March 1st to 11th
The first 11 days have continued pretty much as the first 2 months have been; wet, windy with the odd sunny day but not to cold. There has been some bird movement, 4 Meadow Pipits, 1 Skylark, 10 Siskins ( 7 perched briefly), 7 Stonechats (all bar 1 seen in the Triangular Pen), 1 possible 2 Cetti's Warblers (birds are heard in area 5 and 32, the latter bird's song seems less powerful), Firecrest (heard calling in area 19), Blackcap (up to 9) and a Woodcock was seen flying over the Inner Circle at 5.50am on 10th.
Below is a pictorial of those first days.
This bird was reported as being a Marsh Harrier, not a bird you should mistake.
2 of the 7 Stonechats seen so far this year, a record number for a year let alone a month.
There have been 4 Pied Wagtails seen, the other 2 flew east on another day.
This female was present until early January but has been absent until now.
The Water Rail in area 2 has been very elusive, possibly because the mild weather meant that there was plenty of food in the reed beds.
The male Little Owl has been absent or avoiding DJ and myself since early autumn.
The Kestrels are still bonding and will hopefully lay there first egg in April.
Eight Heron nests have young in them at the moment.
This Heron was calling and posturing on the Bandstand Island but soon became a target for a Crow, the species that drove the Herons from what was their main breeding colony in the park, after the failure of the Elm trees in the 1970's. Luckily they have managed to either construct their own nest, mainly in the Chestnut tree on Heron Island (area 8) or fill in the Heron Baskets with twigs to make them more comfortable.
The fluctuating water levels have prevented the Great crested Grebes from laying eggs yet because their nests get waterlogged.
There was a mass departure of waterfowl at the end of Feb and the beginning of March, a few Shovelers remained and a few Mandarins, however all winter visiting Pochards and Tufted Departed along with the 5 European Wigeon. Then something slightly strange occurred, 3 Wigeon return last week.
This is a strange combination, I will see how this pairing develops, the drake Mallard might not be in the mood for a relationship just yet. Meaning the dapper Mandarin is trying his luck.
The resident Mute Swans were not happy when a young pair turned up 5 days ago, ever since they have been chasing them around the lake. On the 9th this pair took of but due to the strong wind one flew into a tree, fortunately she was unharmed the cob landed on the open spaces. Luckily for him
The dinner plate (terrapin) behind the Moorhen thankfully is one of 2 present in the lake. Luckily we were able to remove a re-home a small number of these a few years ago. Yet another problem caused by brainless individuals that thought there children would like the tiny little terrapins not thinking that children move on and these need looking after. They hadn't the heart to have them put down so they dumped them in our ponds and rivers.
I have now had up to 3 Moorhens visiting my garden, the annoying thing I noticed to day was that the female has started eating my Wisteria buds.
At least 52 Stock Doves have been visiting my garden. They certainly look more than grey when the sun is shining.
Blackcaps on my Bird Table
A pair of House Sparrows were taking an interest in one of my nest boxes at the weekend.
The Vixen comes for a drink
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