19th August 2012

Another day in which I have been unable to visit but the news keeps coming, so here is a quick round up of the days "action".

This morning appeared to be quite slow with 2x Swift, Whitethroat and 15x Chiffchaff heard

However the afternoon perked up a bit by the looks of things with 4x Chiffchaff, Family of 6x Bullfinch - back of boating lake Buzzard - overhead, Barnacle Goose, 4x Mute Swan inc 2 cygnets, 33x Tufted Duck, 6x Great Crested Grebe inc 2 juveniles, Willow Warbler - middle of reserve, Willow Tit, 2x Red-eared Terrapin - bottom pool, Kingfisher - bottom pool, 4x Stock Dove - old gas works, 14x Swallow 

Thanks for the news guys.

18th August 2012

I'd like to start this post by asking anyone who follows this blog to be patient with me, i'm still learning as far as bird watching goes, I'm only 20 and only started really doing it about a year ago, even though I've had a huge interest in it from when i was 12. So I will wrongly identify birds from time to time, but i took over this blog because I really enjoy it and Westport Lake is my favourite place to go. If anybody has any tips for me please share them, as with most people the last thing i want is to be wrong! 

So News for the day is:

Barnacle goose, 20x Swift 15x House Martin 35x Tufted Duck 2x Willow Warbler 15+ Chiffchaff, Also a friend of mine said he went and sat beside the top pool for 15 - 20 minutes mid afternoon and there was no sign of the Reed Warblers, whether they have now left or if they were just hiding away I don't know, so if someone could let me know that would be great.

I've also updated my givingbacktonature.blogspot.com with a piece on mammals focusing mainly on how to help Hedgehogs if anybody is interested.

Thankyou

17th August 2012

Due to work being kind enough to give me an 8 day stretch its gonna be a view days before i can get down to the lake, so again just a relay of Nick's sightings as listed on Twitter

@WestportLake1

A rainy morning for Nick but slightly better than yesterday birds wise with 1x Common Sandpiper 15+ House Martin, 20x Swift, The Tufted Duck steadily increasing with a count of 38, and the Barnacle Goose remains.

16th August 2012

I haven't been able to get to the lake today so just a quick relay of Nick's sightings as listed on Twitter which most of you will have already seen.

@westportlake1

Nick described his visit as disappointing and quiet with 18 Swift 39 Tufted Duck and the Barnacle Goose.

14th August

My visit today was a rather late one from 6:30pm - 9:00pm, and this made any rarities rather unlikely, especially given the high visitor numbers. However it was a beautiful evening and i thought why not have a look. 

So I started by walking in along the canal, where there was very little happening except for a Blackbird feeding a single juvenile. On the main lake there was 6 Great Crested Grebes including 2 juveniles, 17 Black Headed Gulls including 4 juveniles, 29+ Lesser Black Backed Gulls, including 3 juveniles. Also a good count of 21 Tufted Duck were sat in the middle if the main lake. Just 2 Mute Swans and 2 Cygnets around the reserve side of the lake.

So into the reserve and on the top pool 2 Reed Warblers were singing, as well as there being at least 2 others around. A juvenile Moorhen was using the Lilly Pads as stepping stones across the pool and a family of Mallards swam across with young that were 2 days old at the most. Continuing around the reserve 2 Nuthatch were in the trees near the Sewage Works, as well as a Willow Warbler and a Willow Tit. There was also a Treecreeper calling in the reserve but I couldn't locate it.

That pretty much sums it up, Thanks for reading guys. 

Just as an unrelated side note, i also run a blog called giving back to nature, www.givingbacktonature.blogspot.com . At the moment it only has 3, quickly cut and pasted articles on there from the RSPB just to give it some content but that will also get updated with original stuff when I can.

Hello!

Hello there guys, my name is Dominic and I will be taking over this blog from Chris who has kindly given me his permission to do so. I do hope that I can keep the same quality of posts up as him.

So a little bit about me and why I want to do this blog.

I've lived just up the road from Westport lake most of my life and it holds quite a special place to me, it's where i first really got into birds and nature, courtesy of my dad who took me up there when I was just 12 to show me the nests of birds, and i was hooked. Since then I have visited the lake relatively frequently and seen what a haven it is for wildlife, even if it is surrounded by factory's, shops and roads. Given it's large visitor numbers you wouldn't expect such a diverse range of birds, insects, wild flowers, trees and mammals.

Anyway this post holds no sightings like Chris' were it was just me introducing myself, but in future they will be full of news from the lake so long as i continue to have the times to visit it.

Thankyou guys, hope i don't disappoint

Dominic

A Massive Thank You

I have decided to retire the Westport blog after nearly three years of blogs, it's really to concentrate on the Staffs Bird News blog which as you know I run with Russell Toon and Nick Smith.

The blog has really taken off recently and even more so now that we have the Twitter site up and running, and with more stuff happening on the blog over the coming months plus extra work commitments I've decided I really cannot do this blog justice anymore.

So a massive thank you for all your support, for your sightings and your photo's, I know you all follow the Staffs Bird News blog so it's not goodbye just "see you on the other channel".

And please remember to follow Westport on Twitter at @WestportLake1 (apart from this week as Nick's on holiday) but any biggies will be on the Staffs blog anyway.

Bye & Thanks

Chris