at half nine and after manoeuvring into a tight space walked along the river wall to join a dozen or so other birders to view the Tawny Owl. The small woodland is on the opposite bank of a fenland drain so the Owl has almost complete security. The tree is around fifty metres from the drain so the Owl is undisturbed by the watchers. It was easy to find the Owl since so many cameras and scopes were trained on it. I took a few photos of my own and then inquired if anybody had seen Long-eared Owls that morning. The answer came back negative.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)

We left the Tawny Owl to its slumber, mainly because unless they're hunting, Owls don't make the best subjects to photograph, and when snoozing they don't do anything except snore and every photo will be pretty much the same as all the others. We climbed the wall and walked back towards the carpark. Even though there were plenty of birders around none of them were looking at anything and most were stood around idly chatting. Just one other chap was studying the thick hedgerow that lined a small ditch for any Long-eared or Short-eared Owls that may be roosting within. We spoke to Josh (well met) and agreed to study different parts of the hedge carefully and slowly. Five minutes later, admittedly at the obvious spot where people had congregated before judging by the worn patch of ground, I quietly announced that I'd found a Long-eared Owl. The Owl was incredibly difficult to see and was secreted in a thick patch of bramble on the opposite side of the ditch. It could only be viewed through a very small gap in the hedge on our side of the ditch too, but it was a Long-eared Owl nonetheless. After showing Mrs Caley, I beckoned Josh to see it before spreading the news to a very grateful bunch of birders a bit further along the patch.

Long-eared Owl (Asio otus)

Finding such a bird creates instant celebrity status for the finder for a few minutes and many fellow birders congratulated me on the find and thanked me profusely. In the preceding days up to six Long-eared Owls had been found in the same little patch of hedge but try as we might we couldn't find any more. It then became apparent why, and also why we couldn't find any Short-eared Owls when a lady casually mentioned that there had been some wild-fowlers shooting at the ducks on an adjacent lake earlier in the morning which had caused "a load" of Owls to fly out onto the fen and disappear. When you consider how hard it is to see the Owls in the hedge and how well hidden they are then it's surprising that they'd bother to leave the cover. But I guess its the old "Fight or flight" reaction and the Owls chose the most sensible option.

A flypast of four Common Cranes and a Green Woodpecker further added to our year list. As did a brace of Red-legged Partridges so from a casual year listing point of view it was a decent mornings work. A small flock of ten Ruff were a surprise (even more so because I had shouted Greenshank before realising my error). Finally a female Kingfisher perching on a bush overhanging the drain completed a pleasant and at times exciting few hours birding.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis)

It was only lunchtime so after finding a nice cafe allied to a garden centre for sustenance we drove on to the Wetlands and Wildfowl reserve at Welney. To get there involved taking a lengthy diversion to avoid the seasonal flood at Welney village and we had to drive down some pretty hairy and bumpy fenland roads to get there. A lot of the roads in the fens resemble rollercoasters, presumably because they are undermined by shifting clays and underground watercourses. We stopped a couple of times though to tick off both Bewick's and Whooper Swans since several herds of each were feeding in the fields.

We checked off both House and Tree Sparrows at the feeders as we walked in, the latter another year tick. We were determined to keep going and find another load of new birds for the year but never got further than the cafe and balcony outside of it. We were waylaid by the sight of a beautiful Barn owl quartering over Lady Fen, a fine view of which could be enjoyed from the cafe windows. Sitting in the warm is for cissys though so I went and stood in the freezing cold on the balcony. From there, there is a commanding view of the whole fen and I could see quite a few people, armed with big camera lenses, waiting at various places along an obvious circular path. I discovered a few minutes later after speaking to a local that the toggers were there because up to five Short-eared Owls had been seen hunting over the fen in the afternoons.

Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus)

The Barn Owl continued to perform nicely in the low sun flying back and forth in front of the visitor centre. At one point it was challenged by a Kestrel which tried to relieve it of some prey item. At least three Short-eared Owls were also seen, making it a four-owl day, but all were too distant from the viewpoint for photos and I realised why the toggers had taken up positions far away from the buildings. I did have the scope with us though and by careful searching in the distance I also found a Cattle Egret stood on top of a sheep. We had seen thirteen new birds for the year so had had a very good day.

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) & Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

There was time to watch a Peregrine stoop in and pursue a Teal, albeit unsuccessfully and to see some of the families of Swans return to the reserve ready for the supplementary feeding session. One particular group of Whoopers, adults plus a juvenile,  flew in very close, honking to each other all the way.

Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus)

Year List additions;

83) Tawny Owl, 84)Long-eared Owl, 85) Green Woodpecker, 86) Common Crane, 87) Red-legged Partridge, 88) Ruff, 89) Bewick's Swan, 90) Whooper Swan, 91) Barn owl, 92) Short-eared Owl, 93) Tree Sparrow, 94) Cattle Egret, 95) Stock Dove

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)

Friday 27 January

It had been some time since we'd visited Draycote Water near Rugby. Draycote is a large reservoir which is very at attracting a variety of scarce wildfowl species. We went there a few times in the first winter period last year but hadn't been since, possibly because I hate having to pay a fiver to park my car and because the onsite cafe isn't always that enticing. But it continues to provide good birds and good birding so on a freezing cold day we finally headed back there. Our main quarry would be a long staying Long-tailed Duck which had been reported regularly over the past month or so.

The walk along the Farnborough Bank as far as the spit would be all we'd be undertaking. We would have walked to Rainbow Corner as well but the path in that direction was closed while a landslip was repaired and it's far too far for us to walk all the way round the other way. We weren't bothered that much either because we were heading out directly into an icy chill and we didn't want to be freezing for too long. Close to the carpark we watched a Kestrel studying a patch of rough ground intently and saw it capture a small mammal. Bird numbers on the reservoir seemed to be lower than we'd seen before but there was still a good selection close to the visitor centre. Noticeable was the high number of Little Grebes. We counted over twenty-five in just a short stretch from the start of the bank. There were lots of Coots too, and just like at Farmoor they were diving to secure freshwater mussels, and just like at Farmoor had to defend their catches from marauding Black-headed Gulls.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis)

Coot (Fulica atra)

We were initially disappointed to be missing out on getting to Rainbow Corner because that is a good spot to see Goosanders. However, we were less bothered when we spotted five of the large sawbill species floating serenely along the gently rippled water. Not a year tick because we'd seen some at Boddington the week before but it's always nice to see Goosanders. They were joined by several Goldeneye, which were new for the year as were a few Great Crested Grebes.

Goosander (Mergus merganser)

We tried to catch up with the Goosanders but they were swimming rapidly towards the spit and easily left us behind so I erected my scope and scanned the water further out. It didn't take me long to find the Long-tailed Duck, a female, which was a long way out but counts just the same. It's been a while since we've had a close view of a Long-tailed Duck, a situation we must address soon.

Long-tailed Duck (Clangula hyemalis)

The Goosanders had been joined by a couple more, and there were now two males and five females on offer. The males were doing their best to arouse courtship interest in the females but they didn't appear too interested. At times the ducks became so engrossed in their pre-nuptials that they didn't seem to realise that they'd gotten close to the bank which was allowing me to take some nice shots. Then, as if to satisfy me personally, the flock decided to fly off and present me with a flypast. 

As if from nowhere, a Great Northern Diver suddenly appeared about fifty metres out from the bank. during the last winter a juvenile Great Northern Diver had been present at Farmoor and we had enjoyed unrivalled views of it diving and surfacing with Signal Crayfish. This bird wasn't quite so active but allowed us some excellent viewing. Again it wasn't a year tick, we'd seen one at great distance at Broadsands a fortnight before, but it's nice to appreciate the formidable size and structure of the Diver. They are superbly adapted fishing machines.

Great Northern Diver (Gavia immer)

The Diver flew off to the far side of the reservoir so we decided to head back for a warming coffee and maybe some lunch at the visitor centre. I took time to photograph some of the Goldeneyes on the way back, the males of which were busy in their own courtship displays.

Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula)

A Meadow Pipit flew along the rocky foreshore and conveniently landed close enough for some nice photography before it was ousted by one of the many Carrion Crows that opportunistically parade up and down the rocks trying to rob any bird that may have something worth nicking. We saw one Crow grab the mussel catch off a Coot and then cache it in the rocks. A minute later another Crow discovered it and took it for itself.

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)

During an admittedly nice bowl of soup in the visitor centre, a notification arrived informing us of a female Ring-necked Duck that had been found at Ravensthorpe Reservoir. A quick check and research of the site details revealed that it was only fifteen miles away from Draycote so we changed our plans and travelled over to what would be a new site for us. We parked at the causeway carpark, well we would have had it been open, so had to leave the car on the side of the road instead, and walked the few metres to the waters edge. The Ring-necked Duck was reported as being in with a small flock of Tufted Ducks close to the bridge of the causeway. We found it readily enough although viewing was tricky into the sun and the Ducks were busy ducking and diving.

Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris)

The birds were all forced further out into the reservoir when a gang of birders appeared on the bridge directly above the birds. That rash move on their part did at least allow me to gain some better shots of the Ring-necked Duck as it swam past before it disappeared behind a stand of reeds.

Year List additions;

96) Little Grebe, 97) Great Crested Grebe, 98) Goldeneye, 99) Long-tailed Duck, 100) Little Egret, 101) Meadow Pipit, 102) Coot, 103) Gadwall, 104) Ring-necked Duck, 105) Pochard, 106) Nuthatch