Cotswold
Water Park
The Cotswold Water Park (CWP) covers an area of 40 square miles, straddling the Gloucestershire/Wiltshire in the Cirencester/Fairford/Lechlade area. Located in the Upper Thames Valley the area comprises a large network of mineral workings from over 30 years of quarrying for sand and gravel. As a result there are over 140 lakes (and still counting as new lakes are created each winter) with extensive additional wetlands existing and being created at present. It is expected to become the largest man-made wetland area in Europe by 2050. The many lakes and pools of varying sizes are all conveniently numbered for ease of access. Two-thirds of the CWP lies within Gloucestershire and comprises some key birding areas such as Swill Brook Lakes (Lakes 46/48) for the Nightingales, Lake 57 for Hobby and numerous lakes for the 20,000 wintering waterbirds that use the CWP such as Lake 16 and Lake 114. Many of the lakes host large gull roosts and the 2003-2004 Winter Gull Roost count produced over 21,000 gulls of 6 species. Autumn passage for passerines and waders is also extremely exciting and wintering Bittern are frequently seen.
Furthermore in 2003 the Cotswold Water Park Society was instrumental in establishing the Cotswold Water Park Ringing Group (CWRG) in conjunction with bird ringers from both Gloucestershire and Wiltshire.
Maps with lake numbers can be collected free any the Cotswold Water Park Gateway Centre or at Keynes Country Park or may be downloaded at Maps. Monthly birding updates for the CWP can be downloaded at Birding. In addition, the CWP wildlife guide can be purchased from the visitor centres complete with checklists for the much of the wildlife that may be found here.
For more information about birding in the CWP, please contact Gareth Harris, Biodiversity Officer at the Cotswold Water Park Society; Tel: 01285 861459 or email Gareth.harris@waterpark.org or pop into one of the visitor centres.
The
The second and
probably more important purpose is to encourage birders visiting CWP to submit
sightings. All sightings are passed to Gareth at CWP and shared
with The Gloster Birder where appropriate. There are rules governing
publicising Schedule 1 Birds when necessary and security of private and
dangerous sites. All records
reaching the site (where included on the website or not) will be collated and
sent to relevant county recorders as is already done.
The site is operating as a Blog through Surfbirds.com and is available at: http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/cotswoldwaterpark/
Please use the site
when visiting CWP and help us by submitting your sightings when you return
home.
In
time, additional information will be added to this site regarding birding
locations, colour ring projects and so on.
It is difficult to recommend a starting point as there are so many good places to choose from, but Pit 57 in the spring is one of my favourites. There is always a good chance of something out of the ordinary here and it’s worth a visit just to watch the Hobbies.
The Water Park has had a good share of rarities in recent years, some of which have made both Gloucestershire and Wiltshire lists because of its geographical location. Recent rarities and scarcities have included Yellow-browed Warbler, Squacco Heron (my personal favourite here), Gull-billed Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Iceland and Caspian Gull, both male and female Red-footed Falcons, Pied-billed Grebe (Wiltshire only), Spoonbills and Little Egrets.