Author: Linsey Gooding

Later at what had been a non productive WeirWood in the last few days an early to mid afternoon visit produced Great Egret at the west end in the heronry plus the usual cast of goodies. The terns on the 2nd from the left platform have at least one chick, another pair were on the left platform, whilst the gulls are doing well. Amazingly I had another sighting of a very pele looking male Honey Buzzard over Admirals Wood again. An ad” Little Egret was looking odd in amongst the Grey Lag Geese and no young Great-crested Grebes were seen today however. At Whillett’s a Reed Warbler and 2 Reed Buntings were noted but the best bird was a Spotted Flycatcher here today.

Willets:- 1 x European Herring Gull, 2 x Grey Heron, 1 x Common Buzzard, 1 x Peregrine Falcon, 4 x Carrion Crow, 4 x Common Reed Warbler, 1 x Western House Martin, 2 x Common Chiffchaff, 3 x Eurasian Blackcap, 1 x Garden Warbler, 2 x Common Whitethroat, 4 x Eurasian Wren, 1 x Eurasian Blackbird, 1 x European Robin, 1 x Common Reed Bunting

West End:- 39 x Greylag Goose, 42 x Canada Goose, 2 x Mute Swan, 2 x Egyptian Goose, 3 x Mandarin Duck, 11 x Mallard, 1 x Stock Dove, 3 x Common Woodpigeon, 2 x Eurasian Coot, 8 x Black-headed Gull, 9 x Common Tern, 17 x Great Crested Grebe, 32 x Great Cormorant, 1 x Little Egret, 9 x Grey Heron, 1 x Eurasian Jay, 1 x Carrion Crow, 1 x Common Reed Warbler, 2 x Common Chiffchaff, 2 x Eurasian Blackcap, 1 x Goldcrest, 2 x Eurasian Wren, 1 x Song Thrush, 2 x Eurasian Blackbird, 2 x European Robin, 1 x Pied Wagtail

West End:- Black headed gulls 3 chicks still doing well and other still on eggs, all 4 adults present. Second Common Terns chicks have hatched today but couldn’t really see how many, saw at least 1 running around of first pair that hatched. Still 2 Mute Swans, 4 Coots, 2 Egyptian Geese, 52 Greylag Geese, 2 Mandarins and Great Crested grebes with 3 chicks by plaw hatch stream.
23 adult GC Grebes over whole reservoir.
Dam End: -1 Hobby, 13 Common Terns, 3 Black headed gulls ,20 Pied Wagtails, 1 Little Egret, 2 Lapwings, 25 Mallard + 4 Ducklings, 10 Canada geese+ 7 Goslings, 1 Green Woodpecker on dam slope, 1 Swift, 2 House Martins.

West End:- 2 pairs of GC Grebe now have young – Pair with 4Y left of hide & pair with 3Y well right of hide, much feeding of young with small fish seen for both pairs.

Dam End:- 2 x Little Egret flying towards the west end from the dam. It’s gone into a bay on the south bank.A couple of hobbies, 3 young and 2 adults Egyptians, 1 Common Tern and 3 Black Headed Gull on top of the control building. Garden Warbler singing away in the CP. Bird of the day for me was a stunning male Bullfinch on the access road.

Much the same as yesterday at the west end,

Dam end:- 1 Hobby and 3 Little Egrets feeding along the north shore. The Egyptians still have 3 Goslings and a mallard with 5 young noted. 10+ pied wags on the dam, mostly youngsters. Family of 5 Swallows dropped in, still several Swift’s around. On the water 18 Herring gulls and 1 LBB dropped in for a wash.
Goldcrest singing in car park.

WeirWood from early morning was flat overcast and calm. Starting at the dam where 6 Common Terns were present also 4 Black-headed Gulls and a Herring Gull but it was generally very quiet here. On the dam again Green Woodpecker and 2 Linnets this time. Below the dam a Whitethroat family was nice to see. In the c/pk Garden Warbler again and a Goldcrest. Moving on to the west end at 7:00hrs. Here a further 4 Common Terns were noted with a sadly empty right hand platform today, the other Common Terns still active with tiny chicks. 3 young Black-headed Gull chicks remain and the Great-crested Grebes still have 4 chicks too with another pair weed dancing. Walking to Whillett’s a pair of Whitethroats were noted in the lay-by but no Little Egrets today so far. At Whillett’s a pair of Reed Buntings and a pair of Reed Warblers were seen. Back at the c/pk 2 Kingfishers were seen plus 2 Swifts and a Red Kite over. A Sparrowhawk female flew past the viewing point showing well but briefly and 2 Lapwings flew over, I haven’t seen many this year. Then at 7:53 a Little Egrets ad” appeared on the right of the heronry and all the Common Terns from the dam arrived. Lastly in the c/pk Great spotted Woodpecker female and a Marsh Tit. That was about it for today.

West end:- this morning sadly the 2 pairs of Terns on the right raft have failed I reckon the young hatched yesterday and died during the heavy rain yesterday, these pairs were slightly ahead of the 2 pairs on the back raft which started hatching this morning, 2 tiny chicks spotted with more hopefully today.
Black Headed gulls still with 3 chicks which are growing quickly, other pair seen changing over sitting duties on eggs.
Great crested Grebes still have 4 young in front of the hide,2 pairs of Coots noted.
2 Reed warblers seen carrying food to nest in front of hide, another singing in first lay-by with pair of Common Whitethroats.
7 Swifts, 3 Buzzards, 1 Red Kite and 1 Lesser Black Backed gull ( flyovers), Kingfisher and 18+ Grey Herons but no Egrets seen.
Whillets:- pair of Reed warblers taking food to nest plus another singing, pair of Reed Buntings and a Common Whitethroat family with 3+ fledged young.

Dam end:- 19 x Canada Goose, 5 x Egyptian Goose, 2 x Mallard, 2 x Black-headed Gull, 26 x European Herring Gull, 5 x Common Tern, 3 x Great Crested Grebe, 5 x Great Cormorant, 1 x Little Egret, 2 x Grey Heron, 1 x Common Buzzard, 1 x Eurasian Green Woodpecker, 1 x Carrion Crow, 2 x Barn Swallow, 4 x Western House Martin, 1 x Eurasian Wren, 1 x Grey Wagtail, 7 x Pied Wagtail