Saturday 19th January

A lot of flooding around the park today following the heavy rain this week. The water is very high in Fingers and water is still flowing in through the pipe from the navigation channel. The crescent is under water as is the path at the bottom of the steps. Suggest you wear your wellies if you are going for a walk around the park. Looks like the water level is dropping this morning however if the rain continues today it could rise again later.

I arrived at the park around 07:30 and it was still quite dark due to the heavy cloud cover. The wind had dropped from the previous evening and temperature was quite high which was probably why I had a flypast by a bat as I crossed the meadow towards Fingers. At Kramer hide it was very quiet, 2 Little Egret were on roost when I arrived as were the Crows and Jackdaws. The Little Egrets left around 07:45, just after the Corvids.

The only other visitors were a pair of Mute Swans, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe along and a couple of Moorhen. There was a large disturbance in the water out of sight to the right of the hide, which disturbed a group of Wood Pigeon. Not sure what it was, may have been a Muntjac crossing a flooded section but it certainly caused some large ripples.

C.80 of the Willington Barnacle Geese did several flypasts during the morning and there were several Mute Swan movements, the largest group being a nine.

Kingsmead was under water and there were at least 5 Grey Herons on there along with good numbers of Black Headed Gulls.

From the Spit there were 7 Little Grebe on West Fingers and a pair of Great Crested Grebe on East Fingers. 1 of the pair of Great Crested Grebe chased off a third and the pair were also seen displaying during the morning. At the end of the spit a Water Rail flew, from the fenced off section, across east Fingers towards the crescent.

From the main lake beach there 14 Great Crested Grebe, 35 Mute Swan (13 of those being first year birds) and 15 Cormorant. There were still good numbers of Pochard and some Tufted Ducks over by the hide.

Sunday 13th January

I parked up by the old railway bridge across the river and walked along the river to Kramer hide. The river was very high and pushing through, after yesterday evenings rain, and there were no Otters to be found. In the hide it was very quiet with just 3+ Herons, a pair of Gadwall, single male Shoveller, pair of Sparrowhawk and the usual Kingfisher.

I just did a loop around Fingers again today and while around the back came across the usual 2 pairs of Gadwall but a second check revealed they had been joined by another female.

At the Dead Seat just the usual 6 Canada Geese and a couple of Heron. Along the path to the steps a Chaffinch was practising his song but not quite getting it, further along a Wren was showing him how it's done.

From the Spit:
Another 2 Canada Geese
1 Great Crested Grebe
2 Little Grebe

I haven't seen the pair of Mute Swans on the Finger lakes this weekend!

Crescent:
At least 3 Siskins in the Alders

Main Lake (from the beach):
34 Mute Swans
3 Great Crested Grebe

I headed back along the navigation channel and noted at least 20 Pied Wagtails around the standing water on Kingsmead. There were also 28 Canada Geese and at least 13 Moorhen.

Saturday 12th January

Headed down to the park this morning in the hope of Otters. While heading across the fields to fingers a large flock of Lapwing came into view. C.150 birds came from the north east, high over the main lake, before turning and heading back from whence they came! 14 Mute Swans flew in from the north east heading towards the main lake. A female Sparrowhawk was harried by crows as she flew over Kingsmead.

That delay proved beneficial as I headed alongside the navigation channel, towards Kramer hide, I noticed a ripple in the water extending out from the nearside bank. Expecting to find a Mallard I walked through the trees and looked down to see an Otter looking back at me. As I grabbed my video camera from my pack it headed off downstream but, fortunately for me, it turned and headed back up along the far side of the river and I managed to get some video.

Just after this video the Otter popped up mid stream right in front of me, checked me out before diving again and disappearing.

In the hide it was very quiet with just c.4 Heron, a pair of Gadwall, a pair of Shoveller, 3 Little Grebe and a Kingfisher. I was hoping the Otter might move from the river into Fingers but it never happened.

I left the hide and checked the river again, in case the Otter was still about, but found another Little Grebe instead. I walked alongside the river heading downstream but found little else. There were 24 Canada Geese on Kingsmead. Down at the kissing gate there were 4 Bullfinch (1f) in the long hedge. I walked back along the Long Hedge and had 2 Mute Swans over east. Possibly the same 2 came in from the east before turning towards the main lake.

Back at Fingers, round the back there were 2 pairs of Gadwall. 2 more male Bullfinch were in the newly coppiced Sheep Pen.

As I reached the steps approx 19 Mute Swans took to the air from the main lake and did a loop of the lake before most, if not all, landed back on the lake. A quick count of Mute Swans returned 45 but was later increased to 57 when I got to a better view point.

From the spit on west fingers there were 5 Little Grebe, 3 Teal (1f), 1 Shoveller (m) and the usual 6 Canada Geese. The male Sparrowhawk flew high overhead. On east Fingers there were at least another 2 Little Grebe although they were close to the channel through to Kramer so they could have been 2 of the 3 seen from the hide earlier.

Spoke to DK while at Kramer hide and he said the Lapwing were part of a larger flock of c.400. He said that c.300 Golden Plover had flown over the park shortly after the Lapwing had departed.

I didn't do the loop of the main lake but DK mentioned that Pochard were at the 140 mark but Shoveller numbers were diminishing to around the 30 mark. He also had a Little Egret on the south side of the main lake this morning.