Staines Reservoirs and Stanwell Moor

While staying in the Slough area this week for some birding and bird-ringing, Hannah and myself took a trip to Staines Reservoirs which is located beside Heathrow Airport just 1mile north of Staines-upon-Thames in the Colne Valley Park. The moor and Reservoir are renowned birding sites for migration movement of warblers, waders, wildfowl and has an exceptional record of rarities in recent years.

A lovely circular walk around Staines Moor produced some good numbers of common migrant birds in the bramble and hawthorn scrub. 10 Blackcap, 4 Garden Warbler, 8 Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff, 100+ Swift, 60 Sand Martin and 20+ House Martin and Swallows flycatching over the grazing cattle. Along the river produced 2 Green Sandpiper, 1 Kingfisher, 15 Meadow Pipit, 1 Grey Heron, more Blackcap and Garden Warblers moving through the dense bramble patches.

The diversity of flying insects was amazing with 100's of Banded Demoiselles everywhere!! It was an extraordinary sight. Large numbers of Small & Large White Butterflies were evident. Further along the river we had nice flyover of a Hobby and counted 8 Green Woodpeckers together on the ground by the ancient ant mounds.

Banded Demoiselle

Staines Moor- Scrub full of warblers

Meadow Brown

Shortly after completing the circular walk we carried on to look at Staines Reservoirs where Tufted Duck, Coot, Mallard were in very high numbers 500+. Sightings of note included 2 juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls, 4 Black-necked Grebes, 20 Common Tern, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 1 Lapwing and 1 Common Sandpiper all of note from the centre causeway looking at the south basin.

Common Tern over Staines Reservoir