College lake in the sun

-- NOTE - This post was done in March 2012, but I have posted it so that it appears as having been published on 19th June 2011 -- 

College lake is one of my favourite reserves around my area to visit. Its not only a huge wetland habitat but contains a lot of scrub and woodland too, meaning a very large diversity of wildlife is attracted. Highlights there for me in the past have been sightings of a hobby, as well as a huge range of wildfowl. The lake itself is man made, and I think I'm correct in saying the site was originally a chalk quarry before it was flooded to form the lake which now makes up the majority of the reserve. The photo below shows the view across only a small part of the lake, with the sun shining on the water...

Due to the diversity habitats there, there's generally something to see all the way through the year. Whenever I go, I usually try and visit the feeding station they have there which is always very busy and has some interesting species. The first bird to show up though was one of the more common ones, a Robin. This one looked a bit scruffy but came up close for a nice photo...

Chaffinches were pretty much a permanent feature on these feeders, and it was rare not to see any there at any one time...

One of the birds I wasn't expecting to see at the feeding station was a yellowhammer. I've seen them plenty of times in the wild before, but never feeding with other birds at a feeding station. This one was happy to feed on the floor, picking up all the seed that had been dropped by the birds on the feeders above. The photo below isn't great and is more of a record shot but I'm happy that I got at least one shot of it before I left.

Larger scale feeding stations like this one also attract other ground feeding visitors though. Rats were pretty common there, which I can imagine is unpopular with some visitors to the reserve. I don't really have a strong opinion either way on them, although it did appear that numbers needed controlling a little here. The photo below came out quite nicely in the end.


Given the time of year, it was unsurprising to see flocks of blue and great tits with a number of fledglings. The majority of them were feeding themselves but there were still a few younger fledglings being fed by their parents. The suet balls were the food of choice, held in a sort of basket feeder.

After a few minutes of watching, I spotted a different bird moving around with the flock of blue and great tits- a marsh tit! I hadn't seen one before so seeing one up so close was quite exciting. Telling them apart from willow tits is very difficult, but I think I made the right decision here. I could be wrong though so please correct me if I am :) The cap of this bird was slightly glossy, which is one of the only differences between them and willow tits, so I think I'm right on this one- please correct me if you think I'm wrong. Being much less common than any other bird at the feeding station, and also in significant decline, the smart looking marsh tit grabbed my attention for a while, and was probably the best part of the trip in general.

So onto photographing it then... well lets say I probably could have done a better job! The first photo below was so nearly a brilliant photograph. The marsh tit was sat on the wire that can be seen in the photograph. I had set up my camera perfectly, zoomed in and focussed on the wire, but just as I pressed the shutter button, the bird took off. So the photo shows the bird just about to fly out of the shot. At the time I was really disappointed to have missed such a good opportunity. But after looking at it a few times, I actually quite liked the effect I had created. Although the bird came out quite blurry, I like the way its positioned in the photo, and also the nice blurred out background. Overall, the picture actually looks quite arty- completely accidental but it definitely turned out a bit better than I thought it had...

I did manage to get a couple more shots, but both are record shots really

So moving on from the feeding station, I then wandered around the reserve for a while. There's a path which you can follow which pretty much takes you round the whole lake, and through all the other habitats they have there. When I was there, I didn't really think to take any photos of the overall scene of the reserve. So the only pictures like that that I do have show only a small part of the reserve. The photo below shows a blurred out teasel plant in the foreground, with part of the lake and one of the newer hides in the background.

On the way round the reserve, a flower I hadn't seen before caught my eye on the edge of the footpath. I had no idea what it was until I spoke to someone walking past about it. He told me it was a Bee Orchid. I'm useless on flower ID but this one will definitely be remembered for next time- it has a very distinctive appearance. They are apparently relatively widespread around the UK if you know where to look. This BBC page explains some of the basic information about where to look for the various orchid species in the UK. And this site explains in more detail about Bee Orchids in particular, such as its distribution and the factors which are threatening it as a species.

And then I came across these daisy-like flowers (identification please). I used to know what they were but I've forgotten now :)

I also need some identification help on the bird in the photo below. Looks to me like it could be a juvenile pied flycatcher? I thought it could have been a juvenile whitethroat originally but it looks to be the wrong shape and with the wrong type of bill. I could be wrong though. The photo is pretty poor- was taken from a distance and cropped quite a lot. The bird was also sort of hidden in a bramble bush so it only appeared occasionally. See what you can make of the photo..

That's all for now everyone, keep checking back to the updates list as I still have a lot to add.   

My first Hobby

My last posting was largely about the flowers I saw at College Lake a couple of weeks ago. The weekend after that, I went to College Lake again, but this time, I was in search of some birdlife. This time of year is certainly a busy time at the lake and it was tricky to focus on any particular bird. However, there was one bird that stood out that little bit more. This bird is a new first for me and was definitely the highlight of the visit- a Hobby!

Yep, amongst the usual birds at college lake, a Hobby was seen whizzing over the surface of the water. It was sometimes hard to pick out the bird at a distance, especially with hundreds of swifts flying in the foreground. I was amazed at the speed of the Hobby as it flew effortlessly around. Such a striking bird too, with its streaked black underside and red-brown leg feathers. It hardly stopped to rest either and was constantly speeding around.

I was unable to get any photos of it, mostly because it was too far away, but also because it was almost impossible to follow. There were plenty of nesting Canada Geese around, as well as a few waders such as Redshank. I saw some goslings too, many of which were still sticking very close to their parents, maybe because of the Hobby. How vulnerable they looked. They were tiny compared with their parents.

As we walked around into the woodland section of the reserve in the sunhine, I saw a plenty of butterflies around, especially in the quieter areas. I managed to get a few shots of a Speckled Wood Butterfly which sat on the ground as if it was sunbathing. I have to say that they are not particularly colourful compared with some of the other butterflies I saw that day, but nice to capture nevertheless.

In the tops of the trees, Chiffchaffs were heard as we walked through the dense woodland. On my last visit, I saw a Willow Warbler, so it seems that the reserve is packed full of migrating warblers at the moment. I also heard plenty of Green Woodpeckers and Pheasants. Through much difficulty, we worked out that the terns which were flying around the lake were Common Terns and not Arctic Terns, which aren't seen inland.

So, all in all, a great trip to College Lake, and another few birds to add to my year list. Hopefully I can get some more photos next time though.

Wild flowers of College Lake

Last week, I took the chance to go to College Lake Nature Reserve not far from where I live. The range of wildlife there is fantastic, mostly because of the widely varied habitats. At this time of year, the number of birds at College Lake is quite amazing. Swifts, Swallows and House Martins whizzed around overhead, and plenty of waders were around too... but even more impressive at this time of year were the wild flowers.

A picture of part of the reserve is below. The views were really spectacular. Its great to think that such an amazing habitat is on my doorstep.

Not long after arriving, we came across a small group of Bluebells around a tree. They have got to be one of my favourite plants.


Whilst I am on the theme of blue, below is a photo of a Blue Tit we saw just a bit further along the same path. College Lake had a large number of nestboxes scattered around the reserve on various trees and buildings. I saw a pair of Blue Tits pop in and out of one of these boxes as we walked. The female was taking in beakfulls of nesting material. The one in the photo below looks in remarkable condition.

I was quite surprised to see Primroses on the ground too. The little purple flowers surrounding the Primroses are Violets. I had never seen Wild Primroses before, so I was very pleased to see the ones in the photo below.

On the way around the reserve, we also saw Cowslips on the edges of the path. In the sun, the yellow flowers were very colourful. See them in the photo below:

I got a close-up picture too.

Violets were very common throughout the reserve, and I saw a good number of bees and butterflies surrounding them.

I've no idea what the flowers in the next photo are. Please forgive me if the ID is glaringly obvious, but i'm still new to flowers. The flowers hadn't come out yet but the buds were colourful anyway.

As we walked around to the woodland section of the reserve, we saw plenty of teasel swaying in the wind. It was around this point where I saw what I think was a Willow Warbler singing in the trees judging from its song and brighter plumage than the Chiffchaff. Both of these birds are apparently quite common in the spring around College Lake.

So there you have it. The flowers which I saw on the 2 mile walk around College Lake. I visited it again this weekend, and I may post on that visit soon. But my eyes have been glued to the garden birds today, as I saw a fledgling flitting around.