Saturday 21st April

A cold start this morning, scraping the frost off of the car. 2.5°C when I arrived at the park. Still at least it wasn't raining!. There were at least 7 Common Terns over the main lake or perched on various buoys. I also spotted some Sand Martins investigating the artificial nest holes on the island. There were at least 5, will this be the year they finally use the artificial nest holes?

Down at the Crescent a Reed Warbler was singing, my first of the year, and I managed to get a glimpse of him in the middle of the reed bed. A pair of Tufted Ducks and a male Gadwall were on west Fingers, no sign of any Little Egrets though. 6 Fieldfares passed over west. DK and JA joined me along the Spit but there was little else of note until we got to the Rough. Still fairly quiet here but a female Bullfinch was a highlight.

JA spotted a Swallow as we headed, along the Long Hedge, to the STW bridge. Here there were at least 3 Sedge Warblers singing with one performing song flight and showing well.

Back in the park we took in Cardington Sluice where a pair of Grey Wagtails were showing well, one with nest material.

Grey Wagtail

 The next stop was the Fenlake Meadows viewpoint where the morning highlight was a singing Grasshopper Warbler, the first of the year in the park. There was also a singing Sedge Warbler on the Fenlake side of the river. As we cut back through to the south side of the main lake I heard a Goldcrest singing.

A couple of pairs of Sand Martins passed over our heads as we walked up the west side of the lake and back at the visitor centre I watched 3 Sand Martins go into a couple of the artificial nest holes as DK updated the recent sightings board.

Singing Wren (Priory Marina)

A fairly steady morning with little moving but warbler counts as follows (per DK):

1 Grasshopper Warbler on Fenlake
32 Blackcaps
10 Chiffchaffs
5 Willow Warblers
1 Reed Warbler
4 Sedge Warblers (1 on Fenlake)

Looking good for the guided walk next Sunday. Meet at the Visitor Centre at 9am.

For anyone interested I am also leading a walk at Putnoe Wood next Saturday afternoon 2pm‐4pm, meet at the entrance to Putnoe Wood.

Saturday 8th October

It was pretty quiet this morning with little obvious sign of migration, just 3 Skylarks east. Compared to the last couple of weeks we struggled for ducks with just 3 Gadwall, on Fingers, along with the usual Mallards.

When we reached the Canoe Slalom things brightened up a little with a single Grey Wagtail in residence.

Grey Wagtail

A Kingfisher flew in and perched up on the concrete side of the canoe slalom but didn't hang around for long. Then as I stalked the Grey Wagtail for a better shot a Kestrel flew over flushing it further along. It was then flushed by a couple of dogs going by.

This Heron was playing hide and seek along the navigation channel.

The following images are from previous visits.

Wood Pigeon 

This Wood Pigeon was perched up nicely on an Alder branch in the Crescent producing a pleasing portrait.

Snipe 

This Snipe was on the edge of the island on the big lake on 100 Acre. Unfortunately it didn't sit tight so I only managed this long distance shot.

Grey Heron 

This amused me and brought to mind the phrase "Like shooting fish in a barrel"!

And finally a lovely sunrise photo over East Fingers. I could have done with being a few minutes earlier to catch the best lighting conditions but this one wasn't too bad.

Monday 25th May 2009

Managed to get down the park a bit earlier this morning, still didn't beat EN though who was ringing in the Crescent. A couple of Willow Warblers were singing in the car park and a couple of Greylags took off over the south side of the main lake and left to the east. An adult Fox was poking about in one of the south side fishing swims, a younger one was seen later crossing the path into the Rough. Cuckoo very vocal around the Rough.

On Fingers Tufted Ducks (pair), Gadwall (pair), Great Crested Grebe (pair) and the Mute Swans were out and about with at least 3 cygnets. Not much about around the back of Fingers.
Arrived back with EN just in time to see a juvenile Kingfisher in the hand, having just seen 2 from the spit with DK.




Took the path along the river on the south side of the main lake with Grey Wagtail at the Canoe Slalom and the Spillway, may have been the same one. Sedge Warbler just up stream from the the Canoe Slalom and several more along the far bank on Fenlake. Also had a Cuckoo calling over Fenlake.


Along the west side of the main lake had a flyover Cuckoo, heading out over the Marina.

After Saturdays leaping Carp at Castle Mill the Carp in the Finger lakes were very frisky today with plenty of spawning action. Also along the far bank of the river at Fenlake several good size Carp were seen spawning.