Middleton Lakes RSPB, Warwickshire, Britain.

A nice morning birding with friends from Spain under greyer skies than we are used to.

Ebird List for the Hall Lake.

Ebird List for Main RSPB reserve.

Middleton Hall Lake.

I arrived at Middleton Hall early and had a walk back along the entrance road to check the lake where I found good numbers of birds which included a Little (Garceta Común / Egretta garzetta) and 3x Great Egrets (Garceta Grande / Ardea alba), a Grey Heron (Garza Real / Ardea cinerea), Mute Swan (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor), Canada (Barnacla Canadiense / Branta canadensis) and Greylag Geese (Ansar Común / Anser anser), Common Shelduck (Tarro Blanco / Tadoma tadorna), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Northern Shoveler (Cuchara Común / Spatula clypeata), Eurasian Teal (Cerceta Común / Anas crecca), Tufted Duck (Porrón Moñudo / Aythya fuligula), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Black-headed Gull (Gaviota Reidora / Chroicocephalus ridibundus), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Western Jackdaw (Grajilla occidental / Corvus monedula), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Eurasian Blue Tit (Herrerillo Común / Cyanistes caeruleus), Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Common Starling (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulgaris), Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Fieldfare (Zorzal Real / Turdus pilaris) and European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

Great Egret (Garceta Grande / Ardea alba).

Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos).

I walked back to the car park and I was soon joined by friends Kiersten and Richard who I am more used to birding with down in Southern Spain where we all live and as much as I enjoyed their company I prefer to spend time with them down in Sunny Granada Province than in a cold, damp, grey UK.

Redwing (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus).

Redwing (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus).

Redwing (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus).

However we did have a very nice walk around a new site for me at Middleton Lakes RSPB reserve, we did a 4.5km or so walk along some rather muddy paths, at several points its very obvious that the local birds are used to being feed and the come in very close and even feed from your hand.

Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis).

Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis).

New smaller passerine species included Cetti's Warbler (Cetia Ruiseñor / Cettia cetti), Coal (Carbonero Garrapinos / Periparus ater), Eurasian Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit (Mito Común / Aegithalos caudatus), Eurasian Wren (Chochin paleártico / Troglodytes troglodytes), Goldcrest (Reyezuelo Sencillo / Regulus regulus), Eurasian Nuthatch (Trepador Azul / Sitta europaea), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos), Redwing (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus), Common Blackbird, European Goldfinch (Jilguero Europeo / Carduelis carduelis), European Greenfinch (Verderón Común / Chloris chloris), Lesser Redpoll (Pardillo norteño / Acanthis flammea), Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs), Great Spotted Woodpecker (Pico Picapinos / Dendrocopos major), Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis) and House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus).

Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula).

Common Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula).

Larger birds seen were Stock Dove (Paloma Zurita / Columba oenas), Common Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Rook (Graja / Corvus frugilegus), Eurasian Magpie (Urraca Común / Pica pica) and Eurasian Jay (Arrendajo Euroasiático / Garrulus glandarius).

European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

Out on and around the water we saw good numbers of species, some seen earlier but new species included 3 nice male Common Goldeneyes (Porrón Osculado / Bucephala clangula),  Common Pochard (Porrón Europeo / Aythya ferina), Great Crested Grebe (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus), Water Rail (Rascón Europeo / Rallus aquaticus), Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus), Northern Lapwing (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus), Common Pheasant (Faisán Vulgar / Phaisanus colchicus) and a rapid fly through from a Common Kingfisher (Martin Pescador Común / Alcedo atthis).

European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula) on the Mobile.

We returned to the car and then headed to the Dog Pub in Whttington village where we had a very nice meal and a drink, It was also nice to met Kiersten's Dad who had used to be a volunteer at the lakes we had just been to.

Kiersten photographing the very approachable European Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula).

I had the Pan fried Liver with Mash and it was superb, just missing very nice lump of crusty bread to mop up the sauce which I didn't want to leave, Thanks Kiersten and Richard.

We all headed off, I went just down the road to see Son Alan, Daughter-in-law Becki and the little monsters Ryan, Zach and Finn, it was great to see them all for a while but they had got the builders in doing some tasks so I headed off back to Mom's.