Fleet Pond 28/02/26

Well, the year is racing on, isn't it! I've been meaning to go out with a younger birding friend for a while, and finally, an opportunity presented itself last Monday, when a Ring-necked Duck was found at Moor Green Lakes in Berkshire. Plans were made, but on Wednesday, the duck disappeared from Moor Green. With the plan to go out on Saturday, it was a shame for the duck to have gone AWOL, but later that day it was found over the county border in Hampshire... brilliant. Fleet Pond is brilliant to get to from public transport- the pond is literally right outside the train station. So plans were finalised, and with the duck seemingly staying put and apparently showing well at times, I woke up on Saturday morning really looking forward to the trip. I was dropped off in Alton, met up with my friend, bought our train tickets, and got on the train. 

The journey went smoothly and was graced by a Sparrowhawk whilst waiting for our train at Brookwood. 

We arrived at Fleet at 9:06 and immediately walked over to some birders who seemed to be looking at something. A few Redwings were in the bushes, and a few Blue Tits and Great Tits were around. After looking around the pond, we couldn't see any sign of the duck, so we headed up on top of the car park to get a better view of the pond and see if the birder up there had seen it yet. Unfortunately, he had not, so we set up our scopes and started scanning the lake. 

There were plenty of Tufted Ducks, Canada Geese, Mallards, and Black-headed Gulls. There were also a few Pochards, Cormorants, Greylag Geese, Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans, and Gadwall. 

A Greenfinch was heard calling, and some more Redwing were moving about.

With no sign of the duck, we went back down and walked onto the small viewing platform to get some close views of Pochard and Great Crested Grebe.

With nothing much moving about, we started walking around the lake. A Pied Wagtail flew over, and there was quite a bit moving around the woodland area. We stood for a while watching some stunning Siskins, a few Goldfinches were about, along with a couple of Robins, Wrens, Great Tits, Blue Tits, and some more Redwing. A Reed Bunting was calling from some reeds, as well.

We continued on and made it to another viewing platform, where some Cormorants were much closer, and some more Gadwall, Tufted Ducks, Greylag Geese, and Black-headed Gulls were visible. 

This was really, really great. There was so much to look at, and while the target duck was not appearing, there were so many cool things to watch. So much of the time its so easy to just ignore the more common things in pursuit of a rare bird, we end up not enjoying ourselves. But here we were with no sign of the duck, absolutely loving it. Due to the large range of habitats here, there was such a variety of things, and some really cool birds around. The weather was absolutely brilliant, with the sun beaming over the reserve, and a cool breeze moving through. This was, other than the absence of the duck, perfect. 

A Great Spotted Woodpecker interrupted our scanning of the lake, and after watching it for a bit, we moved on. 

We continued on, stopping off at various points to look over the lake and scan the trees for anything interesting. 

As we made it to the top of the lake, we saw a deer that was just standing therebefore it went off into the woods. 

We continued on and saw another Great Spotted Woodpecker, and another group of Goldfinches and Siskins, a few Dunnocks were on the move, along with a Goldcrest and its scarcer counterpart the Firecrest. Numerous Great and Blue Tits were also about, and a few Wrens were singing. 

We made it to another viewing platform which produced brilliant views of Tufted Ducks, Gadwall, and Mallards. An impressive 17 Mute Swans were around the platform, and some Moorhens and Coots were around. A Cormorant flew over as well... there were just birds left right and center!

We continued on around and made it back to the car park, having completed a full circuit around the pond. The Redwing were still about, but were all stubbornly refusing a photo. 

We got on the platform we started at again, and watched all the ducks, still scanning for the Ring-necked Duck but to no avail. A stunning Great Crested Grebe came very close in good light, but after a while of watching everything, we moved on heading towards a bench, where we sat down, discussed the day's birding so far, and ate lunch basking in the sun. 

Finally, I managed a photo of a Redwing, not my best but here it is.

Lunch was thoroughly enjoyed, and we both agreed that the Firecrest was probably the best thing we had seen so far, along with the smart drake Gadwall, Siskins, and the Pochards. Despite the absence of the duck, we were thoroughly enjoying ourselves.

A Sparrowhawk put in an appearance before flying off over the lake. 

We decided to do a loop around the heathland and woodland, so we headed off in that direction. 

We spent a while walking around, with a Nuthatch, another few Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Coal Tit, a heard Green Woodpecker, a stunning Jay and another Firecrest seen. The variety was just incredible!

After enjoying all the wood and heathland birds, we made it back to the pond, and with time disappearing quickly, we decided to start heading back in the direction of the train station.

As we went round a corner, I noticed a Grey Heron flying in amongst the reeds, accompanied by an egret... of sorts. "That might be a Great White!", I cried. "Yep",
came the reply from my companion. And a Great White Egret it was. It actually had a frog in its mouth as well- very, very cool to see.

We were looking through some trees, so we walked around the path to an open area, where we got just incredible views of this "long-legged beasty" as it has been described before.

We moved on as it went out of view, and soon came to one of the viewing platforms. I scanned and didn't notice anything new, but my friend exclaimed: "There's a Goosander!" And there sure was. I got onto it and got some photos. Yet another brilliant species! This was fast becoming a favourite place for both of us. 

We watched the Goosander for a while longer before heading back to the viewing platform by the station, watching a few things, including a Great Crested Grebe,
there for a bit longer, and, very reluctantly, headed to the train station and took the train back. Incidentally, we saw a third Sparrowhawk of the day on the journey back!

Well, what a wonderful trip. So many incredible species seen... it hardly feels sad we missed the duck... If you're thinking about a trip to Fleet Pond at some point, I'd definitely recommend! The variety of incredible heathland birds, woodland birds, and wetland birds makes for an incredible experience. There's not too much around at the moment, but hopefully something will turn up soon. I must admit I am finishing this post very, very late... things have just gotten in the way, and we saw so much, the post has taken ages to write, and so many photos to edit! Well, hope you've enjoyed!

Also, to explain why no garden updates were put out on Saturday, I was busy with a mock exam last week, so I didn't have time to fit anything in. Hopefully be back this Saturday!

:)