Category: Sighting

West End:- 4m+1f Pochard, 4m+3f Gadwall, 3 Coots, 3 Little Grebes, 376 Greylag Geese, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Egyptian Geese.

West End: 12 GC Grebe, 234 Greylag, 2 Egyptian Geese, 10 Mallard, 2M+2F Pochard, 1M+1F Gadwall, 2 Coot, 1 Moorhen, 2 Buzzard, 40 BH Gull, 3 Common Gull, 28 Stock Dove, on feeders 1 Marsh Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 12+ Blue Tit, 5+ Great Tit, also 100+ Jackdaws plus some Crows on fields behind Car Park.

West End:- 2m+2f Pochard, 3m+1f Mandarin, 2 Coot, 2 Egyptian Geese, 1 Little Grebe, 3 Common Gull,1 Mute Swan flew NW early morning.
Whillet’s- Fairly quiet at the roost (14:10-16:15) with 100 Reed Buntings and 640 Starlings dropping in, 2+ Water Rail & 1 Tawny Owl heard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 5 Fieldfare, 22 Redwing, 12 Goldfinches, 270 Jackdaws flew north.

West End: 3 Pochard, 8 Mandarin, 3 Coot.

West End:- A bird ringing session produced a good mix of birds including Chaffinch, Bullfinch, 1cy (calendar year) male Kingfisher, Goldcrest, Robin, Blackbird, Great Tit & Coal Tit. The majority being Blue Tits. All appeared to be in good weight for the time of year.  Plus a flock of 27 Lapwing were seen flying over.

Dam end:- 1 Shelduck mid-reservoir at 8:15am.   West End:- 3 Gadwall, 1 Coot, 2 Egyptian Geese, 38 Carrion Crow.   Whillets Reed-bed Roost count – 14:20 to 16:15:- 106 Reed Bunting came in over the period also 1880 Starling, and again a Sparrowhawk was hunting Starlings coming in to roost. Also 1 Water Rail at reed-bed.

Whillets Meadows Reed-bed roost count from 14:45 to 16:30:-   110 Reed Bunting came in to reed-bed  over that period in singles and small groups,  c1260 Starling came in to roost, the biggest individual flock entering was approx 400 in size, rest entered in much smaller groups. The noise from the reed-bed at the end was amazing with this number of Starlings all chattering. A male Sparrowhawk was around  for awhile and made several attempts to fly through the circling Starling groups and take a bird but only achieving to keep splitting up the group, eventually it gave up and left. Also heard were 2 Water Rail, 1 Moorhen and a Tawny Owl. A Kingfisher flew through and Grey Wagtail flew over. Redwings & Jackdaws were seen flying NE over towards their roosting sites, Also plenty of Gulls flying over going SE toward the Dam end to roost on the water.

Whillet’s:- Between 15:00 & 16:30 A minimum of 250 Redwing came in to roost along tree line of second meadow and over 500 Starling dropped in to the reed-bed to roost. A small number of Fieldfare were also seen amongst the Redwings flying in. A Tawny Owl & Kingfisher were heard, plus a Buzzard flew over late in the day.

West End:  27 Stock Dove, 4 Egyptian Geese.

WeBS counts + other sightings plus Reed-bed roost count.   ALL RESERVOIR:-  27 GC Grebe, 4 Grey Heron, 4 Egyptian Geese, 20 Mallard + 1 Feral Domestic bird, 2 Buzzard, 6 Moorhen, 2 Kingfisher, 4 Goldcrest, 7 LT Tit, 3 Marsh Tit, 3 Coal Tit, 3 Nuthatch, 5 Chaffinch, 23 Goldfinch, 4 Bullfinch.       DAM END:- 1F Goosander briefly early morning before becoming disturbed and flying off, 60 BH Gull, 3 Common Gull, 1 Herring Gull, 7 Meadow Pipit, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Song thrush, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Yellowhammer.      WEST END:-  25 Cormorant, 358 Greylag + 1 Canada/Greylag hybrid, 8 Canada Geese, 11 Stock Dove, 2 GS Woodpecker.     WHILLET’S:-  2 Mandarin fly over, 1 Sparrowhawk at reed-bed very interested in Starling roost, 560 Starling actually came into reed-bed and roosted plus 131 Reed Bunting came into red-bed between 14:00 & 16:30 to roost, 40 Pheasant roosted in surrounding trees, 2 Water Rail heard, A Tawny Owl was heard, pair of Stonechat in the meadows, At least 60 Fieldfare & 70+ Redwing were seen flying over the latter to roost in nearby trees, 1 Treecreeper, 3 Siskin, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Raven seen doing flight display.