Saturday 9th February

Met up with DK and JA who were already on a Shelduck when I arrived and it was still on the main lake late morning. We quickly located the Ferruginous Duck (FD) and the Black-necked Grebe. The FD is still hanging around with the Pochard flock. They are very sensitive to people near the dipping platform, coming in close to feed but moving out whenever anybody approaches. You can get good views if you are prepared to stand quietly until the flock drifts back in again.

The BN Grebe is seldom coming close to shore preferring to stay out in the middle of the main lake most of the time so scopes and long lenses are the order of the day for that one.

The rest of the morning was pretty standard fare. The Teal at Kramer hide were getting a bit feisty which was fun to watch and later we had good views of a Lesser Redpoll along the east side of Fingers.

Lesser Redpoll

 DK led the Beds. Bird Club walk on Sunday morning and by all accounts it was a good morning despite the terrible weather. Following per DK:

"Ferruginous Duck and B-n grebe still present. Also 2 Kingfishers, nice

views of Water Rail, Siskins, Goldcrest and Mink. 44 Species."

 

February Volunteers

We had another great turnout for the volunteer session in the park on Sunday, lots of new faces too which is always good to see.

The task was based in the Rough and under the direction of bird ringer EG we cut back the scrub to try to keep the habitat similar to the state it was in last year. This is done because of the CES ringing project which is carried out in this area each year. The CES (Constant Effort Site) project relies on the habitat staying the same from one year. Everything remains constant, habitat, amount of nets used, number of visits and time spent on each visit. This way results can be compared across the years and trends can be determined.

Back to the task and the weather remained dry all day which was unexpected and with all the hands on deck we managed to clear most of the areas that needed work and burned most of the brash.

Great job by everyone, hope to see everybody back again next month March 3rd 9am-3pm - Scrub Management, meet at the Visitor Centre.

For more information about the CES project click here.

Interested in learning to ring birds? Contact the Ivel Ringing Group for more information.

Saturday 02/02/2013

Managed a record shot of the Ferruginous Duck early this morning. Was hoping to go back later but there were too many people lining up to see this bird! Popped back in late this afternoon but couldn't find it. There was a lot of activity on the lake and the Pochard numbers had gone down from this mornings count so I suspect it had departed with some of those.

Ferruginous Duck

The Black-necked Grebe was also still there this morning and I think I had it this afternoon. This morning it was out in the middle of the lake in front of the dipping platform but this afternoon it was on the south side albeit at some distance in failing light with binoculars. Should have taken my scope!

Also this morning, while wandering around with DK and JA we came across a very confiding group of Siskins in the Alders along the east side of Fingers. We had already seen, possibly this same group a few minutes before. Shortly after we saw another 18 as they flew from the Crescent, 9 flew along the east side of Fingers, the rest returned to the Crescent Alders.

Siskin (m)

Siskin (f)

Siskin (m)

Siskin (m)

Siskin (f)

Siskin (f)

Acrobatic little birds!

Back in the park again tomorrow for a volunteer session so hoping the Ferruginous Duck will be back for a photo shoot in the morning.