Stourhead tetrad continued

Carrying on from yesterdays post, I've just walked down the hill from Top Wood and cut across towards the footpath between the Garden Lake and where it says Iron Bridge. That little strip of water at the bottom left of the Garden Lake is where I found the pond with lovely reflections and a flash of electric blue as a Kingfisher sped along towards the main lake. The colours were so vibrant what with the beautiful blue sky and the luscious leaves of the laurels alongside the pond. I took a moment out from listening for birds to take some photos.

This photo is just looking back towards Top wood. Time to get back to birds and surveying! This small waterfall was at the north end of the Iron Bridge Lake (where the fishing sign is on the map). There were several fisherman out on this lovely Saturday morning. Not many waterfowl on this lake though, possibly because of the fishermen. Just a few Mallard and a Moorhen. This old redundant waterwheel was in the same area. I am now at the south end of the Garden Lake and walk under this dodgy looking bridge to get a good view of the lake. Here there is much more water bird activity. You'll see that my tetrad cuts this lake in half, so I have to estimate where the line is and count all the birds I see up to that line. Tricky! I was able to count Tufted Duck, Pochard, Coot, Black-headed Gulls, Mute Swans and Canada Geese from my viewpoint (which is shown below)

It was then a case of turning around and walking south down the lane towards New Lake. The sun flickering through the trees along here was lovely.

Tomorrow, I'll finish off my walk around this tetrad which has proved to be my most productive for birds out of the ones I've done so far since starting these surveys last year.