Day 138 - A Nature Ramble at Wonderful Washington Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust (Say that 5 times fast!)

Hi all today's Day 138 and I have recently been at an amazing Nature Reserve over near Newcastle, the Washington Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust site, which helps endangered species over in other countries by taking them over here and breeding them . This is really good as you get to see birds that you won't see anywhere else in Britain, as well as helping foreign birds out. I saw loads of species that I had never seen before including one that I have always wanted to see. (You can see which below).

Anyway, here is the list of birds:

British Woodland Birds:

• Bullfinches, 4 (I love seeing the vibrant colours on these).

• Blue Tits, 6 (These are a common garden bird but still great to watch).

• Great Tits, 3 (Very similar to Blue Tits but bigger and they look more manly [That's what I think anyway]).

• Greenfinches, 2 (Quite big for a garden bird but not as big as pigeons, blackbirds etc).

Long Tailed Tit

• Coal Tits, 3 (I don't see these very often and they are very nice to watch).

• Long-Tailed Tits, 4 (These are one of my favourite birds).

• Robin, 2 (One of the most common and tame birds).

• Dunnocks, 2 (They are hard to differentiate from some other birds but are lovely to watch).

• Wrens, 2 (They are actually the smallest bird in England!)

• Great-Spotted Woodpecker (I have done a posts on these very recently, they must be common this time of year!)

Ducks, Geese and Waders:

• Mallards, 10 (These are probably the commonest duck in England).

• Common Sheldon, 25 (I don't see these very often but they have beautiful colours on them).

• Ruddy Sheldon, 5 (I have never seen one of these birds before. New Species: 1).

• Tufted Duck, (I see these most times I go to lakes and I mistake them for Goldeneyes a lot of the time!)

• Eider Duck, 12 (They make one of the best noises I have ever heard, ohh! New species)

• Hooded Merganser, 10 (They are beautiful birds and have a huge tuft on the top of their head. New species: 3).

• Bufflehead, 5 (New species: 4).

Smew

• Mandarin Duck, 5 (They are probably the most colourful bird that I have ever seen in my life. New species: 5).

• Black Swan, 1 (Seeing a Black Swan really messes with your mind, you expect it to be white, but it's black! What?! New Species: 6).

• Trumpeter Swan, 2 (They have another great call, they are aptly named as it is a sound exactly like a trumpet! New species: 7).

• Pink-Footed Goose, 2

• Greylag Goose, 5

• Bar-Headed Goose, 5

• Barnacle Goose, 7

• Ross' Goose, 20 (New species: 8).

• Red-Breasted Goose, 15 (New species: 9).

• Hawaiian Goose, 4 (New species: 10)

White Headed Duck

• Hawaiian Goose Gosling. 4 (New species: 11)

• Andean Goose, 1 (New species: 12)

• White-Headed Duck, 5 (Looked more like a Blue-Billed Duck to me! New species: 13)

• Pintails, 6 (New species: 14)

• Smew!!!! 6 (This is the bird I have always wanted to see. New species: 15)

• Black-Bellied Whistling Duck (Dad really liked these, they have a very quiet soft whistling call and they are quite a shy bird. New species: 16)

Bean Goose!

• Tundra Bean Goose, 1 (This bird is not usually seen in the North of England so was very interesting to see. New species: 17)

• Toulouse Goose, 2 (These were very inquisitive birds but they were huge! New species: 18)

• Avocets, 6

• Lapwings, 20

• Canada Goose, 10

• Heronry, had about 50-60 birds in it. (I have never seen one of these before).

• Ferruginous Ducks, 2 (New species: 19)

• Bronze Winged Duck, 3 (New species: 20)

American Wood Duck

• Argentine Red Shoveler, 2 

• Goosander, 2

• Redshanks, 8

• European Cranes, 2 (We saw what was probably their courtship dance and I managed to record it! Watch out for a post soon. New species: 21)

• American Wood Duck, 2 (New species: 22)

It was a great place and here is the link to their website if you fancy a visit:

Washington Wetlands and Wildfowl Trust

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.