Trip to the RSPB Ouse Washes and WWT Welney
Saturday 26th November 2005

It was a cold morning as we gathered in the Water Meadows car park and there had been a slight snow fall overnight. Nine of us set off in two cars heading for the RSPB Ouse Washes near Manea.

On the A10 Ely bypass, those in the leading car had the pleasure of seeing a Little Owl fly across the road just in front of us. As we approached the RSPB reserve however the clouds came over and the rain started and continued as we disembarked in the reserve car park. The rain soon stopped and the sun appeared; the pattern of sun followed by showers was to be repeated for the rest of the day.

Our first port of call was the Visitor Centre around which there was a fair amount of bird activity on the feeders and in the bushes. Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Tree Sparrows, Yellowhammers and a single Brambling kept us engaged for several minutes. The laggards who left the Visitor Centre last, were also treated to the sight of a single Waxwing sitting on a telephone wire.

On the reserve proper small numbers of the usual wintering ducks: Pochard, Gadwall, Tufted Duck and Wigeon plus a few Mute Swans. Waders were represented by a Ruff and Redshank. Retracing our tracks back towards Welney we were rewarded with good views of large numbers of Whooper Swans in fields adjacent to the road as well as a large mixed flock of Golden Plover and Lapwing.

At the WWT Welney reserve, we had more good views of wintering wildfowl : Wigeon, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Shovelor, Shelduck, Gadwall and Pintail. We also had good but distant views of a female Peregrine Falcon sitting on a gatepost and later flying, creating havoc amongst a flock of Wigeon. Waders were represented by Dunlin, Ruff, Redshank and a Black-tailed Godwit. Perhaps the most impressive sights of the afternoon were the flights of Whooper Swans coming back from the fields to roost on the waters of the reserve.

As we left the reserve, in almost total darkness, a ghostly apparition took off from a fence post and disappeared over the river bank. It might have been a Barn Owl; it was certainly fairly large and light coloured.

Stuart Harrison (photographs courtesy of Dave Jennings)

Bird List for the Ouse Washes and Welney