January 22, 2025
The weather had been cold and dry for the two weeks preceding our trip but a wetter spell was forecast to be moving in any time. Luckily it didn’t arrive during our visit. In fact, it was dry and the air was still such that the water on the lake was flat calm. The only thing negative about the weather was the early fog! When we arrived at Mander car park you couldn’t see the shore on the Marlow Park side. However, as time passed the fog lifted and visibility improved.
We had an early unexpected success when a Kingfisher shot past immediately in front of us. Unfortunately, Jackie and I were looking the other way and missed it!
Other birds in view were Little Grebe, diving frequently, Tufted Duck busy preening, and the stars of the show, Goldeneye. These lovely diving ducks nest mainly in Scandinavia with a few in Scotland and are only seen ‘down south’ in winter. They nest in trees, or at Loch Garten where nest boxes have been provided on posts in the lake so the birds still have to scramble up several feet to reach them.
Male Goldeneye have large white patches on their cheeks which stand out from their otherwise black heads. Their chest is white and from a distance they look really quite white, far more so than male Tufted Ducks. Females are grey with dark reddy brown heads.
They have very penetrating golden eyes hence the name. And famously, Ian Fleming’s house in Jamaica was called Goldeneye.
From the hide at Valley Creek we saw lots more Tufted Duck, Coot and on the far bank quite a few Eurasian Teal and Mallard were tucked up under the overhanging trees and roots. A couple of Grey Heron were keeping watch but unusually no egrets.
Next, we walked along the cycle track and then across a rather wet meadow to Dudney Hide. En route, we saw Blackbird, Blue Tits and a Dunnock but no birds of prey.
From the hide we had close up views of Little Grebe, and more Tutfed Duck, Goldeneye, Teal and Mallard. Two Great Crested Grebe cruised up and the occasional Cormorant flew by.
All in all, a quiet day with no raptors, no swans, no geese and only a limited variety of duck species. But we enjoyed a dry walk with pleasant chat.
Little Grebe Grey Heron Grey Heron 
Dunnock