Otter still in the area

Even though I've not seen it again, the Otter is still visiting the park as I recently found both this spraint and jelly by the footbridge.

Birdwise a drake Shoveler was present on the lake amongst the Mandarin trees, but no further sign of the latter there.

Mandarins make a visit

With glorious sunny weather on the 19th a flock of 8 Common Buzzards were noted thermalling over the park, and whilst watching them I was delighted to pick out a Peregrine which joined them briefly before drifting off.

 

After a couple of months absence it was a relief to see a pair of Mandarins put in an appearance during a check of the lake today. As usual they were hidden up amongst the trees in their usual corner, but I manged a distant recond shot of the pair from the east side, before getting a better shot of the male from the viewing screen.

 

Final highlight of the day was an Oystercatcher which flew over calling as it followed the beck heading south.

Nuthatch

Today was spent trying to photograph the Nuthatches which are resident in the wood along the western shore of the lake, and with some strategically placed seed on top of a stump I got a few nice pics that I was pleased with despite their visits being extremely quick.

 

Gulls

One of the features of the flooding of the meadow, aside from the good numbers of wildfowl, has been a good number of Gulls using it to bathe and rest with upto 200+ present most days. Black-headed predominate with good numbers of Common Gulls too along with a handful of Herring Gulls. Single Great Black-backed Gulls have also dropped in occasionally and even more noteworthy given their scarcity here during the winter, a Lesser Black-backed Gull has also been noted.

 

Tundra Bean Goose

Originally noted on Sunday in the fields behind Park Farm, the Tundra Bean Goose was again present in the fields east of Aylmerton today with a Pink-footed Goose.

 

The years first Yellowhammer was noted flying over the park, a single Jack Snipe was still present, and a year high 50+ Common Teal were counted on the flooded meadow.

The resident Skylarks were heard in song flight for the first time this year, and more signs of Spring were the woodland flowers in bloom.