Today we were at Riverside Valley park. Out with my DMC – FZ330, I predicted some good shots and I would be right, I just didn’t know it yet.
We started on a path which took us through some ponds and overall marsh areas. Being very cold indeed, most of the ponds had frozen over but had left little small holes. Our starting shot was of a pied wagtail hopping along the ice, surrounded by large shards of the stuff.
The very messy trail was splattered with freezing cold bogs and deep, icy puddles. The path gave good views out over the river Exe and the fields and trees. This was perfect habitat for Cormorants and there was absolutely plenty filling the skies here. As a bonus ,a distant Little egret was very welcome and it even posed for photograph. In an adjacent field, a grey heron soared low over the telephone wires.
After about 5 minutes after the egret, a Great Spotted Woodpecker started to drum in a nearby oak. I started to scan the higher branches with my viewfinder and just about found him. He was nestled deep in a crevice, demolishing the wood around him. This was a welcome sight and it happened there was two, both fighting and jostling for space.
The fields around us, even though people were everywhere at this point, there were still plenty of scavengers such as Carrion crows and Magpies.
We carried on walking well into the evening and V-shaped formations of Herring gulls started to fill the skies. This behaviour is common throughout winter as hundreds of gulls fly to their roosting places.
We carried on strolling and soon enough, there were hardly any people left. We took a path that led up to a bridge over the river and the views were magnificent. On one side about 40 Teal and Mallards. On the other side a Moorhen, 5 Mallards and a Canada goose.
Some other welcome additions were a Buzzard and a jay which posed nicely in some neighbouring trees.
Deciding we’d seen loads already and it was unlikely we would see anything else, we headed back to the car and a lovely sight was all the cormorants we’d seen previously, gathering on a single pylon. There must have been at least 50, the highest figure i’ve ever seen in one area, especially so close.
We finished with 21 species which isn’t too bad for a public park in the middle of Countess Wear.
The Bovey Birder 