23rd September Guided Bird Walk

How lucky were we? Well very if we are talking in weather terms, the rain held off and although rather grey and cool it was better than wet and windy.

Five Meadow Pipits passed over the Visitor Centre heading south east although one turned and headed back the way it came.

Five people turned up for the walk this morning and having had my usual early wander around prior to the start I was a bit concerned about finding much of interest but we didn't do too badly in the end. We were fortunate right at the start when 12 of the 20 Wigeon, myself and DK had seen earlier, got up and circled the main lake with a couple of Gadwall, before departing to the north east. There were good numbers of Coot and Great Crested Grebes in front of the Visitor Centre and a single Tufted Duck mixed in. Grey Heron and Cormorant were also perched up on a couple of the buoys giving good views. A small number of Black-headed Gulls were also present.

Down at the dipping platform on the main lake we stopped and had a look at the hirundines over the north east corner of the main lake. First thing, before the walk, Swallows had dominated the counts with 40-50 present but now there seemed to be quite a few House Martins and Sand Martins with a smaller number of Swallows. Siskins were heard and sounded as if they were heading down to the Alders by the Crescent. This was the story of the morning as far as Siskins were concerned, often heard but never seen. A shame as we had seen 6 in the Alders yesterday morning.

We headed down the Spit and had good views of Gadwall, Shoveler and Wigeon as well as the usual Mallards and Moorhens. A Treecreeper was heard in the fenced off area at the end of the spit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker, Common Buzzard and Blackcap were also heard here.

We had a good look in the Alders by the Crescent and across the navigation channel, for the Siskins, but failed to locate any.

Next up we headed down to the Steps and around to the Rough where we found 3 Teal by the dipping platform opposite the Rough gate. Again we had good views as they were stood on a branch in the water, preening. Around at the Sedgewick Seat we found a small party of Long-tailed Tits and in with those was a single Goldcrest which was not so easy to see. We continued on and as we came out of the Finger Lakes section I spotted a Hobby coming over the Long Hedge, heading across towards Kings Mead. A brief but satisfying view of this beautiful raptor.

There was little else of note as we failed to pick up a Kingfisher along the Navigation Channel and the Canoe Slalom was devoid of Grey Wagtails. There was a larger party of Tufted Ducks at the east end of the main lake and around the south side a Goldcrest was calling and a Kestrel gave good views as it flew out over the main lake, pausing to hover over the island and then continuing on over the Rough.

So not a bad morning, a few Chiffchaffs were heard and we had a good variety of ducks for this early in Autumn and 3 raptors is never a bad thing.

The next guided bird walk is Sunday the 28th October. Meet at the Visitor Centre at 9am.

Saturday 15/09/2012

A lovely morning in the park. There were up to 4 Siskins over and a brief glimpse of a Hobby as it disappeared over some trees. There were at least 5 Grey Wagtails in the Canoe Slalom, the best count for some time.

There were ~60 House Martins feeding over the north side of the main lake and the Rough for quite a while during the morning. A few Swallows passed through also.

There were 5 Tufted Ducks on the main lake and on Fingers there were 2 Shovelers and at least half a dozen Gadwalls.

Still plenty of Chiffchaffs about with quite a few singers amongst them. Reed Warblers and the odd Blackcap were also present.

A quick check of Fenlake Meadows proved fruitless as the greenery is still too thick to see much.

Also of note were 2 Hornets on some Ivy flowers in the Long Hedge.

The next guided bird walk is Sunday 23rd, meet at the Visitor Centre at 9am. Please ignore the signs around the park saying the next walk is the 30th, it was brought forward a week.

Recent News

Falling behind with my blogging so here's a quick update on the recent activity in the park.

Last weekend was the monthly volunteer task and we were over on Riverside at the pond clearing the vegetation around the edge. A lot of new growth was cutting down the views over the pond so we coppiced a lot of the pond side trees which hadn't been done for a couple of years. In fact this task was a repeat of the first ever task the volunteers undertook. Everybody did a great job with the group working together well to cut and clear away the cuttings.

Shadows in the mist

Yesterday I had a good morning with DK and JA. It was misty early on but it soon cleared. We had a Coal Tit singing from the scrub around the Visitor Centre, uncommon in the park and our 107th species of the year. There were 4 Tufted Ducks, at least 1 Shoveler and a Wigeon on the main lake. We had 5 Sand Martins over and small numbers of House Martins.

The Great Crested Grebe families are ever present with the noisy juveniles forever making their presence known on the main lake and Fingers.

Juvenile Great Crested Grebe

There are still plenty of Warblers around, feeding on the Elderberries and mixed Tit flocks are coming together. Keep an eye on these as they often harbour a few Warblers and this time of year you never know what you might find.

We had a couple of Treecreepers in the Willows as we exited Fingers past the Sedgewick Seat. On the stretch along the old Priory Wall one of the Ivies was completely covered with Honey Bees. It literally buzzed! I've never seen so many Bees feeding in one place.

So a pretty good morning, here's hoping for a few migrants over the next couple of weeks.

Don't forget the next guided bird walk is Sunday the 23rd of September (a change from the advertised date) at 9am.