My Birdwatcher's Guide: Wilstone Reservoir & College Lakes

It was a beautiful hot sunny day and I had just spoken to a Couple and they said there was not much about, mainly Canada Geese. I waited for my 2 fellow walkers to arrive but due to the fact that the Post Code was different to advertised on the Wilstone Reservoir website they got lost. They both called me and eventually arrived.

So we all then set off on a walk around the edge of the Wilstone Reservoir which is used by the Canal as a back-up water source aswell as the three other Reservors in the Marsworth/Tring area. As we looked out onto the reservoir we could see numerous Common Tern's swooping down and around in an aerobatic display hunting fish to feed their young back at their nests.

As we got to the corner of the Reservoir we noticed a number of Little Egrets in the tree's in front of us and also a huge Grey Heron, it seems that we might have a better day than the other Couple had.
On the corner you got across a bridge and then walk along a narrow wooded path which leads to a hide which is basically a piece of land which juts out halfway along, when we got to the Hide it was quite shaded and had a pleasant breeze passing through which was great as it was a very hot day.

The three of us sat down and waited with anticipation on what we might see. A couple of Swans intrigued by the sudden arrival of some people came to the side of the Hide. We could also see numerous Cormorants on a sandbank halfway across the Reservoir cooling down under some trees.
In the reeds in front of us, little birds kept flitting in and out, I think they were Reed Warblers as they had brown backs and we were very small birds. I went to the left of the hide to see what I could see and saw a couple of Coots with their young chicks, the adults kept diving down to find food and when they did the young ones called out. I was then very fortunate to catch a glimpse of a wonderful little bird, it was slightly smaller than a Moorhen but is a greyish brown, it was a Water Rail (below), they are very quiet, elusive birds and I count myself lucky to actually see one this time of year.

On that side of the hide I also caught site of one of my favourite birds, a Great Crested Grebe, they look so cool in the sunshine but every time I got focus on it with my camera it went under the water, I think I was quite fortunate to actually to eventually get a good picture of it.

Then from the distance I caught sight of a Little Egret flying towards us, it went around to the right of the Hide and sat in some bushes on the far bank, it could have been an old nest. I got a great picture of it, it looks like it is a plastic bird but I can assure you it was very real. It then flew off to the centre of some trees mid lake. The other fascinating sight was the number of Dragonflies that were swooping around the reeds in front of us. Blue ones, orange ones of all different sizes.

We didn't see much for a little while so decided to set off for our second location, College Lakes, which is owned by the Wildlife Trust and is only about 5 miles away.

When we arrived at College Lakes we set off for the main Hide just in front of the visitor centre which has a great view of the first lake and the islands where alot of birds seem to like.

A Green Woodpecker landed in a tree right in front of the Hide, they have a beautiful green back and red head, they usually eat ants and can often be seen on Golf courses in the Bunkers as the ants seem to like the sand and so do the ants. You learn something new everyday.

Then I saw something amusing a flock of Lapwings paddling on the far side of the lake, I didn't know they did that and I think even they needed cooling down from the hot sunny weather.