Guided Walk and other bits and bobs from the weekend

This morning was the first of the 8am starts for the guided bird walks but we still had a great turnout. First up was a visit to the Rough where EG was on his 6th CES ringing visit of the year. Unfotunately this session was proving to be very quiet and all Ed could offer the group was a single juvenile Wren. As usual he gave a great demo and expalantion of the ringing process before showing the group the nets. He came back with another capture, another juvenile Wren! To make things worse he had already ringed this one earlier so it was quickly released.

We moved on to the Spit where we had good views of the remaining Mute Swan cygnet and the single remaining Great Crested Grebe chick. Predation has been the word of the spring this year with very few wildfowl chicks making it to adulthood so far. We also spotted the pair of Tufted ducks with 2 young fluff balls.

We stopped at the freshly re-painted Kramer hide and I challenged the group to spot the nesting Little Grebe. Admittedly it is a tough one to spot, even when I had setup the scope on the nest. The other adult Little Grebe was out front of the hide but playing equally hard to spot under a Willow.

We moved on again stopping to listen to 2 singing Blackcaps in the Long Hedge. A Treecreeper called a couple of times from nearby but didn't show itself.

At the Sewage Works bridge we stopped in hope of an Otter sighting but as usual we were a day late. DK and myself had great views of at least one Otter at the bridge on Saturday morning.

Otter

Otter

Otter

A Grey Heron was in the usual spot in the reeds on the corner of Riverside. The resident Cetti's Warbler sang loudly, as they do. It could still be heard when we were half way across 100 Acre. A stop on 100 Acre produced a nesting Great Crested Grebe, several Little Grebes, Oystercatcher and at least 3 broods of Tufted Duck youngsters. One of the Tufted Duck broods was at least 13, hard to know how the female could incubate that number of eggs successfully. A little further on and we had a Little Egret on the island. A Sedge Warbler was heard and gave brief views as it flitted from one lot of thick cover to another. A small pink flower was identified as Grass Vetchling.   

Back on the cycle track we came across another singing Blackcap, there were many about today, which showed out the clear for a few seconds before it disappeared back into the heavy cover across the other side of the track.

Further along the track we found several Bee orchids which had survived the mower. Lin had found them a few weeks back but it was good to show the group. 

Bee Orchid

A male Black-tailed Skimmer dragonfly showed briefly before departing across the wheat crop. A female was more obliging, perching on a wheat stem and allowing me to get the scope on it so that everyone had great views. Yellow Wagtails were calling from the crops and showed briefly while a Skylark perched up on a head of Hemlock and gave great views as he sang.

At the Castle Mill end of 100 Acre we had good views of Little Egret and distant views of Green Sandpiper, Sand Martin and Swallow also showed well and Linnet and Goldfinch were in the are. Not sure where the juvenile Black-headed Gull has come from but presumably a pair have nested nearby.

On the way back we found a Marbled White butterfly in the same area as the Bee Orchids.

Marbled White butterfly

Back at the Sewage Works bridge I spotted a Common Tern carrying a fish and watched to see where it might be nesting. It headed towards the island on 100 Acre but disappeared from view before I could see if it dropped in there or not.

So another good morning out around the park and surrounding area. The next guided bird walk is Sunday July 31st, meet outside the visitor centre (maybe a cafe by then!) at 8am.

Juvenile Pied Wagtail on the Priory wall (Saturday)

A belated update

It's about time I posted an update so here goes:

The most recent guided bird walk, last Sunday, was well attended with 20 people joining me despite a very wet morning. Despite the rain we racked up a good species list with excellent views of a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Little Egret and a Treecreeper being the highlights. The Treecreeper was a right little show off, very unusual for this normally secretive little bird. We finished off the morning at the Golden Plover flock on 100 Acre where ~3000 gave us a great display along with a few hundred Lapwings. Thanks to everyone who made the effort to join me on such a miserable morning. The next one is Sunday the 28th February at 9am, meet outside the visitor centre. Hopefully it will be a bit drier!

Today a few of the Sunday Volunteers spent the day coppicing the Willows along the edge of the main lake adjacent to the Finger Lakes. With the prevailing wind from the south it made for quite a cold and blustery day but we managed to get most of the older growth Willow coppiced leaving the the younger stuff for next winter.

Over recent weeks we have had quite a few good sightings in and around the park. A single male Goldeneye has been spotted on several days on the main lake. Pintails and Goosanders have put in more fleeting appearances. On 100 Acre at least one pair of Stonechats have been seen regularly. The Golden Plover flock has peaked at around 4500 which makes for a spectacular sight when they all get up in the air together. This weekend there were about 800 Lapwings which is about as many as I have seen here over the winter. Redshanks have arrived in the last couple of weeks and a couple of Dunlin spent a few weeks mixing in with the Golden Plovers although we didn't spot them this weekend.

Two Ring-necked Parakeets are providing a bit of colour, and noise, for the park with regular visits over the winter, the most recent being today when they flew over the visitor centre as we packed away the kit the volunteer group had been using. Earlier this morning I had great views of a flock of Siskins in the Alders by the Crescent reed bed and a brief stop by a Redpoll in the Rough was better than the usual flyover sightings we've been getting.

The various roosts in the park have generally been down in numbers this winter although the Jackdaws still provide quite a noisy spectacle when they all leave in the morning. The mild weather seems to have kept the Corn Bunting roost pretty small although when we did have a brief cold spell the numbers jumped to 46 on one morning. The Little Egret numbers also jumped up during the cold spell. Having been at 3 or 4 for most of the winter the numbers suddenly reached double figures and have remained at those levels since.

And finally, there has been a family group of up to 4 Otters in the Park and over the last several weeks, a mother and 3 well grown cubs. I finally caught up with 3 of the family this morning at the Sewage Works bridge.

Saturday 22nd August

The highlight of Saturday morning was an Otter on the main lake. Found by DK and JA, who thoughtfully gave me a call so I could see the animal as well, it spent 20-30 mins out in the middle of the lake, east of the island, just fishing. In the end we left just as it headed off to the south east corner of the lake.

Record shot of the Otter

EG and DH were ringing in the Rough and catching reasonable numbers while we were there. Plenty of Blackcaps in the catch and the odd surprise.

Green Woodpecker (moulting everything!)

A Goldcrest and a Common Whitethroat were a couple of the other ringing highlights.

It was a good morning for Raptors with Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard and a distant Hobby all seen. We watched the Kestrel dive into a Willow and JA watched it feeding on a Dragonfly. It never ceases to amaze me how good their vision must be. It was across the other side of the river when it must have spotted the Dragonfly on a branch in the Willow!

A Common Sandpiper was heard on 100 Acre and along with a couple of Little Egrets was the highlight of that area.

As always at this time of year there are large areas of the park where it is quiet and then you come across a mixed flock of tits and warblers feeding in a particular tree and you might get 20-30 birds or more in a tiny area.

Sunday I went back to my Little Grebe spot on 100 Acre and was surprised to find they have finally hatched a chick. It's getting quite late in the year so hopefully the weather will hold up to give this little fellow a chance. Here a few pictures. (click for a full size version).

Adult (chick is on it's back hidden under the wings)

Chick peeking over the adults shoulder

Chick eating a small fish

Chick eating a Blue-tailed damselfly

Join us on Sunday morning (30th) for the next guided bird walk. Meet at 8am outside the visitor centre.

It's been a while!

I've been a bit remiss in my blogging on here recently, just too much going on at the moment. Anyway let's catch up with what's been going on in the park recently.

It's been a quiet start to the autumn migration with very few good sized flocks of thrushes, or anything else for that matter! Redwings have been evident for the last few weeks in small numbers but Fieldfares didn't show until last week,per DK and we had some passing over this weekend. Wintering ducks are still dominated by the Wigeon with Pochard yet to arrive. A few Shovelers and Teals can be found on Fingers along with the Gadwalls.

Little Grebes were also to be found in good numbers in the park with 20 a couple of weeks ago. This weekend however there were few to be found in the park! Coot numbers are very high at the moment with well in excess of 200 on the main lake this weekend (per DK).

We had a couple of Whooper swans on the main lake one morning a couple of weeks ago (per TP) but they didn't stay long.

Some good news has been the recent Otter sightings on the main lake. Having had a single Otter in the reeds on the north side of the main lake a fortnight before, last weekend I had 2 on the main lake. JA had spotted a disturbance in the reeds on the south side, by the hide, when all of the Coots came scuttling out of the reed bed. A little later I spotted the 2 Otters in the middle of the main lake and they came across to the north side reed bed again and started working their way through the reeds searching for food. Here's a record shot of the 2 in the middle of the lake.   

Otters on the main lake

The last weekend of October saw the most recent guided walk on the Sunday morning which was well attended again. We saw most of the expected species but 100 Acre remains the place to be and the Stonechats are the stars over there at the moment, still there this weekend. Golden Plovers, Lapwings are fairly reliable over there and the 3 goose species Greylag, Canada and Barnacle. A couple of Egyptian Geese were with all of the other geese this weekend, the first time they have been spotted here since much earlier this year. We had a single Snipe this weekend after a blank last weekend, we were getting well into double figures so numbers appear to have dropped this last month.

This weekend just gone we had the monthly volunteer task which was surprisingly well attended given the early rain. We worked in the Rough under the guidance of Bird ringer Ed Green. We try to keep the habitat in this area the same from year to year in line with the aims of the CES ringing scheme which runs through the summer. With the sizable turnout we managed to get a good chunk of the work completed but there will probably be another visit to the Rough in the next couple of months.

While working in the rough we had a visit from Danny Fellman (Ranger and Priory CP bat man!). While doing his regular checks of the bat boxes around the park he had come across a new species for the park, a Barbastelle bat, so a few of us went off to have a look. Danny took a couple of photos below:

Barbastelle Bat in a Kent design bat box. (Photo: Daniel Fellman)

Barbastelle Bat in a Kent design bat box. (Photo: Daniel Fellman)

Saturday 06/04/2013 - Otter

A fantastic morning at Priory Country Park. The lure of last weeks Otter sighting got me out of bed early and at the park by 06:15. With good cloud cover it was the sort of morning where I was expecting to see Sand Martins over the main lake but they still haven't made it to us yet this year. I was keen to get to the Finger Lakes but had a quick scan of the main lake and the sailing club lawn. I was hoping for a surprise wader at the sailing club but again came up blank. On the main lake there are still a few Pochard and plenty of Tufted Ducks. A pair of Gadwall and 9 Greylag Geese were found up at the Beach.

A quick loop around the Crescent flushed a couple of Corn Buntings from the reeds and a Water Rail into the reeds. At least 9 Little Egrets were still at Roost at the far end of the Spit on the east side.

Along the Spit 3 Bullfinches were active and a Chiffchaff was heard singing over by the Dead Seat. A pair of Canada Geese reluctantly gave way as I headed down the Spit. 3 Great Crested Grebes, 3 pairs of Gadwalls and a male Shoveler were all noted on the lakes. I settled into the last fishing swim on the Spit looking out over west Fingers and waited for the Otter to show. A couple of Little Grebes appeared from one of the reed beds opposite. I waited a bit more. A Coot flew noisily from my left and landed near the Little Grebes. Looking back to where the Coot came from I spotted a sleek body dive, the Otter was there. I must have walked past it as I walked along the Spit.

Otter (West Finger Lakes)

It swam past me checking me out and then porpoised just to my right and I thought it was going to disappear down the end of the lake as the bubble trail headed off that way. I stood up to get some final shots only for the Otter to surface right in front of me. It crashed dived immediately and I thought that would be the last O saw of it but no, it surfaced again further along the Spit, moving close into the bank. A few ripples in the water and then nothing. I waited, then moved across the Spit to the opposite fishing swim, looking over east Fingers. I suspected the Otter might have sneaked across the Spit, in the closed section and I was right. Just a few ripples close to the bank under a tree at first then the Otter showed again and it came my way.

Otter (East Finger Lakes)

3 times it tried to come past me but each time it went back again and the third time i think it worked its way along the edge of the Spit going away from me. That was the last I saw of it but what a morning.

Great Crested Grebe (West Finger Lakes)

Back along the Spit one of the Great Crested Grebes was showing quite well so I set up in another fishing swim hoping there might be some interaction with one of the other GC Grebes. That didn't happen but for a few moments the dawn sun broke through the clouds and the light was golden, absolutely beautiful!

DK and JA arrived a little later and we did our usual circuit of the park but there was little of note. 100+ Wigeon and a Redshank on 100 Acre and the female Sparrowhawk near the nest at Kramer hide being the highlights of the rest of the mornings wanderings. Still no Blackcaps!

Saturday 12th December 2009

An unpromising start with a couple of short sharp showers passing through but it brightened up by the end of the morning and we had some great sightings!

Starting off there were 6 male Tufted Ducks on the main lake up by the Sailing Club, another 5 males and a female over by the hide. There were also 7 Pochard and an adult female Goldeneye on the main lake. A lot of Mute Swans, 40+, again today probably due to the shooting coming from the vicinity of Octagon lakes. We also had 42 Greylag Geese over just after we arrived and they appeared to drop in over Fenlake although by the time we got around there, much later, there was no sign. We also had 19 Lapwing over north.

Little Grebe with breakfast

On Fingers there were at least 12 Little Grebe, 9 on west Fingers, 1 on east Fingers and another 2 in front of Kramer hide. At Kramer hide we were treated to a swim past by an Otter. Unfortunately it didn't hang around this week but you never tire of seeing them no matter how fleeting!

I forgot to mention, in last weeks entry, that we had a Weasel on the east bank of big Fingers. Amazingly we had one again a little further along the same bank this week.

We had flyover Grey Wagtail and Bullfinch and, finally, great views in the scope of a party of Redwing (6) feeding on the berries at the car park.

21st November 2009

The rain held off this morning although it was mostly overcast. I met up with DK and we headed off down the main path. DK spotted a Water Rail in the main lake reed bed and it showed quite well before it found some better cover in the thicker reeds. We headed down the Spit which was generally quiet excepting the 5 Little Grebe on west fingers, Chiffchaff and Treecreeper. DK mentioned that he and TP had watched an Otter on West Fingers for ~10 minutes the previous morning with very good views as it hunted. Another 2 Little Grebe were spotted in the south end of east fingers. DK headed off towards the steps while myself and John stopped off at the beach where John spotted a Tufted Duck over by the main lake hide, through the scope. A phone call from DK had us hurrying back to the Spit where the Otter was showing well again. We watched it for ~45 minutes as it hunted on west fingers with views down to a few feet. It was obviously well aware of us but seemed indifferent as it continued to hunt, catching many small roach.

The Otter finally moved out of sight north along the edge of the spit so we wandered around to Kramer hide where a single male Teal showed. Around the back of Fingers another Teal was flushed. (DK had 9 Teal). Heading towards the rough we flushed many Redwing from the sheep pen. Odd Fieldfare joined the throng. Earlier we had 2 Sparrowhawk sightings which had put up parties of Redwing.

John spotted a second Tufted Duck when we reached the beach again. Earlier a pair of Shoveler were spotted over by the main lake hide and we had a pair over while we were standing in the crescent.

At the canoe slalom a single Grey Wagtail was spotted but was surprisingly well camouflaged as it hunted small insects. Another call from DK and we were heading towards Fenlake where we had a female Stonechat on the Reed Mace. On the way we spotted a Bullfinch in the scrub opposite the Barns Hotel.

By this time the Sun was putting in an appearance to cap a glorious morning.