Saturday, February 16, 2008
"Boxing Day"
With the assistance of my trainee [head honcho at BTCV] to carry the ladder, we successfully cleaned and repaired 12 nest boxes in the conservation area. We attached metal plates to repair the woodpecker and squirrel damage as well, 6 smaller, Blue Tit ones and 6 larger, Great Tit ones. Hopefully, they will all be used again after a gap of two years. The ringers will monitor the boxes in May and ring the pulli when they reach the right size. Having carried the ladder, there are now 3 ringers who know where all the boxes are!
Saturday 16th February
Very quiet this morning at Kramer hide. A Moorhen fight was the highlight. Had only seen a couple of Moorhen until a squabble broke out, then they all came out of the woodwork! While two were locked in a death grip others kept diving in for a free shot. Turned out to be at least 7 Moorhen in the right hand channel and surrounding reed beds, might have been as many as 10.
Five Shoveller swam past (2 pair and a gooseberry male), 2 swam through and the other three remained in the reed bed directly in front of the hide for a while. A single Little Grebe showed up in the channel to east Fingers and a Siskin came down to drink nearby. A group of 8 Teal flew in and a large group (30+) flew through. Another group of 15 flew in but they may have been part of the larger group that flew through (min 38, max 53+). The resident pair of Mute Swans were getting aggro with the Canada Geese which were very vocal and quite aggressive this morning. A single juvenile Heron was in the usual roosting place (EN reported 4 later). A Green Woodpecker passed through stopping in the dead tree opposite the hide for a few moments.
Having left the hide I walked downstream alongside the navigation channel and back along the Long Hedge. A brief snatch of Chiffchaff song was heard from across Kingsmead, where 44 Canada Geese grazed. 8 Moorhen and a pheasant were also seen. A Mute Swan was grazing in the meadow by the navigation channel. It looks to be injured or sick as it is very approachable and is probably the same one as was seen last week in the same area.
On east Fingers the Great Crested Grebe pair were joined by the pair of Mute Swans. On west Fingers there was a Coot (pair seen later by EN), some of the Shoveller and several of the Teal. No more Little Grebe although EN reported 4 seen later. Leaving the Spit I headed around the main lake and heard a Reed Bunting singing from the Crescent.
There were c.34 Mute Swans on the main lake but the big surprise was the 42 Teal seen from the main lake hide. There were c.10 Pochard (1f) and 4 Shoveller. Little else of note as I completed my circuit of the main lake.
Although I didn't see any Otters today 1 was reported, seen on Thursday at approx 09:15 from Kramer hide.
Five Shoveller swam past (2 pair and a gooseberry male), 2 swam through and the other three remained in the reed bed directly in front of the hide for a while. A single Little Grebe showed up in the channel to east Fingers and a Siskin came down to drink nearby. A group of 8 Teal flew in and a large group (30+) flew through. Another group of 15 flew in but they may have been part of the larger group that flew through (min 38, max 53+). The resident pair of Mute Swans were getting aggro with the Canada Geese which were very vocal and quite aggressive this morning. A single juvenile Heron was in the usual roosting place (EN reported 4 later). A Green Woodpecker passed through stopping in the dead tree opposite the hide for a few moments.
Having left the hide I walked downstream alongside the navigation channel and back along the Long Hedge. A brief snatch of Chiffchaff song was heard from across Kingsmead, where 44 Canada Geese grazed. 8 Moorhen and a pheasant were also seen. A Mute Swan was grazing in the meadow by the navigation channel. It looks to be injured or sick as it is very approachable and is probably the same one as was seen last week in the same area.
On east Fingers the Great Crested Grebe pair were joined by the pair of Mute Swans. On west Fingers there was a Coot (pair seen later by EN), some of the Shoveller and several of the Teal. No more Little Grebe although EN reported 4 seen later. Leaving the Spit I headed around the main lake and heard a Reed Bunting singing from the Crescent.
There were c.34 Mute Swans on the main lake but the big surprise was the 42 Teal seen from the main lake hide. There were c.10 Pochard (1f) and 4 Shoveller. Little else of note as I completed my circuit of the main lake.
Although I didn't see any Otters today 1 was reported, seen on Thursday at approx 09:15 from Kramer hide.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Tues 12th
Went in to arrange some habitat management work.
A quick check on the Pochard gave 37 birds only; this is down from 110 on Sunday. No Tufted. The birds seem to be clearing off early - but will they be back at the week-end when its a return to low temperatures, low cloud and an east wind!
GC Grebe on the main lake totalled 20, plus the potential breeders on Fingers.
A quick check on the Pochard gave 37 birds only; this is down from 110 on Sunday. No Tufted. The birds seem to be clearing off early - but will they be back at the week-end when its a return to low temperatures, low cloud and an east wind!
GC Grebe on the main lake totalled 20, plus the potential breeders on Fingers.
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