Planes and Staines

Staines Reservoir (North basin)

 Location to Heathrow

Distant Goldeneyes

Google Image of location

During a trip down the M40 to London for a couple of days (to coach Astwood Bank CC) we opted to make the most of it and visited a couple of local hot spots on route. The fog was very thick as we left the Midlands but thankfully it lifted just before Stokenchurch to enable us to watch 17 Red Kites all within a couple of miles.

First stop was Staines Reservoir which looked rather glorious in the morning sunshine. The Reservoirs sit right next to the main runways at Heathrow Airport. Two Little Grebe were calling as we entered the causeway and a number of Pied Wagtail were feeding along the edge. Wintering Black-necked Grebe were the highlight but viewing was very distant. There was once again good numbers of Goldeneye and Wigeon whilst I spotted a local Fox sunbathing in the east side. Other sighting included Tufted Ducks, Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Canadian Geese, Herring Gulls, Mute Swans, Shoveller and Teal.

The planes just constantly flew from the different runways. It is really difficult to comprehend how many people where flying in and out of that one airport.