Little Marlow Gravel Pits

ON 1^st January at 10.00 33 members of the group met in the Spade Oak car Park for  the traditional New Year’s day morning bird walk. The weather was pleasant, temperature around 10⁰ C, not much cloud and little sign of the heavy rain that came on later in the afternoon. Quite a bit warmerthan when this picture was taken. Apparently Little Marlow Gravel Pits are now known as Spade Oak Nature Reserve.

There was quite a lot of mud and in places you need to take care to avoid coming a cropper.

On the lake there were large numbers of Gulls, Ducks, Lapwing, Canada Geese, Egyptian Geese, Herons, Cormorants, Moorhens, Swans and Coots.

In the trees surrounding the lake were Goldcrest, Fieldfares, Bullfinches, Woodpeckers green and Greater Spotted. One clump of trees had become a heronry and on an Island was a tree which was a favourite roost for cormorants.  We saw Kestrel, Red Kite and Buzzard.

Many in the group were lucky enough to see a Water Rail in reeds very close to the bank. The best sighting was when it scurried from one clump of reeds to the next. Water Rails spend most of their lives hidden in reed beds and are notoriously hard to see.

Book the date for 1 January 2013 as this is a very enjoyable way to start the New Year.

Click here for a map (SU884876).

Click here for information about Little Marlow Gravel Pits.

Click here for list of birds seen.