Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 6th January 2013

Visit to Moore Nature Reserve 6th January 2013

With a slight break in the weather we were determined to get out for a walk and, although the weather was not very promising when we set out, by the time we got to Moore it had picked up considerably and was warm enough for me not to regret leaving my jacket at home.

We had two things we wanted to do. The first was to try to see a Bittern that had been spotted a couple of days before around the Lagoon and Eastern Reedbed so we started by walking over the Fog Field and turned right along the path. We stopped off at the Birch Strip Hide that looks sideways onto the Birchwood Pool. There had also been reports of a redhead Smew that had been there for some time. We couldn’t see it there but there were the usual Tufted Ducks, Coots, Teal etc. We passed a couple of people that said they had seen a small flock of Waxwings in the woods to the right of the Pump House Hide. In the woods to the right was a small tree with white berries on and roosting in a tree behind it were around 8 – 10 Waxwings that occasionally came down to feed off the berries. We stood there for quite some time and, although we had seen nearly a hundred only recently in Manchester, these were quite close and even too close for a scope and gave us a good “year tick” anyway !

We continued along the path and just where the woodland path turns into the steps up to the public path we had good views of two Goldcrests and they bobbed around some brambles just to our left. We continued on until we reached the Phoenix hide at the far end of the site stopping briefly to look at a Kestrel in the sky and then a large murmeration of Starlings swirling around the skyline – there must have been five or six hundred – perhaps more.. There were a couple of chaps there that told us there had been a couple of Green Woodpeckers in the trees at the edge of  the Lagoon but they had gone by the time we got there.

We stayed around the hide for a little while but all we saw were Teal, a Grey Heron and a few Pochards and Tufted Ducks. We headed back down the way we came and we spoke to a number of people about the Waxwings and the Smew. We stopped again at the Birch Strip hide and we spoke to one chap that said that the Smew had gone off into a corner of the Pool and that it might be difficult to get a decent view now. Not being put off we headed for the Birchwood Pool East Hide – that is the big hide just by the little meadow. As we arrived there we asked a chap if the Smew had drifted off and he said no, that it was sleeping just behind the submerged trees right in front of the hide. We got reasonable views of it and were fairly happy that we had seen the bird and after a while it woke up and started to preen and eventually drifted out from behind the trees to give everyone brilliant and details views.

By this time we were feeling pretty good about our sightings but we fancied a quick visit to the Feeding Station Hide before the light level started to drop. The feeders were well stocked so there were plenty of Tits and Finches and we even got a Nuthatch and a Great Spotted Woodpecker so we felt that we had had a great afternoon’s birding and got a couple of good “ticks” in for the year.

Bird Sightings : Moore Nature Reserve