There was a little bunting showing at Stanborough Lakes in Herts and we decided that this would be today's target. Having missed the waxwings last weekend and since they were still present in Cranfield, we made a slight detour on our route. Another early start resulted in us skipping our traditional early breakfast again - we joined a handful of birders already in position, one of whom was @David_A_Bird. Two weekends in a row I've met him ...
We turned the corner to find the waxwings high in a tree beyond the tree they feed in. They were slightly in silhouette, but a tick is a tick.
We wandered back round to the far end and the pair dropped onto the tree to feed and we were treated to close views. As good as I've ever had.
Now we stopped for breakfast enroute to Stanborough Lake and then pulled into the car park at the southern end. Our mate Nick Truby's car was parked up and so Nick and Anne (@old_caley) had arrived already - they had messaged earlier to say they might see us there. We joined them near the feeder where the little bunting has been showing. We joined a group quite distant from the feeder and waited. After about half an hour Nick and I picked out a bird which appeared to be our target but as soon as we were on it, it left. In about a further ten minutes a call went up on the opposite side of the brambles to say the bird was in view. We all decamped and made for the spot - and onto the bird - a life tick for Kev. The bird visited the feeder a couple of times and perched in the tree, tucked up against the branches making it tough to photograph. This brought Kev to 180 for the year.
We waited to see if we might get a better view, but the bird was only seen briefly and in poorer locations for viewing. Eventually we packed up and walked back to the cars with Nick and Anne - we left them deciding what to do while we drove to Stockers Lake - Sean Moore (@SeaninPinner) had posted a visit earlier in the day and we'd never been there. We arrived and made for the Cafe for a small lunch before heading out. We soon picked up a goldcrest in the trees, ring-necked parakeets over, and a kingfisher on the water's edge - gone before I could get a photo. Out on the water we could see four red-crested pochard - new for the year - we would need to get on the causeway to get better views, but still distant.
On our way we came across a pair of ring-necked parakeets and noisy as ever. We also stopped to watch a pair of great-crested grebe displaying - no weed dance, but lots of head bobbing.
We started a circuit around Stockers Lake and found three Egyptian geese, a flock of siskin and goldfinches, and then heard and saw a Cetti's warbler - always a treat. We stopped to watch birds at the feeder station and Kev dropped some cake crumbs on the tables. We saw a single chiffchaff amongst the tits.
We had hoped to connect with a tame mandarin duck but never found it before we reached the car. We now planned to head home and the M25 and M40 were now the best route - we'd be passing close to Staines Reservoir and decided to stop there to see if we could add water pipit to Kev's year list.
We climbed up to the causeway and scanned along the water's edge in all directions - I saw a bird in flight and on review thought it was the wipit ... Kev wasn't quite sure where I was looking and so I adjusted the scope until it was on the bird - tick. We walked along the causeway and saw the bird on a couple more occasions - we headed back to the car, stopping and seeing it fly back and forth between the north and east banks. Quite a day ... time for home.
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