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Sunday Volunteers - 9th July

The task on Sunday was pulling the Himalayan Balsam along the river bank between the canoe slalom and Cardington lock. A small group of vols got stuck in and managed to clear the stretch. It was quite a transformation as prior to starting we couldn't even see the river. On completion the river was back in view and our native plants now have room to breath! Taking the Balsam out now prevents it seeding and so hopefully next year we'll have less to deal with. Following photo's supplied by Danny Fellman:

Before

After

A big pile of Himalayan Balsam, one of several!

On the birding front some good news this week with the confirmed breeding of the Common Terns which have used the new tern raft this year. We spotted at least 2 chicks on the raft on Saturday morning. EG has been ringing in the Rough, completing the annual CES visits. These have been going really well so far this year and on Monday the 10th 50+ birds were processed including a second Lesser Whitethroat juvenile.

Sunday Volunteers - *** Date Change ***

Please note the Sunday Volunteers date for July has been changed to the 9th. This is to accommodate the Race for Life which is in the park this weekend (1st and 2nd). We are likely to be Himalayan Balsam pulling along the river at Cardington Lock.

Sunday Volunteers - 04/06/2017

Please note that the volunteer session on Sunday 4th June will start at the later time of 10am.

New steps at 100 Acre access point

A great job by the Sunday and Monday volunteers, supported by the rangers, putting in place a new set of steps to ease access down to the 100 Acre area of the park. These may look like the steps to nowhere at the moment with the barbed wire fence preventing further access to the site but a new kissing gate is on the cards which will create a circular route around this area of meadow and lakes.

Doris did a bit of damage around the park

Spent the day volunteering in the park to deal with the fallen trees after storm Doris passed through yesterday. This Willow was the biggest challenge of the day (both pictures by Danny Fellman):

Before

After

It was due for pollarding on Monday but unfortunately Doris got there first!

This one took three of us about 3 hours to clear up. There was another one further along the path but that was a bit easier to deal with so the path along the river is fully accessible now.

Earlier we cleared a smaller Willow which had fallen across the lake side path. A good days work if i do say so myself!

Winter at Priory CP

It's been a strange winter so far, generally mild and dry until the recent cold snap. Bird species that we expect to see in numbers have not materialised although with the colder weather a few more Pochard have arrived. We still have a good selection of wildfowl in the park just in smaller numbers than we might expect.

We also expect to have good numbers of Corn Buntings and Reed Buntings roosting in the Crescent Reed bed but just a handful have made the reed bed their home this winter.

Female Reed Bunting

Things are starting to liven up around the park with Rooks inspecting the south side rookery, a pair of Herons already nest building and the main lake Mute Swans staking their claim for territory.

Mute Swans

Lots of birds are starting to sing now with new voices joining the dawn chorus every week. Best of all dawn isn't at stupid o'clock so everyone can get out and enjoy the concert! You might even spot displaying Sparrowhawks and Kestrels over the meadows.

Over on 100 Acre the cattle have departed but the number of Lapwings and Golden Plover is far short of the those we had last winter.

Male Muntjac

The Sunday vols have been busy around the park with a return visit to Riverside Pond, a session in the Rough, plantation thinning on Riverside and coppicing in the Sheep Pen. Meanwhile the weekday crew have been all over the place with a number of sessions in Clapham Park Wood, several sessions on Fenlake meadows and several days clearing one of the spits on the Finger lakes.

There was also a recent hedge laying training weekend up at Browns Wood. (Thanks to Tom Williams for the following photo's):

If you are interested in joining a week day volunteer session these are held on Mondays and Thursdays. Please contact to Priory Rangers to let them know you want to come along and discuss the tasks.

Sunday Volunteers - October 2016

Great day with the rest of the vols working around Riverside Pond today. It's that time of year again when we are "slashing and burning" so a big bonfire is a must! We cleared a good section of path and tidied up after the "so called" fishermen who frequent the area. Their main aim seem to be to drink as much as possible and throw all of their litter into the undergrowth around them, oh yeah and cast a line in the water while they are there! If that's not bad enough there was a lot of discarded fishing line as well.

Earlier in the morning I did a quick walk around Fingers with DK and we had the first Redwings of the winter when four flew over and dropped into the Rough. We also had a couple of Siskins over along with a handful of Meadow Pipits. On Saturday morning we had ~40 Meadow Pipits over the park and another 60 on 100 Acre.

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.

Sifting the Past - 25th and 26th July

Sifting the Past @ Priory Country Park

Also a change of plan: There is now a volunteer task in August, Jon has a little light meadow management in mind for those of you who would like to come and help out on Sunday 2nd August from 9am to 3pm.  Same as usual, stout shoes, old clothes, packed lunch and we will supply the tea, coffee, water, biscuits, any training, tools, gloves and any other protective gear.

Recent goings on in the park

The last Volunteer session was well attended and thankfully a it was a bit cooler than the previous day. Danny had a big task planned so it was off over to Riverside to put in some new steps on a big slope that has become part of an unofficial path. First we had to load up the truck with all of the tools and half a dozen railway sleepers. Thankfully Danny donned PPE and cut the sleepers in half with a chainsaw, I think we would still be there with panel saws! Despite the rock hard ground we managed to get all 8 steps cut into the slope by the end of the day. A job well done, thanks to everyone.

There is no Sunday Volunteer session next month to the next one will be Sunday September 6th Starting at 9am, meet in the visitor centre.

Birding:

Last weekend we had a surprise visitor in the form of a Coal Tit. We found it round by the Sedgewick Seat. Not an uncommon bird but not a regular visitor in the park as they prefer coniferous woodland.

This weekend we did even better. I had an early start for some photography and after parking up I had ~200 Starlings over on their way out for a day of foraging, possibly from the Willington GP roost. Time to check that out again. A couple of Oystercatchers were calling from around the mai lake island. DK had a juvenile in flight earlier in the week.

Later as I was prospecting for a photography location I heard what I thought was a Cetti's Warbler along the east side of the Finger Lakes. It was quieter than usual but the distinctive song structure was there. In the end I dismissed it as strange bit of Blackcap sub song as Blackcap started singing nearby but later when myself, DK and JA were in Kramer hide we heard it again, only louder and it was unmistakably a Cetti's.

Over on 100 Acre the Little Ringed Plovers are still around although it is difficult to tell juveniles from adults without a good scope. Another nice surprise was a Green Sandpiper which got up from the edge of the lake before disappearing again. It popped up again a bit later and flew over our heads a couple of times before departing towards Willington GP.

And finally a reminder that there is no Bird Walk this month so the next one is Sunday August 30th starting at 8am outside the visitor centre.

Another catch up post

Too much time in the park and not enough time at the computer so not many posts recently. Any way we now have a selection of wintering ducks in the park covering all of the expected species although not in the numbers we normally expect, probably due to the warmer winter weather we have been experiencing. The decision not to feed the ducks, by the rangers, unless we have a prolonged cold spell may also be having an effect in the numbers of winter ducks.

We've also had a couple of occasional visitors in the form of Goldeneye and Goosander. The latter showed up on the Christmas guided bird walk which was handy.

Another recent visitor was a Penduline Tit which showed up on 100 Acre. This caused major excitement amongst the local birders and some not so local birders too. There are some great pictures of this bird over on the Beds Birds Blog.

As I mentioned earlier I've been volunteering with the rangers a lot recently. Firstly there was some tree cutting at Fish Ponds. We did some tree pruning and brush cutting in the Cardington Mill car park followed by a trip to Browns Wood and Putnoe Wood on the following day. I then joined Jane for some tree thinning up at Mowsbury Hillfort NR over the Christmas/New Year period.

Yesterday I was back with the monthly Sunday volunteers coppicing at the east end of the main lake. We had a good turnout despite freezing temperatures and we managed to get quite a bit done. It needs a little more tidying up so we might be back there again.

Mute Swan drying off after morning wash and brush up.

We've had a couple of dead Mute Swan's in the last couple of weeks. Not sure of the cause, they may have been taken by Foxes or dogs but we are keeping an open mind and will be keeping our eyes open over the coming days and weeks. If you come across any dead birds in the park please notify the rangers. If they are not at the visitor centre office then a contact number is always posted on the VC door.  

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)

Recent goings on in the park

It's been a while so here's what's been going on in the park recently.

First up the volunteers were back in early in the month and put in a great shift clearing the path between thee the cycle track near Fish Ponds down to and along the river to the spillway. This was becoming overgrown in some areas and now the new bridge is in place over the Marina entrance people were wanting to use it again so it's been cleared. Thanks to everyone who came along and helped.

Please note that the August volunteer task has been cancelled but hopefully we'll be back to normal in September.

It's been pretty quiet in the park on the bird front, just the normal stuff and sometimes pretty hard to come by on the hot days. Plenty of Green Woodpeckers about so sometimes quiet is not quite the word to use. This weekend just gone we had some nice views of a Jay and the first Willow Warbler on it's way back south. Amazingly this was exactly the same date as we had the first returning Willow Warbler last year and only 2 days different from the year before (thanks DK).

On Friday evening I tagged along on the guided bat walk led by Danny Fellman. This was very well attended and we managed 4 species of bat although not the numbers we might have liked. Common Pipistrelle, Soprano Pipistrelle, Noctule and Daubentons were all caught on the detectors. The Pips and the Daubentons were seen with the Daubentons providing excellent views over the Finger Lakes. I also spotted a Hedgehog as it crossed the main path between the Beach and Fingers and heard a Common Sandpiper and an Oystercatcher, the later being between 22:30 and 23:00.

It was a busy weekend in the park with the Archaeological dig and display on both days and the Triathlon, Canoe Slalom and Guided Bird Walk all on Sunday. The Bird Walk was a bit of struggle with birds, butterflies and dragonflies all playing hard to find. Fortunately EG was ringing in the Rough and had a bumper haul just as I arrived with the group so we all got some close up views of the birds in the hand as they were processed. Here are a few pics kindly provided by Chris Smart:

Reed Warbler

Juvenile Robin

Robins wing

Juvenile Green Woodpecker

Juvenile Green Woodpecker

Dunnock

Blue Tit wing

Song Thrush

Song Thrush having its tummy tickled :-)

 A nice variety of birds there and we also had a few Blackcaps. Once again many thanks to EG for his time and patient explanation of the ringing process.

Gatekeeper Butterfly

There were quite a few butterflies on the flower meadow but these were mostly Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns with the odd White sp. just for variety.

100 Acre is not ideal for taking groups onto at the moment with head high nettles in abundance, so we headed out along the cycle track and down to the end of 100 Acre where it looks over to Castle Mill. There has been a lot of work here in recent weeks and the large earth mounds have gone, having been used to bring the gravel workings back up to level. There wasn't much to see here although there was a nice flock of 125 Lapwings on the earth works and quite a few Carrion Crows picking over the bare earth on the lookout for invertebrates to eat. The water level has dropped a lot on 100 Acre, unsurprisingly, but 8 Little Egrets were working the edges of the lake and family of Great Crested Grebes with 4 youngsters was great to see. As we turned to leave I spotted a Kestrel low over the earthworks and it perched for a while before flying off and giving us good views.

There was little else of note other than a small party of Goldfinches in the scrub opposite Meadow Lane GP, as we made our way back to the park.

The next guided bird walk is on Sunday 31st August at 8am, meet at the visitor centre.

The group checking out the Lapwing flock on Castle Mill earthworks
(Picture courtesy of Glen Bowen)

1st and 2nd March 2014

A couple of early starts this weekend so I managed to catch the Little Egrets still at roost in the Finger Lakes, 11 on Saturday and 12 on Sunday. We had Water Rail on both mornings in the Crescent reed bed but I had a very nice view this morning as one moved through a thinner section of reeds and stopped to call. Amazing how it sounds like multiple birds calling, although many birds seem to have this ability. Many times I'm looking around for a flock and a single individual of a species flies over calling!

100 Acre is still the place to be for birds. The migratory waders are starting to arrive so Oystercatchers and Redshanks are now around. The presumed escapee Black-winged Stilt seems to be spending some time over here now, having been at Willington GP for the last few weeks. There are still plenty of Wigeon with ~200 found on Saturday morning, and most of the other duck species can be found here. A pair of Great Crested Grebes were displaying on Saturday and Little Grebes are also to be found on most of the pools. Lapwings are still around in good numbers but Golden Plovers are harder to come by now with the really big locks seemingly moved on. We also had a Common Buzzard along the river past Waitrose and a couple of Jays here to, the first for some time in the area.

These are just the highlights of a great couple of mornings birding in and around the park.

Today it was another volunteer day in the park and we managed to coppice a couple of sections of Willow along the main path despite the water haven risen significantly over night making access a little tricky in places. Then we moved around to the main lake hide and tidied up the bank behind the reed bed and continued with the thinning work in the plantation behind the hide. All in all a good days work so thanks as always to all the volunteers who turned out today. 

Following are a few pictures from this weekend in the park and on 100 Acre:

Greylag Geese over 100 Acre

Black-winged Stilt on 100 Acre (Presumed escapee)

Black-winged Stilt on 100 Acre (Presumed escapee)

Black-winged Stilt on 100 Acre (Presumed escapee)

Common Buzzard getting a hard time from the local Gulls

Common Buzzard over 100 Acre

Common Buzzard (Finger Lakes)

Common Buzzard displaying (Finger Lakes)

Gadwall (m) - Check out that plumage, stunning!

Shoveler (m) - Not a bad looker either!

What's been happening in the park?

Last weekend we had the final Sunday volunteer task of the year. We continued with the work on the plantations near the overflow car park and opened up the paths between the meadows and the car park. This was followed by a bbq and thanks go to the rangers for providing the food and to volunteer Alan for the cakes and meat. It was a shame that some of the regulars were unable to make it but that meant all the more food for the rest of us :-) Thanks go out to all of the volunteers who have given up their time to help with tasks around the park this year and we look forward to seeing everyone again in the new year. The next task is on Sunday 5th January 2014, 9am - 3pm. As always if you can only make part of the day then please come along as any time you can give is most welcome.

On the birding front it's still surprisingly quiet in the park with low numbers of over wintering ducks, most likely due to the incredibly mild weather we are still experiencing for this time of year.

In the park early morning visits should get you Little Egrets roosting in the trees around the Finger Lakes. Recently they seem to favour the fingers at the north end of west Fingers. Another early morning species is the Corn Bunting which are roosting in Crescent reed bed and can be spotted leaving at around sun rise a little after the Little Egrets depart. And if you are getting up early don't miss the Corvid roost which, although still quite small, is always a great spectacle as they rise up to depart in a noisy group. They are usually the first to go while it's still quite dark.

The best place is 100 Acre where a small number of Wigeon remain along with most of the other duck species we expect to see at this time of year. A Common Buzzard and a Kestrel are regularly seen here and Snipe and Jack Snipe can also bee seen. On the crop fields by the bypass large flocks of Golden Plover and Lapwings are regulars along with Greylag and Canada Geese. There are also 3 Egyptian Geese here and occasionally other waders turn up on the standing water on the field. Redshank and Dunlin have both been seen in the past couple of weeks.

On Saturday along the cycle track where it passes by Meadow Lane GP we found a very grey looking Chiffchaff with a very bright white eye stripe. Shortly after we found a second Chiffchaff, a brown bird with a buff, less marked, eye stripe. Unfortunately neither bird was calling and both were very mobile and quickly lost to sight.

If you are of a mind to check out 100 Acre please try to keep to the well used trails in order to avoid disturbing birds like the Snipe where possible. The main trail runs along side the river all the way down to the ditch where you can turn right and follow the track back towards the crop fields. At the crop fields you can follow the edge of the field back towards the big lake and and then follow the edge of the lake back towards Meadow Lane.

The Starling roost at neighbouring Willington Gravel Pits is still going strong.

Weekend (02-03/11/2013)

Saturday morning proved quite productive, helped by the fact that the ringers were in. They caught quite a number of birds while we were there including this handsome Redwing and Treecreeper. A Goldcrest, Blackcap and many Blue Tits also found the nets.

Redwing

Treecreeper

Around the park we also had a good selection of ducks on the Finger Lakes along with a couple of Little Grebes. A flock of 29 Wigeon were circling over the park for a while early on and later we had 45 Lapwing and 6 Golden Plover over. At least one Kingfisher was active around the park.

On Sunday it was a bit quieter, the variety of ducks was similar but no Little Grebes were seen.

Sunday was also volunteer day and we had a great turnout to continue the work on the plantations by the overflow car park. Judging by the size of the bonfire the day went extremely well with much of the second plantation cleared. A job well done, thanks to all who helped during the day.

Had Water Rails Sharming on both mornings, with a little provocation.

DK had the following on Monday (04/11) morning:

Two Bewick's Swans south at 0912.
1400 Woodpigeons south.
2 Siskins south
1 Redpoll south.
19 LBB Gulls south.
6000+ Starlings south from local (?Willington) roost. 

Speaking of the Willington Starling roost I managed to pop over on both Saturday and Sunday evening. Numbers were down on the previous weekend and both days the murmuration displays weren't the best. Sunday was particularly poor with groups of birds going straight into the reed bed without little or no display. Numbers were good, with several large parties coming in, and probably numbered 6000+.

Saturday provided a better display with similar numbers to Sunday but the bulk of the birds stayed out and joined up before heading into the reed bed. The star of the show was the sunset which was stunning.

Starling murmuration at Willington GP

More photo's here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/djb1166/

Catch up

Last weekend the volunteers were in on Sunday and we had a great turn out once again. The task was coppicing in two of the plantations by the overflow car park and we managed to clear most of one and got a good start on the second. We usually look forward to the bonfire through the autumn and winter but the unseasonably warm conditions meant most of us kept our distance as much as we could!

It remained quiet on the bird front until this week when the Redwings arrived. DK reported 1318 (roughly) west over Priory on Thursday morning and a further 138 on Friday morning. This was a tiny proportion of the birds on the move in the county, Steve Blain had ~33000 through on Thursday and ~3500 through on Friday at the Pinnacle near Sandy!

This morning we were fortunate to avoid the worst of the rain which passed through early on but it was all quiet on the bird front. We probably managed double figures of Redwings. There was a lot of calling but few were seen. I think most were still at roost in the trees and bushes. There were 3 Wigeons and a couple of Shoveller on the main lake first thing. Just high teens of Gadwalls and handful of Teals on Fingers.

Other than that a quiet morning with the usual suspects.

This weekend in the park

On Saturday I arrived reasonably early and had a Buzzard over the east side of the park before moving on to the beach where a Mute Swan gave me the opportunity to try for an "On Black" portrait. With the sun low in the east and the Swan in a pool of sunlight and the background in shadow you can underexpose the scene leaving the emphasis on your white subject:

Mute Swan on black

In the above shot I would have preferred the head to be turned the other way in order to catch the light on the eye but I really like the line of water droplets falling from the beak. Another portrait of the same bird below:

Mute Swan on black

It was a weekend for Peacock Butterflies which were out in force around the park on both days.

Peacock Butterfly

This Black-tailed Skimmer dragonfly perched on a nettle and stayed long enough for a quick snap.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Another nice find was a Common Sandpiper on the Canoe Slalom, sharing it with a single Grey Wagtail.

Sunday morning there was a lot of fish activity in the north east corner of the main lake. This Common Tern took full advantage, making a dive incredibly close to the reeds before making off with its prize.

Common Tern

Along the Spit this juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker perched on the dead tree and posed nicely for a while. Note the red crown which marks this bird out as a juvenile. Note also the way it is using its stiff tail feathers for extra support as it grips the branch with its feet.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

A Greenshank passed high over the main lake and looked like it may have dropped in on the south side or possibly Fenlake Meadows. A Kingfisher was heard on both days around east Fingers. Sparrowhawks were seen on both days around the Rough and a Kestrel was on the wires over 100 Acre. I had a single Swallow over the New Meadow on Sunday morning and an Oystercatcher was heard during the lunch break of the volunteer session.

DK had a Goldcrest on the south side, a Willow Warbler singing in the SW corner and two additional juv Sparrowhawks together on the south side.

Sunday was also volunteer day and ~13 people turned out for the main task which was to remove the Water Soldier from the Finger Lakes. This invasive weed has really taken over in recent years and if left would smother the lake prevent other plant species from getting a look in.

With such a good turnout there were plenty of bodies to carry out a few other tasks so parties were out trimming back overhanging branches and brambles and clearing up litter.

At the end of the day several boat loads of Water Soldier had been removed but there is plenty more left to go! Thanks to everyone for your efforts and hope to see you again next month.