Sunday, April 08, 2012

It has been a busy Easter weekend, with live small mammal trapping taking place in the park, plus an RSPB bird walk.

Bird-wise, the first Willow Warbler of the year was heard on Saturday, in the scrub between the Lake and the Volunteers Memorial - one of my favourite songsters! The Little Owl has been spotted frequently, 5 Mediterranean Gulls have been regulars on the Lake, and a Kestrel can be spotted hunting over the rough grassland areas. Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs are singing throughout the park, both Grey and Pied Wagtails can be seen around the Lake edges, and Great Spotted Woodpeckers continue to drum.

It has been fantastic to get up close and personal with the park's small mammals, with 5 species being recorded so far over the weekend. These are Woodmice (often called Fieldmice), Yellow-necked Mice, Bank Voles, Field Voles, and Common Shrews. Over the many years that I have been visiting Mote Park, I have now recorded 22 different species of mammal.

Photos will follow...

1 comment:

Tom Evans said...

7 May 2012. I was in the Park brifly this morning and saw 2 Egyptian Geese, not a bird I've had there before. Somewhat incongruously for a goose, they were high in an oak tree above the Weir on the Len, calling anxiously. Tom Evans tevans@wcs.org

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