Wildfowl and a woodland walk at College Lake

I took Bug Mad Girl and her Little Brother to College Lake this morning, in the hope that they'd burn off a bit of their pre-Christmas excitement. College Lake is a fabulous BBOWT nature reserve that's considered one of the best places in Bucks for water birds. There are lots of hides and woodland trails and the kids had a great time.

The view of the lake

More of the lake - with one of the hides

They see a huge number of species on the reserve - we only saw a few of these today.

We walked down to the hide in the lake and saw mute swans, widgeon, mallards, tufted ducks, lapwings and pochard. We also spotted a couple of herons and a cormorant.

A cygnet with a pair of wigeon

Tufted ducks (black and white) and a pochard (grey with brown head)

Lapwings

Mallards

A mute swan 'running' across the water to take off

Mute swan

Tufted duck

Wigeon

Then we headed off to the woodland walks and had a look in some of the woodland hides. There were lots of Great Tits, Blue Tits, Chaffinches and even a few Coal Tits.

Male chaffinch



Female chaffinch

Coal Tit

Great tit

Then I was treated to an impromptu Christmas play ....

The actors took a bow

Mission accomplished - fresh air, fun and worn out children!