Carsington Water

It was a bright dry morning as we gathered in Carsington Sheepwash car park. There was a light breeze about, very pleasant for walking. We set off for the nearby hide at the Northern end of the lake. Along the way we spotted magpie, blackbird and wood pigeon. We always see at least a wood pigeon wherever we go.

From the hide we could see several of the resident cormorants on the shore along with a number of lapwing. On the water there were a large number of coot with a few tufted ducks amongst them.  

A view across Carsington Water

We then made our way back to the car park and set off on the path towards the visitors centre. We stopped at the first feeder station near the car park. There were blue tits, great tits and coal tit in attendance, non of them stayed very long on the feeder, preferring to just grab a seed and immediately taking it to the cover of a nearby tree.

Great tit

We carried on further along the path, spotting crow, magpie, jackdaw and dunnock along the way. We reached a viewing screen with a feeding station. This was not as busy as the previous feeder but we did spot a chaffinch amongst the visitors.

We proceeded further along the path where we got various views over the lake. we could see mute swan, pochard, great crested grebe, Canada geese, greylag geese, mallard, and grey heron. 

Eventually we arrived at the visitors centre for some well earned refreshment. There were a number house sparrows seen busily attending feeders near the entrance.

Coal tit

We then left the centre to make our way back along the path. We stopped at the main hide nearby. We could see tree sparrows, coal tit, moorhen, coot, little grebe, gadwall and a lone female teal.

Teal (female)

As we neared the car park on our way back we saw a great spotted woodpecker, a jay and a number of long tailed tits. A good day for bird watching and to finish our walk a red admiral obligingly posed for a photo.

Red admiral

The tally; 34 species

Magpie, wood pigeon, blackbird, cormorant, lapwing, coot, tufted duck, black headed gull, great tit, blue tit, nuthatch, crow, dunnock, coal tit, robin, pheasant, jackdaw, mute swan, chaffinch, pochard, great crested grebe, Canada goose, greylag goose, mallard, teal, grey heron, house sparrow, tree sparrow, little grebe, moorhen, gadwall, great spotted woodpecker, jay and long tailed tit.