15 March 2011

First news of the day came from Nick Smith with his early visit, he managed the first migrants of the year with 2 Chiffchaffs. 1 by the 1st gate to the nature reserve and one along the top shore of the main lake, also present 6 Shoveler, 1 Wigeon and 2 Goosanders.

I made may way down to Westport at 09.00 til 11.00, it was quite misty with a light southeasterly breeze, temp was a pleasant 9c.

By the bottom entrance a couple of Bullfinches flew over, on the car park a couple of unringed Mute Swans were enjoying a good feed on the bread on offer, on the boating lake 3 female Goosanders, the pair of Great Crested Grebes and 2 male Tufted Ducks, on the main lake, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 35 Tufted Ducks, 1 Pochard, 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and the immature male Goldeneye, I made my way to the 1st gate of the nature reserve but couldn't hear any Chiffchaffs, a male Chaffinch was calling and as I was watching it a Chiffchaff came into view flitting through the tree top, at last my first migrant of the year and of course a Westport year tick, by the boardwalk bridge and 4 Siskins flew over plus a Jackdaw could be heard but I couldn't locate it in the misty weather. By the top pool among a small Tit flock a single Willow Tit, Coal Tit and Bullfinch and just down by the 2nd bridge into the nature reserve by the main lake another Chiffchaff, this time singing away, on the gas works another group of this time 10 Siskins flew over and 3 Stock Doves were present plus 2 Bullfinches flew over, also a single Pied Wagtail flew over the sewage works were another pair of Bullfinches were present, along the canal side of the main lake the pair of Mistle Thrushes were present.

The picture below of a male Siskin was taken by one of our Westport regulars who wants to keep his name out of the bright lights of this blog!!

14 March 2011

Lovely sunny day although the temp was low at 5c after a light overnight frost, no wind of note, visit from 08.30 - 10.15.

Still no luck on the migrant front but hopefully it just a matter of time and the next few days will produce the goods, just a few Goosanders remain with 3 present on the boating lake while I was there, a few minutes earlier and Pete Lunt had seen 5, the usual pair of Great Crested Grebes were present on here and another 3 on the main lake, the male Shoveler was also on the boating lake, on the main lake, the pair of Mute Swans, 39 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and a adult Common Gull, 3 Lapwings flew over the top end of the lake, these are a Westport year tick for me, a Collared Dove also flew across the lake and during the visit 6 Jackdaws flew over at various times, by the nature reserve a couple of Bullfinches and 2 pairs of Willow Tits, on the gas works just 2 Stock Doves were flying around and 3 Chaffinches flew over the sewage works, along the canal side of the main lake the pair of Mistle Thrushes remain, before leaving I took a walk along the 'Avenue' for my last chance of a migrant, pick of the area was 2 Redwing, 2 Coal Tit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

13 March 2011

A very very wet morning, it rained non stop for the whole visit, most heavy with the odd light spell, wind was mild and from the northwest and temp was 5c, visit from 06.40 - 08.15.

It was just raining to heavily to write down what I saw and how many so most of this is off memory, there were no Goosanders on the boating lake first thing, just the pair of Great Crested Grebes and a pair of Tufted Duck, on the main lake, another 30 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 2 Shoveler, 1 Goldeneye, 2 Mute Swans and 3 Great Crested Grebe, I met up with Nick and braving the rain we headed around the nature reserve, very little on here with a Willow Tit and a couple of Bullfinches being the highlights, we saw nothing of note on the gas works and a single Redwing was the best on the sewage works, back on the main lake and a single male Goosander had flown in so we walked back down to the boating lake to find another 3 female Goosanders on here, I left Nick and headed for home soaking wet and Nick started to make his long walk back to his car at the top entrance, his extra time at Westport paid off when he picked up a Redshank flying around calling for a few minutes before it headed off north, another Westport tick I've missed and the first Redshank at Westport for well over a year, with non recorded at all last year.

12 March 2011

With a light southerly breeze and overnight rain i was hoping for a migrant or two today but it wasn't to be, hopefully tomorrow, temp was a pleasant 8c.

It was a very quiet morning around Westport, Goosanders numbered just 8 on the boating lake with 4 flying off early, 4 Jackdaws flew over in a couple of small groups, on the main lake, 38 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and 3 Great Crested Grebe with the usual other 2 on the boating lake, a pair of Teal were flushed from the stream by the 1st gate and later were seen flying back down that way from Jeff's Pool on the old gas works, a single Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker were in the trees along the railway line, on the gas works 3 Stock Doves and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over the sewage works, 2 Mistle Thrushes were by the top entrance, back on the main lake a single adult Common Gull and Shoveler were additions.

11 March 2011

Frosty start to the morning with bright sunshine, no wind of note, temp 4c, visit from 06.30 - 08.30.

Goosander numbers have been dropping rapidly over the week and this morning only 7 were present with 6 on the boating lake and a lone male on the main lake, the 2 Great Crested Grebes remain on the boating lake with another 3 0n the main lake, 4 Pied Wagtails on the grass bank looked like passage birds, on the main lake, the usual pair of Mute Swans, 41 Tufted Duck, just 3 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and our resident Shoveler flew across to the boating lake, while walking through the nature reserve a single Jackdaw flew over calling as did a single Mistle Thrush, another Mistle Thrush was on the gas works and one by the top entrance, a single Willow Tit was by the boardwalk bridge with 4 by the top pool and 2 on the gas works, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker was along the reserve side of the main lake, on the gas works 2 Stock Doves and 3 Collared Doves, back by the main lake and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew through north, a quick walk along the 'Avenue' for early Warblers was fruitless but I did pick up 3 Redwings.

7 March 2011

As there was no work to do I got an early finish and went straight down to Westport, although it was only 2c it actually didn't feel too cold, wind was from the south/east and light, visit from 06.40 - 08.30.

Nowhere near as many Goosanders today with just 46 seen in total, as usual most were on the boating lake with a handful on the main lake, 15 Jackdaws flew over heading north while around the boating lake, also on here the usual pairs of Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans and Tufted Duck, towards the end of my visit I also saw 'Sammy' on here after he's been missing for a few days. The Green Woodpecker was again calling from Price's Field area, on the main lake, 10 Pochard, 43 Tufted Duck, the usual single immature male Goldeneye and just 3 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Siskins flew over while along here and a couple of Pied Wagtails were on the grass verge, the nature reserve was very quiet as usual with singles of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Willow Tit, while by the top pool a Grey Wagtail flew over calling, amazingly this is a Westport year tick for me this year, lastly back on the main lake and a couple of adult Common Gulls and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull had come in.

5 March 2011

Felt a bit cold first thing with a temp of 4c, very little wind of note, heavy cloud coverage, visit from 06.45 - 08.40.

As I came into the park the Green Woodpecker could be heard calling from Price's field area and a bit later along the nature reserve, I went straight to the boating lake to count the Goosanders and managed 55, but they were flying in all the time and by the time I was joined by Nick and George we were up to 75, 5 short of the record set earlier in the week by Dave Kelsall, also on the boating lake were 3 Great Crested Grebe, on the main lake, another 3 Great Crested Grebes, a adult Herring Gull, 37 Tufted Duck, 9 Pochard, and the imm male Goldeneye,the usual pair of Mute Swans were joined by another pair which were quickly chased off onto the boating lake, while on the grass verge, 2 Mistle Thrushes flew over also a couple of Jackdaws and a single Pied Wagtail, walking through to the nature reserve a Sparrowhawk flew over the main lake, the nature reserve was very quiet as was the gas works with just 3 Siskins flying over, just as we came back on to the main lake from the sewage works a Treecreeper was making it's way up a nearby tree, at last a Westport year tick I've been trying to catch up on was out the way.
Most of the Goosanders were now on the main lake and we counted 71, so we made our way back to the boating lake to see how many were on here, Dave Kellsall was already there and between us we managed to get 14 on here giving us a new record of 85 Goosander at Westport!!


I have received a few more photo's from Steve Seal, shown below.