Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Tuesday 5th May

Firstly, apologies for the lack of posting during the past week. Unfortunately exams and assignments have to take priority over my visits to the Park, and will continue to do so for the next few weeks. I managed to pop in Saturday morning, where highlights included a Slowworm, large swarms of St. Mark’s Flies, and the Little Owl.

Little Owl

This morning, another quick visit was made. Although it was grey and cloudy, a good selection of species were noted.
8 Blackcaps, 8 Chiff Chaffs, and 16 Whitethroats were singing, 3 Nuthatch were seen, 4 Pheasants were noted, 3 Stock Dove were heard, 6 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were noted, 2 Treecreepers were seen – 1 on Jenner’s Bank and the other along the River Len – a pair of Bullfinch were in the bramble south of the footpath that runs between the 2 bridges along the Len, 2 parties of Long-tailed Tits were noted, 3 Green Woodpeckers were seen, 9 Herring Gulls flew north over the Park, 4 Linnets were seen, 5 Swifts – the first of the year – were spotted flying around the tops of the Wellingtonia along the Laurel Walk, 2 Willow Warblers could be heard singing, a Pied Wagtail flew south over the playing fields, a Goldcrest was singing from an Alder along the causeway, 12 House Martins were hunting insects over the old Horse Chestnuts on the eastern stretch of the Lake, and it was a surprise to spot and hear a Siskin flying east over the Alder Carr along the Len.

Greater Stitchwort

3 Reed Warbler and a Reed Bunting were noted in the marsh area, 3 more Reed Warbler were singing from various points around the Lake, a Cormorant was perched on 1 of the islands, and of particular note on the Lake were 12 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Mute Swans, 2 Tuftie, and 4 Canada Geese. The gull flock on the Lake held at least 21 Black-headed Gulls and an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull.


Bluebells

Also noted was a female Orange-tip butterfly and a baby Robin being fed by its parent.

4 comments:

Greenie said...

Simon ,
Firstly , good luck with the exams .
Much more important than posting .
Well done with the Swifts , I haven't seen any yet , nor House Martins come to think of it .

Warren Baker said...

there'll be plenty of time for watching the park Simon. keep up the odd post though!

Steve said...

For a quick visit you got a good selection. I had Swifts at Sevenoaks yesterday but no House Martins yet.

Good luck with the exams.

Ken. said...

Hi Simon
Good luck with your exams from me too. There's no need for apologies. Good blog report. I look forward to reading more, as and when.

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