A Red Start To The Evening

We parked the car in the car park. We were at Fernworthy reservoir in the Dartmoor national park. We started walking. There was a wonderful view out over the wavy water. Swallows and swifts filled the air with aerodynamic displays, the swallows skimming the water and flying parallel to each other. We carried on to the dam not seeing anything. The scope was getting heavier and heavier. It was the first time I had used my bag for the scope.

We walked along a road for a minute before taking a very steep path down to a little pool of water behind the dam. We got down there and realised little shapes on the water. Ducklings! We looked through the binoculars and saw the female leading them around the pool. After this, we carried on up to the other part of the dam. The beach down by the shore was very wet and sandy so we took the path that lead us through some scrubby land. After a while, we came beneath a large coniferous forest.

Then, a chiffchaff called out, almost drowning out the sound of the water. We carried on along the path and there were lots of shapes flitting around the trees. We catch sight of one, feeding on buds. We get the binoculars on it. It is quite hard to identify as it is silhouetted against the sky. We wait for it to move. The, a yellow body and a black cap come into view. A male siskin. I feel pretty good walking away as that was only my second siskin so far.

We carry on walking and come to a bird hide. We set up the scope. While watching some mallards, an unfamiliar call pierced the air. I look at the willow it came from. A small brown bird sits on the branch, calling and looking quite unfazed at how close we are. A female redstart! A lifer for me! But this wasn’t all. Just then, the male flies in for a brief second, looking striking as ever. A beautiful orange breast and a light grey head. Then he flies off again. There was still more to discover though. We see the female manoeuvring itself closer to the roof of the hide. Just then, it flies into a large pipe. I see the chicks lifting their beaks up and competing for the food. The female flies out again, zooms through the air and launches herself at a fly. After that, she flies back to the nest again.

I was absolutely dumbfounded by this, a shy woodland bird was this close to our gazing eyes. We left with a heavy heart, not wanting to leave them but there was still more to come. We carried on along the path and saw a beach behind some trees where we could see some Canada geese. We walked through the trees and to our shock, it wasn’t just 4 or 5. There were around 45 of them! We carried on.

We eventually came to another beach. We could see 2 white dots out in the centre of the reservoir. We set the scope up and had a look. They were 2 summer plumaged great crested grebes! This wasn’t a first for me but it was a second and I enjoyed watching them bob along the choppy water.

We carried on walking and found a buzzard up in the sky.