Monday 25th Oct 2010 - Upton Warren

Today, me and the better half, decided to pop to Upton Warren NR for a few hours. We started off at the North Moors Pool and after about 20 minutes in the hide we were treated to excellent views of a Cetti's Warbler that kept coming out of the reeds add feeding in between the muddy reed stubble. A nice start to the day, as 8 times out of ten you often here a Cetti's explosive call but views are usually limited to seeing them fly from one bush and into another...in other words, over in seconds!

From the North Moors pool we walked around to the east hide at the Moors Pool. Around Amy's Marsh and the islands were 5 Common Snipe, 20 Curlews and c.60 Lapwings. Also present in this area were a number of Teal and a Grey Heron. Of note on the pool were 6 Pochards, quite a few Shoveller and small numbers of Tufted Duck. Numbers of wildfowl are now just beginning to build up for the winter.

We didn't see the elusive Bittern today, which was a shame as my wife is a big fan of the Heron family. I had best not tell her about the views I had of it the week before when I came here on my own!

Common Snipe - Upton Warren, 25th Oct 2010:

Curlew - Upton Warren, 25th October 2010: