Saturday, March 30, 2013

Saturday 30th March

My first visit for a few weeks but not much has changed with cold weather hanging on for so long. Not much change in the forecast either! A lot of the Pochard have left but there are still good numbers of Tufted Ducks remaining. A male Goldeneye was also present on the main lake this morning. Gadwall numbers have reduced significantly, Teal are still present in low numbers and there were 4 Shoveler on 100 Acre.

No sign of any Chichaffs or Blackcaps this morning but a good number of Redwings were still present!

Raptors were the highlight of the morning with a low pass by a Red Kite topping the list. A male Sparrowhawk visited a nest at Kramer hide before perching up nearby. 3 Buzzards drifted north over Kingsmead.

3 pairs of Rooks have taken up residence in the trees on the south side of the main lake, as they did last year. Will they stay the course this year?

British Summer Time begins Sunday morning, not that you'd know it by the weather. The next guided bird walk is on Sunday at 9am BST. Meet outside the visitor centre as usual.

The 3 Buzzards with accompanying corvid

Little Egret departing the roost

Male Goldeneye

Male Pochard

Distant Red Kite

Thursday, March 28, 2013

New events

Saturday March 30th at 2pm Guided Walk with the park ranger. 
Sunday April 21st Wildlife Trust Plant Sale 2pm until 4pm.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Ringing recovery

Back on 28th October last year, I caught a Lesser Redpoll which already had a ring on it (not one of mine). You can read the original post (and see a photograph of the bird) here. The guided bird walk on that day, led by DB, were lucky enough to see this bird during a ringing demo and I can now tell you where it came from.

It was originally ringed on 13th October 2012 near Bestwood, Nottinghamshire. It moved a distance of 113km in a South, South East direction, within 15 days.