Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wednesday 16th March


Today there were no lectures at Uni, and at 6.30am I woke to hear the distinctive calls of WAXWINGS from outside my bedroom window!!!! Upon peering out of the window I could see a flock of 27 in my garden!...WOW, how lucky is that?! I couldn't believe my fortune that I didn't have to travel to Uni! I kept an eye on the birds for most of the morning and I timed my visit to Mote Park when I watched them fly off together and into an ash tree on the Willington Street boundary of the park - (tick!!!) - a new bird for the park's bird list, both for me and the park records, FANTASTIC!!!! What a superb bird!



WAXWINGS
(I thought the occasion would never happen!)

It was a very foggy morning with limited visablity, and the temperature was lower than forecast too.


4 Goldcrest were seen, 3 Nuthatch were heard, 4 Treecreeper were heard singing, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were noted, 2 Green Woodpeckers were heard, 14 Redwing were seen, a Grey Wagtail was heard flying over, 2 Sparrowhawks were seen, a Jay was seen, a few Siskin could be heard along the Len, a Stock Dove was seen, a Chiffchaff was heard singing - probably the first migrant of the year - 5 Herring Gull flew north, and it was interesting to note a large flock of Greenfinch in the parkland trees.

There were 3 Mediterranean Gulls on the Lake with at least 85 Black-headed Gulls and around 16 Common Gulls, 6 Mute Swan were down by the 'duck feeding area', and 1 Great Crested Grebe was seen.

White Sweet Violets

The first Coltsfoot, Butterbur, and Sweet Violet were in flower.

4 comments:

Adam said...

Nice one Simon - about time the park got a visit, but very jealous about the garden tick!!!

Hope they hang around until the weekend when we might get some sunshine!

Adam

Warren Baker said...

I bet you thought you were still dreaming Simon, nice bed tick!

Alan Pavey said...

Great garden find Simon, and to add Waxwing to the patch as well, good bonus!!

Paul said...

Hi Simon, a very nice double bonus for you there mate(Home and patch). I would settle for just the one ;)

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