Elton Reservoir

Mallard  ducklings

Afternoon stroll round Elton Reservoir and Withins. Apparently ten minutes too late for an osprey, four hours too late for redstart, whinchat and spotted flycatcher and two hours early for a little gull. And no complaints at all: it was a nice walk and a bonus because the men who'd come to replace the bathroom window finished early and having looked at the week's weather I didn't want to waste a sunny day.

The water on Elton Reservoir is slowly getting back to nearly normal levels. There were plenty of coots, mallards and black-headed gulls on the water together with a handful of great crested grebes. The mute swan cygnets were hanging round the sailing club end well away from their parents which were over by the creek. A couple of dozen herring gulls and lesser black-backs were loafing about well out in the water and a lone common gull sat on one of the buoys.

Mute swan

I walked up to the creek, the path getting increasingly muddy (something else getting back to normal!) There were lots of small bird noises from the hedgerow, nearly all coming from great tits (I really like great tits but I do wish they'd limit their repertoire to seven or eight calls). Joiners-in included dunnocks, robins, wrens and a chiffchaff. Goldfinches and chaffinches flitted about but didn't settle. Walking on there was more of the same, a few juvenile chiffchaffs and willow warblers joining the crowd. One of the juvenile chiffchaffs was particularly pretty with bright acid lemon highlights on its flanks. Try as I might I couldn't add to my year list.

Heron

A heron was feeding along the shoreline, paying not a bit of attention to any of the people walking by. A small raft of coot was accompanied by a dozen tufted ducks and a few gadwall. They, and a family of mallards with young ducklings, pretended not to be bothered by any of the noisy dogs splashing about on the shore.

The horses in field next to Elton Reservoir were closely followed by black-headed gulls and pied wagtails.

Withins Reservoir was literally birdless. The path to Withins Lane was a lot quieter than usual, too, though the number of woodpigeons made it up in biomass. A couple of blue tits and willow warblers sat in the hawthorns and a small flock of swallows flew overhead towards Radcliffe.

On down Withins Lane and the bus home.