Richmond Park
I started my day in Richmond Park, which at 6.30am was shrouded in fog. Driving through the park you occasionally came across openings that were bathed in bright sun. The reason I was here was to replace last years temporary tern nesting tray, which had been successful but was now looking shabby and was now lopsided.
The photos below are the only species that I saw well.
The newly installed tern nesting tray. I hadn’t even reached the shore when the pair had landed on it. There were 2 other pairs displaying and calling above Pen Ponds.
A strange thing about being on the lake was that although the tern rafts are reasonably close to the island and were bathed in sun it took a further 20 minutes before the fog cleared over the island.
The young in the lowest nest tried to hide but it wasn’t until I was back on shore that all four returned to their nest.
A Common Sandpiper dropped in while I was loading the boat into the back of the van.
Bushy Park
This was my next port of call, to meet up with a colleague to check our reptile mats and to install a Trail Camera. While we were doing this we did see some good birds, which helped my colleague who is trying to improve her ID skills.
Common Buzzard: one was in the air.
Hobby: two birds flew through.
Kingfisher: one was on the Scrape when we arrived.
Cetti’s Warbler: he was constantly bursting into song.
Sedge Warbler: possibly a pair present, with the male doing his aerial sorties.
Reed Warbler: two birds were singing, one by the river and another in a reed bed.
Reed Bunting: 2 males and a female were in the meadow area.
Comments