U3A Natural History Group
Field Trip 17th October 2018
The sun was low and bright at Kiltonga Wildlife Reserve as we identified the birds.
Most in evidence were black headed gulls, although they were in their winter plumage with just a little dot of black on the cheek.
Next in prevalence came the mallard and also in the duck family were shoveler ducks, teal and a pair of gadwall (anas stepera) nodding to each other.
We also saw mute swans, moorhen and coot.
Field Trip 17th October 2018
The sun was low and bright at Kiltonga Wildlife Reserve as we identified the birds.
Most in evidence were black headed gulls, although they were in their winter plumage with just a little dot of black on the cheek.
Next in prevalence came the mallard and also in the duck family were shoveler ducks, teal and a pair of gadwall (anas stepera) nodding to each other.
We also saw mute swans, moorhen and coot.
We moved on to Floodgates, an area of mud flats and sand. Here we spotted a longer list of birds:-
- Heron
- Lapwing or green plover
- Oyster catcher
- Red shank
- Brent geese – thousands of them from Canada
- Little egret
- Curlew
- Great black backed gull
- Lesser black backed gull – with yellow legs
- Starlings
- Buzzard – being mobbed by rooks
- and the ubiquitous magpie
We drove slowly to Island Hill admiring the deep furrows in the dark rich soil and looking for hedgerow birds:-
Robin
A host of house sparrows
A pair of stone chats (so called because their call sounds like two stones being knocked together)
Great tit
Green finch
Gold finch
Starling
Over the water we saw a skein of Brent geese on the wing and oyster catchers (aka mussel pickers) in the mud.
Then to round it all off, we met a very excited man who had just witnessed a short-eared owl looking for prey over the far fields.
Pat Armitage
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- Brent in flight
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- Brent at Island hill
