Page 9 - Out Birding Spring 2023

Great Crested Grebe and a Li􏰀le Grebe making its way across the lake at quite a lick! Cormorants were the most plen􏰁ful, adorning pylons, perching on ra􏰂s and fishing. Coot and Moorhen were both seen along with Black-headed, Common and Lesser Black-backed Gull. Grey Heron were occasionally seen in flight.
On to the Bi􏰀ern Viewpoint hide, for a sit and warm up, and the hope of the ever elusive Bi􏰀ern. As is o􏰂en the way the Bi􏰀ern “had been seen”, but not for a while. We didn’t see a lot more from the hide, but we heard a Ce􏰃’s Warbler, spo􏰀ed a distant Li􏰀le Egret tucked amongst the reeds on the other side of the lake, got closer views of Robin, Blue Tit and Great Tit, and saw some very glossy brown rats below the feeders.
Walking back through the car park towards the Farm, we heard garrulous Jay, were delighted by another view of the flock of Long-tailed Tits, and enjoyed a melodic charm of Goldfinches. We were also struck by a very pungent smell and realised it was the umbellifer growing in a massive swathe across the field alongside us, and our tenta􏰁ve iden􏰁fica􏰁ons brought us to hemlock! Magpie and Carrion Crow seemed to be our constant companions wherever we were in the park.
The farmland within the park is o􏰂en produc􏰁ve in winter months with ploughed fields, short grassland, hedgerow and bird feeders both in a neighbouring garden and at the hide. We enjoyed good views of 13 Egyp􏰁an Geese, the most that some of us had seen at any one 􏰁me. Canada and Greylag Geese grazed the meadow with a flock of 21 Barnacle Geese. There was a large flock of Jackdaw and distant Rook. Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeons were numerous, though only a couple of Starling. While we ate lunch in the hide, amongst the strip of set-aside, Goldfinches snacked on thistle and teasel seed, and Chaffinch fed on the ground below. Blue Tit and Great Tit were regular visitors to the bird feeders, and the Robin was joined by a Wren in the bramble scrub. At the feeders in the garden nearby, we saw a Great Spo􏰀ed Wood- pecker and Coal Tit, and House Sparrow cha􏰀ered in the hedge.
Thrushes generally seemed more elusive, with only a brief glimpse of a Blackbird, a couple of flee􏰁ng Fieldfare overhead, and the high ‘sseeeep’ of Redwing heard every now and again. Looking over the farmland was we strolled up the track to Holyfield Lake con􏰁nued to give us some nice views – a very pale-fronted Buzzard in a tree,
4 Red Kite over the fields, and a Muntjac Deer, chestnut in the sunshine. Looking across the wet meadow and small pools on the canal side of the track we had some be􏰀er views of Shoveler duck, and saw a small group of Wigeon and a solitary Teal. Two Stonechat were a joy to watch, as they alighted on fence and tall tussocks. Along the path to where the Grand Weir hide once stood, we were flown over by a Kestrel, and were serenaded by a singing Chiffchaff – probably the biggest surprise of the day.
While the Grand Weir hide was no more, the ramp that led up to it was s􏰁ll present, and the spot rather op􏰁mis􏰁cally marked on a new map as a viewpoint. It provided us a rather perilous posi􏰁on, with its slippery and/or missing boards, and lack of barrier
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