16th April 2016

Plenty of migrants around the park over the last week or so. Weather has been variable with plenty of rain and some sun. Saturday it was the turn of the rain and although miserable for us humans it seemed to bring in the birds.

There were a lot of hirundines over the main lake when I arrived, mainly Sand Martins but a few Swallows mixed in. Swallows seemed to increase as I watched the flock skimming low over the water, many perched up on the buoys for a rest. Many of the Swallows were looking a bit worse for wear, hopefully there will be enough insects about so they can feed up and return to A1 condition for the breeding season.

Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps are now in, in good numbers. I heard a single Lesser Whitethroat singing by the Labyrinth on Saturday morning. No Common Whitethroats in the park yet although DK had one on 100 Acre in the week.

Chiffchaff

The Finger Lakes Great Crested Grebes seem to have worked out what they are doing, nest building has kicked into high gear with occasional pauses for mating.

Mating Grebes

The neighbouring Coots already have 4 chicks but border wars continue with the Coots one door down!

Coot making a splash on the edge of his territory

Other species also have young by the looks of this Woodpigeon egg that I noticed floating on the Finger Lakes on Sunday morning. The neat edge indicates a successful hatching rather than a predation. The adult bird would then have carried the shell away from the nest to avoid attracting predators to the area. 

Wood Pigeon egg.

I was hoping to photograph the Grebes on Sunday morning as we had a lovely clear start to the day but they were much too busy with the nest building and mating to bother coming in front of the camera. The Coots were a little less shy and the male Mute Swan (Orange 180) did a quick check of his territory.

Coot

Mute Swan

As usual 100 Acre is the star location at the moment with a good variety of wildfowl and waders. Wigeon numbers are way down and I expect the last few to depart anytime. A pair of Red-crested Pochards have been around for the couple of weeks at least so wondering if they may nest if they haven't already. With all of the flood water waders have been stopping off as they pass by on their journeys north. On Saturday morning there were 14 Dunlins along with a couple of Little Ringed Plovers, a couple of Greenshanks, a Redshank and the usual Oystercatchers.

It's always worth looking through the Wagtail flocks at this time of year and on Saturday, with the Pied Wagtails there were a couple of Yellow Wagtails and a couple of White Wagtails.

White Wagtail

A couple of Wheatears were my first of the year and on Castle Mill there was a single Shelduck which I always like to see.

Back to the park and it's that time of year again so the rangers have started the egg oiling to control the Canada Goose numbers. The main lake island was the first port of call and the numbers show that we really need to keep doing this work to keep the numbers down.

• Canada 40 nests – 234 eggs treated.

The following nests were noted but left alone.

• One Greylag nest – didn’t count the eggs.

• One Egyptian Goose nest with 6 eggs.

• One Swan nest.

• At least 6 mallard nests.

The Canada Goose eggs are oiled and left in the nest so the adults keep sitting but the eggs won't hatch. If the eggs were just taken away the Geese would likely lay again so the rangers would have to keep visiting each nest to remove eggs throughout the season. There will be plenty more to do, all along the river as far up stream as Queens Park. There will be some that don't get found but at least we won't have hundreds of extra geese this year.

Canada Goose

Easter Weekend

With a storm on the way for later in the weekend and the Good Friday forecast looking good it was an early start on Friday to try to make the most of the good light. With 100 Acre still under water it was back to the Spit for another go with the pair of Great Crested Grebes on the Finger Lakes. Without a hide there is a lot more waiting involved for the birds to get used to my being there and, even then, they are still not approaching as close as I would like. Anyhow here are a some shots from the session which mostly turned into a Coot session!

Coot

Coot feeding

Great Crested Grebe

The Grebes didn't spend much time in front of me, in fact the female seemed very interested mating but the male looked less than interested, you might even say confused by the whole thing. They have built a platform from weed and reeds and the female kept posturing and laying down on the platform but the male refused to mount her and in the end she gave up. Hopefully the male will get the message and we'll have a nest and some eggs in the not too distant future.

The spot I am using for the photography is right on the border between 2 Coot territories and is a regular feeding area for one of the pairs so there was more opportunity to photograph the Coots. Unfortunately the territorial disputes were all too far away for any decent shots.

Saturday was grey and windy but did remain dry as forecast so I had a wander around the park with DK. We had all the usual stuff the highlight being the first good number of Sand Martins which peaked at ~29 over the main lake. Still no Blackcaps but there are several singing Chiffchaffs dotted around the park. A handful of Siskins are also still sticking around but I'm sure they will depart fairly soon. It has been a good winter for Siskins in the park. They have stayed throughout and have been seen most days.

On Sunday 15 people joined me for the guided bird walk. The forecast looked good for the morning but as usual it proved less than accurate. Things started well with ~20 Sand Martins over the main lake and a small party of Siskins on one of the Alders along the Spit. The Siskins were very confiding and hung around to give great views for everyone. They weren't put off by the group walking past and were still there when we came back a few minutes later. I'd managed to get some photo's of them in the same tree before the walk started.

Female Siskin

Female Siskin

Female Siskin

Further along the Spit I showed the group a very well used Otter spraint point. There was some very fresh spraint in evidence along with quite a few older ones. Otters tend to find an obvious place to deposit a spraint and this case it is an old mole hill. This acts as a territorial marker post for any Otters in the area.

Moving on we checked out the "Heronry" which is very slow to progress this year. After last years 2 nests we had been hoping it would continue to develop but so far only a single nest is consistently occupied. On that nest one of the birds has spent some time sitting this weekend so they might have eggs but it's not certain as yet. The other nest has been occupied at various times but not consistently.

A single female Teal and a pair of Shoveler was the best we could muster at the Kramer hide. Over on Kingsmead we had three Common Buzzards over the woods and Cormorants showing juvenile, non-breeding and breeding plumages which was most helpful.

No Otters at the sewage works bridge but the Cetti's Warbler did sing for us and Kingfisher did a brief flypast before we moved on to 100 Acre.

Along the cycle track I showed the group a beautiful Long-tailed Tit's nest before we moved onto 100 Acre and the weather caught up with us with a heavy shower and hail. We managed to stick it out and even found a rather miserable looking Redshank on the island during the heaviest part of the downpour. As it eased off we found a couple of Oystercatchers and various ducks including Gadwall, Wigeon and a pair of Red-crested Pochard. A Snipe gave brief views as it flew in and promptly disappeared in a clump of grass.

Having got a good soaking I gave the group the choice of continuing on or heading back and with another downpour looking likely the decision was made to head back.

It was a pretty good walk with a good number of species recorded, shame about the soaking but that's nature! The next guided bird walk is Sunday April 24th at 9am, meet outside the visitor centre, hopefully we should be inundated with summer migrants by then!

19/03/2016 - flooding subsides

The flood water went down very quickly last week with just the Finger Lakes remaining at a higher level. Everywhere around the park is accessible now except for the Crescent where you still need wellies to get through.

100 Acre is a little less accessible, you definitely need your wellies over there and the final field is still too deep for wellies. Having said that it's well worth having a look over there as it was a wader fest on Saturday afternoon.

Redshank 6+
Dunlin 2
Lapwing 60+
Golden Plover 150+
Snipe 30+ (May have been as many as 50 but not sure if the 20 I saw was just a sub group of the 30)

2 Ruff were also reported by others in the morning.

Other noteables were:

Pintail 3 (2m1f)
Buzzard 3

1 Rock Pipit was also reported by others in the morning.

9 of the Oystercatchers

Back in the park the first Sand Martin of the year was reported by DK this week. The geese are taking up positions on the main lake island. Looks like we may have 3 nesting species this year with the Canadas, Greylags and possibly a pair of Egyptians. The high water in the Finger lakes seems to have put the geese off for now.

With the high water on 100 Acre scuppering plans to photograph the Little Grebes again this year I spent Sunday morning on the Finger Lakes hoping the Great Crested Grebes might display. They are building but don't seem that excited about the task and I didn't see any displaying, although they did disappear for a while. One of the birds did catch a nice Perch, I assume it was the male as the other bird quickly arrived on the scene hoping for a gift but that never materialised and the male managed to get it down eventually. The male often catches a fish and presents it to the female to strengthen the pair bond. It shows the female that he is capable of providing for her and her young but this guy obviously still has a bit to learn!

Male catches a Perch

Female arrives hoping for a breakfast gift

Great Crested Grebe

The Finger Lakes Mute Swan family is down to 3 remaining young. The adults seem to be tolerating them at the moment but they seldom spend time with them now and I'm sure they'll get the boot soon so the pair can get on with the business of producing another batch of youngsters this year.

Adult male Mute Swan (Orange 180)

Male Tufted Duck

Easter Sunday is the next guided bird walk. The clocks also go forward 1 hour at 1am so don't forget to change them. The walk starts at 9am and we meet outside the visitor centre.

Priory Volunteers 07/04/2013

I made another early start in the park today in the hope of seeing the Otter again. Someone else had the same idea and beat me to my favoured spot so I set up half way along the Spit. It was much colder this morning than yesterday, -2°C and still dropping.

A single Lesser Redpoll showed well along the main lake reed bed by the Steps. There were at least 6 Little Egrets in the Roost this morning on west Fingers and a Water Rail in the Crescent. 10 Fieldfares passed over, west.

Less cloud meant better light as the sun came up, not just a five minute gap like yesterday. Unfortunately the Otter didn't show and the Great Crested Grebe kept its distance. A pair of Gadwalls were the only things to keep me interested.

Great Crested Grebe

Male Gadwall

This male Gadwall can easily be overlooked but look closely and you see some exquisite plumage and the golden light this morning helps as well!

The female Sparrowhawk was near the nest at Kramer hide. I think this will be a project for me throughout the year assuming the nesting goes well. At the moment both birds are staying over the back towards the nest and there are a lot of small branches in the way for photography. Hopefully we'll see them on the more open perches as time goes on.

Female Sparrowhawk

After the early morning rounds I joined the volunteer group to open up the fence around the Rough ready for it to be fixed/replaced. Another great turnout of volunteers so we managed to complete the entire task in record time. Great work everyone, see you next month.

Saturday 06/04/2013 - Otter

A fantastic morning at Priory Country Park. The lure of last weeks Otter sighting got me out of bed early and at the park by 06:15. With good cloud cover it was the sort of morning where I was expecting to see Sand Martins over the main lake but they still haven't made it to us yet this year. I was keen to get to the Finger Lakes but had a quick scan of the main lake and the sailing club lawn. I was hoping for a surprise wader at the sailing club but again came up blank. On the main lake there are still a few Pochard and plenty of Tufted Ducks. A pair of Gadwall and 9 Greylag Geese were found up at the Beach.

A quick loop around the Crescent flushed a couple of Corn Buntings from the reeds and a Water Rail into the reeds. At least 9 Little Egrets were still at Roost at the far end of the Spit on the east side.

Along the Spit 3 Bullfinches were active and a Chiffchaff was heard singing over by the Dead Seat. A pair of Canada Geese reluctantly gave way as I headed down the Spit. 3 Great Crested Grebes, 3 pairs of Gadwalls and a male Shoveler were all noted on the lakes. I settled into the last fishing swim on the Spit looking out over west Fingers and waited for the Otter to show. A couple of Little Grebes appeared from one of the reed beds opposite. I waited a bit more. A Coot flew noisily from my left and landed near the Little Grebes. Looking back to where the Coot came from I spotted a sleek body dive, the Otter was there. I must have walked past it as I walked along the Spit.

Otter (West Finger Lakes)

It swam past me checking me out and then porpoised just to my right and I thought it was going to disappear down the end of the lake as the bubble trail headed off that way. I stood up to get some final shots only for the Otter to surface right in front of me. It crashed dived immediately and I thought that would be the last O saw of it but no, it surfaced again further along the Spit, moving close into the bank. A few ripples in the water and then nothing. I waited, then moved across the Spit to the opposite fishing swim, looking over east Fingers. I suspected the Otter might have sneaked across the Spit, in the closed section and I was right. Just a few ripples close to the bank under a tree at first then the Otter showed again and it came my way.

Otter (East Finger Lakes)

3 times it tried to come past me but each time it went back again and the third time i think it worked its way along the edge of the Spit going away from me. That was the last I saw of it but what a morning.

Great Crested Grebe (West Finger Lakes)

Back along the Spit one of the Great Crested Grebes was showing quite well so I set up in another fishing swim hoping there might be some interaction with one of the other GC Grebes. That didn't happen but for a few moments the dawn sun broke through the clouds and the light was golden, absolutely beautiful!

DK and JA arrived a little later and we did our usual circuit of the park but there was little of note. 100+ Wigeon and a Redshank on 100 Acre and the female Sparrowhawk near the nest at Kramer hide being the highlights of the rest of the mornings wanderings. Still no Blackcaps!