Bird-Watching

The wetland and riparian habitat around the barrage reservoir once attracted large congregations of migratory waterbirds in winter, and while numbers have declined in recent decades, early morning visits between November and February still reward patient birders with herons, egrets, kingfishers, cormorants, plovers, and a range of warblers in the riverside vegetation. Bring binoculars and warm clothes; the bank is exposed and mornings can be sharply cold in December–January.