I am off to Leicester University to conferences attend the conference; Ecosystem Services: Do we need birds. Having attended the last two April conferences, no doubt this will be equally as interesting.
It will give me a chance to stop off at Eyebrook Reservoir and hopefully connect with an Osprey or two. Also as I am staying with my brother, I look forward to seeing Tree Sparrows in his garden.
If you should see something of interest in the park in my absence please leave details in the comments section.
Thank you.
Comments
Now that is an April fools.
Enjoy you trip
Gadwall 2 (pr)
Shoveler 1 m
Shelduck 4 2pr (one free-flying pair was at the waterfowl feeding station; the other pair appears to include a winged duck, with the drake free-flying - they tend to feed in area 36 and roost in area 8)
Chiffchaff 3: areas 1, 19 and 40
Blackcap 1: area 41
Shelduck 1m: area 36.
Black-headed Gull 1 (summer plumage): lake fencepost between areas 8 & 9.
Blackcap 1: area 31
Chiffchaff 4: areas 1, 2, 19, 21, 31&32&33
- the males heard singing in areas 1 and 2 are unlikely to have been the same bird
- the area 31 male has, at least temporarily, annexed the adjoining territory (areas 32&33), which has apparently been vacated recently
- alas, the male that has been faithful to area 40 at the edge of Leaf Yard Wood since 17 Mar appears to have disappeared in the past couple of days; within the past week, I had noticed it was singing from deeper in the Wood than usual
A pair of Greenfinches was near the fenced-off wildlife garden in area 20, the male giving its breeding "dzweee" note.
A handsome red fox was sitting on the rugby pitch in area 41 at daybreak, before bolting off N towards area 40. This is my second fox sighting near the Leaf Yard Wood this spring - has it got a den nearby?
Shelduck 3: 2m & 1(winged)f
Blackcap 4: areas 14, 31&30, 40, and 42 (rugby-pitch end).
Chiffchaff 4: areas 1, 14&19, 31&32 and 40.
(Yes, the area 40 male is still there! He's the only Chiffchaff I can individually recognise by song - complex, with a 4-beat cadence that includes an unusually high-pitched note. I'm going to nickname him 'Dave' - Brubeck would be proud of such musical innovation!)
The battle between the Great Crested Grebes and the Coots on the E side of Bandstand Island, for the prime nest site at the end of a prostrate, waterlogged tree, is still on - a grebe was 'squatting' on the nest this morning.
Grape hyacinth in bloom.