Wraysbury (28 January 2023)

Ten of us spent the morning on a rather quiet walk along the Colne Brook and adjoining complex of old gravel pits at Wraysbury. Before leaving our cars, we’d seen House Sparrow, Redwing and Red Kite. Each year we go here the quantity of birds, especially wildfowl, decreases. It used to be well known for Smew and even last year we had one very unexpected male and good views of Goosander. Four female Goosander were seen during the recce but typically, on the actual walk only Diana and I glimpsed a female flying past, diving then disappearing behind an island. On a positive note, we did see male and female Goldeneye along with Tufted Duck, Pochard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Mallard, Coot and Moorhen. Only a pair of Mute Swans were brave enough to come over and see if we had any food. Glimpses of 3 fieldfare and a small flock of siskin as they sped off ahead of us and a goldcrest pecking about in low ivy were good but hardly worth going to this less than pretty site for. Ivy around old trees also gave us more Redwing, Blackbird and another Fieldfare.

It was supposed to be a walk for winter wildfowl and thrushes but in fact Peregrines were the stars of the morning. One was seen flying up onto the top of a pylon and was soon joined by another. Telescopes were trained and Diana pointed out that the first bird had the horizontal, grey breast and belly barring of an adult whereas the second bird had the vertical, brown streaks of a juvenile. We left them sitting there and continued our walk crossing the river and going through seemingly great habitat but with no birds except for a Buzzard and another Red Kite. The bushes used to be filled with winter thrushes and where were the all the birds you might expect on the huge areas of teasels? Next, we slithered through the mud to Silverwings Lake but only added Canada Geese. Retracing our steps, we did a bit of litter picking and lamented the fate of this unloved site until we reached the pylon where the 2 Peregrines were still sitting. Suddenly a third Peregine flew in! It was another adult and we were able to distinguish the larger female from the male. This led to lots of debate about when the juveniles leave their parents. It was worth going to Wraysbury for the Peregrines but I think we might go to Moor Green Lakes instead at this time next year. I did a recce on Monday and saw at least 13 Goosander at this well-maintained site. It even has a café and toilets!

by Rebecca Dunne