11th January: Widewater guided walk
Tim and I were leading a walk at Widewater lagoon for an event organised by the group World of Widewater. There were about 25 people turned up, although some were fellow members of the Shoreham birdwatching group who had come along with telescopes to help. Unfortunately weather conditions were not good with a cold wind blowing and keeping the birds low.
Initially we struggled to find any birds, then managed a Black-headed Gull in the telescope, which is actually a very attractive bird in close-up with its red bill and red legs. A Kingfisher was spotted on the far side of the lagoon, but unfortunately didn't stay around long enough for scope views. We had a similar problem with Little Grebes. A Little Egret then flew in, which cheered people up and then we managed to get a redshank in the scope, which many of the group found interesting. A small group of Teal were also looking very attractive in the scopes and wowed the non-experts. Tim located a single Common Gull and was able to point out the differences from the Black-headed Gull and also to discuss the fact they are actually not that common!
There was nothing evident on the rough sea, which was disappointing as at the same event last year we had Gannets, Red-throated Divers and Great Crested Grebes.
Annoyingly, after the event had ended and as Tim and others returned to the car, a Stonechat was seen, and a Red-breasted Merganser floated past as this was being viewed through binoculars. They would have been great birds to share with the non-specialists!
Initially we struggled to find any birds, then managed a Black-headed Gull in the telescope, which is actually a very attractive bird in close-up with its red bill and red legs. A Kingfisher was spotted on the far side of the lagoon, but unfortunately didn't stay around long enough for scope views. We had a similar problem with Little Grebes. A Little Egret then flew in, which cheered people up and then we managed to get a redshank in the scope, which many of the group found interesting. A small group of Teal were also looking very attractive in the scopes and wowed the non-experts. Tim located a single Common Gull and was able to point out the differences from the Black-headed Gull and also to discuss the fact they are actually not that common!
There was nothing evident on the rough sea, which was disappointing as at the same event last year we had Gannets, Red-throated Divers and Great Crested Grebes.
Annoyingly, after the event had ended and as Tim and others returned to the car, a Stonechat was seen, and a Red-breasted Merganser floated past as this was being viewed through binoculars. They would have been great birds to share with the non-specialists!
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