Birds at the Quoile Pondage

Following on from yesterday's post when I featured the Long tailed ducks that I was fortunate to see at the Quoile Pondage, today I am showing you the rest of the birds I saw there.

The Quoile’s rich mosaic of habitats is regulated by the daily fluctuations in water levels.  Marsh plants grow along the river fringes, with reedbeds, rushy grassland and willow scrub.  Freshwater habitats are rich in insect life, providing food for fish such as Rudd and Eels which, in turn, feed Grey Herons, Cormorants and Grebes.

 

Mute Swans

 

 

This is a diagrame of the Quoile Pondage.

 

 

You could spend all day walking along the path that surrounds the Quoile River, taking in the beauty adnpeacefulness of the whole.  However I stopped the car at various places along the river to take photographs as it was raining off and on most of the day.

 

 

 

 

This was a shot I took on the other side of the second shot.  A lone Swan. 

I think if I was a Swan, I would like to live on this undisturbed river.

 

 

 

 

This was one of the views as I walked along the toepath.

 

 

The first duck I saw was this female Goldeneye.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were quite a number of Mute Swans, and I think by now, (if you have been following my blog before), I do look Swans and always stop and photograph them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some Wigeon feeding on the far bank.

 

 

 

 

This is collection of  'mixed up' Mallards and cygnets.

 

 

Close up of cygnet

 

 

 

 

 

 

This shot may give you an idea of the size of the river at this point.

 

 

The rest of the cygnets turned up to join one of the parents.

 

 

Female Mallards are really lovely ducks when you see them close up. (I think )

 

 

 

 

Three male Mallard in line with females at the side

 

 

This is another shot of the Long tailed duck I featured yesterday and it was near the middle of the river between the shot above and the Wigeon on the bank. 

 

 

A beautiful male Goldeneye sailed past.

 

 

 

 

I left that area and moved a mile further down the Quoile River to this hide where there was a fresh lake and usually has a lot of ducks, waders, grebes, cormorants adn swans, however that day, there was not that much there.

 

 

This is a view from one of the open windows.

 

 

I don't know whether you can see them or not, however the birds in the air are mostly Lapwing

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I will finish with this shot and you can just see the Mountains of Mournes in the background.

I have a short video which can be accessed at

http://youtu.be/rcHaB_yrTdA

If there is a black space below, click it and the viedo will appear.



Many thanks for visiting and also thanks to those who kindly leave comments.