Saturday 20th August 2011

A lovely morning, bright and sunny with cloud moving in and taking over by mid afternoon. A slight increase in Mute Swan numbers this week, to 41. Great Crested Grebes were in the low 30's and Coots appeared down to just 25. While heading down the main path a couple of Swifts were over the main lake. Shortly after a dozen House Martins moved in from the north along with another 4 Swifts but they soon departed south.


At Fingers three Gadwalls were present and 2 Shovelers were also in the mix with the Mallards. The Moorhen with the single remaining youngster appeared to be building a new nest but may have just been making good to the old one. A Treecreeper was also spotted along the Spit and Kingfisher was heard.

There were a number of Chiffchaffs calling around Fingers and Blackcaps were also heard ticking. Plenty of Reed Warblers were also flitting about across the Spit and alongside the main path. Green and Great-spotted Woodpeckers were also seen and heard. Juvenile Sparrowhawk was also heard although hard to pin down the location it seemed to be from the far side of Kingsmead.

On 100 Acre there was nothing at all on the small lake and little on the big lake although a single Common Sandpiper, at least 6 Little Grebe and a male Pochard kept us interested. Goldfinch are also coming together into larger groups with 20+ on the east side of the big lake. There are plenty of Teasels to keep them going through the autumn.

Back in the park Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were both heard singing in the south west corner of the main lake and 4 Mistle Thrush flew over south as we headed up the west side of the lake. Greenfinch were also present as normal in this area.

Saturday 13th August 2011

A miserable morning, grey and overcast with drizzle, heavy at times. As is often the case in this sort of weather the Sand Martins were feeding over the main lake, numbers increasing throughout the morning with a peak count in the mid 60's. At least one House Martin was in the mix. The usual 35 Mute Swans were on the main lake along with 45 Coots and 23 Great Crested Grebes.

On Fingers the female Shoveler was present again. The Mute Swan family were cruising around and a few Mallards were also present. A single noisy young Moorhen was being fed by one of the adults, no other youngsters were seen.

Still a few Warblers about with at least one Willow Warbler and several Chiffchaffs, including one singing individual on the south east side of the main lake. Plenty of Reed Warblers flitting between the reeds and the Willows. I didn't venture into the Rough today as it seemed pretty quiet, the same being said for the walk from there to the Sedgewick seat.

14 Cormorants were in the trees on the far side of Kingsmead, a couple of Herons were also on Kingsmead and a couple of Green Woodpeckers flew across towards the Cormorants followed by a noisy get together. A Kingfisher was also heard across the other side of Kingsmead further up stream.

Half a dozen Goldfinch kept me company along the west side of the main lake with the odd Dunnock and Robin putting in an appearance.

Just a handful of Canada Geese on the main lake this morning and about 14 Common Terns. When I arrived back at the VC 3 Swifts were buzzing about overhead.

Sunday 7th August - Volunteer Task

The volunteer task today was building a couple of new benches along the New Cut. The hard work was the digging of the holes and getting the posts level after which fixing the top was a piece of cake. Both benches were finished off by lunchtime so it was an early finish for most. I volunteered to carry out a bit of litter picking in the afternoon and filled a couple of sacks in under 2 hours. It never ceases to amaze me that some people seem incapable of disposing of their litter responsibly. The rangers can spend anything up to half their working day picking up litter, time that could be spent on more useful tasks around the park. So remember to either dispose of your litter in the bins provided or even take it home and recycle it, it's not that difficult is it? Also remember why you visit the park in the first place, I bet you wouldn't visit if it resembled a landfill and, believe me, it wouldn't take long to get that way if the Rangers weren't clearing up after you all.

Please look after our park.