19 May 2010

Today at Westport managed two visits in the morning and late evening, nice warm day with a westerly breeze and little cloud cover.
Along the 'Avenue', 2x Blue Tit families feeding young, one is in a hole in a security camera and the other in the eves of a building, 2x Chiffchaff and 2x Blackcap, no sign of the Willow Warbler that had been along here for the last few weeks now. The boating lake had 6x Mute Swans but I could only see 1x Great Crested Grebe in the afternoon visit as usual sitting her 2nd nest attempt, on the main lake 'Sammy' Shoveler looking very lonely, another 5x Mute Swans, only 1x Tufted Duck and 4x Great Crested Grebe, a few Gulls where flying over with 11x Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 6x Black-headed Gulls, where are the Terns!!!!
The grass verge still had a good number of Starlings collecting food for there young, a couple of Pied Wagtails, a single Little Ringed Plover and 34x young Canada Geese with 4x Young Mallards.
In the Nature Reserve, heard Great Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of Chiffchaffs, 2x Blackcap and 1x Willow Warbler, at least 2x Reed Warblers in the reedbed were the Mute Swan continues to sit, a lonely Coot chick was seen but no others from the family of four from last week.
The gas works/sewage works area was gone a bit quiet however did see 1x Linnet again in the same place, are they breeding?? a single Stock Dove and Collared Dove with another Chiffchaff and a couple of Whitethroats, 2x Swifts flew over which were the only ones seen all day! The young Mistle Thrushes are still by the top bridge and this evening a managed to see the Mink popping it's head out of a couple of holes below the bridge.