Whelford Pools

What a surprise!  We arrived at Whelford Pools, near Lechlade, on Saturday 10 Feb in pleasant sunshine.  We almost felt that spring was in the air… and we weren’t the only ones.

Our visit to this Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust reserve was originally scheduled for 7 January, but had to be postponed because of bad weather. We headed first to the hide, overlooking an old gravel pit, which is now home to a good assortment of waterfowl.  A very smart male goosander on the far side of the lake appeared to be trailing something behind him, but this turned out to be a female in a courtship posture, swimming almost flat to the surface of the water right behind the male.  It took a while, but he eventually took the hint!  Other ducks seen on this first lake included pintail, wigeon, gadwall, goldeneye and common and red-crested pochard.

Our route took us through extensive areas of tree planting associated with a posh lakeside development where we were very pleased to see a flock of siskins feeding on cones at the top of some alders.  The final part of our route took us down a track adjoining open arable fields, where we spotted linnets and skylark, as well as three hares, and found what we later decided was a pheasant’s egg by the side of the road.

Many thanks to our sharp-eyed leader, Andrew Mann, for identifying such an impressive list of birds, totalling 46 species. The full species list can be found here.

Sue Morton 17 February 2024