Friday 10th. February 2012

Acting on information received , thank you Simon / Mote Park-A Wildlife Patchwork , I made an early start to arrive at Mote Park just after 0830 , on another very wintry day . With all the work going on on the site , I had to park some way from previous visits , and made the 'Old Pond' my first port of call . Work has also been done here and with a fairly high water level , it didn't look good for Water Rail or a possible Jack Snipe . In fact there wasn't even a Common Snipe to be seen , an the

best I could do was a Little Egret , that could well have been at it's overnight roost . I then headed off around the lake , with 'Red-heads' as part of my target species . With the majority of the lake frozen over , I found that I had chosen the wrong end to aim for , as apart from a few Canada Geese and Black-headed Gulls , a Grey Wagtail , being videoed by a chap , was all that I found . I retraced my steps , passing the Old Pond again , even the Little Egret had gone , heading for the end where the River Len enters the lake , and the only areas of open water . On the way , I checked the Little Owl tree , and found nothing . But , as soon as I got down to the waters edge , I found 'red heads' , only

trouble was that they were sleeping Pochard males , not the Goosanders or Smew that I was hoping for . A search along the Len didn't turn up a Water Rail , or any Siskins in the Alders , but did

produce several Wrens . Just before the bridge , I met Dave , a local birder , with whom I spent the rest of my time on the site . Dave had hoped to find the Teal that Simon had spotted earlier in the week , but there was no sign of them today . I had noticed that there hadn't been a single Winter Thrush seen since I arrived , but shortly after mentioning it to Dave , a flock of about 25 were seen over the rough grassland on the other side of the bridge . WE stayed close to the waters edge on the far side of the lake , checking every reedbed and overhanging tree , but found nothing but Coot , Moorhen and Mallard . Getting back to the car park end of the lake , which I had reached earlier on my own , Dave suggested we had a look at another lake , outside the park , but viewable from within . After a slippery descent , we were looking through a wire fence into the other lake at Turkey Mill , and were joined by another local birder , Ken . As we arrived , one of my targets , the

Goosanders started moving from the bank into deeper water , and I was able to get a few shots  , here , five of the six drakes and a single red head . Typically , they moved to the furthest side of the lake and started diving amongst the bankside reeds . Four of the drakes left the others and tried their

luck up against what looked like a Victorian follie . Later the males dived together near a small bay on the far bank , and although I didn't realise it at the time , one appeared to catch a decent sized

fish , which caused a bit if a stir with the others . The fish is in the bill of the right hand drake . Of course , when any red heads came along , the drakes used the occasion to do a bit of showing off .

Just before we left the Goosanders , we were joined by another local birder , whose name I'm sorry to say , I can't remember . Dave , Ken and I , decided to return to the old pond , which was still very quiet , so we headed for the Little Owl tree . No sign at his usual hole , but a distant sighting higher

in the tree , before it was spooked by a couple of Jackdaws , and headed quickly to it's hole , not to be seen again . We had another look for the red head Smew where the river meets the lake , but , with workmen and machinery in the area , we never did find them . WE headed back to the Old Pond , and

to our delight found two Water Rails feeding out in the open . The clear views did not last for long

though , as soon after , the birds headed back into the cover of the dead reeds . We got sightings for

quite some time , but never again out in the open , staying well out of view behind the vegetation . We also met Simon's mum at the pond , and whilst we were engrossed in the Water Rails , 2 certain , possibly 3 , Simon's mum was fairly sure she had 3 Green Sandpipers fly off from the bay of the main lake , below the Old Pond . Ken left us here and headed home , Dave and I headed back to see if we could get any closer to the Goosanders , which we couldn't . So we headed back to our original

vantage point , from which I got just one shot of all 11 Goosanders . Their intention then became apparent , as all 11 took off , very unexpectedly , and were gone . I tried to get a shot in flight , but it

didn't come out as well as I would have hoped for , because of our position , surrounded by lots of tall trees . On the way back towards the Old Pond , a/another Grey Wagtail was seen , and also a couple of Brown Rats . I stayed at the pond for a while getting odd sightings of Water Rail , but none out in the open , and Dave made his way home . A really enjoyable away day , thanks to Dave , Ken and ( sorry ) A.N.Other , I'm terrible with names , really enjoyed your company .
As for targets , Goosander and Water Rail , but no Smew . In the words of Meatloaf , 'two out of three ain't bad' . And finally , thanks again to Simon for the information .