Saturday 14 December – Chew Valley Lake Leaders : Robert Hargreaves, Anne Crowe

Twelve of us met at Herriotts, with some faces that were new to me. ‘Good to meet you’. As we arrived the start of a mostly blue sky opened up. In the hour we spent there, we found nine Shelducks, 20 Shovelers, three Pintails, 40 Teals, twelve Pochards, two Water Rails, 25 Lapwings, 80 Cormorants, three species of Herons (Ardea are Herons) a Marsh Harrier, a Kingfisher, a Bearded Tit seen by two people as well as a Cetti’s Warbler. There was a lot of discussion about a Yellow-legged Gull, put down as a Lesser Blacked-back Gull, though later it was confirmed as Yellow-legged Gull. Going round to Heron’s Green, a Red Kite and Redwings flew over. We added three Goldeneyes (one male close in), two Little Grebe and a few Chaffinches. By now, the cold had become too much for one member, which was a shame, as at Woodford, out the wind, it was very pleasant. Along Walley Bank we found eight beautiful Goosanders, Red Kite again and Buzzard, another static Kingfisher, both Woodpeckers, one Jay, two Goldcrests charmingly picking insects as they climbed up, and then fluttering down like leaves, three kinds of Tits, and a Song Thrush. Most left for lunch at this point, but for those that stayed a Slavonian Grebe was seen from Stratford, and back at Herriotts as dusk arrived, about a 15,000 Starling murmuration, and over a 100 Egrets coming to roost, with Cattle Egrets the most common. 55 species for the day. Thanks to Anne for her assistance in leading the walk with me
Robert Hargreaves