It was a gorgeous sunny morning today during 6.45am and 9am. There was a light westerly breeze but it didn’t make the temperature any cooler.
During the visit a minimum of 4 Blackcaps, 5 Chiff Chaffs, 9 Reed Warblers, and 12 Whitethroats were singing.
Whilst scanning the Lake I counted a minimum of 6 Mute Swans, and 3 Great Crested Grebes with at least 2 young, together with the usual Canada Geese, Mallard, Coots and Moorhens. A Lesser Black-backed Gull stood on a buoy whilst another fished, 2 Cormorants sat on the island next to the Weir, another sat on the lower island, and another fished on the water, and a Grey Heron fished on the western side of the Lake.
Also of note were a total of 3 Green Woodpeckers heard calling from various parts of the Park, a Pheasant called from the Meadow, a total of 4 Nuthatch called – all from Oak trees! – 2 Coal Tits sang from the Yews along Willington Street edge of the Park, 2 Linnet flew from the Meadow, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard, and a Little Owl called from the large Oak on the southern edge of the Meadow. A quick scan over the Park produced a minimum of 25 Swifts, a flock of racing pigeons heading west, a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull flying north, and a lone Med Gull flying east, a pair of Jackdaw flying east, and there were several pairs of Woodpigeons also seen.
Surprisingly only 1 butterfly was seen throughout the visit, this was a Red Admiral, which flew around the Meadow. Also of note, was Goat's Beard in flower in the Meadow and when waiting to see if the Little owl will appear on its usual perch - which it didn't - this Grey Squirrel approached extremely close to inspect what I was!.
During the visit a minimum of 4 Blackcaps, 5 Chiff Chaffs, 9 Reed Warblers, and 12 Whitethroats were singing.
Whilst scanning the Lake I counted a minimum of 6 Mute Swans, and 3 Great Crested Grebes with at least 2 young, together with the usual Canada Geese, Mallard, Coots and Moorhens. A Lesser Black-backed Gull stood on a buoy whilst another fished, 2 Cormorants sat on the island next to the Weir, another sat on the lower island, and another fished on the water, and a Grey Heron fished on the western side of the Lake.
Also of note were a total of 3 Green Woodpeckers heard calling from various parts of the Park, a Pheasant called from the Meadow, a total of 4 Nuthatch called – all from Oak trees! – 2 Coal Tits sang from the Yews along Willington Street edge of the Park, 2 Linnet flew from the Meadow, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard, and a Little Owl called from the large Oak on the southern edge of the Meadow. A quick scan over the Park produced a minimum of 25 Swifts, a flock of racing pigeons heading west, a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull flying north, and a lone Med Gull flying east, a pair of Jackdaw flying east, and there were several pairs of Woodpigeons also seen.
Surprisingly only 1 butterfly was seen throughout the visit, this was a Red Admiral, which flew around the Meadow. Also of note, was Goat's Beard in flower in the Meadow and when waiting to see if the Little owl will appear on its usual perch - which it didn't - this Grey Squirrel approached extremely close to inspect what I was!.
Goatsbeard
Tragopogon pratensis
Grey Squirrel
1 comment:
Hi,
Good to see your blog on the KOS site, especially since I went to the Grammar school (and so ran round Mote Park more times than I care to remember)
This post is especially helpful, as it identifies Goatsbeard, one of which I've seen here - Kingsdown near Deal - and which I couldn't place.
http://kingsdownkent.blogspot.com/2007_06_01_archive.html
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