Guilded Walk - Sunday 27th April

It was another good guided bird walk on Sunday with 10 people joining me. We started off along the main path checking out the main lake where we had a few Sand Martins and Common Terns for our main points of interest. There was also a brood of 9 goslings with a pair of Greylag geese and a brood of 11 ducklings with a Mallard cross, an all white female.  

Mallard cross ducklings (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

At the Crescent we stopped for the Reed Warblers which are in the reed bed and also had a few Tufted Ducks and a pair of Great Crested Grebes on the Finger Lakes.

Earlier I had an Otter on Fingers in pretty much the same place as I had the one last weekend.

Along the east side of Fingers we found a Common Whitethroat along the fence line next to the Navigation Channel.

There wasn't much going on from Kramer hide, the Herons didn't carry through with their nest building so we just have a small pile of sticks in the fallen Willow to look at! Maybe they'll be back next year and give it a proper go.

Moving on we followed the Navigation Channel towards the STW reed bed where a reliable Sedge Warbler was singing strongly still. We then moved on to 100 Acre where we had the usual good selection of birds. The stunning Yellow Wagtails were probably the highlight over here but Shelduck, Little Ringed Plover and the escaped Black-winged Stilt were also popular with the group. With a backing track of singing Skylarks it is always a joy to be over on 100 Acre.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Juv) (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

Little Ringed Plover (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

Shelduck (m) (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

Yellow Wagtail (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

Despite the fresh earth works on Castle Mill the Otter tracks we found last week were still uncovered so we were able to have a good look at those.

Otter Tracks (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

On the way back to the visitor centre we stopped off near the entry to the Rough and had a couple of Garden Warblers singing, one in the Sheep Pen and the other in the Rough. At the visitor centre we finished off with a Pied Wagtail which was on the roof.

Pied Wagtail (Picture courtesy of Ray Piercy)

Thanks to Ray for all of the photo's taken during the walk this month. 

The next Guided Bird Walk is the Dawn Chorus on Sunday 11th May for all you insomniacs out there. We start at 04:00 and meet outside the visitor centre as usual. Please make sure you wear plenty of layers as it can be quite cool to begin with and there is usually a bit of standing around to start with as we enjoy the chorus.

We are back to normal at the end of the month with a 9am start on Sunday 25th May, same meeting place.