Saturday 27th July

We were in the Rough chatting with EG who was ringing again this weekend when this cheeky chap wandered through:

Fox

Looked like a youngster and quite skinny which may explain what happened next. EG went off to do a net round and found the Fox trying to steal a Blackbird from the net! EG managed to rescue the bird but not before it had sustained a few nasty looking injuries. Not sure if it survived the encounter but will update when I hear from EG.

Kestrel

This female Kestrel was keeping an eye out for any passing small mammals on 100 Acre.

There is a guided bird walk tomorrow starting at 8am. Meet at the visitor centre.

Event: Unlocking the Past

Priory Country Park: Unlocking the Past by David Barnes

Recent happenings in the park

Things have remained pretty quiet in the park, at least on the wildlife front. The hot weather has attracted plenty of human visitors though. Last weekend I joined Ranger Danny on the Dragon and Damselfly transects on Saturday afternoon. We didn't get anything out of the ordinary but Damselfly numbers were quite good, only a handful of Dragonflies though. Learnt a bit from Danny which is always good and am determined to improve my ID skills, those blue Damselflies are tricky blighters!

Signs of improvement this weekend with EG back ringing this morning and catching good numbers. Looks like the first broods are out and about.

A Common Buzzard was heard on the north side of Fingers this morning and a Little Egret flew over the Rough. A Kingfisher was heard on east Fingers. Reed Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Garden Warbler were all seen and/or heard. Both Woodpeckers were about. A couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls passed through early on and Common Terns and Black-headed Gulls were present throughout the morning.

I found out this week that the main lake cygnet that disappeared a couple of weeks ago was killed by the Marina cob when the main lake pair strayed into the Marina pairs territory. The other cygnet was rescued by one of the Marina residents and returned to the main lake with the adults. Apparently the main lake pair didn't learn their lesson and had another foray into the marina but got away without further losses. Thanks to Lin for this info. The remaining cygnet is now looking fairly healthy again and hopefully the family will stay clear of the marina from now on.

The Marina pair finally gave up incubating their eggs this week. You have to give them 10 out of 10 for persistence but it's been looking the likely outcome for some time now. Maybe next year.

The next guided bird walk is next Sunday 28th, meet at the visitor centre at 8am. Let's hope the weather holds out.

For those who prefer an evening out there is a guided Bat walk on Friday 26th at 9pm.