Saturday 30th August

Overcast to start with a promise of sun mid morning which ended up being late morning / lunchtime! There were good numbers of mixed Tit and Warbler flocks working the Willows along the main path, the Crescent and the Spit. Treecreepers were heard but not seen along the Spit. A couple of male Gadwall were the highlight on West Fingers with the Mute Swan family taking up one of the fingers for a snooze/wash and brush up.


Met up with John as I headed back to the Steps and we wandered along by the Rough which was much quieter than last weekend. Some Bullfinches showed briefly but various Warblers stayed tucked away in the dense foliage.


Little else around Fingers, and the Woodland path for that matter. We continued out along the cycle path to Meadow Lane GP where we found a couple of Green and a Common Sandpiper, four Gadwall (2 pairs) and 7 Teal. The other side of the hedge line, in the new workings on 100 acre, there were at least 18 Lapwing along with more Green and Common Sandpipers (2 and 1) and Gulls galore, mostly black headed.


Back to the park and all quiet as we headed back along the river to Kramer hide. A stop at the hide yielded Heron, Kingfisher and a few Mallards. A number of territorial Migrant Hawker dragonflies gave us an opportunity to try for some photographs.

Continuing around we had 3 Grey wagtails at the canoe slalom before another birder put us on the Black Terns that had shown up over the main lake. These had obviously come in during the morning as there had only been half a dozen Common Terns when I arrived. Now there were mostly Black Terns on the south and east side of the lake, 8 in all. The Commons had been pushed up to the west end of the lake as happened when the Black Terns visited in spring.

Bank Holiday Monday catch

It should have been a better day than it was!
Overcast most of the time with a fair breeze - although sheltered in the 'rough'.
19 birds caught all told, but it dried up about 09:30.
Highlights were 2 more (very) young Song Thrushes, 8 young Goldfinches out of about twice that feeding on the thistles, 3 Robins, 1 each of the common Sylvias incl. a very fat (heavy) Garden W.
The Swifts did turn up eventually; we counted 19. The Sparr was up early and returned overhead when the martins collected; it had at least 2 unsuccessful attempts to bring one down. Both parties were at full tilt! Magnifico!

Ringing Report

A report covering the last 20 years has just been published by the Ivel RG. A copy has been lodged at the Bedford Central Library and at Bedford Museum. These are available for public reference.
The report covers all the species that have been caught in the park, all recoveries and controls and the longest durations between trapping dates. Tables shew the numbers of new birds caught and the CES results year on year. The report includes photographs.