Valentines Day Guided Walk

The weather was a bit dodgy, cold with drizzle clearing before the start (2C). Primary target for today's walk was the wintering wildfowl which will be departing for their summer breeding grounds in the next few weeks. First up however was a Great Black-backed Gull which flew in and settled in front of the Sailing Club. Then we had the scope on 6 Wigeon (3m3f) which were also in front of the sailing club. 13 Cormorants also lined up there, some of the adults are coming into their grey heads in preparation for the breeding season.

We headed off along the main path for a clockwise loop of the main lake. A group of ducks were close in to the north bank of the main lake feeding. We had good views of Pochard (m and f) and Gadwall (m and f). Turning we had 7 Redwing on the meadow feeding and managed a brief view through the scope until a dog flushed them into the bushes.

A quick detour down the Spit and around the Crescent found 2 male Tufted Ducks. A pair of Great Crested Grebes had started on their mating/nesting platform. Three Shoveler, 2 males and female, were also seen along with a few more Cormorants. The Crescent reed bed has had a section cut through the middle. Hopefully this will be as successful as last years cut, in boosting the reed growth.

Goldfinch and Long-tailed Tits were spotted as we wandered up along the canoe slalom and the river. No sign of the Grey Wagtail on the Canoe Slalom. At the main lake hide we were had a large flock of Pochard over towards the island with some Tufted Ducks closer, to the left of the hide, and 4 Wigeon keeping their distance just beyond the Tufteds. A wind surfer put the bulk of the Pochard to flight giving great views as they passed overhead before returning to the lake closer to the hide.

We walked through Press Mead and then cut back to the river to check out Fenlake. There was no sign of the hoped for Stonechat but we heard some Teal on the Fenlake pool. A flock of Canada Geese, with the Greylag/Canada cross, headed downstream on the river.

We turned back to the main lake, heading along the western side behind the sailing club. Little of note along here, a strange call caught my attention but it turned out to be a Great Tit, confirming the old adage, "if in doubt, it's probably a Great Tit". GT's have a wide variety of calls and songs to catch us out with! Finally, at the north west corner a Greenfinch leered at us from the top of a tree.

Quite a successful morning on the wildfowl front and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We await the dates for the next ones, stay tuned.

Sunday 7th February: Coppicing at Riverside Pond

Sunday saw the first task carried out by Priory Park's newly formed volunteer group. Eight volunteers turned out - despite a chilly early morning start - to coppice small trees and saplings from around Riverside Pond.

The aim is to improve the condition of the pond edges by removing trees that block out light and remove moisture from the ground. (The photo shows Leigh, with a bundle of ash saplings removed from one small area.)

A secondary aim was to cut back growth encroaching on the path around the pond and reopen a part of the path that had become almost totally overgrown.

Our eight stalwart volunteers quickly got to grips with the task and had soon cleared the path, creating a beautifully woven dead hedge from the material cut. Saplings and small trees began to disappear from around the pond and the dead hedge grew longer and longer. The photo shows Neil, one of our star hedgebuilders adding to the hedge.

A lot was accomplished on the day - if you pop down to Riverside Pond you can really see the difference its made. One lady walking her dog remarked its the first time in 10 years that she has been able to follow the path all the way around the pond.

So its grateful thanks to Leigh, Lin, Daniel, Neil, David, Alan, Paul and Geoff for all their hard work.

If you would like to volunteer and help out with practical conservation tasks around the Park our next task is Sunday 7th March: coppicing willow around Priory Main Lake and the Finger Lakes. Meet at the Visitor Centre at 9.30 to 9.45. Wear stout shoes (not trainers), outdoor gear, a packed lunch. We'll provide tea, coffee, biscuits and squash and you can earn Pride in Bedford points too. Below you can see us enjoying a well earned tea break!

Saturday 30th January 2010

Back to the cold! Quite a bit of Fingers was frozen again but there were a half a dozen Shoveler in residence along with about 5 Teal.

A Treecreeper was heard by Kramer hide.

It was very difficult to count wildfowl on the main lake as everything was spread out so much. Mute Swan numbers looked to have dropped off but Pochard, Tufted Duck and Gadwall were still present in good numbers. At least 7 Wigeon were also present. Last weeks Black Swan was not present today.

After a lap of the park myself and John joined Ed and EN to check out the nest boxes. We replaced 6 and took down a further 5 for repair. The Woodpeckers have damaged virtually every wooden box in the park. EN was ringing in the Rough and directing the rest of us to various places in the park to retrieve and replace boxes. On our return with the last set load of damaged boxes we found EN had captured one of the culprits, a female Great Spotted Woodpecker!

More details here:
http://ivelringinggroup.blogspot.com/2010/01/boxing-day.html