Carsington Water

On arrival at Sheepwash car park the rain was falling but the forecast was for a drier spell to come, so we pressed ahead.  We set off for nearby shelter in the Sheepwash hide, spotting crow, robin, pheasant and lots of young blue tits along the way.

In the hide we could see that the water level was much higher than the last time we visited, a much higher shoreline. We spotted a group of cormorants attempting to dry out in the rain.

Very wet cormorants

Whilst there we also spotted a number of reed bunting, young pied wagtails, mallard, coot, mute swan, Canada geese, swift, swallow and house martin.  We sat a while watching the toing and froing of birds about the hide. By the time we left the hide the rain had stopped and it was looking a little brighter.

We then set off back through the car park towards the visitor centre. We stopped to view a busy feeding station, nuthatch, great tit, chaffinch and blue tit were the main visitors. The nuthatch were seen to be taking seed to a nearby tree and pressing it into the folds of the bark, enabling them to peck away while the seed was firmly wedged.

Nuthatch

Bullfinch

We then walked on following the path around the water. We stopped at another feeder station behind a viewing screen. We saw nuthatch, great tits, chaffinch and a resplendent bullfinch also made a fleeting appearance.

Further along the path we could hear the distinctive calls of oystercatchers and redshanks and we did manage to see them albeit at a distance. We also saw tufted duck, black-headed gull and lesser black-backed gull. There was plenty of birdsong about, blackbirds, song thrush and chiffchaff in particular. We eventually reached the hide near the visitor centre. A number of tree sparrows were seen, mainly on the feeders.

Great crested grebe with two young on board.

We stopped at the visitors centre for refreshments. There were many house sparrows around the centre, no doubt benefiting from the kindness of the patrons. After refreshments we made our way back to the car park. We spotted chiffchaff, jackdaw, dunnock, wren and song thrush along the way.

Chiffchaff

Young great tit being fed.

The tally: 37 species

Crow, pheasant, great tit, mallard, coot, cormorant, mute swan, great crested grebe, Canada goose, swallow, swift, house martin, pied wagtail, wood pigeon, reed bunting, blue tit, robin, nuthatch, blackbird, chaffinch, chiffchaff, bullfinch, oystercatcher, redshank, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, tufted duck, magpie, song thrush, dunnock, house sparrow, tree sparrow, goldfinch, wren, jackdaw, blackcap and coal tit.