Winter waterfowl & some signs of Spring

The forecast for the weekend isn't brilliant, so I thought  I'd better take the chance to get out for a bit today. So after dropping Lou at work, I headed round to Coate Water to see what was around.

On the main lake, there were lots of Canada Geese, 4  Goosanders,  Great Crested Grebes and a large group  of Tufted Ducks, including one that was visibly different - possibly a Scaup hybrid. However, I couldn't get close enough for a decent shot to confirm. Most of the Wigeon have now left, apart from one last straggler.

Moving on to the smaller Nature Reserve lake, I spent a good couple of hours - mainly looking at tits! As well as the usual Blue, Coal and Great Tits, a large flock of Long-tailed Tits kept me amused with their antics, and a Marsh Tit was showing well. This is quite a new thing for this hide, but the bird seems to have been visiting quite a few times recently. 

Blue Tit

Also visiting the feeders were a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, and a couple of Coots & Moorhens. A Wren was rummaging around in the vegetation. A Water Rail was heard calling just behind the hide, & we were hopeful it might visit the feeders, as they occasionally do when it's cold. However, just after we heard its grunting call, a Sparrowhawk flushed all of the small birds.

Great-spotted Woodpecker - Male

There were lots of Teal and a few Gadwall, plus several more Goosanders and Great Crested Grebes. Apparently they were seen showing more courting behaviour this morning, including displaying with waterweed. I didn't observe this myself. However, the Grey Heron's were carrying nesting material back to the heronry so there are definitely a few early signs of Spring in the air.  I also spotted the Great White Egret visiting Coate fairly regularly over the last few months, flying past distantly. The Canada Geese were busy shuttling noisily to and fro between this and the main lake.

Long-tailed Tit

Further round the lake, Hide 2 looks out across a shallow backwater and small island. Generally, there were similar birds to be seen here, but also Pochard and Mute Swans - mainly juveniles.
On the island, over a dozen Snipe were hunkered down on the edges. A second group were flushed by a Heron flying in. The Great White Egret landed on the island, and one of the Kingfishers did a quick fly by, as did a flock of Redwings. Quite a few Cormorants fishing and perched up too.I heard a Green Woodpecker calling, but didn't see it today.

On the walk back to the car, I had Greenfinch, Goldfinch and a Goldcrest. Not a bad tally for a couple of hours of easy birding!