Easter weekend

A long weekend in the park kicked off with my usual Saturday morning visit for a bit of birding with DK and JA. Before they arrived I was lucky enough to see an Otter on the Finger Lakes as it swam past the fishing swim I was standing in along the Spit. There is always a sense of excitement when I see an Otter and I was already for a photo session with this animal but that was the last I saw of it! I'm not sure how it gave me the slip as the water was flat calm but I didn't see another ripple, let alone the Otter. Still I've been waiting a while since my last Otter sighting so this, albeit short encounter, was very welcome.

Later we came across a set of Otter tracks over on the earthworks at Castle Mill. They've probably been there for a while but the water levels have dropped over there and they have now been revealed. It looks like the works over on Castle Mill have resumed so these tracks will likely be under a few feet of top soil in the near future. 

  

Otter track on Castle Mill earthworks

New in this week are Cuckoo, Reed Warbler and Common Whitethroat. There were also at least 2 Lesser Whitethroats around on Monday morning. The Sedge Warblers were more active in the STW reed bed with up to 4 seen and one even doing the display flight.

Chiffchaffs were quiet this weekend but Blackcaps hit their second wind with a count of 26 on Tuesday morning per DK.

Chiffchaff

The Flower Meadow has had a pretty good display of Cowslips this year and I grabbed a quick shot on Saturday morning.

Cowslips

I came across this Wren with a beak full of nest material on Saturday afternoon.

Easter Monday I spent the day in the park working on the Tern raft that we started a few months ago on one of the volunteer tasks. JA helped out in the morning along with Ranger Jane and between us we have it pretty much finished. Juts need some gravel, a few more bolts and a couple of anchors and we'll be there. Not bad given most of the materials are reused stuff some of which was fly tipped in the park. One man's trash is another man's treasure as they say.

I took an extra day off on Tuesday and went out oiling Canada Goose eggs with Ranger Danny. The rangers have already been out to the main lake island where they found 32 nests and oiled 165 eggs! We added another 60 eggs to the count with a trip up the river as far as Honey Hill Islands and a paddle across to 100 Acre island. On 100 Acre island we only found a couple of CG nests but we did flush 3 Snipe while we were searching.

All in all a pretty good weekend. Coming up this weekend we have the monthly guided bird walk which is on Sunday 27th at 9am. Meet at the visitor centre at 9am, see you there.

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.