Saturday 14th August 2010

Very wet on arrival, keeping me in my car for a while until the worst of it cleared through.

Mute Swan numbers remain constant, just a single Canada Goose and ~70 Coot on the main lake. A single Little Grebe was on the south side of the island.

Nothing on the Canoe Slalom this week. 8 Heron on Kingsmead and a Kestrel in one of the trees on the far side.

Back into the Finger lakes near the Sedgewick Seat I heard a Treecreeper in the Willows and a bit of patience was rewarded by a sighting. From the Spit I spotted at least 3 Gadwall. Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard.

Around the Crescent Kingfisher was heard over East Fingers.

As I headed back to the car ~7 Common Terns arrived and chased noisily around the main lake. Very quiet otherwise.

Swallows seem to be on the move south with several parties noted passing through including a 9 and 30, the latter skimming low across the main lake before gaining height and disappearing.

More ringing results

On the 8th, we returned hoping to do better than last week. We suceeded - just.

Wren 1, a recent fledgling
Robin 3, a mixed bag of youngsters
Blackbird 2 (2)
Song Thrush 1, a recent fledgling
Whitethroat 5, including an adult completing its wing moult, a sign that it will soon depart for Africa
Garden Warbler 3, scruffy youngsters getting 'dressed' for the off
Blackcap 3, included a new adult male
Chiffchaff 2
Willow Warbler 1, number 4!
Long-tailed Bushtit 1, a stray youngster
Blue Tit 3 (2)
Great Tit 1 (1)
Chaffinch 1, a fine male
Goldfinch 2, possibly a pair
Bullfinch 1, a breeding last-year's female.

Well, that was 35, but we had to exploit two sub-sites to reach it.

Back for another go next weekend, if the weather permits.

Saturday 7th August 2010

A fairly quiet morning with very few Warblers seen/heard, but at least it wasn't raining this week. No Canada Geese on the main lake but Mute Swan numbers remain a similar levels with ~99 + the 3 cygnets, although they were difficult to count this week with a large number tightly grouped together by the island. There was also a single Tufted Duck on the main lake. There seems to have been a die off of Bream with at least 3 dead fish noted at the beach end of the main lake and another spotted rolling about on the surface, seemingly in distress.

On Fingers the Mute Swan family were in the usual position on one of the islands in front of Kramer hide, in fact I'm not sure they have moved in 3 weeks! On west fingers at least 5 Gadwall were spotted in amongst the Mallards. It's a bit more challenging this time of year, with all the males in eclipse plumage, identifying individuals but good fun all the same. Kingfisher was also heard and seen from Kramer hide and later at the Canoe Slalom.

At the Canoe Slalom, as well as the Kingfisher, at least 5 Grey Wagtails were seen, along with a large cloud of, less welcome, midges.

Just a family of Common Whitethroats between the Woodland Walk and Fingers, our only Warbler count of the morning. We also had a single Common Blue butterfly by the south entrance to the Woodland Walk.