Saturday 10th November

My 2 hour walk this morning was under an overcast sky, there was also a light north westerly breeze which made the temperature feel cool.

5 Goldcrests were seen, 4 Jays were seen, 3 Green Woodpeckers called, and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker was also heard calling, 4 Treecreeper were noted, a flock of 14 Siskin were observed feeding in the Alders along he River Len, whilst several more were heard calling in the wet woodland further along the Len, 2 Kestrels were seen hunting, and several parties of Long-tailed Tit were seen. Several small birds were heard flying over; at least 66 Redwing were noted, 2 Grey Wagtail, a few Linnets, a Meadow Pipit, and lots of Goldfinch. In addition to this, whilst standing by some Willows next to the large reedbed on the eastern end of the Lake, a small bird, about tit/siskin size, took off from a patch of reeds, called a few times, and dropped back down again. Because the bird was so quick all I managed to glimpse was a silhouette, however, it is the call that I cannot nail down as to what the bird is. The bird gave 4 calls which sounded like ‘seeou’ or ‘seeoo’. If anybody reading this has an idea as to what the caller could be, I will be very grateful if you could leave a comment. In the meantime, I shall return to the Park and have another look.

On the Lake were at least 5 Mute Swans, 158 Canada Geese, 7 Greylag Geese, 5 Shoveler, 1 Tufted Duck, and 5 Pochard – 4 males and a female, the first birds to return for the winter, there were also countless Mallards, Coots and Moorhens. The gull flock on the Lake consisted of at least 29 Common Gulls, even more Black-headed Gulls, 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull, and 1 Herring Gull. In addition to this, 3 Grey Herons fished along the Len, and 2 Cormorants were on the Lake.