Blashford Lakes

Had a trip to Blashford Lakes this afternoon with my son to see what was about. We went to the Tern hide first but this was packed out so we decided to go over to the other hides across the road.
on our way we took the path to Ivy North Hide which was a very good move for the sight that greeted us from the windows was the Great White Egret I have been trying to get a good sighting of him for a while now. I have only had one very distance view of him from the viewing screen a few weeks back so it was good to be able to get a couple of record shots taken from behind the glass windows.

While watching the Great White Egret searching for fish, a flash of blue caught my eye and a Kingfisher was spotted flying  past the hide towards Ivy South.
Birds seen from this hide were, Great White Egret, Kingfisher, Moorhen,Mute Swan,Gadwall,
Great Crested Grebe,Blacked-Head Gull.
After spending some time here we made our way to the Wood Land Hide, just as we came out of the hide there was a large family of Long-Tailed Tits flitting about in the trees and scrub along with some Blue Tits and a Robin.

At the Wood Land Hide we had a short wait for the birds to turn up on the feeders my son likes it in this hide as you get to see the birds very close and they are the type of bird we get in the garden. While watching these birds we noticed a small Bank Vole mooching about under the feed looking for fallen seeds.

Above are some old pictures of the  birds one would see at the Wood Land Hide, while there we had good views of Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit (to fast to get a pictures) Nuthatch,

Then we went over to Ivy South Hide on the way I spotted a Jay fly over the path and a Blackbird turning over the leaf litter. We got to the hide and to our delight we found it empty. We had a good scan round out over the water were there was lots of Coots and other wild fowl. One bird caught my eye that I was a bit unsure about so out came the Collins Bird Guide, It had the features of a male Wigeon but did not look right seemed to have to much white and black along it's side and back end, but had a  pale blue bill, a dark head with a yellowish buff forhead so after much deliberating we decided it must of been a Wigeon.
One day when I was at this hide I had the great moment of capturing a image of a Kingfisher that came and perched on the old tree that had fallen in to the lake .

It was now starting to get late in the afternoon so we made our over to the Tern Hide to see if there was any spaces to sit down and have a look over Isbly water. Our luck was in and there was room for us, out on the water there were more Coots, Great Crested Grebes, Gadwall  and Egyiptian geese, and a large group of Shoveler.

and a small group of Pochards riding the choppy water out in the middle of the lake.

The following is a complete list of birds seen this day and it was a most enjoyable afternoon bird watching with my son

Great White Egret, Moorhen , Mute Swans, Mallards, Shoveler, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebes, Coots,

Kingfisher, Black-Headed Gulls, Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, Cormorants, Grey Heron, Lapwings,Tufted Ducks, Wigeon, Pochard,Egypitian Geese, Little Grebes, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Robin, Cole Tit, Blackbird, Jay, Magpie, Dunnock, Buzzard and a lifer for Meadow Pipits.