12 June 2010

Cold start to the morning 13c, very strong north/northwesterly wind, good cloud coverage clearing up a bit and warmed up nicely when the sun came out, was at Westport from 05.40 - 08.00.

Great Crested Grebes are still feeding 3 young on the model boating lake and another 11/12 are on the main lake with a pair sitting eggs on there, a single Oystercatcher was on the grass verge it was then flushed by a fisherman, flew around the model boating lake for a few minutes and then headed off south, all the Mute Swans where again on the main lake with a total count of 29 plus 1 youngster, I managed to get 3 ring numbers off a group of 8 on the ramp and passed these onto Nick Smith who will send the information off the the relevant party, 9 Tufted Ducks were on the main lake all males except for a lone female which at one point was relocated in the Nature Reserve on the bottom pool with a male, a lone Herring Gull flew through heading north and 8+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls went through also all heading north.
The 4 Greylag Geese were in the middle of the main lake with the main group of well over 100 Canada Geese, there was no sign of the Canada creche and I only saw a group of 4 young Canada Geese, a single Little Ringed Plover flew from the beach and the Marbled Duck was on the bottom pool of the Nature Reserve with the male Shoveler and a Chiffchaff singing here with a Whitethroat also had another 3 Whitethroats on the old sewage works, also at the top pool the male Reed Bunting calling and 2 Reed Warblers, a Bullfinch also flew over, also had 2 Bullfinch on the old sewage works and 1 along the canal, 2 Stock Doves were on the old gas works and a Linnet flew over, only the 3rd record of the year, finally as I headed home a pair of Collared Doves were on the canal side of the main lake.

Total species seen 40.