Saturday, July 24, 2010

Saturday 24th July 2010

A Willow Warbler singing in the car park was the first for a while, DK had another down along the Spit. On the main lake just 40 Canada Geese this week but still 102 Mute Swans. A couple of Reed Warblers were moving in the reeds opposite the VC.

Not much on Fingers, DK mentioned a Little Grebe which we didn't see, just a lot of Mallards, Moorhens and Coots.

After last weeks blank on singing Whitethroats we had a couple this week, one around Fingers and the other along the cycle track. We had a good look around the large lake on 100 Acre where we had juvenile Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe (possibly including a juvenile), Tufted Duck with single duckling, several Lapwing and a single Common Sandpiper. There was also a good size flock of Goldfinch feeding on the thistle heads numbering at least 40.

Just before we crossed over the bypass we spotted a Tufted and 8 ducklings on the L shaped lake next to the bypass. Not much on the Tern Pool, in fact little else until we got back to the Cut which we followed upstream along the Riverside side. Just before we crossed the stream we heard some young Sparrowhawks calling. We continued up to the park entrance and back down the other side of the Cut to locate the Sprawks again and managed some views of through the thick foliage. There were at least 2 youngsters judging by the locations of the calls and possibly 3.

Back to the car park and the Willow Warbler was still singing, a nice end to the morning.