Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wednesday 23rd July

The sky was overcast today, and the temperature was warm and very humid. The resident birds appeared a little more active than they have done during the past few visits, and the butterflies continued to be on the go.

Green Woodpecker
6 Green Woodpeckers were seen today – with at least 1 bird seen in every area of short grass, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard – all along the River Len in the eastern end of the Park, 1 Chiff Chaff was singing from an Alder along the track by the Weir, 3 Treecreeper were calling and feeding around the Wellingtonias along Laurel Walk, 9 Goldcrests were noted - all in the area along Laurel Walk and at the top of Jenner’s Bank, a Whitethroat gave a few angry-sounding calls from a Hogweed in the rough grassland, as I passed through his territory, 3 Pheasants called – 1 from the rough grassland, and 2 from the edge of the marsh and Alder Carr, and 5 Swifts hunted insects over the Lake.

On the Lake were 6 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Mute Swans, 74 Canada Geese, and the countless Mallards, Moorhens, and Coots. There were 4 Black-headed Gulls on the Lake, 4 Grey Heron were noted – 3 were seen being mobbed by a Lesser Black-backed Gull as the flew east over the Park, and 1 could be seen wading through the shallow water next to the large reedbeds by the Weir watching the carp that splashed about in the water, 2 Cormorants perched in a tree on the island next to the Weir, a Kingfisher hunted along the Lake’s eastern edge by the old Horse Chestnuts, and 3 Reed Warblers were heard singing around the perimeter of the Lake.


Grey Herons

Cormorants

Butterflies noted were 8 Speckled Woods, large numbers of Essex Skippers and several Small Skippers, both Large and Small Whites were seen, 4 Meadow Brown, and roughly 23 Gatekeepers were seen. 4 Common Blue Damselflies and 2 male Banded Demoiselles were spotted the nettles on the Lake’s eastern edge.

Gatekeeper

Also, plenty of bees were buzzing around the purple flowers of the Knapweed and thistles, including 1 species that seemed ver, very pale compared to the others. Unfortunately, the bee that I managed to get a decent photo of appears to be the least palest of them all!!


2 comments:

Warren Baker said...

Hi simon,
Nice post.
I'm sure if you keep up the frequency of visits you'll find an unusual (for your patch) migrant. keep watching

Greenie said...

Simon ,
Still picking up good bird species numbers .
Really liked the Gatekeeper and the silhouette shots .

Next Event - TBA