Friday, February 01, 2008

Fingers - Friday 1st

Bright sunshine and a keen northerly wind. 30 Cormorants.
3 Ruddy Duck on Thurs. (DK). 8 Dabchick, split 5 & 3, 8 Shelduck, split 3 & 5, 5 Herons scattered round the site. On Wed. there were 2 male Tufted on lilypads playing "no mates" and only 6 Dabchicks. The pair of GCG were "at it" again, being saucy. 2 Water Rails (1 seen) in the reed bed. I saw the one that was "chased off" from the north corner over towards the bridge/path.
One thing I did notice was the paired up Robins & Dunnocks. Last week we noticed brood patches forming on both these species. This time it was obvious which bird was the male - and not just because it was ringed. Of the ones I saw, the females did not have a ring on, perhaps because they were "immigrants" from a part of the park that we don't net.
No drumming woodpeckers today; Ray Roche and I saw 5 Gt. Spots., 3 males, 2 drumming + 2 attendant females, challenging each other over lilypads & the crescent, only to disappear towards the C/M weir. No singing Mistle Thrush today either.

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