Wraysbury Gravel Pits

Wraysbury seems to be jinxed for our group! Two years ago most of us got caught in a torrential downpour about a mile from the end, then last year some of us didn’t make it at all because we were snowed in, so this year only 6 people turned up on an overcast day but at least it didn’t rain!

First to be seen were 4 Goldeneye who, having spotted us, immediately swam off to the far side of the lake, much to the dismay of the photographers. Going along the lakeside path, we saw good numbers of Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits, plus Blackcap, Robin, Dunnock and Goldcrest. Further along a male Goosander was spotted skulking close to the far bank, together with Mallard, Coot and Tufted Ducks. The usual bank of elder trees sadly held no Siskin and a favourite spot to find Water Rail also yielded nothing. However, we managed to accrue a total of 36 species, despite being led up the ‘garden path’ by Bernie to a dead end and a detour through brambles to get past several horses that had been left to feed off bales of hay on what should have been the main path!

The excellent company more than made up for the lack of birds so thanks to Bernie Upton for leading and hopefully next year we may have better luck.

Click here for the list of birds seen