Sunday 17 October 2010

17 October 2010

Westport Part 2, after a totally s**t football result this afternoon I thought, calm down, calm down (that might be a clue as too who I support), go for a short walk to Westport and stand on the grass verge for 30 mins or so, 2hrs and 20 mins later I got home having done my usual morning stroll again, it was a bit cloudier than this morning with a warmer 13c, the downside was hundreds of people walking around, model boaters on the small lake and 2 men fishing on a small boat in the middle of the main lake.

Tufted Ducks had increased to 94, I'm convinced that a evening roost takes place from other areas, 2 Teal were also in the middle and later flew onto the bottom pool in the nature reserve, the same numbers of all other ducks from this morning were still present except for the Wigeon which had departed, 7 Great Crested Grebes were on with 2 of them dodging the model boats on the small lake, a Kingfisher was flying around the main lake from tree to tree, a good number of Black-headed Gulls were on the main lake with 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a 1st year Herring Gull, I noticed a couple of the ringed Coots on the old beach area, 1st one had red over blue and the 2nd one had pink over light blue, a Grey Heron was flying around the main lake, these seemed to have been a bit thin on the ground recently and a single Collared Dove flew across the main lake, the first one I've seen this month, finally Starlings although seen monthly at Westport are never the less only seen in small numbers although larger flocks are normally seen at this time of year, as the sun was going down small flocks of Starlings kept going over mostly heading south to roost, in total I saw 145+ going through.

Sunset over the Main Lake this evening

A very bright cloud free morning, very cold with a ground frost in sheltered areas and a light mist over the water, temp 6c, no real wind of note, visit from 07.25 - 10.00.

Just a single Mute Swan on the boating lake and the family of 3 again on the main lake, later in the visit they did a complete swap, a single Teal was on the main lake and later while covering the gas works and sewage works Dave Kelsall had 3 Teal, a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were on the main lake and 3 Wigeon were sat in the middle, Nick Smith had at least 8 Mistle Thrushes around the visitors centre and later I had 3/4 along the canal side of the main lake, while walking around the boating lake 7 Linnets flew across, also on the boating lake a single Great Crested Grebe with just another 5 on the main lake, 5 Pied Wagtails were seen around the park today but I think there were probably a lot more than this in the area, 4 Jackdaws went over in two groups of 2, back on the main lake 3 male Pochards were new in, the female type Goldeneye is still present, while watching the main lake a flock of 31 Woodpigeons flew over quite high heading west, Tufted Ducks totalled 64, a single Coal Tit was heard along the nature reserve side of the main lake and later at the top pool an amazing record of 8!! flew over Nick and myself calling, also here at least 3 Willow Tits, on the gas works a single Stock Dove flew through north and a single Bullfinch was on here with another female on the sewage works, 30+ Starlings flew over the gas works with a couple of singles going over as well, birds of the day for me was a single Skylark followed by another 2 flying low over the main lake giving me a much needed year tick and putting me on 108 for the year, just 3 behind Nick now (and he's getting worried), finally the male Shoveler was by Ted Heath Rocks.

A nice picture of 'Sammy' Shoveler by Steve Seal today

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