22 April 2011

After 4 straight days at work and missing a Wood Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler at Westport it was good to get back down again this morning, the conditions were great with a south easterly breeze, just lacked a bit of rain to drop the birds in, it was clear skies and sun all morning, with the temp at 16c rising to 21c when I got home, visit from 05.55 - 09.20.

As I entered the park by the bottom entrance a couple of Blackcaps were singing from either side of the path, in total 9 were seen during the visit, on the boating lake 8 Goslings were being looked after by a Canada Goose and a White Goose! there was no sign of the pair of Great Crested Grebe or the single youngster on the boating lake so I assume they have failed, along the grass verge of the main lake 3 Little Ringed Plovers were present with 1 by the boating ramp and the other 2 at the opposite end, 2 Greylag Geese were on the boating ramp as was a single Starling with another 3 Starlings on the playing field and a single later flying over the old gas works, 18 Tufted Ducks were on the main lake with just 2 Great Crested Grebes, a couple of Mistle Thrushes flew over and a Common Sandpiper flew from the grass verge towards the nature reserve side of the main lake, just a single Pied Wagtail was seen on the grass bank, a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls went through in groups of 3, 1 and 2, the first Chiffchaff was heard near the 1st gate to the nature reserve with another 9 seen around the park with most being on the sewage works, a single Grey Heron flew over south, the pair of Mute Swans were on the top pool and a single Willow Tit was calling here, just 2 Willow Warblers were heard today with both being on the old sewage works were 6 Whitethroats were present, this is quite an increase with just one seen the other day and a Westport year tick for me (86), I met up with Phil Jones on here who just 10mins previously had been listening to a Grasshopper Warbler reeling, bad news for me as I still need it for my Westport list, we waited for a while but no joy, when Phil left I had a good scout around the area and still no joy, on the plus side I did find a Garden Warbler which was the first for the year and another Westport year tick out of the way (87), a Collared Dove was along the canal and another at the back of Prices field, a Lapwing also flew over the old sewage works and a Bullfinch was seen on here with another along the 'Avenue', lastly a couple of Black-headed Gulls were on the main lake as I made my way home.

It was good to see a lot of birders at Westport this morning, with some new faces, welcome and hope we see you down in the near future.