As I arrived the sun was fully out and for the first time this week you could actually feel a bit of warmth. So it was no surprise to find a 7-spot Ladybird and a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly both sunning themselves in a clearing just off the path, close to the dam. However two or three (what sounded like gunshots) made me jump and it was almost like somebody had fired off a gun from the direction of the Royal Mail Sorting Office, I hope there wasn't a heist in progress. Totally bizarre! Whatever it was it didn't go off again and all fell silent, apart from the drone of the traffic on the busy A419.
7-spot Ladybird
Small Tortoiseshell
In the wood between the lagoon and main road there were thousands of Daffodils in bloom, not something I've seen here before, though quite obviously they've been growing here for years. In the lagoon here, a Great Crested Grebe popped up and then immediately dived back down again. It wasn't until I got around to the other side of the bottom island that I realised there were a pair and the nest that Malcolm Royal had seen last week. On the island itself there are at least 3 Canada Geese nests and when I totted up the geese it came to 23, which means there hasn't been much movement of these birds for quite sometime.
Daffodils
Great Crested Grebes
Also on the water there were two pairs of Tufted Duck and a lone drake. There was no sign of the Pochards which have now moved on, but there were a pair of pristine adult Herring Gulls, a single adult Lesser Black-backed Gull and also a solitary Black-headed Gull which was in full summer plumage. Around the banks I counted 12 Moorhen and 4 Coot, and as I scouted around with my binoculars a Brown Rat appeared behind one of the plant cages.
Drake Tufted Duck
A rather plump looking Moorhen
Coot
A pair of adult Herring Gulls
A nice pose
Herring Gulls
A Brown Rat (centre of image behind cage)
Where the "proper" path drops down to the waters edge, behind the housing estate, a pair of Siskins flew over my head and landed in the Alders above me. It was then that I realised they weren't alone as I could also hear a couple of Redpolls as well. In fact there were 4, all busy chipping away at the cones.
Redpoll
Leaving them, behind the path goes back up a short incline to the car park and as I stopped for a sit down on one of the two benches here, a Chiffchaff started singing from the top island. All in all a pretty good walk and plenty to see on the best day weather-wise we've had this week.
Birds recorded: 2 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Mute Swan, 23 Canada Geese, Mallard, 5 Tufted Duck, 12 Moorhen, 4 Coot, 1 Black-headed Gull, 7 Herring Gull, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, 5 Blackbird, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Wren, 3 Magpie, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, 4 Redpoll, 2 Siskin and Goldfinch.
Also see: Brown Rat, Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly and 7-spot Ladybird