Bullfinch on the Rhus tree

I was just about to head to Gloucester this morning when the phone rang for me.  Bruce was wondering if I wanted to join him on a trip to take photos of birds at the Cotswold Water Park, a jaunt we had discussed some weeks ago.  I quickly said 'yes'! 

He picked me up and we drove for half an hour chatting all the way.  The Water Park is a series of excavated gravel diggings which have been landscaped for new purposes.  Some are specifically for people to enjoy themselves with sailing, water skiing and swimming.  Others have become the sites of residential development or tourist accommodation.  But we were headed for the nature reserves where habitats are managed to increase the natural diversity and preserve local wildlife.  Birds are key occupants and have gradually made homes for themselves.

Bruce thought we would see some ducks but hoped we might see the great crested grebes do their famous mating rituals.  As it happened the birdlife was quite quiet and tended to stay far away from us in the middle of the lakes.  We walked all around one of the main lakes and had a good time, taking a few minutes in several hides that had been prepared for bird watchers.  In one of them a young couple with cameras showed us a photo they had taken earlier of an otter swimming close by a hide.  Sadly we missed it.

Eventually we drove back in mid-afternoon and I showed Bruce the old road following the droving tracks and we did stop for him to photograph a couple of kestrels sitting on electricity cables.  When we got home, I suggested a quick cup of tea and offered the possibility of a bullfinch for him to see for the first time.  One did fly quickly up and then away again before he had a chance to film it.  As soon as he left for his next appointment, three bullfinches appeared on the rhus tree and I managed to get this picture.  I think Bruce will be back and we may well spend quite a lot of time in the garden with our cameras, chatting ad waiting for avian company.

I am adding another picture of a pair of goosanders who were trying to show each other their expertise at getting weeds for their nest, or so Bruce said!  I think he is probably right.  Unfortunately they were very far away so this is a heavily cropped view