Birdwatching Walk

With a dusting of snow and temperatures of minus-4 with the wind chill, the cold,winter weather didn’t dampen anyone’s spirit’s on the Birdwatching for Beginners Walk,at Carsington Water, Derbyshire today with a brillant turn out of over 25 people that braved the icy conditions as the winter sunshine shone down on us all.

Carsington Water has been a very popular visitor attraction since the reservoir was opened by the Queen in May 1992,the reservoir is owned and operated by Severn Trent Water and is a centre for outdoor activities.Today I joined the rangers and Matt Merrit Editor from the Birdwatching Magazine as we took a trip around this beautiful reservoir,I was invited by Matt to take photographs for an article that will be in the March issue of the magazine.Introductions out of the way and we headed around the reservoir looking out for what ever birds would brave the conditions and show up,stopping off at various different places and making best use of the wardens knowledge of this area.

As you can see from the photograph above conditions where very clear and cold but we didn’t have a great deal of luck apart from the usually common species,but we did managed to find a Redshank feeding on the shoreline and a lone Lapwing against the snow,the images can be send below

Carsington Water run these walks on the first Sunday of every month and they also put on more advanced walks that specialise in certain species and are aimed at the more experienced birdwatcher.Myself and Matt had a great day and it was lovely to meet such nice people and I hope you all learned something. look out for the article which will be in the March issue of the Birdwatching Magazine and if you would like to join the next walk please contact Carsington Water 01629 540 696 and they will tell you all the details you need or alternatively drop me a line on my ‘Contact’  page and I will answer any queries you may have.