Monday 8th March

As I have plenty of studying to do at the moment I could only manage a quick mid-morning visit to the Park, mainly focusing on the River Len and east section of the Lake. Another reason for only being able to manage a quick visit today is because I didn’t get as much work done over the weekend as I would have liked! My reason being that I was invited to Salisbury Plain and managed to spot 5 Great Bustards – which was absolutely fantastic – I never ever dreamt I would see such large impressive birds in the wild here in Britain. Below is a photo:

Male Great Bustard known as 'Purple 5'

Back to today though, and it was a beautiful sunny morning – I was quite surprised not to see a bee or early butterfly!

Male Green Woodpecker

4 Treecreepers were singing, 3 Goldcrests were noted, 3 Nuthatch were heard along the River Len, 1 Redwing was spotted flying north, 2 Jay were seen in the wood at the back of the old pond, a few Siskin could be heard in the Alders along the Len Valley and 2 Redpoll were picked out, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard, and 2 Green Woodpeckers were seen in the rough grassland north of the River Len.

Mistle Thrush

A Grey Heron was seen along the River Len, and of particular note on the Lake were at least 4 Great Crested Grebes – both pairs displaying – 1 Little Grebe, 2 Mute Swan, and 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were with the handful of Black-headed and Common Gulls on the Lake. A large gull flock could be seen roosting on the old showground (top playing field) and several Mediterranean Gulls were heard calling.