Friday Was Willow Day

What a warm day it was on Friday. After a week of rain it was great to cycle to Stanton Park and have an afternoon fishing on the lake. What I hadn't expected was an explosion of seeds from the Willows, that covered nearly 2/3 of the lake. It made fishing extremely difficult as the seeds kept clogging up the rings on my rod. However when you enjoy watching the wildlife as much as I do, it didn't really matter and I gave up and spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening watching and photographing anything that moved.

A blanket of Willow seeds across the lake

Highlights today were watching a Sparrowhawk being mobbed by a Swallow, a fly-by Red Kite, a Spotted Flycatcher and a Hornet that whizzed across in front of me.

When I arrived I heard a Treecreeper calling by the car park and down the lake at peg 4 another was heard but not seen. Throughout the afternoon Nuthatches flew across the lake sometimes in pairs, but mostly individual birds. They must have a nest on this side of the lake, but were having to fly across the lake for food from the main wood.

As I set up my fishing tackle there was a bit of commotion up the lake from me, as a pair of Tufted Duck got a little too close to a Coot and her young, then just to make matters worse for the "tufties" it appeared that a Carrion Crow was eating something close by them. Did they have a nest and it was being predated, the "tufties" were very agitated to say the least.

A Coot gives the Tufted Ducks a fright.

Later the duck Tufted Duck looks
 on as a Carrion is eating something!

Green Woodpeckers were calling all day and seem to be in competition with the Great Spotted Woodpeckers to see who could be the loudest. A Spotted Flycatcher was heard and seen twice during the afternoon, but eluded my camera. The whole lake was a chatter of birds with a lot of male Blackcaps singing around the lakeside and I even had a Garden Warbler that got very close to me, unfortunately being such skulking bird it disappeared before I could get the camera on it. Occasionally a Reed Warbler would burst into song and on one occasion there appeared to be two birds chasing each other, maybe a rival male or just a pair have a tiff. Not sure, but I'm guessing it was a pair as I only heard one male singing throughout the afternoon. A Chiffchaff was singing away behind me and there was a single bird foraging in the bushes behind me. Just the once there was a quick burst of song from a Willow Warbler and I managed to see one in the canopy above me.

Chiffchaff in the bushes 

A Willow Warbler in the canopy

There were a few birds of prey about, unfortunately no Hobby's but a Sparrowhawk that glided through was very unpopular with a Swallow that repeatedly dived bombed it as it made its way over the main wood. Later a pair of Buzzards flew over and even later at around 7:00pm a Red Kite drifted over.

A Sparrowhawk being mobbed by a Swallow

A Red Kite heading north over the lake

Also overhead there were a few Swallows and House Martins which came down to the water and high above them were up to 6 Swifts shrieking away.

Swift

Swift

On the water other than the Tufted Duck, there were approximately 15 Mallard. One pair of Mallard had 4 youngsters. The drake though is a feral bird and looking at the youngsters you can make out that two are also showing a variation in colour. There was just two Moorhens seen and a few Coot with one pair with two near adult size and another with maybe one or two day old chicks. The Mute Swans have done well and have 6 cygnets.

Mallard family (note variation of colours in the juveniles)

The resident Swans with 6 cygnets

A pair of Coot with two 1 or 2 day old chicks

Apart from the bird life there were a lot tadpoles in the shallows and a few butterflies and insects about. There were quite a few Green-veined White Butterflies and singles of Orange-tip and Brimstone. With the sun drawing the insects out, I wasn't surprised to see the Bee-fly again, but there were a few flies sp.  that were around me that I'm unsure of that just hung in the air before moving off at speed before returning to their original spot. Other insects also included a Hornet, that was on a mission and whizzed past me at high speed.

Tadpoles in the warm shallows

Fly sp.

All in all 47 birds were recorded from 2:30pm - 7:30pm
Mute Swan, A pair of Tufted Duck, 15+ Mallard plus 4 juveniles, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite, Moorhen, Coot, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Collared Dove, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Swallow, House Martin, Grey Wagtail, Spotted Flycatcher, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, 2 Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Wren, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Bullfinch.

Insects and butterflies recorded: Brimstone, Orange tip and Green-veined White butterflies. Fly sp., Hornet and Bee-fly.