Westport Lake

05 February 2012

2012-02-05T02:20:00.000-08:00

Despite the 4" of snow and heavy fog it didn't turn out to be to bad a morning around Westport for myself with three Westport year ticks added, it was hard going at times in the snow but at least there weren't too many people about, the fog was very heavy which made counting the ducks rather difficult.

Temp was 1c with a pretty much non existent NW wind, visit from 07.30 til 09.30.

As you can see from the above photo's the conditions weren't very good for birding, but I met up with Nick and we soldiered on, we had a good count of Bullfinches today with 5 seen around various parts of the park, 6 Mute Swans were on the boating lake and just the 2 adult birds on the main lake, this is the first time I've seen the young separated from there parents, a single Pied Wagtail was along the canal side of the main lake, as were 2 Mistle Thrushes at opposite ends, a Sparrowhawk flew across near the visitor centre and at least 40 Goldfinches were in the tree tops near here, on the main lake there were 54 Tufted Duck which includes 2 seen on the boating lake, a Willow Tit was calling near the bottom entrance and later I saw what was probably the same bird along the canal side, we decided to walk the brook by the bottom entrance to see if we could flush a Snipe or Water Rail, no luck with either of these but we did flush a single Teal which Nick managed to pick up on.
By the nature reserve a couple of Siskin were with a single Goldfinch, 3 Chaffinch were in the nature reserve and we flushed 1 possibly 2 Grey Herons from Fowlea Brook, incredibly this is a Westport year tick for me, we also had a Buzzard, Jay and Coal Tit, back at the main lake and through the fog we managed to add a single Pochard, 2 Goldeneye and a great record of 25 Lapwing sat on the ice, this is by far my largest count of Lapwing at Westport (not including flyovers).

Excuse the poor photo of the Lapwing on the ice but it was rather difficult through the fog to get a decent photo, these were my second year ticks of the day, my last came as I was heading for home with a Goldcrest in the Long-tailed Tit flock between the canal and the playing field.

Later in the morning Phil Jones had a male Reed Bunting by the top pool, another Westport year tick taking this years total to 61 for the year, also three Fieldfare flew over briefly.

And then things get really bizarre, Nick Smith happened to be on Birdforum this afternoon when he notices a message from 'matt4scfc' saying that a Knot was at Westport along with two Pintail, the message appeared at 16.31 and the sighting was at 15.00, Nick rushed down to Westport to find the Knot roosting on the ice on the main lake but no sign of the Pintail, following on from last months Iceland Gull this is a Westport MEGA in every sense of the word, according to the Westport Lake Bird Report 2002 by Dave Kelsall & Jeff Jones there is just one previous record from 20th November 2002, I do recall seeing one briefly with Bill Low in the early 90's that flew North over the main lake but I never ticked it as I just didn't get any decent views of it.
So were was I while all this was going on, well I was outside making the lovely 'snow castles' below with my girlfriends kids.

I'd forgotten my phone was on silent and when I went to take the lovely shot above I noticed five missed calls from Nick, panic set in as I then found a text just saying 'possible Knot', I rung him straight away, to find he was still at Westport looking at the Knot on the ice, the problem was it was now rather dark (17.52), I don't think I've run so fast for a bird since my 'Scillies' days and boy did it show, when I reached them I was so out of breath I just couldn't even look through the scope, it was now very dark and all I could make out was a small wader type bird on the ice, after not being able to tick the one back in the 90's too then not be able to realistically tick this one was a huge blow, but my fault for having my phone on silent and forgetting about it, the Knot takes the Westport year list to 62, congratulations to 'matt4scfc' for a superb find.
Just on a side note, I was talking to Nick around Westport this morning about Knot, he had seen one yesterday on one of the gravel pits in South Staffs and had commented on how it was his first winter record in Staffs, not bad to pick up your second one a day later on your local patch!
Below is Phil Jones's picture of the Knot this evening in the fading light, fingers crossed he's hoping it hangs around in the roost tonight for some photo's of it tomorrow, sadly I'm at work at 05.30.

I've just received some additional information from Nick regarding Knot records at Westport, this is actually the 7th record for Westport, with singles in 90, two records in 92 (one of which is the one I saw briefly with Bill Low), and singles in 2000, 2001 and 2005, I can understand the 2002 report missing 2005 but bit surprised the others weren't in the records as well as 2002 the report covered all rare and scarce birds at Westport for all years.

Westport Lake Bird Report 2011

2012-02-05T01:57:00.000-08:00

The Westport Lake Bird Report 2011 is now available for anyone who would like a copy, just e-mail me at westportlake@hotmail.co.uk and I will forward a copy to you in PDF file format, if you require another file type please let me know.

02 February 2012

2012-02-02T04:06:00.000-08:00

Just a quick visit down for an hour and 20mins, felt a bit warmer at 2c but must of been a very cold night as the main lake was 90% froze over.

Most of the birds were either gathered around the edge of the patch of open water or within it, 4 Common Gulls and 3 Herring Gulls were among the Black-headed Gulls and a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls, on the water 7 Mute Swans were present with 2 of these being on the boating lake, 4 Goldeneye, 2 Teal and a single Great Crested Grebe were all crammed into the small patch of open water.
At the top of the main lake there was another patch of open water which held 25 Pochard and some of the Tufted Duck flock which numbered an impressive 94.

Around the edge of the main lake a small flock of Siskin, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker and 6 Song Thrushes were together on the old sewage works, as was a rather friendly Robin.

4 Pied Wagtails were on the playing field as I left.

Yesterday I took a rather appalling photo of a Treecreeper, so Pete Lunt has sent me this one he took the other day.

01 February 2012

2012-02-01T02:55:00.000-08:00

A cold but pleasant morning around Westport, although the temp was -1c it felt a bit warmer in the sunshine, probably helped by the fact there was only a very light E wind, visit from 07.45 til 09.30.

About 80% of the boating lake was frozen as were all the small pools in the nature reserve but all the main lake was ice free, on the boating lake there was just one Mute Swan with the usual 4 on the main lake, a small number of Black-headed Gulls were roosting on the ice.

Almost every morning as I've walked along the boating lake a Willow Tit has been calling from the small wood near Price's Field and it was there again this morning, I also had another by the top pool, a couple of Bullfinches were by the sidings and another couple by the top pool, on the main lake, 14 Pochard, just 28 Tufted Duck, 3 Goldeneye, 2 Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Common Gulls amongst the Black-headed Gulls.
In the nature reserve it was quite lively this morning with several Tit flocks going through which included, 4 Siskin, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Jay, 2 Treecreeper, 3 Chaffinch, a single Greenfinch and 2 Coal Tit.
Below is a poor picture of one of the Treecreepers.

A Sparrowhawk also went through one of the Tit flocks and a Buzzard flew overhead, on the old gas works the Stock Doves have increased to 3 and on the old sewage works a Kestrel was sat on the telegraph pole, this is my first this year at Westport, as shown in another poor picture below!

Just a quick look back into January, it's hasn't exactly been a barn storming month with just 59 species recorded, 6 down on 2010 and a massive 10 down on 2011.

Their have however been a few highlights, the biggie was the Iceland Gull which went through on the 21st, the first record at Westport since 2009, also 5 Pintail were present on the main lake for a few hours on the 11th, 5 Wigeon were on the main lake on the 5th, a distant flock of Golden Plover were the first to be recorded for a few years on the 11th, and a Green Woodpecker was a unusual find mid month, strange in that they normally hang around for a few weeks and months and not just a one day stay.

26 January 2012

2012-01-26T01:57:00.000-08:00

Strange morning weather wise, during the night I'd heard the rain falling quite heavy and the stream was certainly higher than usual, but walking around especially in the nature reserve there was also a slight ground frost, it was a bright sunny day with a slight SSE breeze, temp 4c but felt a bit cooler, visit from 08.00 til 09.45.

2 Mistle Thrushes were by the bottom entrance and later I had another 2 by the top entrance, 3 male Goosanders were on the boating lake and were soon joined by 2 females, also on here 4 Mute Swans plus the usual 4 on the main lake and a summer plumage Great Crested Grebe plus 1 on the main lake, a couple of Willow Tits were along the sidings plus 1 in the nature reserve and 18 Siskins were feeding around the sidings with a Greenfinch and a couple of Chaffinches, on the main lake, 16 Pochard, 31 Tufted Duck, 3 Goldeneye and a Herring Gull.

Poss one of last years returning Grebe to the boating lake

In the nature reserve another couple of Chaffinches and a Jay by the top pool, on the gas works 2 Stock Doves and 2 Redwings and finally as I walked back along the canal side of the main lake a single Jackdaw flew over which is another Westport year tick out of the way.

Early afternoon and I received a call from Nick asking if I fancied a trip down too Sandbach Flashes where the Glossy Ibis was showing again earlier in the morning, having been for this bird once and been given the run around (literally) I decided to give it another go, and I'm glad I did, on first arrival at Elton Hall Flash there was no sign, good numbers of Lapwing, Wigeon and Teal but no Ibis, we headed up to the Pumphouse Flash when a lady informed George that the Ibis was on the opposite side of the road in a flooded field, we headed straight off and couldn't believe our luck as we picked the Ibis up straight away walking along the edge of the flooded field right by the fence about 20 yards away from us.
Happy with our fill we went up to Pumphouse Flash were there were good numbers of Gulls, including a Iceland Gull and several Great Black-backed Gulls, in the field opposite were 25 Curlews.
The Glossy Ibis was a British tick for myself putting me on 355, and already my 3rd tick of the year, hopefully the year will carry on like this and I'll get closer to the magic 400 mark, how different things could of been if I hadn't of had a 15 year break from birding!!

Also this afternoon at Westport, Jeff & Nick met a couple of other birders who had just seen a Warbler Sp along the sidings (model boating lake side), nick had a good luck but sadly no sign, so keep your eyes peeled you never know what's down there.

23 January 2012

2012-01-23T02:57:00.000-08:00

Not too bad a morning, although the winds have eased off it still felt cool but with the sun shining it was almost spring like, temp was 6c with a light W breeze, visit from 07.45 til 09.45.

2 Mute Swans were on the boating lake, this time it was CL45 plus a unringed bird CL98 flew off yesterday, around the boating lake a single Willow Tit with another in the nature reserve, a single Bullfinch plus 2 pair by the top pool and a Greenfinch by the sidings, my first at Westport this year, on the main lake, 45 Tufted Duck, 1 Goosander, just 9 Pochard, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 4 Mute Swans and 4 Goldeneye (1 male & 3 female). A couple of Pied Wagtails were feeding along the grass verge of the main lake.

Good numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were going over this morning most were adults and all were heading in a N/NW direction, a conservative estimate would be around 100+, a few stopped off on the main lake and included a single Herring Gull.

In the nature reserve, a Jay was by the top pool and a nice flock of 8 Lesser Repolls were a nice surprise and another Westport year tick, 2 Chaffinches were also around here. 2 Stock Doves were again on the old gas works and a Mistle Thrush had me going at first when I thought I'd found Jeff's Green Woodpecker from yesterday, alas it wasn't to be.
On the old sewage works 2 Siskin flew over as did a single Starling and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from the treeline, as I made my way home I came across a unusual Goose in the Canada Geese flock in front of the visitor centre, I'm really not sure what it is but would hazard a guess at some sort of hybrid, possibly a Bar-headed x Emperor or a Bar-headed x Barnacle, any ideas, let me know please.

22 January 2012

2012-01-22T08:28:00.000-08:00

Another very windy morning, although not quite as bad as yesterday, it was altogether brighter and drier.

There were 3 Pied Wagtails on the playing field but not much else, on the boating lake a female Goosander, 4 Tufted Duck and 2 Mute Swans with another 4 on the main lake, also on the main lake 3 Great Crested Grebes, 15 Pochard, Goldeneye have increased too 4 (3 females and a male) and 44 Tufted Duck.
Siskins have been thin on the ground so far this year so a count of 20 in the nature reserve was an improvement, one of the regulars also had a good number of Lesser Redpolls a few weeks ago with around 10 by the top pool, a single male Bullfinch was also in the reserve but not much else.
2 Stock Doves were on the old gas works and at least 3 Herring Gulls flew over, but sadly we didn't fluke the Iceland Gull again, on the old sewage works a Cormorant flew over (my first of the year at Westport) as did a Jay.
Later in the morning Jeff Jones had a Green Woodpecker fly over the sewage works, another year tick for here.

21 January 2012

2012-01-21T02:29:00.000-08:00

When I arrived it was blowing a gale, with 'white horses' on the lake and waves crashing over the grass verge at the front, but at least it wasn't raining, well at first, when the rain arrived it was heavy and horizontal, I took shelter by the visitors centre and waited for it to calm down, I was joined by Nick and George and eventually we were able to head out around Westport.

As I arrived I could hear Redwings in the top wood by the boating lake, on the lake just 2 adult Mute Swans with the usual 4 on the main lake being joined by another adult making 7 in total, a couple of Mistle Thrushes and Pied Wagtails were along the grass edge, on the main lake, 35 Tufted Duck, 3 Goldeneye, 2 Great Crested Grebes and 8 Pochard, 2 male Goosanders also flew over.

Around the nature reserve area, a Siskin flew over, a single Coal Tit, 2 Willow Tit, Treecreeper and a Jay, we made our way onto the old gas works were I picked up a Gull flying over Bradwell Wood area, I got Nick onto it straight away, we noticed it was a white winged gull and size and jizz could only mean one thing a ICELAND GULL, the first at Westport since 2009 and my first ever at Westport, we followed it as it headed N/NW until out of view, possibly heading towards the Void and probably the same bird that has been there since before Christmas.

2011 In Brief

2012-01-18T04:33:00.000-08:00

2011 at Westport saw a total of 120 species recorded over the year, this is 6 species down on 2010 and no new birds were added to the Westport list, this total does not include the two escapes which were seen at Westport, the 1st was the Snow Goose seen by myself in April and the 2nd was the Cape Shelduck found by Jeff Jones in August.

Despite it being a rather disappointing year most of the regulars saw around a 100 species or more, Nick Smith topped the list with 111, just 1 shy of his record, I managed 104 which was down on last year but with work commitments I wasn't able to spend as much time down there as the previous year. Most of the other regulars were just under or over the 100 mark, top marks must go to Jeff Jones who found most of the 'big' Westport birds this year, these included Little Egret (November), Common Scoter (March), Little Owl (January), Arctic Tern (May), Cuckoo (April) and what was probably bird of the year the Red-breasted Merganser (November), all single record birds for this year.

Red-breasted Merganser Photo by Steve Seal

Other highlights for the year starting off in January included a flock of Pink-footed Geese seen by myself which were followed by another 3 in May, these stayed for the day allowing everyone to add them to there Westport year lists, also in January I had the only Water Rail of the year, Nick had a Yellow-legged Gull which was followed by another 1 seen by Jeff in March.
February saw the 1st Dunlin of the year go through seen by Nick, this was followed by 2 August records, the first of a single bird again seen by Nick and then followed by 2 going through a week later seen by Nick and myself.
In March the only Peregrine recorded at Westport this year was seen by Dave Kelsall, Nick had the only Woodcock of the year and the only Curlews of the year were seen in this month by several observers, 2 Redshanks were recorded at Westport this year, the first was found by Phil Jones in March followed by 1 seen by Nick in April. March also saw a couple of Kittiwakes found by Pete Lunt, these are the only records for the year that I'm aware of, which is rather unusual, after a huge Waxwing winter around the country it was only a matter of time before they appeared at Westport with the 1st of several records coming in March and going through to April, a Nuthatch was also seen on a couple of separate dates in this month firstly by myself and then by John Sutton.
In April I found an Egyptian Goose on the main lake, only the 2nd ever Westport record, this was followed by another 2 seen by the warden in November, also in April Nick found an Osprey the only record for the year at Westport. The warden found another of Westport's highlight birds in April when he found a Wheatear which most of the regulars were able to get down an see.

Wheatear by Pete Lunt

May highlights included Nick's find of 2 excellent summer plumage Black-necked Grebes which were one of the highlights of the year, also in May Nick had a fly through Barnacle Goose and Jeff the first Hobby of the year, in total 4 Hobbies were recorded this year and I missed them all, other May highlights included 4 Whimbrel flying through seen by Nick, Jeff and Alan Hancock had 4 Arctic Terns fly through and Nick had the only Black Tern of the year, after being absent last year a few Yellow Wagtails were recorded this year with the first being found by Nick and myself in May. Richard Sutton found the 1st of probably 2 Grasshopper Warblers in this month, these are the 1st records at Westport for several years, Spotted Flycatchers were thin on the ground this autumn but at least 3 were seen in one day in May by several observers, at least one was also seen in September by Pete.

Black Tern by Nick Smith

Black-necked Grebe by Dave Kelsall

In July Nick had a fly through Black-tailed Godwit but it was the one I found in August that made a lot of the regulars rather happy as it was the first to stay long enough too allow everyone to get down and see it, giving most of the regulars a much needed Westport tick, another of my highlight birds of the year were 4 Sandwich Terns which I had fly through, all other Westport records are of individual birds.

Black-tailed Godwit by Nick Smith

18 January 2012

2012-01-18T02:24:00.000-08:00

It was a rather misty and gloomy morning around Westport.

The good news was it was rather warm, from below freezing over the last few days up to 7c this morning, counting the ducks was proving rather difficult with me only being happy about my count by the end of the visit when a rain shower came through and cleared the mist for a short while.

In total 13 Mute Swans were present this morning with the resident family of 4 on the main lake and the rest on the boating lake, I tried to tempt them over with bread but the only ring I could read was CL87 which has been on for a while now with its unrung partner. I managed a count of 44 Tufted Duck on the main lake along with 16 Pochard, 3 Goldeneye and a single Great Crested Grebe.

As usual there were large numbers of Black-headed Gulls around 300+ among them there were 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a single Common Gull and Herring Gull which was my first of the year for Westport, hopefully with large numbers of white winged gulls moving through from the north at the moment we will manage to get one at Westport.

The other areas were pretty quiet really, 3 Mistle Thrushes were around, 2 Chaffinches a single male Bullfinch and a Siskin flew over, in the nature reserve a Treeceeper was in the Tit flock, again another Westport year tick out of the way.

21 December 2011

2011-12-21T04:11:00.000-08:00

Quite a warm morning although rather breezy with a north westerly wind, after all the snow, ice and rain the water levels have really picked up with all the streams full of water including the one by the bottom entrance to the reserve which has been empty all summer, there was just a little ice left which is on the top pool.

The playing field had 4 Pied Wagtails among the Black-headed Gulls and Canada Geese and 2 Jays were calling from the small wood at the back of the boating lake, 3 male Goosanders were on here before locating over to the main lake later, on the main lake 48 Tufted Duck, 2 male and a female Goldeneye, 4 Mute Swans and 17 Pochard.

Everywhere else was very quiet with the only other birds of note being 10+ Redwings flying over the old sewage works and a couple of Mistle Thrushes by the top entrance.

Don't forget to check @westportlake1 for all Nicks daily sightings.

09 December 2011

2011-12-12T04:37:00.000-08:00

All been rather quiet at Westport recently, highlight was a week yesterday with a male Pintail on the main lake for a hour or so, If I remember right it's the 3rd or 4th record this year but my first for the year, Tufted Duck numbers have remained steady at 60+ apart from a good count of 90+ earlier in the week by Nick, Pochard have remained steady with around 13+ most days, a male Goldeneye is still present but no sign of the female from last week, on Saturday 3 Goosanders came in with just the male staying on and the 2 females flying south, 2 Teal were in the back, also a Buzzard in the trees, a single Cormorant flew over the gas works as did a single Jackdaw.

From Westport we went onto Belvide to see the Tundra Bean Goose, also here were a couple of Pintail and a couple of Dunlin.

Next stop was Gailey Res to see the Black Redstart, although we had to wait for it to show and then only briefly it was worth the wait, thanks to Steve Seal for the photo below.

We then had a decision to make as to were to go next and settled for Clee Hill to see the Desert Wheatear which had been seen several times that morning, sadly on arrival an after a hour or so in fading light we had to admit defeat, in fact all we saw here was a few Ravens and a single Stonechat.

Late news for Saturday at Westport was 2 Egyptian Geese seen by the warden.

24 November 2011

2011-11-24T08:21:00.000-08:00

A quick afternoon visit around the main lake at Westport was pretty quiet, new in were another 8 Pochard to add to yesterdays 3 making 11, 62 Tufted Duck, 3 Great Crested Grebe, the usual 4 resident Mute Swans but no sign of yesterdays additional 2 or the Little Grebe, a adult Common Gull was among the black-headed Gull flock.

As Nick put it on Twitter zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

21 November 2011

2011-11-21T01:42:00.000-08:00

A very quiet morning around Westport again, it was misty but not as bad as yesterday, very mild, but I think the weather is about to change for the worse during the week.

52 Tufted Duck were on the main lake with 3 Pochard, also present the resident family of 4 Mute Swans and 3 Great Crested Grebes, a single Pied Wagtail was along the waters edge, in the nature reserve 8 Siskins flew over and in the Tit flock, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Willow Tit a couple of Bullfinches and a Coal Tit, the only other birds of note were 3 Mistle Thrushes and 4 Chaffinch by the visitor centre.

20 November 2011

2011-11-20T10:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a quiet week down Westport, which is lucky for me as I've been on early's all week, the Red-breasted Merganser was last seen last Sunday and very little else new has arrived.

Nick as usual made the afternoon visits all of which can be found on Twitter @WestportLake1.

I met up with Nick and George for a look around on Friday but it was all quiet, around 7 Collared Doves were roosting near the visitor centre, on the main lake 3 Great Crested Grebes, 58 Tufted Duck, 4 Mute Swans and a single Pochard, a Sparrowhawk flew through and a Mistle Thrush was near the visitor centre.

Yesterday we had already made plans for a day out, all week the Greater Yellowlegs had remained in Northumberland and had been our main priority however a Veery turned up in Scotland to make us think twice but we settled for the Yellowlegs, and so at 03.30 Nick and George picked me up and we headed off for Northumberland.

First stop was Durridge Country Park were the Yellowlegs had last been seen, we were one of the first on site arriving at 07.30, the main lake held a few Scaup and Red-breasted Mergansers but no sign of the Yellowlegs, after around 10mins someone shouted over that it was at Hauxley and we rushed off a bit further up the coast, we had been told it was showing well at Eric's hide and on arriving here found just one person present, he quickly informed us the Yellowlegs and everyone else had left to the hide we'd just past and so it was a quick walk down to the previous hide, everyone was in the bottom corner of the hide but the Greater Yellowlegs was tucked away and out of sight, slowly it made it's way along the edge and eventually right along the front edge of the hide providing us all with excellent views of this superb bird and a new tick for all 3 of us.

Also present here was a Bar-tailed Godwit, good numbers of Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatchers with small a small number of Wigeon, Snipe, Little Grebe and singles of Goldeneye and Shelduck.

Just as we got back to the car Nick received a call from Jeff Jones to say that 2 Little Egrets were flying around the main lake at Westport, these are the first to be seen at Westport this year and still remains a Westport tick for myself.

Next stop was Holy Island and we made our way along the coast passing several castles along the way including Warkworth Castle below, this area of the country really is stunning in parts and well worth a visit.

As we arrived at holy Island the tide was nearly out and we only had to wait a few minutes before it was safe to cross, along the edge there were good numbers of Brent Geese and we saw both Pale-bellied and Dark-bellied during our visit here. as we crossed the causeway we picked up a Merlin carrying food which it dropped and within seconds it was picked up by a male Peregrine.

Arriving at the car park near the village we made our way past the school for our next target bird, the Eastern Black Redstart, only the second British record following on from the one in Kent this last week. We hadn't been here long when I picked it up along the edge of the black seaweed, and what a stunning bird it was, my photo below is rather distant and doesn't do it justice but who'll find some much better ones on Nick's blog.

There was a small flock of Turnstones along the sea line and out at sea 6 Long-tailed Ducks which were all males except for one, there was also a flock of Red-breasted Mergansers a couple of Eiders and a Red-throated Diver, we made our way over to the harbour side of the island were the views of the coastline were rather stunning especially of the Lindisfarne Castle.

Near the harbour there was a small pool which had a couple of Spotted Redshanks, Dunlin and Snipe.

Leaving Holy Island we'd decided to head for the Lesser Scaup near Newcastle upon Tyne but along the way news of the Ross's Geese came through at Dunston Hill and so we decided to head for here instead, eventually we found a few birders at the end of a farm track but views were rather obscured as the Geese were feeding on a back field so we drove along the road to obtain better views, there were good numbers of Geese in the field and flying over and as well as the very noticeable Ross's Geese we also saw Pink-footed Geese, Barnacle Geese, Tundra Bean Geese and White-fronted Geese, a farmer put the Geese up and they flew low over us before heading back to the field.

It was a great end to a superb day and with 3 new birds for me making it a rather good day, only the Greater Yellowlegs was a full tick though with the others being sub species.

And finally to today at Westport, as usual after a full day out I didn't make it down so as usual it was left to Nick, unfortunately it was rather foggy, not good esp on duck count day but he did manage 3 Pochard, 51 Tufted Duck and a Little Grebe.

Lunt rung him with a unusual sighting on the top pool, with his description of a pigeon size bird but blue with a red bill and big feet the imagination was running wild, but on arriving it turned out to be a rather unusual turquoise pigeon, I'm not sure if someone had dyed it or what but it's rather strange either way!

13 November 2011

2011-11-13T04:41:00.000-08:00

On Friday morning I was woken from my deep slumber with a couple of text messages (you know who you are:-)) asking if the Red-breasted Merganser was still present, having been at work til 3am and rather tired I slowly made my way down to Westport to find the aforementioned Merganser still showing very well, also new in was a female Shoveler.

Saturday and I left Westport to Nick and co, having had a few late shifts at work I deserved a lie in, they had a pretty good morning with the Red-breasted Merganser still present. thanks to Phil Jones and Steve Seal for the photo's below.

Also present at Westport, and all new in was 3 Wigeon, a female Goldeneye and a female Pheasant on the old sewage works.

Eventually Nick & George picked me up and we made our way down to South Staffs to see what we could find on the gravel pits, along the way news came in of a Greater Yellowlegs at Northumberland and left us wondering if we should be heading off up north or stick and await news, in the end sighting were few and far between of the Yellowlegs and we'd made the right decision to stick local.

First stop was Branston Gravel Pits, we flushed 7 Red-legged Partridge as we made our way along the path and as usual Pheasants were everywhere, a couple of Tree Sparrows along the hedge was a nice record for here, on the scrape a single Green Sandpiper was in it's usual place (I don't think it's moved for a few months now), as we made our way through 'Dead Man's' Wood there were good numbers of Finches and Tit's which included at least 2 Goldcrests and a Marsh Tit which was a re tick for me in Staffs not being sure were I'd seen my last ones over 15 years previously!

The sky was full of Golden Plovers flying over, there were well over 500 including a good number on the sandy pit but with workers still on site and a couple of lads driving around with guns we were unable to do a proper count, also present on the sandy pit, 3 Ruff, 2 Dunlin, 8 Curlew and a Redshank, finally were made our way to the south pit were another 10 Curlew were present and 4 Little Egrets.

After lunch we headed off the our undisclosed site, bird of the day here was a nice adult winter Little Gull with a small flock of Black-headed Gulls, we counted the wildfowl which were in good numbers and also had another Little Egret and 2 Redshank, a nice day out and we didn't get wet!

Sunday at Westport and Nick had the Red-breasted Merganser still, there was no sign of the female Shoveler or Goldeneye but 5 Pochard were new in.

A new service for Westport is a Twitter service from Nick, just go to Twitter and search WestportLake1, here you can follow Westport news and have news sent direct to your mobile.

10 November 2011

2011-11-10T04:11:00.000-08:00

A quick walk around Westport this morning showed the 1st winter male Red-breasted Merganser is still present on the main lake, this time it was favouring the bottom right corner of the main lake, although not showing as close as yesterday it was still rather confiding, also on the main lake, the 1st winter Little Grebe which has been around for a few weeks now, 4 Great Crested Grebes, 34 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 4 Mute Swans and a single drake Teal, no sign of the Wigeon Nick had yesterday afternoon.

09 November 2011

2011-11-09T03:20:00.000-08:00

OK, as you can see I haven't done a update for a while now, and I've recently had a few 'gentle' reminders about it (Mr Locker & Mr Seal)! It's been a bit of a rough ride this last month or so with one thing and another but today was a bit special for Westport and I just had to get this on the blog.

I received a text from Nick at 09.30 informing me that Jeff Jones had just found a Red-breasted Merganser on the main lake, within a minute the coat was on bins grabbed and the dog pulled along on the lead as i rushed down to Westport, I found Jeff by the boating ramp area and he soon pointed me in the right direction, the bird was close to the edge but up in the top right corner of the lake so we made our way around for a closer look, we soon picked it up and at times it showed down to 10ft!

We were soon joined by Steve Seal and who rattled off a few shots and Alan and Colin, the Merganser showed exceptionally well and is a immature male as you will see from the photo's kindly supplied by Steve (on the above slideshow as I can't get them to work on here), although there have been flyovers at Wstport this is the first on the lake since 2002 when Bill Low had 2 immature birds fly in from the south and stay for 15 mins.

A Westport tick for me taking me onto 102 for the year and Westport onto 118 for the year, both figures well down on last years totals.

08 September 2011

2011-09-08T06:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a rather hectic but productive morning and I'm due in work in 40 mins so I will have too make this rather brief.

Started off at Westport as usual, a Jay was calling from the wood by the bottom entrance, on the main lake 600+ Black-headed Gulls came in for a brief wash and feed from there overnight roost before carrying on there journey, also on the lake 53 Tufted Ducks, 4 Mute Swans plus another 2 on the boating lake, 5 Great Crested Grebes which included the chick, and the single Pochard, 6 Chiffchaff were around the park, overhead 4 Swift were present with over 100+ House Martins, 30+ Swallows and 6 Sand Martins, a Grey Wagtail was along the old beach area and another over the sewage works, a Grey Heron flew over the main lake and probably the same bird was later seen over the sewage works, on the gas works the Mistle Thrushes have reduced further to just 12, a Pied Wagtail flew over and the first Meadow Pipit of the autumn with another over the visitor centre, 3 Bullfinches were by the boardwalk bridge and a juvenile Bullfinch by the top pool, a Willow Tit was also around here and a female Great Spotted Woodpecker.

I hadn't been home long when Steve Seal rang asking if I'd like to go down to Belvide to see the Sabine's Gull, I didn't need asking again, and an hour later we were at Belvide, we didn't have to wait too long when the Sabine's Gull appeared along the Dam Wall, it was just 20ft away at times and totally oblivious to the small crowd looking down on it. Below is a record shot i took with my mobile phone against my bins.

Also present was a rather nice juvenile Arctic Tern.

Later in the morning at Westport Pete Lunt had, Swift, 3 Sand Martins, a pair of Blackcaps, Willow Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Buzzard. Right off too work!!

06 September 2011

2011-09-06T01:36:00.000-07:00

A very dark, cloudy and wet start, against yesterday at 06.00 I couldn't see a thing, it was pitch black, going to have to start going down later I'm afraid, it rained for most of the visit with light to heavy showers, the wind was a strong SW and had brought down a few light branches from the trees, temp was warmer than yesterday at 15c, visit from 05.55 til 08.20.

On the main lake, 4 Mute Swans, 63 Tufted Duck, the single female Pochard, 6 Great Crested Grebe plus the young chick which is going to find it hard to survive with the weather conditions which are due to carry on for the next few days, there were 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls among the 200+ Black-headed Gulls, there were huge numbers of Swallows and House Martins going through this morning, at anyone time there were 300+ over the main lake which seemed to come down for a feed before spiralling up in large flocks coming back down and then heading off south, while on the sewage works and gas works I could see groups of 50+ coming over towards the main lake, I wouldn't be surprised if well over a 1,000+ went through this morning, also among the flock 10+ Sand Martins which included a very light one that almost looked like it had white wings and 3 Swifts.
Along the reserve side of the main lake a single Coal Tit, 6 Chiffchaffs were around the park, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackcap and a Grey Wagtail along the waters edge, a Sparrowhawk went across the sewage works, on the gas works a count of 25 Mistle Thrushes was nowhere near as good as the count of 41 Nick had on here on Sunday, on the top pool a single Teal and Kingfisher were present.

05 September 2011

2011-09-05T02:17:00.000-07:00

A very cloudy start with brighter weather coming over, quite cool at 12c, wind steady SSW, visit from 06.00 til 08.15.

Large count of 200+ Black-headed Gulls on the playing field this morning, on the boating lake a Grey Heron was making its way around the waters edge, 4 Teal were on here as well, on the main lake, 76 Tufted Duck, 6 Great Crested Grebe with a Chick on the back of one which appeared a few days ago, if successful it will be the first success this year after a very poor year for the Grebes, 4 Mute Swans still present and the female Pochard, 5 Swifts were overhead among a flock of well over 100+ House Martins and a decent number of Swallows, also a couple of Sand Martins were among them, a single Pied Wagtail was on the grass bank, 6 Chiffchaffs around the park and a single Blackcap was singing along the reserve side of the main lake, a Bullfinch flew over with another 2 near the top pool, 2 Collared Doves were on the sewage works as was a single Kestrel and Willow Tit.

2011-08-29T00:38:00.003-07:00

A poor morning, very wet, again just a brief overview of what I saw, Grey Wagtail, 6 Pied Wagtail, 68 Tufted Duck, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Mute Swan, 100+ House Martin, 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Sand Martin, Stock Dove, Bullfinch, 2 Swift and 40+ Starling.

2011-08-28T01:06:00.001-07:00

Just a quick overview of the morning visiit due to me running out of internet allowence and having to use by mobile phone.
2 Shoveler on boating lake, on main, 70 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Mute Swans, Pochard, over lake, 100+ House Martin, 4 Swift, around rest of park, 15 Starling, 6 Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler, Mistle Thrush, Stock Dove, Grey Wagtail, Jay, Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

27 August 2011

2011-08-27T01:30:00.000-07:00

A rather wet morning with rain, heavy at times, during most of the visit, temp was 13c, wind from the W, visit 06.20 til 08.00.

A Grey Heron flew off the boating lake, the first I've seen at Westport for a while, a Great Spotted Woodpecker could be heard calling nearby, on the main lake, 68 Tufted Duck was a slight drop in numbers, 1 Pochard, 3 Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans are back to 4 and 2 Shoveler flew in later, a mix of 100+ House Martins and Swallows were over the lake with a single Swift, 7 Chiffchaffs were around the park also 3 Blackcaps, on the sewage works 2 Collared Doves, a single Jay and Buzzard, 3 Cormorants flew over the gas works which also had a single Stock Dove and Pied Wagtail, a Coal Tit was among the Tit flock in the nature reserve and along the canal side of the main lake, a Willow Tit and Willow Warbler.

Later in the morning Jeff Jones had a Shelduck on the main lake.

26 August 2011

2011-08-26T01:37:00.000-07:00

A rainy morning at Westport very often produces something at this time of year and this morning gave us what will probably be bird of the month, almost the first bird I saw when arrived was a Black-tailed Godwit stood with the Canada Geese by the side of the boating ramp, with no sign of Nick and my camera at home panic set in that it would go before anyone else saw it, I needn't of worried as it stayed for nearly 2 hours with most of the Westport regulars getting down to see it, this is the 2nd record this year and my 2nd record at Westport, but my first on the ground as most are just flyovers, this bird was rather tatty as it's in moult and seemed very tired. The photo below is from Nick Smith it looks like the bird has a odd ring on its right leg but we think it may just be some weed/plant rapped around its leg, any thoughts?

Also present, 43 Black-headed Gulls on the playing field, 7 Swifts overhead with over 35+ Swallows over the main lake, on the main lake 4 Teal were new in, 77 Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebe, a single Pochard and the 4 Mute Swans were joined by another adult which flew into the boating lake, a couple of Blackcaps were around the park, just 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Willow Tits and 2 Bullfinches, a single Stock Dove on the gas works, 3 Whitethroats were on the sewage works, a Grey Wagtail flew over the top of the main lake, 3 Pied Wagtails on the playing field, 3 Mistle Thrushes by the visitor centre, as I was leaving a Common Sandpiper flew around the main lake and a Willow Warbler was singing from the canal side.

25 August 2011

2011-08-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

A bit of excitement at Westport this morning when one of the regulars found a Ruddy Shelduck, however disappointment was too follow when photo's revealed it has a blue band on the right leg showing it to be an escape and was then re identified as a Cape Shelduck!!

Photo's below from Westports regular photographer Pete Lunt which clinched the ID are below, note the blue band on the second photo.

23 August 2011

2011-08-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

News from Nick Smith & Pete Lunt fro Sunday, I should of been down there myself but was suffering from a hangover from the night before, something I'm not really use too as I don't normally drink these day's and like we all say, that will be the last time, honest!

Anyway back to Sunday's birds, from Nick, 31 Swifts was a good show of migration, 94 Tufted Duck on the main lake, Pete had, 24 Swifts, Swallows, House Martins, 3 Willow Warblers, 2 Whitethroats, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 77 Tufted Duck, Bullfinch, a good count of 5 Buzzards & 3 Blackcaps, on the Butterfly front he saw, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood and one I haven't seen at Westport this year in a Small Copper.

Below are a few photo's from Pete Lunt.

20 August 2011

2011-08-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

A slightly warmer morning at 14c with a bit of mist over the playing field but none over the lake, very still with no wind, high cloud coverage with a good amount of sunshine, visit from 05.50 til 08.30.

At least 18 Swifts were flying around this morning with small numbers of Swallows and House Martins going through, probably around 30+ of each, also 2 Sand Martins went through with them, small numbers are now resting on the telephone wires on the sewage works and you can expect these to build up over the coming weeks.

3 Willow Warblers were heard singing, 1 near the bottom gate to the nature reserve and 2 along the canal side of the main lake, on the main lake, 90 Tufted Duck which are building up nicely now, just 2 Great Crested Grebe, the 4 Mute Swans and the single female Pochard, 2 Pied Wagtails were along the grass bank, someone on Birdforum recently mentioned a large increase in the numbers of Mistle Thrushes around Staffs, just 5 seen around Westport this morning with 2 near the visitor centre and 3 on the gas works, however although not Westport I did have 13 at the side of my house yesterday which is very close too Westport and a noticeable increase from the 4 that have been resident here for a while, Lesser Black-backed Gulls continue to drop in numbers with just 3 seen this morning, 6 Chiffchaffs were heard/seen around the park, 2 Stock Doves were on the gas works, around the top pool, 2 Bullfinches plus another on the sewage works and 2 Reed Warblers, on the sewage works, a Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Tit and a family of 4 Whitethroats, lastly a Collared Dove flew over the boating lake as I was leaving.

Finally I took a photo of a flower at Westport the other day that I hadn't seen before, thanks to the help of Tim on Birdforum, it was identified as a plant called Mullein which apparently is common on open ground especially close the railway lines were it's spread from the moving trains, as it happens these photo's are taken about 50 yards form the main line, it's also known for a Moth called the Mullein Moth although you only normally see it's Caterpillars, I checked this morning and although the leaves are being eaten by something there was no sign of any Caterpillars. Thanks to Tim and Nick Pom for your help and info.

18 August 2011

2011-08-18T02:34:00.000-07:00

Ok so I've gone a bit mad with the above photo's showing that Autumn is well and truly upon us, but it really did feel very very Autumn like today, as you can see there are now plenty of berries about and the Nettles and Great Hogweed is really dying off, the latter are over 7ft tall in places, you could even see your breath this morning with the temp at 11c, wind was none existent with a light fog over the main lake first thing, visit from 06.00 til 08.50.

On the main lake 80 Tufted Duck, the family of 4 Mute Swans, new in were 6 Teal which left northbound after about an hour, 4 Great Crested Grebes, the Shoveler is still present from yesterday and the 'semi' resident Pochard was sat with the Mallards on the lake edge until the dog flushed it!

Over the main lake 12 Swifts were present with around 30+ Swallows over the lake but no House Martins today, 2 Willow Warblers were part singing today on either side of the lake, 9 Chiffchaffs were calling with a couple also part singing, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were around the park, , 3 Willow Tits and a single Blackcap, by the top pool, a single Coal Tit and 2 Bullfinches, on the gas works the Stock Doves have increased to 2, a single Jay and 2 Collared Doves were on the sewage works, along the canal side of the main lake 4 Pied Wagtails and lastly 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived on the main lake as I was leaving.

17 August 2011

2011-08-17T02:09:00.000-07:00

This morning Nick Smith had the following, singles of Shoveler and Pochard, on the top pool a family of Reed Warblers, a single Kingfisher and 12 Swifts over the top of the main lake.

16 August 2011

2011-08-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

After overnight rain it was a damp start to the morning, brightening up later after a light shower, temp a cool 15c with a light SW breeze, visit from 05.50 til 07.30.

55 Black-headed Gulls were on the playing field, the usual 4 Mistle Thrushes around the visitor centre, on the main lake, the family of 4 Mute Swans, 66 Tufted Duck and 3 Great Crested Grebes, a couple of Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank, over the trees at the top of the main lake 10 Swifts with around 50+ House Martins as the morning progressed these increased to over a 100+ with a few Swallows among them, a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over the boating lake, 5 Chiffchaffs were heard around the park with just 1 Willow Warbler, a couple of Willow Tits were along the reserve side of the main lake, on the top pool a single Reed Warbler could be heard, the gas works had a single Buzzard and a single Stock Dove, a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over the sewage works with a further 2 on the main lake later, a Kestrel flew across the sewage works which also had 2 Bullfinch and 2 Collared Dove, lastly back on the main lake while looking through the House Martins I picked up 2 Yellow Wagtails flying around the main lake.

15 August 2011

2011-08-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Some late news for Saturday and also a bit of a surprise count from today, on Saturday Nick Smith had another Gadwall this time on the boating lake, that's 10 so far this month, not bad a a 'puddle' hey.

Today Nick had 15 Swifts this morning, but Pete Lunt had a massive count of 70+ later in the day showing good numbers moving south at the moment, he also saw Bullfinch, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Willow Tits, 72 Tufted Duck and Song Thrush.

Finally a big Get Well Soon to George Smith (Nick's Pop's) who took a bit of a tumble while rocking away to the Bloodstock festival at the same time as birding at one of our regular Saturday 'local' Staffs sites. How this guy gets about like he does at 77 is beyond me and he puts most of us too shame, get well soon George.

11 August 2011

2011-08-13T12:33:00.000-07:00

After a long day at work an then watching Liverpool throw it away against Sunderland I decided to try an cheer myself up with a quick stroll around Westport, I don't normally go down much in a afternoon and especially on a weekend when large numbers of people descend on the park with kids, kites, bikes, barbeque's and whatever else takes there fancy, so as you can imagine it's not an ideal time to visit, and today was no exception I'm afraid.

The weather was pleasantly warm with a temp of 22c, very sunny with plenty of cloud coverage around but never came around the park, wind was a steady NW, visit from 17.35 til 18.45.

I really didn't see very much at all showing how the mornings really are the best time too visit, the exception to this can be winter and when it rains, anyway, a good count of 77 Tufted Duck on the main lake along with 3 Great Crested Grebe, 7 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 3 of which were juveniles and the usual 4 Mute Swans, 2 Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank, only 3 Chiffchaffs were heard/seen, 2 by the top pool and 1 on the gas works, a single Swift was over the gas works and another 3 over the main lake, also on the gas works a couple of Peacock Butterflies, a Buzzard could be heard calling high up but I couldn't locate it, also on the sewage works what I presume was a Brown Hawker Dragonfly but I don't know very much about Dragonflies and the likes, lastly 4 Mistle Thrushes were again by the visitor centre.

11 August 2011

2011-08-11T09:06:00.000-07:00

I didn't make it down this morning but luckily missed very little according to Nick, instead I decided to pay a visit this afternoon complete with my camera too see if I could find any Butterflies, sadly the weather wasn't good, although it was warm at 21c, there were frequent showers of light drizzle, wind was a steady westerly, visit from 14.25 til 16.20.

7 Pied Wagtails were on the playing field with a single on the gas works, on the main lake 3 juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 2 adults, 11 Swifts were over the main lake with a handful of Swallows but no House or Sand Martins, a single female Pochard was with 68 Tufted Duck, also the 4 Mute Swans and 2 Great Crested Grebes, 4 Mistle Thrushes were around the visitor centre and a Sparrowhawk flew over the boating lake, 9 Chiffchaffs were around the park today which has remained pretty much the same all week, a Peacock Butterfly was in the nature reserve which is the first I've seen at Westport this year, that said we don't see many butterflies at 6am!

There were good numbers of juvenile Black-headed Gulls on the lake today with around 15 present, one of which was looking rather poorly along the reserve side of the main lake.

2 Bullfinches were near the top pool and the young Moorhen chick was on the pool along with another on Jeff's Pool which is on the gas works, also on the gas works a Stock Dove again, on the sewage works a Coal Tit was in a small Tit flock, plus along the path several Gatekeeper & Speckled Wood Butterflies, these are hard to get a picture of when you have a dog around your feet wondering what your doing!

10 August 2011

2011-08-10T01:35:00.000-07:00

A cloudy morning with light drizzle at times, a steady SW wind with temp of 14c, visit from 06.25 - 08.20.

Another slight drop in Canada Geese numbers with all but one of the 174 on the playing field, on the main lake, 4 Mute Swans, 63 Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebes, a nice surprise was another 4 Gadwall this time including a male, Nick had also had a Little Grebe earlier on, over the lake, 5 Swift plus 1 over the gas works, 5 Sand Martins and 50+ House Martins, 3 Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank, 3 Mistle Thrushes still by the visitor centre, a single Bullfinch was by the boardwalk bridge, near the top pool, 1 Blackcap plus 1 Coal Tit, 1 of 3 Willow Tits seen around the park, the first of 7 Chiffchaffs, and the first of 3 Willow Warblers, the Moorhen chick is still on the top pool, lastly on the gas works a single Stock Dove which is the first one I've seen on there since all the Birch trees were cut down.

08 August 2011

2011-08-08T01:58:00.000-07:00

Very autumn feel to the morning, steady NW wind caused a drop in temp too 12c, heavy cloud cover with the odd light rain shower, visit from 06.00 - 07.50.

Nearly all the Canada Geese were on the playing field making it easy to count them, total was 189 which is well down on last month, 4 Pied Wagtails were along the front edge of the main lake, on the main lake, 2 young Little Grebe were new in, also present the usual family of 4 Mute Swans, 68 Tufted Duck, 4 Great Crested Grebe & 4 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, along the edge of the boating lake the first of 5 Blackcaps, a Bullfinch was along the sidings, along the edge of the reserve side of the main lake 2 Treecreepers and the first of 7 Chiffchaffs, 40+ House Martins were over the main lake with 4 Swifts, on the top pool the single Moorhen chick is still present plus Reed Warbler with a poss family party calling in the reeds, on the sewage works a single Collared Dove, Willow Tit, 2 Garden Warblers a Willow Warbler plus another along the canal side of the main lake, the gas works held a Buzzard which was constantly calling and lastly 3 Mistle Thrushes are still present by the visitor centre.

06 August 2011

2011-08-07T06:21:00.000-07:00

A pretty quiet couple of days around the Lake, yesterday was cloudy and dry with a steady southerly wind, temp 15c, visit from 06.05 til 08.25.

A good count of 8 Pied Wagtails were on the playing field, on the main lake the family of 4 Mute Swans, 63 Tufted Duck and 4 Great Crested Grebes a single Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over, 3 Mistle Thrushes were by the visitor centre and a single on the gas works, a Willow Warbler was singing by the boating lake with another on the sewage works, also around the boating lake the first of 5 Blackcaps and a single Treecreeper was calling, a Willow Tit was along the sidings with another by the top entrance to the lake, at least 9 Chiffchaffs were heard calling around the Lake with the majority being on the sewage works as usual, Bullfinches were in good numbers this morning with 5 seen, a single Whitethroat was on the sewage works and 15 Swifts were flying high over here.

This morning I was beaten down to the lake by Nick due to oversleeping, in my rush I forgot my notebook (yes some of us still us them) so I might miss or forget a few things esp numbers, Nick had already picked up 5 Gadwall on the main lake which turned out to be the highlight of the visit, with heavy cloud and light drizzle I'd hoped we might have a wader or two, besides the Gadwall, 68 Tufted Ducks, 4 Mute Swans and 4 Great Crested Grebes on the main lake, a single Willow Warbler was singing near the top entrance, also a Willow Tit nearby, Chiffchaff numbers remain steady, 1 Whitethroat on the sewage works, just 3 Swifts around today but around 70+ House Martins over the main lake with a Sand Martin.

05 August 2011

2011-08-05T02:35:00.000-07:00

A cloudy start to the morning with the occasional break in the clouds, temp 16c, a steady breeze from the West, visit from 06.05 til 08.45.

Managed a count of 236 Canada Geese helped by the fact that most were on the playing field, the 'Canlag' is still present along with 3 Greylag Geese which were joined by another 2 that flew in from the North over the gas works and were later on the main lake, 60 Tufted Duck were present on the main lake with 4 Great Crested Grebes, the family of 4 Mute Swans, 2 Dunlin flew through heading North at 06.40, if my memory serves me correct these are the 3rd records of the year for this species, a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull flew through as did a single Sand Martin, around 70+ House Martins were flying around with 7 Swifts still present, by the boating lake a Willow Warbler was singing along with another along the reserve side of the main lake, at least 9 Chiffchaffs were present most being on the sewage works which also had 4 Blackcaps one of which had a bald head!, 2 Whitethroats a single Garden Warbler plus a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over as did 2 Mistle Thrushes, a further 3 Mistle Thrushes were by the visitor centre later on, by the top pool 2 Treecreepers and singles of Reed Warbler and Bullfinch, lastly a single Collared Dove was by the gas works.

05 August 2011

2011-08-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

30th July Nick Smith had a Dunlin fly around at 06.35 before heading north.

31st July, Nick Smith had 2 Egyptian Geese briefly before they flew off at 06.20, this is only the 3rd ever record for Westport and the second one this year following on from the single we had briefly in April, also the 1st juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull of the year, 69 Tufted Duck were present which is a record count for July.

4th August, Jeff Jones and Pete Lunt had 6 Common Terns fly through at 10.00.

28 July 2011

2011-07-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

Not a bad couple of day's for a couple of Westport regulars, firstly on the 26th Jeff Jones had at least 2 Green Woodpeckers over the main lake and yesterday at a very early 06.30, Nick Smith had a Black-tailed Godwit fly over from the boating lake towards the visitor centre and off, never to be seen again.

This morning both Nick and myself were down nice and early, both for different reasons, I had finished work at midnight and hadn't been able to sleep and Nick had to be in work early, it was already bright and sunny but with a mist covering half of the main lake, wind was light and SSW, temp 14c, visit from 05.45 til 08.20.

As I entered via the bottom gate I counted 168 Canada Geese on the playing field along with the 3 remaining Greylag Geese but there was no sign of the recent 'Canlag', on the main lake 59 Tufted Duck, 4 Great Crested Grebe and the resident family of 4 Mute Swans, as Nick joined me a Cormorant flew over heading south, a small number of Black-headed Gulls were flying around with a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, along the reserve side of the main lake a Willow Warbler was part singing as it pasted through, a single Bullfinch was on the top pool with another on the sewage works, the single Reed Warbler continued to sing from the reedbed with a possible number of young Reed Warblers calling from the other end of the reeds, 3 probable Chaffinches flew a couple of which were youngsters, around 20+ Swifts had gathered over the main lake as the weather warmed up, a Treecreeper was heard calling near the top gate to the reserve, just by the entrance to the sewage works the first of around 6 Chiffchaffs were calling, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard calling with a probable different bird heard down near the bottom of the main lake later, as the weather warmed up the sewage works came to life a bit with Warblers, 6 Whitethroats, 5 Blackcaps, 1 Garden Warbler plus 3 Willow Tits were all seen together with around 20 Swallows gathering on the wires above, on the gas works a couple of Collared Doves flew over, at the top end there was a gathering of 16 Magpies and at the bottom end a Buzzard sat on a old lamp post.

25 July 2011

2011-07-25T04:19:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a long time, there are really several reasons for this and I apologise to all my regular readers who probably wondered were I'd got too, firstly it's been a incredibly quiet summer and it really does get a bit down to be constantly repeating the same birds day in and day out, sometimes you feel like just writing ditto, ditto, ditto for each day, Westport's number 1 regular Nick Smith manages to get through the quiet times by keeping a check on the numbers of moulting Canada Geese and Coots rings etc, these kind of things I'm not good at, secondly my job is exceptionally hard work (well for me anyway) being on my feet for 9 hours a day and I'm so shattered by the time my day's off come around I just don't have the urge to walk around Westport for 2+ hours and seeing nothing but ditto ditto, blah, blah blah...............

So all that said there has been the odd decent moment during the last month or so, mostly seen by Nick as he's been the only regular during these lean summer day's, however I did manage a Westport record on the 27th June and probably birds of the year so far along with Nick's Black-necked Grebes a few months previously, it was a sunny morning and as usual been very quiet, I was just heading home as I walked along the canal side of the main lake when I heard Terns calling, I looked across the lake but couldn't see anything, the call was puzzling me as it wasn't the usual Common Tern call you would expect to hear, I couldn't see them anywhere and was about to give up when they called again, looking up high I could see 4 Terns circling the main lake and coming down rapidly, they came low enough to realise these were Sandwich Terns, and not only that but 4 of them, the only previous records have been individual ones and I think these 4 equalled the total number ever recorded at Westport.

All other highlights for the last month or so come mainly from Nick and are as follows, Canada Geese numbers peaked at 365 which includes 49 Goslings during the moulting season with a CanadaxGreylag Goose (Canlag) within the flock, also 14 Greylag Geese were present, on the 20th a Kingfisher was present on the main lake, these have been thin on the ground so far this year, 5 Common Terns went through on the 23rd June, the resident male Mute Swan has kept his family well protected this year with any other Mute Swans coming in being quickly dispatched, 4 new birds came in on the 27th June but were soon removed by the male, Jeff Jones had a Common Tern go through on the 29th June, into July now and on the 2nd another Kingfisher, 2 Common Sandpipers and another bird that has been thin on the ground this year in a Grey Wagtail not much else happened at Westport til the 15th when a Hobby went through, the 3rd one this year and I still need it for the year at Westport.

On the 16th we decided to have a day trip out we headed to Westport nice and early at 05.30, it was even more quiet than usual and we quickly headed for our first target bird of the day a Western Bonelli's Warbler at Arnfield Res in Derbys, we had no joy after a few hours in the rain so headed to Blacktoft Sands in Yorks for the 2nd target bird, a Marsh Sandpiper, after a short wait in the hide out of the constant rain we managed to connect with this great looking bird, only my 2nd ever record in the UK, the first was at Cley on a family holiday in the early 80's, after a look around the reserve we headed back to Derby's for the Warbler, again it rained heavy but it eventually stopped and after a short wait we heard the Warbler singing from a lone bush and located it in the middle of the bush, this was a first for me and my first lifer this year since the Lesser White-fronted Goose back on the 2nd of January! See here for the full story of our day.

Ok back to Westport and on the 19th a Redshank was on the model boating lake, this is the 4th record this year with the last one also being found on here, lastly 3 Teal were in the middle of the main lake on the 23rd.

A few other things have been happening at Westport recently, firstly on the old gas works all the maturing birch trees have been cut down, we couldn't work out why this had been done wondering if they were possibly going to redevelop the area and we would lose this area from our Westport coverage area, this happened early June and nothing more has happened we now think it's possible that a company was brought in to remove the tree's and then sell on the bark mulch they had created, it will be interesting to see if we get anything different on here over the migration period, also on the boating lake the Council? have screened off an area and planted some reeds and other plants, I wonder if it will be as successful as they wild flowers areas they planted in the spring, which to date has been a disaster.

So lastly I have a few photo's which were sent in from Westport's regular photographer Pete Lunt.

14 June 2011

2011-06-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

Clear bright sunny morning with a very light W breeze, temp 12c, visit from 06.00 - 08.00.

Canada Geese have increased to around 310 as they all come into moult, this count includes 39 young and the hybrid CanadaxGreylag, among the largest flock were 2 Greylag Geese with the other 7 on the main lake, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were also on the main lake, a single Little Ringed Plover was feeding along the shoreline area as were 2 Pied Wagtails, on the main lake Great Crested Grebes numbered 10, 3 male Tufted Ducks and the family of 4 Mute Swans, around 70+ Swifts were over the top of the main lake and a Grey Heron flew over as did a single Collared Dove, 5 Blackcaps were seen including a male feeding young, in the nature reserve 3 Coot chicks were newly hatched, just 4 Chiffchaffs seen today, 2 Bullfinches on the top pool as was a Reed Warbler, on the sewage works, 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Whitethroat and a Garden Warbler, back at the top of the main lake and the male Reed Bunting was seen feeding a single youngster and by Ted Heath Rocks a adult Grey Wagtail was feeding 2 young.

13 June 2011

2011-06-13T01:10:00.000-07:00

A pretty quiet week while I've been at work, the only news in came from Nick which was the story of juvenile birds, on the 10th he had a male Reed Bunting feeding a youngster on the top pool, the 12th he had young Coal Tits, Whitethroat and Swallow.
On to today, it was a very cloudy morning with a bit of rain in the air, although it did brighten up during the visit, wind was quite strong and from the SW, temp 16c, visit from 05.55 til 08.00.

A single Mistle Thrush was on the playing field with a Pied Wagtail, a single young Pied Wagtail was also along the front of the main lake, around 6 Chiffchaffs were seen/heard around the park this morning, a Grey Heron was along the front edge of the main lake, 9 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the main lake also held a Herring Gull, 3 Tufted Ducks were present with 2 on the main lake and 1 on the top pool, 6 Great Crested Grebes were on the main lake and also 9 Greylag Geese, the CanadaxGreylag Goose remains with the Canada Goose flock, a couple of young Swallows on the fencing around the new reeds (old beach area) are probably from the old canal buildings, at the top of the main lake the Mute Swan family remain 2 cygnet strong and around 60+ Swifts were flying around the top of the main lake, a single Collared Dove was seen twice flying across the main lake, just a couple of Blackcaps were heard today, at least 2 Reed Warblers were on the top pool, a Sparrowhawk flew over the gas and sewage works, also on the sewage works just 1 Whitethroat was heard and the Willow Warbler.

09 June 2011

2011-06-09T02:35:00.000-07:00

A bit of catching up to do, although it's been rather quite really, as is the norm at this time of year with mainly just young birds to look out for an see whats been successful in the breeding stakes down at Westport.

Firstly back to May briefly, a total of 73 species were recorded around Westport for the month which is 5 up on last year, highlights included bird of the year so far two summer plumaged Black-necked Grebes found by Nick on his usual early morning rounds, 3 Pink-footed Geese stayed for a day, the 1st of 2 Hobbys were seen this month, a Snipe flew over the main lake briefly which was a first for the year as was 4 Whimbrel which flew over one morning, a Black Tern landed briefly on the main lake during a downpour and 4 Arctic Terns were seen briefy over the main lake by Jeff Jones and Alan Hancock, one possibly two Grasshopper Warbler's were a welcome find after a absence of a few years, up to at least 2/3 Spotted Flycatcher's went through in a single day, and finally 3 individual Yellow Wagtails were seen making May a pretty good month at Westport.

Ok now to up date visits over the last week.

04/06/2011
6 Blackcaps seen including young again, 5 Greylag Geese, 6 Mute Swans including 2 cygnets at last hatched during the week, 2 new Mute Swans on the boating lake included a darvic ring CAN7, unfortunatly it had fishing line in it's mouth.

The photo below of the Mute Swan cygnets is from Pete Lunt.

7 Chiffchaffs were around the park, 7 Willow Tits which included at least two broods of young, just a single Reed Warbler on the top pool, 2 Stock Doves on the gas works, 3 Whitethroats on the sewage works and a single Willow Warbler.
06/06/2011
6 Blackcaps around again including young, around 40 Swifts over the main lake, just 3 Tufted Ducks present and 5 Great Crested Grebes, the pair of Mute Swans with 2 Cygnets, Greylag Geese have increased to 6, 5 Willow Tits seen, 2 Stock Doves on the gas works, 2 Willow Warblers on the sewage works, just a single Chiffchaff singing, a Grey Heron flew over, 3 Whitethroats and 3 Bullfinches.

And finally today 09/06/2011
Just 3 Blackcaps singing today although a few more were calling, a single Pied Wagtail on the playing field and another 2 on the gas works, a single Mistle Thrush was also on the playing field, the Canada Geese Goslings are all together now with the final 7 joining the creche making 39 young in total and there are now 9 Greylag Geese amongst the Canada Geese flock, also among the Canada Geese is a CanadaxGreylag which was found a few days earlier by Nick.

Small number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls went through, 5 Tufted Ducks on the main lake with 7 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Grey Herons flew over south with another following shortly after, 3 Bullfinches flew across the boating lake and another 2 were on the sewage works, around 50+ Swifts were over the main lake, the usual Mute Swan family was along the edge of the main lake, a single Little Ringed Plover flew from the boating lake and a bit further along a Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff seem to be getting there singing voices back with 6 singing, 3 Stock Doves were on the gas works, on the sewage works a single Willow Warbler, 4 Whitethroat including one carrying food, a single Garden Warbler, 4 Rook flew over which included 2 young and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers.
Marsh Orchids are now in full bloom.

30 May 2011

2011-05-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

A decent morning around Westport today for Nick smith with a Black Tern going through and the Mute Swans have at last managed to succeed in hatching 2 Cygnets.

29 May 2011

2011-05-29T02:04:00.000-07:00

Well that's it, a whole week off work, visited everyday and missed the only year tick of the week in the 4 Arctic Terns that went through the other day!!

This morning was a rather dull almost dark start to the morning with heavy cloud, a strong SW breeze was blowing and despite all the cloud only a slight shower went through late on in the visit, temp was 14c, visit from 05.50 til 08.40.

Again 5 Greylag Geese were among the Canada Geese on the playing field, just 5 Tufted Ducks seen today with 2 on the boating lake and 3 on the main lake, a single Little Ringed Plover was along the old beach area, small groups of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were going through, mainly in groups of 6, 5 and 7's, along the front of the main lake 4 Pied Wagtails of which 3 were youngsters, just 4 Great Crested Grebes were on the main lake, Swifts built up slowly during the visit with around 50+ present as I left, the same numbers applied to House Martins with which 2 Sand Martins were present, a single Black-headed Gull flew over, 6 Chiffchaffs were around the park today and 5 Blackcaps, 2 parties of young Willow Tits were seen with groups of 3 and 4, the resident pair of Mute Swans were in the nature reserve, at least 2 Reed Warblers were heard on the top pool and a single Bullfinch was here, on the sewage works, 1 Willow Warbler, 3 Whitethroats and 1 Garden Warbler, back by the visitor centre, a Kestrel was seen over the top of the main lake, 2 Collared Doves flew across and a Sparrowhawk was over the centre.

Thats about it for me for the next four days as I'm back at work on early's from tomorrow!

All of a sudden this afternoon my mobile goes nuts with calls and text messages of a Lesser Yellowlegs at Uttoxeter Quarry, found by patch worker Andy Barker, Phil was the first call I received and within 10 mins we were on our way, although distant good views were obtained of a Staffs first for me and I think the 3rd ever Staffs record, also present a Sanderling, plus Ringed Plovers, Little Ringed Plovers, Common Sandpiper, Dunlin, Goosander and Yellow Wagtail. Below is the best I could manage but at least it's a record shot.

28 May 2011

2011-05-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

A very very quiet morning around Westport, weather was forecast for light showers but we didn't see any, it remained cloudy with a WSW breeze, temp was 13c, visit from 06.00 til 08.45.

The first of only 2 Blackcaps was singing as I entered the park, on the playing field 5 Greylag Geese were later joined by another, a single Pied Wagtail was probably part of the family of 4 on the front of the main lake, a single Mistle Thrush was also on the playing field with another along the grass bank, a few small parties of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were going through with the largest a group of 9, 6 Tufted Duck were on the main lake with another couple on the boating lake, just 4 Great Crested Grebes were seen today, 4 Chiffchaffs were heard around the park and at least 7 Willow Tits made up of mainly young birds, around 30+ Swifts increased to around 50+ later but there were very few House Martins compared to the last few days, the resident Mute Swans were in the back and a couple of Bullfinches were around the top pool, a single Whitethroat was singing on the sewage works as was a Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler.

27 May 2011

2011-05-27T04:10:00.000-07:00

A strange day at Westport, I missed a early start after a night out last night, Nick Smith had 2 groups of young Willow Tits but not a lot else, the weather was rather cold with a strong north west breeze, on the playing field I had 5 Greylag Geese feeding with the Canada Geese, a couple of Tufted Ducks were on the boating lake with another 8 on the main lake, also on the main lake 5 Great Crested Grebes, and really that was about all I had.

I'd just been back in the house about 5 minutes when I received a text from nick saying 4 Arctic Terns on the main lake seen by Jeff Jones and Alan Hancock, so I rushed straight back sadly not in enough time as they had already left, as I stood on the back a Oystercatcher flew in, it flew around the 2 lakes for a few minutes before heading off south.

A couple of Mute Swans came into the boating lake, one I managed to read the ring of which was on a blue ring number 7FBB, those that come down to Westport on a regular basis will know that there has been a unusual Coot around for a few months, it basically looks like a Coot that has been bleached, however if you look closely at it's head this is a normal black colour, see the picture below.

26 May 2011

2011-05-26T11:27:00.000-07:00

It's been a rather quiet few days at Wesport hence the lack of posts really, it sometimes gets a bit boring writing about the same stuff day in and day out, I managed a couple of brief trips out as well this week while I'm off work, Blithfield was first stop for the Red-necked Phalarope and today got down to Doxey Marsh to see the Spoonbill.

Back to Westport and the highlights on the 24th were at least 4 Garden Warblers around the park, 5 Greylag Geese were on the main lake as were 9 Great Crested Grebe, a Common Sandpiper was working it's way around the edge of the lake, 3 Sparrowhawks flew over which was rather unusual, the female Pheasant returned to it's usual place on the sewage works for the first time in a month or more, on the 25th, 3 Greylag Geese were on the playing field with the Canada Geese, as well as 10 Tufted Ducks on the main lake a pair were on the top pool and a Little Ringed Plover was briefly on the old beach area, Canada Geese Goslings have gone up slightly to 39, at least 2 parties of young Blackcaps were on the sewage works.

Back to today, a couple of Garden Warblers were heard around the park, 6 Chiffchaffs, the 3 Greylag Geese remain on the playing field with the Canada Geese which also held a single Mistle Thrush, just 3 Blackcaps seen/heard today, the young Moorhens around the boating lake are down to 3, 2 Pied Wagtails were around the edge of the main lake one of which was a youngster, 2 Sand Martins went through heading south which is the first ones for a while, 2 Little Ringed Plovers were on the edge of the main lake, 8 Tufted Ducks on the main lake with 5 Great Crested Grebes, over 100+ Swifts were over the top of the main lake, we had a bit of a scare when I noticed one had a white rump, closer inspection showed it was just a partial white rump on one side and seemed to be a few feathers sticking up, also 3 Jackdaws flew over, by the top pool 10 Willow Tits went through made up of mainly youngsters, 60+ House Martins were over the main lake, 3 Reed Warblers were on the top pool, a couple of Whitethroats on the sewage works with a single Willow Warbler and Reed Bunting.

23 May 2011

2011-05-23T01:55:00.000-07:00

Sadly my Birthday didn't bring anything new or exciting to Westport this morning, it was rather cloudy with the odd sunny spell, temp 12c with a strong SSW wind, visit from 06.00 til 08.30.

By the top entrance the first of 4 Blackcaps, a single Greylag Goose was on the boating lake, on the main lake, 6 Great Crested Grebes, 10 Tufted Ducks and the resident male Mute Swan with this partner in the nature reserve as usual, around 70+ Swifts were over the top of the main lake, a couple of small groups of Lesser Black-backed Gulls went through, the first held 5 birds and the second held 7, a Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard calling and later was seen feeding young. early on there were just a few House Martins over the main lake but closer to leaving and at least 70+ were over the lake, the Canada Geese Goslings remain at 37 and with no others seeming to be on the way it looks like we are down on last years count by about 10 Goslings, a couple of Collared Doves were at the top pool along with at least 4 Reed Warblers and a Willow Tit was calling nearby as was the first of 5 Chiffchaffs, along the gas works the first of 2 Willow Warblers, a Grey Heron was sat on the railings at Jeffs Pool.
On the sewage works a Garden Warbler was singing and another was along the 'Avenue', a Kestrel was again hunting over the sewage works, along the canal side of the main lake a family party of young Great Tits were going along the lake edge and a young Pied Wagtail was being fed by it's parent.

22 May 2011

2011-05-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

Luckily for me it's been quiet at Westport while I've been busy at work, I finished at 3pm today and then met up with my parents for a spot of late Sunday lunch, after they'd gone I decided to take Misty for a walk around Westport to try out my new toy!!

20 May 2011

2011-05-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

As I said yesterday I'm stuck on early's at work all weekend, so unable to get down to Westport for any morning visits til Monday (Happy Birthday to me), Nick had a brief Shelduck go through this morning but not a lot else.

19 May 2011

2011-05-19T07:31:00.000-07:00

Well the sun brought all the Westport regulars out today including Steve Seal chasing pictures of Little Ringed Plovers (see his excellent photo's at the end), sadly there wasn't a great deal to see, the weather was bright and sunny but it was a cold 10c with a cutting north west breeze, visit from 05.50 - 08.30.

The first of 9 Blackcaps were seen near the car park, included in this count is 3 young being fed on the sewage works, 3 young Moorhens were along the edge of the boating lake, on the old beach area 2 Little Ringed Plovers were present and new in were a couple of Common Sandpipers which a few of the regulars managed to add to there Westport year lists, hardly any Lesser Black-backed Gulls going over today after the good numbers from yesterday, just 4 Tufted Duck were on the main lake with 9 Great Crested Grebes again present, a single Pied Wagtail was feeding along the edge of the main lake, a few Mistle Thrushes about today with 4 seen, as well as the resident pair of Mute Swans a couple of 1st years tried to land on the lake before being chased off, Swifts numbered around 50+ today, again mostly over the top of the main lake, a extra 3 Canada Geese Goslings have arrived taking our total up to 39, on the top pool 3 Reed Warblers were singing, the 1st of 2 Willow Warblers was along the edge of the gas and sewage works, also on the gas works a single Bullfinch, the 1st of 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Collared Doves and 2 Stock Doves, on the sewage works, at least 3 Garden Warblers, 1 Whitethroat and a single Rook flew over, which is possibly the only ever May record of this species, back at the main lake and a single Greylag Goose came in and 2 Herring Gulls flew over, lastly about 10+ House Martins joined the Swifts.

Things will probably pick up now I'm back at work on earlys for the next 3 days, as promised below is a couple of Steve Seals excellent Little Ringed Plover shots.

18th May 2011

2011-05-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

Although I was on late's at work last night I managed to fight my way out of bed to be down Westport this morning, and I'm rather glad I did, it was a rather strange morning with the birds on show almost taking us back to Winter, but more on that later, the weather was very cloudy with drizzle at times, wind was light from the south west, temp 15c, visit from 05.55 til 08.25.

A couple of Blackcaps were singing as I entered the park with 6 seen in total, 9 Tufted Ducks were on the main lake and Great Crested Grebes up to 9, also the resident male Mute Swan was on the lake with his partner still in the back, it was during my first scan of the main lake I picked up 3 Geese just to the left side of the lake, quite a surprise as they were Pink-footed Geese, not sure were they have come from but they were rather wary, every time they tried to make there way to the bank they got spooked and went back to the middle, eventually they reached the bank but flew off as someone walked along the edge, they landed on the playing field feeding with around 30 Canada Geese but still rather wary, below is a rather poor digi-binned shot of one of the Pink-feets.

A single Little Ringed Plover was flushed from the old beach area and went over to the boating lake, good numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls going through this morning with over 80+ seen, Swifts were at 70+ all over the top of the main lake, Canada Geese Goslings remain at 37, the second strange record of the day came as a Snipe flew over the main lake towards the nature reserve, sadly it was a all too brief view and couldn't be relocated but its a first for the year at Westport, at least 3 Reed Warblers were on the top pool, a couple of Bullfinches flew over the gas works and a single Stock Dove was on the railway gantry, on the sewage works 2 Willow Warblers, 4 Chiffchaff, 1 Garden Warbler and 2 Jackdaws flew over, back on the main lake and a Herring Gull landed briefly with a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls as did a single Black-headed Gull, a Kestrel was again hunting over the top of the sewage works and lastly a couple of House Martins went through with the Swifts.

Below is a much better picture of the three Pink-footed Geese together on the playing field taken by Pete Lunt this afternoon.

17 May 2011

2011-05-17T01:17:00.001-07:00

You go down Westport every morning for the last 4 days and see absolutely nowt, so you think 'I'm on lates at work for the next two days, finishing at midnight, so I shouldn't miss much', then you wake up and check your phone and there's a text message from Nick Smith, he's had 4 Whimbrel flying over at 07.10, oh the joy!!! Also 3 Cormorants went through.

16 May 2011

2011-05-16T02:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a quiet weekend down at the 'golden pond', best came on Saturday when Nick Smith and Phil Jones had a Hobby go through, I was there at the time and noticed all the House Martins and Swifts had gone up but sadly didn't see anything else, Canada Geese are up to 37 Goslings, the 4 Moorhen chicks are still around the boating lake, Tufted Duck numbers have increased slowly from 7 on Saturday, then 8 on Sunday and today up to 10, Great Crested Grebes remain on 4, Little Ringed Plovers have returned after a weeks absence, 3 on Sat and 2 on Sun but none today, Good numbers of House Martins and Swifts have been going through with max count of 150 House Martins and approx 50+ Swifts on Sat, a couple of male Reed Buntings were on the top pool on Sat with a single on the top of the main lake yesterday, Reed Warblers have increased to 5 and Willow Tits are feeding young around the top pool, 2 Willow Warblers remain, only a few Whitethroats are heard or seen now they have settled down to breeding and a couple of Garden Warblers are nesting, a Kestrel has been seen daily around the gas works and sewage works.

Below is a couple of photo's of what I'm told is called Grannies Bonnet which I found in the nature reserve.

13 May 2011

2011-05-13T09:47:00.000-07:00

What a nightmare spent ages yesterday updating the blog for the last week and writing away about all the excitement of yesterdays Black-necked Grebes including a few photo's only for Blogger to go down for maintenance, well that's what they called it, although as it was down for nearly 24 hours I think it was a bit more than that, so sadly all yesterdays writing is lost and I certainly ain't rewiting it all again.

So on too today, weather was very mixed with a south west light breeze a bit of sunshine, quite a lot of cloud and the threat of rain, visit from 06.00 - 08.30.

No sign of the Black-necked Grebes from yesterday, although they were briefly claimed, these turned out too be Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans were all over the place today, a adult and 1st year were displaying on the boating lake another pair on the main lake while the resident male was missing although he was probably in the back near this partner although we never saw him, Canada Goose Goslings remain at 31 with a few more due to hatch over the next few days no doubt, just 5 Blackcaps were seen around the park and 6 Chiffchaffs, 4 Great Crested Grebes were on the main lake and 7 Tufted Ducks, over 30+ Swifts were flying around the top end of the lake, just a single Pied Wagtail was along the grass verge, 2 Willow Tits were seen around the park, a Shelduck briefly arrived on the main lake but it didn't stay very long before departing off to the north, Treecreeper was seen feeding young for the second year in a row, in all 3 were seen together, 2 Reed Warblers were on the top pool and a single Bullfinch flew over, a single Stock Dove was on the gas works and 2 Willow Warblers on the sewage works with at least 4 Garden Warblers, 3 Whitethroats and a Reed Bunting, a couple of House Martins were mixed in the Swift flock.

Below some of yesterdays photo's of the Black-necked Grebes.

12 May 2011

2011-05-12T11:27:00.000-07:00

I hate this week, it happens once a month and it when I have the longest straight shift at work without a break, you just know something is going to happen at Westport and there's nothing you can do about it cus your stuck at work.

First I need to catch up with last weekend although Saturday and Sunday were rather disappointing after perfect weather conditions we did manage a couple of decent birds, on Saturday we had our 2nd Yellow Wagtail of the year although this one just flew right over our heads calling as it went, a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were feeding young, 3 Willow Tits were seen, a single Treecreeper, Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler, a couple of Linnets flew over as did a Lapwing and lastly the Grasshopper Warbler was still reeling away. On Sunday things were pretty similar, the Canada Goose Goslings were up to 31, a good count of 10 Great Crested Grebes on the main lake, good numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were going through with over 45+ going through during the visit, 2 Common Sandpipers were around the boating lake just before I left as were 4 Moorhen chicks.

And so to the last 4 days Nick had a pretty uneventful start with the first two days but things really started to warm up yesterday and today, before that Jeff Jones had a Hobby on Tuesday over the gas works for 2mins, this is the first this year for Westport, on Wedsnesday Nick had a Barnacle Goose fly through with a small Canada Goose and so to this morning, you just know when you have a look at your mobile at break time at work and you have 4 text messages from Nick that something has been seen at Westport, this morning he managed to find 2 adult summer plumaged Black-necked Grebes, this is the 1st pair at Westport since 1998 when two were seen on the 10th and 11th of April, despite everyone telling me they will stay I spent the entire shift worrying if I would miss them, I managed to get down to Westport for about 15.30 and yes they were still there, alot of faces there I haven't seen before so obviously they had drawn quite a crowd, below are a couple of photo's Steve Seal had managed to get in the morning.

06 May 2011

2011-05-06T01:15:00.000-07:00

Now you may think that with no blog yesterday it was due to me being at work, wrong, I was at Westport early morning as usual due to a early finish at work, the reason for no blog was it would really have just been a repeat of the previous day, and after a while with nothing new happening it gets a bit boring writing about the same stuff all the time.

Now this morning I was hoping for something special, at last we had some rain and with south easterly winds to boot everything was set for something new, the temp had picked up to 13c and the visit was from 06.00 til 08.15.

As I entered the park a Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling by the small wood, the playing field held 31 Starlings, 2 Mistle Thrushes, 25 Canada Geese with a total of 19 Goslings now about and the Domestic Geese with 8 young, I think this is the most I've ever seen on here although I've seen more exciting stuff in the past, on the boating lake a pair of Tufted Duck with another 6 on the main lake and 5 Mute Swans, the resident pair were in the nature reserve, a couple of Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank and another couple on the gas works, sadly the only highlight of the day was a single Common Sandpiper feeding near Ted Heath Rocks before flying to the top end of the main lake, a good count of Great Crested Grebes with 8 on the main lake, quite a few Swallows were going through in small groups and small numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were flying over as well as 2 Black-headed Gulls with another single going through later, Warbler numbers have dropped slightly as they enter there breeding phase, 5 Chiffchaffs, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Garden Warbler, just 2 Blackcaps, 6 Whitethroats a single Willow Warbler and the Grasshopper Warbler still reeling were the total numbers, a good count of 18 Swifts were over the main lake later, a single Collared Dove on the sewage works, a few House Martins went over the main lake later and as I was leaving I noticed a couple of Moorhen chicks feeding along the edge of the boating lake.

04 May 2011

2011-05-04T04:08:00.000-07:00

Another dry sunny day with almost zero cloud coverage, having just got back from seeing Steve Seal's Wyrneck, my only thought is why not Westport! anyway back to my early morning visit, the wind was south easterly and visit from 06.00 til 08.00.

The first of 7 Chiffchaffs was calling by the bottom entrance and a single Mistle Thrush on the playing field, a couple more were seen around the park, the 5 Mute Swans remain on the boating lake with the resident male patrolling the main lake and his partner in the nature reserve, the Canada Goose Goslings have gone up by just 1, what happened to the rest of it's brood can only be guessed at, a single Collared Dove flew over the main lake, 5 Starlings were feeding around the boating ramp with a further 9 on the playing field, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were on the main lake with a further 6 flying over the sewage works, just 6 Tufted Ducks remain with 4 on the main lake and 2 on the boating lake, 5 Great Crested Grebes are present, a single Pied Wagtail in front of the main lake and a pair along the canal side, small numbers of Swallows were going through with the largest group containing just 5 birds, the Domestic Geese are still holding on to all the 8 youngsters which is unusual, a single Little Ringed Plover was briefly on the grass verge and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling from the canal side, a single Black-headed Gull flew through, a male Bullfinch was in the small wood near Prices Field were the first of just 4 Blackcaps was heard, just a couple of single Swifts flew through, on the top pool a single Reed Warbler was singing as were a couple of Willow Tits, on the gas works a Garden Warbler and 2 Stock Doves while on the sewage works, 2 Willow Warblers, 6 Whitethroats plus one along the canal side of the main lake and the Grasshopper Warbler is still present.

At last I've managed to download some rather terrible photo's from the Egyptian Goose and Snow Goose from the other week, they are really bad as taken through my bins, but it's a record shot at least, also below is one of several huge fish that seemed to be spawning along the edge of the boating lake.

03 May 2011

2011-05-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

A quick overview of what was seen today, I normally do the blog as soon as I get home but fell asleep, later in the afternoon I rushed off to see the Dotterel at Whitmore Hayes, by the time we got back and had my tea its after 10pm and I need to be in bed in order to make Westport for 6am tomorrow!

So, highlights today were, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker near the boating lake, 3 Little Ringed Plovers with one of them again on the playing field, 8 Tufted Duck, just 3 Great Crested Grebes, 2 Buzzards flying over the distant hills, 16 Starlings feeding on the playing field, good numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins went through with 11 Swifts and a few Sand Martins, a single Reed Warbler on the top pool, a Jay from the gas works and a single Stock Dove, 2 Willow Warblers, 5 Whitethroats and a Grasshopper Warbler all on the sewage works.

02 May 2011

2011-05-02T01:15:00.000-07:00

You never know what's round the corner, especially at Westport, you can walk around for 3 or 4 hours in a morning and see nothing and then just before you leave something turns up from out the blue, this has happened a couple of times recently, the Wheatear last week being a classic example and today it happened again, the wind was very strong and from the East but with little to no cloud and no rain I really didn't expect to much, but with all the Bar-Wits going through and Arctic Terns elsewhere you never really no, temp was 10c, visit from 05.50 til 08.45.

As I entered by the bottom gate a quick scan of the playing fields produced 3 Mistle Thrushes, onto the boating lake were 5 Mute Swans were present, 1 adult and 4 1st years, along the far back the Canada Geese were feeding with 9 Goslings as were the Domestic Geese with 8 young, 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were flying around the main lake, a single Pied Wagtail was along the grass verge and another was seen later on the old gas works, 3 Starlings were feeding along the grass verge with a further 10 on the playing field later, 3 Greylag Geese were on the boating ramp with 4 male Tufted Ducks nearby and a single female on the boating lake, 5 Great Crested Grebes on the main lake and 3 Little Ringed Plovers with 2 around the old beach area and 1 on the playing field later, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over the canal side were I had a male Reed Bunting singing from a tree by Ted Heath Rocks, the first 3 Mallard Ducklings I've seen this year were on the boating lake, in the small wood at the back of the boating lake a couple of Blackcaps were singing with just a couple more around the park, the first of 6 Chiffchaffs was singing along the 'Avenue', 2 Collared Doves flew over near the top pool were a single Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler were singing, a couple of Willow Warblers were singing 1 along the edge of the old gas works and old sewage works and the other on the old sewage works, a Bullfinch was heard on the gas works and another on the sewage works, 2 Stock Doves on the old gas works, a Kestrel also flew across here, at least 8 Whitethroats on the sewage works but no sign of yesterdays Grasshopper Warbler, a couple of Black-headed Gulls flew over here.

As we got back to the main lake I just happened to look onto the main lake at what was a Great Crested Grebe, a yellow bird flew across my view and landed near the bottom entrance to the nature reserve, I managed to get Nick onto it and it then flew a bit further up the main lake, there was no mistaking it was a Yellow Wagtail, another Westport life and year tick, it was flushed again by people passing and then landed on the grass verge, we started walking along the canal side of the lake to get better views from the visitor centre, but when we got down there we couldn't relocate it, we met up with Pete Lunt who was photographing Little Ringed Plovers but he hadn't seen it, we walked around the area trying to relocate it but to no avail, a bit of luck had gone our way as it had moved on, also seen at this time a Sparrowhawk flew over, a House Martin went through as did around 10 Swifts and a few Sand Martins, a Buzzard was drifting over the distant hills.

01 May 2011

2011-05-01T03:07:00.000-07:00

I got a unexpected early finish from work today, so early in fact I was out of the doors and on may way to Westport by 07.30, the problem was I had to walk from Chesterton to home, pick the dog up and bins then on to Westport, after a call from Nick telling me the Grasshopper Warbler was showing I picked up the pace and on eventually reaching the old sewage works passed Nick who said it's just been showing, great I thought, further up the path met up with Phil Jones, but as I arrived it stopped singing and there was no sign, great, I'm beginning to think I'm jinxed with this species at Westport, after a while and no joy Phil left and Jeff Jones arrived, still no joy we went further along the path and were about to give up when I heard it reeling, the problem was Jeff couldn't and I was beginning to think I was dreaming it, it went quiet again for a while and we made our way back to were it had been seen previously, almost immediately it started reeling right in front of us, and this time Jeff could hear it, we had a couple of brief views as it flited through the bramble growth and it kept teasing us by reeling right by us, views didn't improve but I didn't care, it's another Westport year tick and Westport lifer out of the way.

Had a quick look around the main lake there were about 10+ Swifts over the top of the main lake and 5 Greylag Geese on the main lake but not much else, earlier in his visit Nick had also seen 3 Little Ringed Plovers and 7 Cormorants.

30 April 2011

2011-04-30T13:53:00.000-07:00

Still stuck at work on early's at the mo, but Nick managed to get me down at teatime after he had seen a Grasshopper Warbler on the sewage works during his morning visit, sadly I had no joy and still this species eludes me at Westport!

28 April 2011

2011-04-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

Just a quick overview of what we saw today, after Westport we rushed off to Horton, Tittesworth, Dane river and finally Hanchurch Wood, when I got home fell asleep til 8pm, so no time to do a full account as some of us are working this Wedding Day Bank holiday.

Starlings increasing with up to 10 feeding on the playing field, just 2 Greylag Geese remain on the boating lake, just 5 Blackcaps heard and seen this morning, 2 Great Crested Grebes were back on the boating lake with another 6 on the main lake, 5 Mute Swans remain on the boating lake with the resident male patrolling the main lake and his partner in the nature reserve, 3 Little Ringed Plovers on the grass bank and verge to the main lake with a couple of Pied Wagtails, just 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls seen going through this morning, 13 Tufted Duck on the main lake and the first Great Spotted Woodpecker I've heard for a while was calling from the wood at the back of the boating lake, just 5 Chiffchaffs this morning, a few Swallows went through but only in small numbers, highlight bird of the day was a single Waxwing flying over quite high trilling, this is the latest ever record for Westport I believe, but will probably be corrected on that, a Sedge Warbler was again singing from the top pool also here a pair of Willow Tits and at last my first Reed Warbler of the year at Westport (year tick number 92), a couple of Willow Warblers were on the old sewage works as were 5 Whitethroats and a Garden Warbler, lastly 2 Stock Doves on the old gas works, oh and as I was leaving a single Black-headed Gull came onto the main lake and Nick and George had a Swift quite low over the main lake, phew, off to bed work in the morning and all weekend, boo hoo!

27 April 2011

2011-04-27T04:35:00.000-07:00

After a late shift at work finishing at 3am I was defiantly not up to a early morning visit to Westport, as usual Nick was around and luckily I did miss too much, present this morning, a Gadwall on the main lake, Sedge Warbler again on the top pool and 4 Little Ringed Plover.

Later in the morning Jeff Jones had a Shelduck fly around the main lake briefly and as well as the Sedge Warbler on the top pool he also had his second Reed Warbler of the year there, one I'm still trying to catch up on.

Below are a series of photo's by Pete Lunt including yesterday's male Wheatear on the playing field and a few other various photo's, thanks Pete. There are a few other photo's as well which I've added to the slideshow at the beginning of the blog.

The Yellow Wagtail photo isn't from this year just in case a few of you regular Westporters are panicking that you've miss one this year!

26 April 2011

2011-04-26T02:45:00.000-07:00

A great morning round Westport, spent 4hrs covering just about every inch of the place with Nick, weather was light cloud to start with a bit of sun, the north east breeze got up a bit bringing heavy cloud which threatened a bit of rain, temp was 14c but felt cooler in the breeze, visit from 05.55 til 09.55.

As I entered the park 4 Starlings were feeding on the playing field, there probably feeding young at the moment as it's the only time we ever have Starling on the ground at Westport, at the side of the path the first of 8 Chiffchaffs was singing and the first of 8 Blackcaps as well, on the boating lake a adult Mute Swan was with a group of 4 1st years, these are probably the ones Nick had yesterday morning but are missing a 5th youngster, the resident male Mute Swan was guarding the main lake with his partner in the nature reserve, a couple of Swallows went through as did further several parties during the visit, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were on the main lake but there was nowhere near as much movement of the species as there was the other day, 3 Greylag Geese remain on the main lake which also held 17 Tufted Duck and 4 Great Crested Grebes, on the grass verge and bank 3 Little Ringed Plover were present and a couple of Pied Wagtails, we made our way around the 'Avenue' were the only addition was a Bullfinch with another on the old sewage works later, in the nature reserve a Treecreeper was present with another on the edge of the main lake, the old gas work held just 1 Stock Dove while on the old sewage works we had 2 Willow Warblers, 9 Whitethroats and a Garden Warbler which was in the same area as the one I'd had a few days earlier, also on here a Jackdaw and Mistle Thrush flew over.
As we had time to spare with Nick still on holiday and myself not due in work til this afternoon we decided to make our way along the nature reserve side of the main lake and down towards the visitor centre, it turned out to be a bit of a good decision, the first young Coots of the year were found along the edge of the lake with 6 in total being busily fed by there parents, over 30+ House Martins were going over the lake with smaller groups of Swallows and a single Grey Heron flew over south, while by the visitor centre and ribbing Pete Lunt about his trip out of the Staffs county to Cheshire Nick picked up a Swift among the House Martin flock, although a Swift was seen at Westport a few days ago by Jeff Jones this was a Westport year tick for us and a good way to end the visit, or so I thought, just as we were about to leave the park ranger came over asking what we'd seen and ever so casually told us he'd had a Wheatear on the playing field earlier and that it was still there, we left the ranger standing as we all rushed off to see if it was still present and as you can see below the male Wheatear was still there, news was put out and with in minutes several Westport regulars were enjoying this rare Westport visitor, plus another Westport lifer and year tick for me!

Male Wheatear by Dave Kelsall (Thanks)

24 April 2011

2011-04-24T01:54:00.001-07:00

A very different day on the weather front, the winds have changed round to the north west and are slightly stronger, with this the temp has dropped to 12c, it was very cloudy with no sign of the sun today, visit from 05.55 til 09.10.

Swallows were going through in small parties today with probably over 20+ going through during the visit, along the canal the regular pair have returned to there breeding area of the old pottery buildings. On the boating lake a couple of Greylag Geese with another 2 on the main lake, a good count of 5 Little Ringed Plover were along the grass verge and grass bank, a few Mistle Thrushes were seen today with singles on the grass verge and canal side and a pair by the top entrance, on the main lake 8 Tufted Duck and 5 Great Crested Grebes, good numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls have gone through all morning, they've all gone from southeast to north west with over 40+ going through during the visit, a single Pied Wagtail was on the grass bank with another later on the old gas works, a single Starling was feeding near Ted Heath Rocks.

As I made my way towards the old sewage works to have another look for the Grasshopper Warbler a guy stopped me to sat a strange goose was on the lake, having a look I picked up what I was sure was a Egyptian Goose on the far side of the lake, I went to make my way around when it flew off heading north, and I was able to identify it as a definite Egyptian Goose, only the 2nd ever record for Westport Lake, I texted a few others including Nick who had only just returned from his hols in Cyprus, unfortunately for him he had just arrived at Westport slightly too late and had missed it, to say he was gutted wasn't the word, you could see it in his face.

We made our way onto the old sewage works, the 1st Chiffchaff of the visit was calling with 9 seen in total during the visit, a couple of Willow Warblers were on here and the 1st of 7 Blackcaps were seen, 7 Whitethroats were around the sewage works area and a single male Bullfinch but again there was no sign of the Grasshopper Warbler, we made our way back to the main lake, a Treecreeper was along the canal side of the main lake, Nick then picked up the Egyptian Goose near the boating ramp, it had returned, to say he was rather pleased was a understatement, I meanwhile was a bit gutted, another year tick on him had gone (only joking mate), I managed a couple of photos but as with yesterdays photos of the Snow Goose I've lost my lead attachment so can't download them at the mo, but hopefully I will have it sorted out soon, the male Mute Swan had just chased off another Swan and now turned it's attention too the Egyptian Goose chasing it off the lake it flew over to the boating lake, did a quick circular route around and then flew off southeast calling as it went. Yesterday I'd had a e-mail from Jeff Jones telling me of a Reed Warbler yesterday on the top pool, as it was a Westport year tick we headed up there too see if it was singing for us, no joy on the Reed Warbler but we did have a nice Sedge Warbler singing form the edge of the reed and trees, also in here was a Reed Bunting, on the old gas works 2 Stock Doves were present and lastly by the main lake just before I left a couple of House Martins went through with the Swallows.

A bit later in the morning and Jeff Jones had a Swift going through which is another year tick for Westport.

Late morning and Pete Lunt had the Sedge Warbler plus Little Ringed Plover and 2 Cormorants.

23 April 2011

2011-04-23T02:10:00.000-07:00

Another similar morning to yesterday weather wise, there was probably slightly more cloud cover but a lighter breeze, still southeasterly, temp was 16c rising to 21c by end of visit which was from 05.55 til 08.50.

As I entered the park again Blackcap and Chiffchaffs were singing, in all 8 Chiffchaffs were seen/heard and 9 Blackcap, although today I didn't go around the 'Avenue/Prices filed area so probably a few more of both species around, on the boating lake there are now 5 Greylag Geese as well as the usual Farmyard Greylag types, the male Mute Swan was on the two main lakes and later chased another Mute Swan off while the female remains in the nature reserve, on the grass verge 2 Little Ringed Plovers were present and 10 Tufted Ducks were on the main lake, just a single Starling on the ground today, I think I've seen more Waxwings at Westport than I have Starlings this year! Still no Great Crested Grebes on the boating lake but 4 are on the main lake, a couple of Mistle Thrushes were flying around probably busy feeding young somewhere, while along the grass bank I heard a unusual call overhead, looking up I noticed a Snow Goose, it flew around the main lake and the the boating lake before landing on here and then went onto the bank were it had a preen and wing stretch before being disturbed by a runner, it made its way along the edge of the lake were I managed a few photo's (to follow), I've no idea were it's come from, obviously not wild but a nice addition to the day anyway, I then made may way straight to the sewage works to try and find the Grasshopper Warbler from the last few days, sadly I couldn't hear anything to give me hope and made do with 7 Whitethroats on here and a couple of Willow Warblers, a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over during the visit with probably around 10 birds going through, on the old gas works a Reed Bunting was calling from the side of Jeff's Pool, back on the main lake a couple of Black-headed Gulls went through, I had another look for the Snow Goose but it had moved on and along the canal a couple of Swallows were present.

Later in the morning Jeff Jones had the first Reed Warbler of the year on the top pool in the nature reserve. This also puts Westport on 100 species seen so far this year so I've got a bit of catching up to do with just 87!

22 April 2011

2011-04-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

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.

18 April 2011

2011-04-18T12:46:00.000-07:00

News from Westport today brought the 1st biggie on the migrant front with a Wood Warbler, found by Neil Brewster, it's the 2nd one in the last two years and with only a handful of previous records a cracking bird to add to your Westport list. It was seen and heard singing from along the canal side trees along the old sewage works and was present for nearly an hour or so. Also present this morning 2 Little Ringed Plovers and the 1st Whitethroat of the year.

17 April 2011

2011-04-17T03:35:00.000-07:00

Weather was much the same as yesterday with plenty of sunshine and a light mist over the lake, as the morning progressed it began too cloud over slightly with a light north/northwesterly breeze, temp was still 9c, visit from 06.10 - 08.55. First bird I heard on entering the park was a singing Chiffchaff, this was the 1st of at least 10 seen during the visit, also the 1st of at least 9 Blackcaps were singing nearby, on the boating lake the male Shoveler and just 1 Great Crested Grebe feeding it's only youngster, on the main lake there were another 6 Great Crested Grebes with 14 Tufted Ducks, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over during the visit with a couple stopping off on the main lake, a single Pied Wagtail was on the grass verge and 2 Cormorants flew over heading east, strange how we always get Cormorants flying over every weekend, where are they during the week? 6 Mistle Thrushes were seen during the visit and 3 Chaffinches around the park, unusually 2 Starlings were feeding on the playing field and later probably the same two flew over the nature reserve, in the nature reserve the 1st of 6 Willow Warblers were singing, a single male Bullfinch was in here with a couple of others seen around the park, the resident pair of Mute Swans were on the top pool although the male came onto the main lake when two 1st year Mute Swans flew in before he quickly chased them off, a single Grey Heron flew south over the nature reserve and probably the same flew back north later when I was on the gas works, at least 4 Willow Tits were seen around the reserve today and a single Jackdaw flew over the old gas works were I also had a single Swallow and single Stock Dove, while on the old sewage works 3 Lapwings flew over heading south west and lastly back on the main lake a single House Martin flew through.

16 April 2011

2011-04-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

The first chance I've had to get down to Westport in the mornings for a few days after a run of late shifts at work, a couple of days previously Nick had seen the first Common Sandpiper of the year but nothing much else of note over the last few days. Weather was cloudless, bright and sunny with quite a heavy dew on the grass and a light mist over the main lake, the air was still with the lake looking like a sheet of glass, temp 9c, visit from 05.55 til 08.50. As I entered the park by the bottom gate a single Swallow was flying around the old canal buildings, this was the only one I saw during the visit and was still there when I left, the 1st of at least 13 Chiffchaffs was singing by the small bottom wood at the back of the boating lake, on the boating lake the male Shoveler was present and 2 Mute Swans although these were soon chased off by the dominant male from the resident pair, the Great Crested Grebes continue to feed a rather fat looking single youngster, another 6 Great Crested Grebes were on the main lake with just 16 Tufted Ducks, but no sign of the immature Goldeneye all visit, 11 Blackcaps were heard and seen with the 1st one along the edge of the boating lake, also the 1st of 4 Bullfinches here all of them were males today, 2 Grey Herons flew over the main lake north and a single Pied Wagtail was on the grass verge, I then heard a wader calling and looking up spotted 2 Oystercatchers flying over the main lake, they attempted to land on the boating lake before flying back off north over the main lake, luckily as I was texting Nick too inform him of them he turned up and had already seen them from along the canal side of the main lake, another Westport year tick out of the way (84), the 1st of 3 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over the main lake all heading north, as we made our way along the main lake we flushed a Common Sandpiper from the waters edge, another Westport year tick for me (85), 2 Willow Tits were heard calling today around the nature reserve, and the highest count of Willow Warblers so far this year with 6 heard singing, just 2 Mistle Thrushes seen today around the top entrance and a single Cormorant flew north over the main lake, as I walked down along the canal side of the lake 12 Sand Martins went through and a single Herring Gull. A Common Morel'its (I think that's right) taken by Phil Jones near the old sewage works.

13 April 2011

2011-04-13T02:21:00.000-07:00

Another cool morning 7c although not quite as bad as yesterday, wind has turned back around to southeasterly and heavy cloud with rain in the air, visit from 06.20 til 08.15.

On the boating lake the pair of Great Crested Grebes have lost there smallest young leaving just one rather fat youngster to feed, another 5 Great Crested Grebes were on the main lake, back to the boating lake and 2 Mute Swans and the male Shoveler were also present, the 1st of 8 Chiffchaffs could be heard singing, along the grass verge 2 Little Ringed Plovers were flushed by a dog walker and on the main lake just 19 Tufted Duck and single Goldeneye was seen, in all 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls went through and 12 Black-headed Gulls in groups of 3's, 4's and 5's, a single Pied Wagtail was on the grass bank and a single flew over the old gas works, 9 Blackcaps were seen around the park with just one being a female, in the nature reserve the pair of Teal were at the top end of the 2nd pool and a single Willow Tit was calling near here as was a Treecreeper, just 3 Willow Warblers were heard singing this morning, bad news from the top pool were the pair of resident Mute Swans have been nesting there had been 3 eggs in the nest but this morning they have all gone, not sure if by human hand or possibly the likes of a Mink but sad news all the same, on the old gas works 4 Swallows flew over with another 15 on the main lake later with around 20 Sand Martins, at least 3 Stock Doves were on the old gas works and a Grey Heron on the small pool here, a female Pheasant was again on the old sewage works and just as you exit here back onto the park a single Great Spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush, back down by the visitor centre a couple of Starlings were feeding, it's only from now for a month or two that you actually get Starlings on the ground at Westport, also the 2 Greylag Geese had returned to the main lake.

12 April 2011

2011-04-12T01:17:00.000-07:00

It's been a very quiet spell at Westport for the last week or so, luckily for me I've missed most of it due to work commitments, although I was down yesterday I didn't bother with the blog due to a busy day and also the lack of much of note, it's a bit depressing finding nothing going on at Westport while in other parts of the City birds like, Black Redstart, Ring Ouzel, Wheatear, Sedge Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler and many others are being found, what I'd give just too have a couple of those these last few days.

Anyway today was a big change in the weather with a drop in temp to 6c from 12 yesterday, the wind has swung around to the north west and the cloud was threatening rain at times, visit from 06.15 til 08.15.

On the boating lake 2 Mute Swans were new in, Nick had found them yesterday on a brief afternoon visit, the male Shoveler was also on here and the pair of Great Crested Grebes continue to feed a couple of young, 2 Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank and a single Little Ringed Plover on the grass verge, yesterday Nick had a impressive count of 16 Great Crested Grebes on his afternoon visit, up from 11 in the morning visit, this morning just 4 were on the main lake with just 19 Tufted Duck, the resident pair of Mute Swans and the single immature male Goldeneye remains, a decent count of 11 Chiffchaffs around the park today with most being on the old sewage works and a few along the 'Avenue', a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were on the main lake and later while on the old gas works another went over with 3 Black-headed Gulls which are now well down in numbers with the odd one or two being seen, 3 Swallows and a single Sand Martin were on the main lake early doors but by the end of the visit both these had jumped up in numbers with at least 20 Sand Martins going through and a dozen or so Swallows, Blackcaps numbered 9 around the park with again at least 4 along the 'Avenue' and bottom wood near boating lake, a couple of single Willow Tit's were in the nature reserve area and a Treecreeper was calling in here, just 3 Willow Warblers were heard singing this morning, a single Stock Dove was in the usual place on the old gas works and the female Pheasant was flushed by the dog on the old sewage works, yesterday 2 Greylag Geese were on the main lake and with no sign early on I thought they had gone but just as I was leaving they flew into the boating lake and as I left the bottom entrance a couple of Collared Doves flew over.

07 April 2011

2011-04-07T01:24:00.000-07:00

Very overcast with a slight drizzle later on, temp 12c with a light southwesterly breeze, visit from 06.20 til 08.50. By the bottom entrance the 1st of 8 Chiffchaffs seen around the park was singing, on the boating lake the Great Crested Grebes continue to feed at least 1 or 2 young with another 4 Great Crested Grebes on the main lake, the male Shoveler was on the boating lake, on the main lake, 30 Tufted Duck, 1 Goldeneye, the female Mute Swan with the male on the nature reserve, a single Black-headed Gull and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull with another 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls going through later, a Sparrowhawk flew low over the grass bank and a Greylag Goose flew over the main lake, in the nature reserve a single Jay was calling, the 1st of 5 Willow Warblers was singing and 2 pairs of Blackcaps were by the top pool with another 5 around the park, on the gas works 2 Stock Doves was as good as it got, on the sewage works at least 4 Lesser Redpolls are still present a single Mistle Thrush with another 3 around other areas, back on the main lake it had gone noticeably darker and 40 Sand Martins were flying over the main lake over the next hour I managed to count at least 80+ Sand Martins plus 2 Swallows and a single House Martin, a pair of Chaffinches were by the visitor centre, 2 Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank and a single Meadow Pipit flew over here, I had a look along the 'Avenue' and had Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and a single Collared Dove. Yesterday Phil Jones had a large Red-eared Terrapin on the boating lake, this is the 1st time I've heard of them in here only previously seen them on the bottom pool in the nature reserve.

05 April 2011

2011-04-05T13:30:00.001-07:00

While some of us were hard at work til midnight last night and then up at 07.00 for a promation interview at work, other's ie Nick Smith got the early start at Westport and didn't it just pay off for him with the 1st Osprey of the year going through at 06.40 being mobbed by Crows, also present a male Pheasant nothing special to most but at Westport, it's the 1st male since one briefly this time last year and with the female still hanging around who knows what will happen. Later in the morning Pete Lunt had the following, 44 Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, pair of Teal in the nature reserve, Swallows, 3 House Martins, Sand Martins, Blackcap, 3 Chiffchaff, male Goosander, Buzzard, 2 Willow Tit, the Great Crested Grebes were feeding one chick on the boating lake, 2 Bullfinches and a Reed Bunting.

04 April 2011

2011-04-04T00:44:00.000-07:00

Slightly colder morning at 6c, much brighter with only slight cloud coverage, light southwest breeze, visit from 06.20 - 07.45. Much quieter this morning after yesterday but also a much shorter visit, the Great Crested Grebes continue to feed a unknown number of young on the boating lake with another 6 Great Crested Grebes on the main lake, a single Little Ringed Plover was on what remains of the old beach area, back on the main lake, 30 Tufted Duck, 1 Goldeneye and the male Shoveler but no sign of the single Pochard this morning, at least 9 Chiffchaffs around the park with the largest numbers on the sewage works, a couple of Willow Warblers were singing with 1 by the sidings and 1 near the top entrance to the park, the pair of Teal were flushed from the brook by the 1st gate, a single Blackcap was further along and a pair were on the sewage works, just 1 Mute Swan on the main lake with it's partner probably around the top pool area, a Sparrowhawk flew low over the gas works twice and a Rook here was the first since January, 2 Stock Doves were on the railway gantries, a couple of Bullfinches flew over and lastly back on the main lake 7 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls went through.

Later in the morning Pete Lunt had the following, Swallows, Sand Martins, House Martin, Blackcap, 5x Chiffchaff, Sparrowhawk and Goldeneye.

03 April 2011

2011-04-03T03:45:00.000-07:00

Felt quite cold this morning despite the temp showing 7c, wind was light south, cloudy with sunny intervals, visit from 06.30 - 10.00. The pair of Mistle Thrushes remain by the bottom entrance with another pair on the sewage works and another pair near the top entrance to the park, on the boating lake the pair of Great Crested Grebe continue to feed 1 or more young, another 4 Grebes are on the main lake with 25 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard and 1 Goldeneye, while I was on the grass bank I heard Waxwings flying over and looked up to see 28 flying over high heading north east, later on Nick and myself had another 15 Waxwings heading west/northwest, this time flying much lower, back on the main lake 2 Mute Swans and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a single Cormorant flew over north and later while on the sewage works another 2 flew over heading south, a couple of Collared Doves flew over quite high, in all 9 Chiffchaffs and 9 Blackcaps were seen around various parts of the park, in the nature reserve a single Willow Tit was singing, the pair of Teal were flushed from the top of the 2nd pool and a Jay flew over the top pool were a Reed Bunting was feeding in a tall tree by the reed bed, on the gas works a group of 8 Sand Martins went over with a single House Martin, in all over 30+ Sand Martins went through during the visit with another 2 House Martins and a single Swallow, back to the gas works 3 Stock Doves and a Redpoll were flying around, on the gas works a Sparrowhawk, Pheasant and Bullfinch plus 6 Jackdaws flying over, as we came out of the sewage works by the top park entrance 3 Bramblings were calling from the top of the tall trees briefly before flying off, the 1st of 3 Willow Warblers was heard near here and a Buzzard flew low south over the main lake. While at Westport Nick received a phone call from Jeff Jones saying a Cuckoo was calling from the top of the gas works we rushed over to meet up with him but sadly it wasn't heard again. Received a call from Phil Jones this afternoon telling me a Redshank was along the spit off the boating lake, I jumped on my bike with no bins and my slippers on!! Met up with Phil exhausted but happy as he pointed the Redshank out too me, a nice finish to the day with 4 Westport year ticks and 1 Westport life tick, cheers Phil. The photo below was taken with my cameraphone using Phil's bins, not the best but at least it's a record shot.

29 March 2011

2011-03-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Jeff Jones had a adult Yellow Legged Gull sat on the main lake for 5 minutes at 09.35 today.

28 March 2011

2011-03-28T04:15:00.000-07:00

News this morning firstly comes from Nick Smith with just a Little Ringed Plover on the grass verge although it was very foggy so viewing conditions were difficult. Later mid morning from Jeff Jones, singing Blackcap and Reed Bunting and the Green Woodpecker was heard near the bottom pool. I'm back in Stoke later today although with no Internet allowance until April will only update if a good bird or two are found at Westport or I'm able to get to the library to update from there.

27 March 2011

2011-03-27T06:23:00.000-07:00

Today's update comes from Nick Smith as I'm still 'up north', 40 Sand Martins through and a single Swallow, also 2 female Goosanders and 6 Mute Swans dropped in before being chased off by the resident pair.

26 March 2011

2011-03-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

The following is a update of the last three days at Westport, unfortunately I'm currently offline and as I've come up to St Helens visiting family I thought I would take this opportunity to update the blog, as you we see it's been a rather good 3 days!

24/03/2011

Temp 5c, misty over water, bright sunny skies, no cloud or wind.

A female Goosander on the canal by the bottom entrance was unusual, a pair were also on the main lake and another female on the boating lake, 3 Cormorants also flew over near the bottom entrance, 2 Mistle Thrushes just before the boating lake with another 1 near the top pool and another 2 near the top entrance, male Shoveler on the boating lake, 24 Tufted Duck on the main lake also 2 Mute Swans, 1 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and 6 Great Crested Grebes with the usual pair also on the boating lake, a pair of Linnets were feeding by the side of the visitor centre (Westport year tick 74) and a Meadow Pipit flew over here, a Little Ringed Plover landed briefly on the grass verge before flying off north, flushed the pair of Teal near the 1st gate too the nature reserve, a male Reed Bunting was calling from the reed bed on the top pool and a Chiffchaff was singing near here with another 2 singing on the sewage works, 2 Chaffinches near the top entrance plus another pair by the canal side of the main lake and a pair by the sidings, a Collared Dove was near the sewage works and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls went over here with another 16 flying south over the main lake later and 2 on the main lake, 2 Willow Tits were along the ‘Avenue’ and a single Bullfinch.

25/03/2011

Weather very similar to yesterday with the temp slightly up at 7c, also a bit of cloud after 2 days of clear skies, again no wind of note.

Again as I entered the park a female Goosander was on the canal and 2 Mistle Thrushes just after the entrance with another 2 near the top entrance later, a couple of Pied Wagtails also flew over the bottom entrance, on the boating lake 2 Great Crested Grebes with another 6 on the main lake which also held 27 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flying in followed by another 3 later on, highlight of the day and a Westport life tick (112 life & 75 year) was a flock of 20 Waxwings flying towards us calling over the boating lake and then heading west towards Bradwell, in the nature reserve a Treecreeper was by the bend at the bottom end with a Coal Tit calling a bit further up and we flushed the pair of Teal from the 2nd pool, by the top pool a single Willow Tit and the 1st of 4 Chiffchaffs that were seen the rest being around the sewage works, a male Reed Bunting was calling from the reed bed and the pair of Mute Swans have moved into here for the start of there breeding, the male Shoveler was at the top of the main lake and a Jackdaw flew over the sewage works, back on the main lake a single Sand Martin was flying around, a Sparrowhawk was flying over Bradwell Wood and a Grey Heron flew over the main lake.

26/03/2011

A very cloudy morning with a slight mist as well, temp was 7c but felt colder with a slight south easterly breeze which built up over the visit, visit from 06.10 - 08.50.

By the bottom entrance the pair Mistle Thrushes were nest building, another was seen near the top entrance and another near the visitor centre, 2 Pied Wagtails flew over and another on the grass bank, on the boating lake 2 Great Crested Grebes and another 5 on the main lake, a Grey Heron flew off the main lake, also on here 21 Tufted Ducks, 6 Lesser Black-backed Gulls went over, 1 Pochard & 1 Goldeneye, by the visitor centre the pair of Linnets were still present and 4 Jackdaws flew over, the male Shoveler flew into the main lake and later the boating lake, 2 separate Meadow Pipits flew over the main lake, the Green Woodpecker could be heard calling distantly, 3 Sand Martin came in over the main lake and were present for the entire visit eventually increasing to 8, Chiffchaffs increased to 8 all around the park area, 5 Chaffinches were present, a single Willow Tit was calling from the nature reserve and the pair of Teal were at the top of the 2nd pool, the pair of Mute Swans were on the top pool, a Kestrel (Westport year tick 76) flew over the gas works to the sewage works and a single Stock Dove flew up the railway, 2 Lesser Redpolls (Westport year tick 77) flew over the sewage works calling followed by 11 Waxwings heading northwest, a Collared Doves was along the canal and a male Blackcap (Westport year tick 78) was singing briefly from the trees between the sewage works entrance and main lake, back down by the grass verge and 2 Little Ringed Plovers flew in for a few minutes before heading off north, a Little Grebe flew into the main lake and a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over.

Not long after I'd left Westport, Phil Jones had a Swallow go through, this is the 1st of the year for Westport, also of note today was the complete lack of Goosanders for the 1st time in ages.

22 March 2011

2011-03-22T01:45:00.000-07:00

A cool bright sunny morning with slight cloud cover, very slight southerly breeze, temp 6c, visit from 06.20 til 08.10.

A very quiet morning around Westport with just a couple of decent birds to make it worth while, as I came into the bottom entrance a male Goosander flew over towards the main lake, there was also a female on there and another on the boating lake, also on the boating lake 2 male Tufted Ducks and the 2 Great Crested Grebes, with another 4 on the main lake, just 19 Tufted Duck remain on the main lake with 2 Mute Swans, 1 Pochard and the male Shoveler, along the grass bank a couple of Mistle Thrushes with another near the top entrance to the park, a single Meadow Pipit flew over calling and 2 Pied Wagtails flew low over, 3 Chiffchaffs were heard singing this morning, 1 near the bottom of the nature reserve, 1 on the sewage works and 1 along the 'Avenue', we flushed the usual pair of Teal from the small brook by the 1st gate, a pair of Bullfinches were by the top pool and a Jay flew across the gas works, on the sewage works and the female Pheasant which has been missing for a while was back in it's usual place, I think the last time I saw it was mid January! Back on the main lake and the long awaited arrival of the first Sand Martin, it flew around for a few minutes around the top edge before flying off, another Westport year tick, also on here the immature male Goldeneye and 4 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew in.

Mid morning, Dave Kelsall recorded the following, Little Ringed Plover, Curlew, Raven, Peregrine, Skylark all flying over, also present Grey Wagtail and 2 Sand Martin.

The Westport year list currently stands on 87 with my personal list on 73.

21 March 2011

2011-03-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

Nick Smith started off with a good morning, flushing a Woodcock from the ridge on the sewage works, another Westport year tick, also present 3 Goosanders.

Later Pete Lunt was down mid morning and recorded, a pair of Goosander, Shoveler, Goldeneye, Pochard, 10 Great Crested Grebes and a skein of Geese flying north, I was in Hanley at the time and had a small skein of Geese flying over but was unable to say what species.

Later in the late afternoon I nipped down to Westport for a quick walk around the main lake, hoping to see Sand Martin, I called into the top pool area of the nature reserve and could hear a Nuthatch calling away after a few minutes I managed to locate it in the top of the tall trees in between the top pool and railway, also here at least 2 Chiffchaffs were singing and a female Reed Bunting was in the reed bed, I could also hear a Green Woodpecker 'laughing' from the gas/sewage works area, back on the main lake nothing new too what has already been mentioned by Pete Lunt.

Nuthatch is another Westport year tick for me, putting me on 73 for the year, and Nick's Woodcock puts the total for everyone at 85 for the year.

20 March 2011

2011-03-20T03:10:00.000-07:00

Cloudy start with very light rain but cloud coverage was very high and started too burn off as the sun came through, wind was alight southerly breeze and temp was 8c, visit from 06.20 - 09.10.

On the boating lake a single female Goosander and a male flew into the main lake later on, the usual pair of Great Crested Grebes were on the boating lake but the main lake has shot up to 9 birds from just 3 all last week, also on the main lake 34 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard and a nice surprise was 2 Shelducks in the middle of the lake, they went onto the stone bank just by the bottom entrance to the nature reserve before being flushed by a walker and going back too the centre of the main lake were they stayed until flying of high south at 07.15, I looked along the grass verge for any Little Ringed Plover but could only see 2 Pied Wagtails as I walked down the grass bank to the lake edge I flushed a Little Ringed Plover which immediately flew off high north, this was turning into a good morning with two Westport year tick already and the 1st Little Ringed Plover of the year, 2 days later than last year. A Sparrowhawk was circling over the new housing estate and 3 Willow Tits were by the entrance to the nature reserve, with a single by the boardwalk bridge.
Along the small brook by the 1st gate to the nature reserve I flushed a pair of Teal and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming on trees by the railway line with another near the top pool, in all 4 Chiffchaffs were around the park today, mostly in various parts of the nature reserve and one on the sewage works, a Goldcrest was a nice find at the top pool and another later by the 1st gate was a bonus, 3 Bullfinches were on the top pool and a single Jay, good numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls were going through again this morning only this time they were all heading south, at least 20+ went through, back on the main lake the immature male Goldeneye is still present and a couple of 'large' Greylag Geese flew in, a pair of Mistle Thrushes were along the top of the main lake and 3 Chaffinches along the reserve side, a Grey Heron flew over, the first I've seen at Westport for ages and a Cormorant flew over north while on the gas works, also here, 2 Jackdaws, a Siskin was calling over and 5 Stock Doves along the railway line, the highest count for a while, lastly near the visitor centre, the male Shoveler flew in. All in all a good day around Westport.

My current Westport year list stands at 72.

18 March 2011

2011-03-18T06:44:00.000-07:00

Was down nice an early this morning at 06.25 and stayed for 3hrs til 09.25, it was another misty start and quite cold with a light ground frost, temp was 4c, although the forecast was for southeasterly winds there was a very light northeasterly blowing.

As I left the house I heard a Siskin flying over as a looked up a massive flock of birds were flying over, looking through my bins I noticed they were Thrushes. probably Fieldfare and Redwing and there was well over a thousand birds in the flock.

First bird I saw was a Lesser Black-backed Gull flying around the car park, there seemed to be some movement going on this morning with well over 20+ flying over north, plus 2 adults on the main lake. On the boating lake the usual pair of Great Crested Grebe plus another 5 on the main lake, I could hear a Chiffchaff calling in the distance and during the visit there were at least 3 birds involved with all coming from the nature reserve, a Jackdaw flew over the grass bank and another 4 flew over later, on the main lake 39 Tufted Duck, 1 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye, 2 Mute Swans, a male Goosander flew into the boating lake and later while on the gas works 2 females flew over heading north and with 2 male and a female on the main lake later there was probably 4/5 birds involved, during the visit 8 Meadow Pipits flew over all heading north, two groups of 3 flew over followed by 2 single birds, a Common Gull came into the boating lake and probably the same bird was later on the main lake, a couple of Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank and several were flying over all heading north over the course of the visit.
In the nature reserve a pair of Teal were flushed from the top of the middle pool and the male Shoveler was also on here, by the top pool a female Reed Bunting was in the reed bed which was a Westport year tick for me, by the top of the main lake a pair of Mistle Thrushes in the top left corner and a pair in the top right corner, now earlier in the morning I was 99% certain I had seen a Little Grebe through the mist at the top of the main lake and a bit later Nick received a text from Richard Sutton confirming he had also seen a Little Grebe, another Westport year tick and although I spent lots of time looking for it I never saw the Grebe again, a single Bullfinch was on the sewage works a couple of Chaffinches around the main lake, on the gas works a single Jay was the 1st one I had seen for a good while and later I also heard probably the same one on the sewage works, a couple of Stock Doves were on the gas works and a Collared Dove flew over the sewage works, as I walked down the canal side of the main lake a Siskin flew over calling, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers flew over the visitor centre and 2 Treecreepers were in the small wood at the side of the car park.

17 March 2011

2011-03-17T03:44:00.000-07:00

Sadly no sign of yesterdays Caspian Gull first thing this morning but Nick had a pair of Gadwall which were new in.

I was down at Westport from 08.00 - 10.30, misty at first but brightening up later with a good amount of sunshine. temp 8c and very little wind of note.

Very quiet on the boating lake with just the pair of Great Crested Grebe and a couple of Jackdaws flew over, on the main lake, the usual pair of Mute Swans were later joined by the adult and immature which come and go, the pair of Gadwall were still present which was good news for me as it was a Westport year tick, 4 Pochard were an increase on yesterday and 38 Tufted Duck were present, a single female Goosander flew in as did a female Shoveler to join our resident male, by the entrance to the nature reserve a single Willow Tit just by the 1st gate, a Chiffchaff was singing by the boardwalk bridge and another between the top of the main lake and the sewage works, by the top pool a single Treecreeper and a single Mistle Thrush, lastly on the gas works 3 Stock Doves.

I've also heard news today that the wardens are leaving Westport Lake and that the area is to be changed from a Nature Reserve to a Municipal Park, what this means for the future of Westport I'm not sure but I think budget funding will be reduced.

Scarlet Elf Cap

16 March 2011

2011-03-16T01:03:00.001-07:00

Another good morning around Westport for Nick Smith first thing this morning with another Redshank flying around, it was desperate too land and tried too land near the jetty but like most waders these days it eventally gave up and continued it's journey, after no records since 2006 two within a week is amazing, also at Westport this morning, 2 Chiffchaff, 1 Reed Bunting and a single Goosander.

Sadly for me due too Achilles Tendonitis and Plantar Fascitis (yes its a word), I'm under doctors orders to keep off my feet as much as possible over the next 2 weeks, so thought it best not too rush off to Westport today, tomorrow though, I might just sneak down for a little walk!

Another Westport tick past me by this morning when Dave Kelsall had a 1st winter Caspian Gull at 10.15.

15 March 2011

2011-03-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

First news of the day came from Nick Smith with his early visit, he managed the first migrants of the year with 2 Chiffchaffs. 1 by the 1st gate to the nature reserve and one along the top shore of the main lake, also present 6 Shoveler, 1 Wigeon and 2 Goosanders.

I made may way down to Westport at 09.00 til 11.00, it was quite misty with a light southeasterly breeze, temp was a pleasant 9c.

By the bottom entrance a couple of Bullfinches flew over, on the car park a couple of unringed Mute Swans were enjoying a good feed on the bread on offer, on the boating lake 3 female Goosanders, the pair of Great Crested Grebes and 2 male Tufted Ducks, on the main lake, 3 Great Crested Grebes, 35 Tufted Ducks, 1 Pochard, 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls and the immature male Goldeneye, I made my way to the 1st gate of the nature reserve but couldn't hear any Chiffchaffs, a male Chaffinch was calling and as I was watching it a Chiffchaff came into view flitting through the tree top, at last my first migrant of the year and of course a Westport year tick, by the boardwalk bridge and 4 Siskins flew over plus a Jackdaw could be heard but I couldn't locate it in the misty weather. By the top pool among a small Tit flock a single Willow Tit, Coal Tit and Bullfinch and just down by the 2nd bridge into the nature reserve by the main lake another Chiffchaff, this time singing away, on the gas works another group of this time 10 Siskins flew over and 3 Stock Doves were present plus 2 Bullfinches flew over, also a single Pied Wagtail flew over the sewage works were another pair of Bullfinches were present, along the canal side of the main lake the pair of Mistle Thrushes were present.

The picture below of a male Siskin was taken by one of our Westport regulars who wants to keep his name out of the bright lights of this blog!!

14 March 2011

2011-03-14T04:44:00.000-07:00

Lovely sunny day although the temp was low at 5c after a light overnight frost, no wind of note, visit from 08.30 - 10.15.

Still no luck on the migrant front but hopefully it just a matter of time and the next few days will produce the goods, just a few Goosanders remain with 3 present on the boating lake while I was there, a few minutes earlier and Pete Lunt had seen 5, the usual pair of Great Crested Grebes were present on here and another 3 on the main lake, the male Shoveler was also on the boating lake, on the main lake, the pair of Mute Swans, 39 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and a adult Common Gull, 3 Lapwings flew over the top end of the lake, these are a Westport year tick for me, a Collared Dove also flew across the lake and during the visit 6 Jackdaws flew over at various times, by the nature reserve a couple of Bullfinches and 2 pairs of Willow Tits, on the gas works just 2 Stock Doves were flying around and 3 Chaffinches flew over the sewage works, along the canal side of the main lake the pair of Mistle Thrushes remain, before leaving I took a walk along the 'Avenue' for my last chance of a migrant, pick of the area was 2 Redwing, 2 Coal Tit and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

13 March 2011

2011-03-13T00:38:00.000-08:00

A very very wet morning, it rained non stop for the whole visit, most heavy with the odd light spell, wind was mild and from the northwest and temp was 5c, visit from 06.40 - 08.15.

It was just raining to heavily to write down what I saw and how many so most of this is off memory, there were no Goosanders on the boating lake first thing, just the pair of Great Crested Grebes and a pair of Tufted Duck, on the main lake, another 30 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 2 Shoveler, 1 Goldeneye, 2 Mute Swans and 3 Great Crested Grebe, I met up with Nick and braving the rain we headed around the nature reserve, very little on here with a Willow Tit and a couple of Bullfinches being the highlights, we saw nothing of note on the gas works and a single Redwing was the best on the sewage works, back on the main lake and a single male Goosander had flown in so we walked back down to the boating lake to find another 3 female Goosanders on here, I left Nick and headed for home soaking wet and Nick started to make his long walk back to his car at the top entrance, his extra time at Westport paid off when he picked up a Redshank flying around calling for a few minutes before it headed off north, another Westport tick I've missed and the first Redshank at Westport for well over a year, with non recorded at all last year.

12 March 2011

2011-03-12T13:16:00.000-08:00

With a light southerly breeze and overnight rain i was hoping for a migrant or two today but it wasn't to be, hopefully tomorrow, temp was a pleasant 8c.

It was a very quiet morning around Westport, Goosanders numbered just 8 on the boating lake with 4 flying off early, 4 Jackdaws flew over in a couple of small groups, on the main lake, 38 Tufted Duck, 3 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and 3 Great Crested Grebe with the usual other 2 on the boating lake, a pair of Teal were flushed from the stream by the 1st gate and later were seen flying back down that way from Jeff's Pool on the old gas works, a single Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker were in the trees along the railway line, on the gas works 3 Stock Doves and 4 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew over the sewage works, 2 Mistle Thrushes were by the top entrance, back on the main lake a single adult Common Gull and Shoveler were additions.

11 March 2011

2011-03-11T14:55:00.000-08:00

Frosty start to the morning with bright sunshine, no wind of note, temp 4c, visit from 06.30 - 08.30.

Goosander numbers have been dropping rapidly over the week and this morning only 7 were present with 6 on the boating lake and a lone male on the main lake, the 2 Great Crested Grebes remain on the boating lake with another 3 0n the main lake, 4 Pied Wagtails on the grass bank looked like passage birds, on the main lake, the usual pair of Mute Swans, 41 Tufted Duck, just 3 Pochard, 1 Goldeneye and our resident Shoveler flew across to the boating lake, while walking through the nature reserve a single Jackdaw flew over calling as did a single Mistle Thrush, another Mistle Thrush was on the gas works and one by the top entrance, a single Willow Tit was by the boardwalk bridge with 4 by the top pool and 2 on the gas works, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker was along the reserve side of the main lake, on the gas works 2 Stock Doves and 3 Collared Doves, back by the main lake and a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew through north, a quick walk along the 'Avenue' for early Warblers was fruitless but I did pick up 3 Redwings.

7 March 2011

2011-03-07T05:35:00.000-08:00

As there was no work to do I got an early finish and went straight down to Westport, although it was only 2c it actually didn't feel too cold, wind was from the south/east and light, visit from 06.40 - 08.30.

Nowhere near as many Goosanders today with just 46 seen in total, as usual most were on the boating lake with a handful on the main lake, 15 Jackdaws flew over heading north while around the boating lake, also on here the usual pairs of Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans and Tufted Duck, towards the end of my visit I also saw 'Sammy' on here after he's been missing for a few days. The Green Woodpecker was again calling from Price's Field area, on the main lake, 10 Pochard, 43 Tufted Duck, the usual single immature male Goldeneye and just 3 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Siskins flew over while along here and a couple of Pied Wagtails were on the grass verge, the nature reserve was very quiet as usual with singles of Great Spotted Woodpecker, Treecreeper and Willow Tit, while by the top pool a Grey Wagtail flew over calling, amazingly this is a Westport year tick for me this year, lastly back on the main lake and a couple of adult Common Gulls and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull had come in.

5 March 2011

2011-03-05T03:51:00.001-08:00

Felt a bit cold first thing with a temp of 4c, very little wind of note, heavy cloud coverage, visit from 06.45 - 08.40.

As I came into the park the Green Woodpecker could be heard calling from Price's field area and a bit later along the nature reserve, I went straight to the boating lake to count the Goosanders and managed 55, but they were flying in all the time and by the time I was joined by Nick and George we were up to 75, 5 short of the record set earlier in the week by Dave Kelsall, also on the boating lake were 3 Great Crested Grebe, on the main lake, another 3 Great Crested Grebes, a adult Herring Gull, 37 Tufted Duck, 9 Pochard, and the imm male Goldeneye,the usual pair of Mute Swans were joined by another pair which were quickly chased off onto the boating lake, while on the grass verge, 2 Mistle Thrushes flew over also a couple of Jackdaws and a single Pied Wagtail, walking through to the nature reserve a Sparrowhawk flew over the main lake, the nature reserve was very quiet as was the gas works with just 3 Siskins flying over, just as we came back on to the main lake from the sewage works a Treecreeper was making it's way up a nearby tree, at last a Westport year tick I've been trying to catch up on was out the way.
Most of the Goosanders were now on the main lake and we counted 71, so we made our way back to the boating lake to see how many were on here, Dave Kellsall was already there and between us we managed to get 14 on here giving us a new record of 85 Goosander at Westport!!

I have received a few more photo's from Steve Seal, shown below.

3 March 2011

2011-03-03T02:15:00.001-08:00

Much colder this morning with a ground frost, cloudy with sunny intervals, no wind hence the main lake was like a millpond, temp 1c, visit from 06.50 - 09.15.

Not as many Goosanders on the boating lake first thing with a count of 58, but by the end of the visit there was 75 on the main lake including just 3 on the boating lake. Also on the boating lake again like yesterday a pair of Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans and Tufted Ducks, on the main lake another 35 Tufted Duck, singles of Shoveler and Goldeneye and 5 Pochard, a couple of Siskin were near the sidings area as I walked towards the nature reserve, a single Willow Tit was by the first gate and a pair of Teal were flushed from the small stream by the gate onto the bottom pool, at least 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were drumming in the same place as yesterday and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over, by the top pool another Willow Tit and a single Bullfinch, onto the gas works and the usual 2 Stock Doves were on the railway gantry, another Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over towards Bradwell Wood and a pair of Bullfinches were flying around, on the gas works a single Jackdaw flew over calling, as it was frosty I decided to walk along the brook to see if any Snipe were present, no luck with the Snipe but had my first Kingfisher of the year at Westport, also on the gas works a single Chaffinch, 2 more Bullfinch and 2 Mistle Thrushes, along the canal side of the main lake 2 Collared Doves, a single Common Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull again with the small Black-headed Gull flock and 2 Pied Wagtails by the visitor centre.

2 March 2011

2011-03-02T01:22:00.000-08:00

Visit from 06.50 til 08.45, temp slightly up on yesterday at 5c, much cloudier with a slight breeze.

First stop was the boating lake to count the Goosanders, between Nick and myself we managed 68 and with three on the main lake this gave us a record total of 71 birds, other birds on here included the usual pair of Great Crested Grebes and a pair of Tufted Duck, a couple of Siskin flew over calling and a single Starling flew over, my first at Westport this year, on the main lake another 29 Tufted Ducks, 4 Pochard were later joined by another and a single Lesser Black-backed Gull with another 6 seen flying south over the gas works, as we walked towards the nature reserve a couple of Buzzards were seen high over towards Bradwell Wood, the nature reserve was rather quiet with Song Thrush and a couple of drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers being the highlights, on the gas works a couple of Stock Doves and Nick had a distant Sparrowhawk, onto the sewage works and nothing much here except for a single Jay and a pair of Bullfinches.

Back at the main lake and most of the Goosanders had now moved to the main lake with 68 present, 3 Mistle Thrushes were along the canal side of the main lake, a single Common Gull was in a small flock of Black-headed Gulls a couple of Chaffinches in the trees near the visitor centre and 'Sammy' was feeding around the old beach area, I met up with Pete Lunt who had also had another 5 Goosander still on the boating lake as well as the 68 on the main lake, a quick check confirmed this and hence another record count of Goosander at Westport with 73 present this morning, lastly as I left Westport a Redwing flew over and landed in the trees at the side of the canal.

Latter this morning Dave Kelsall smashed the goosander record with 80 on the main lake

Below are some of the many photo's I've been sent by Steve Seal and Pete Lunt while my computer has been off line, these will also be found on the slide show at the beginning of the blog.

Sammy Returns by Steve Seal

Pheasant by Pete Lunt

Kittiwakes by Pete Lunt

Male Goosander by Steve Seal

Pair Goldeneye by Steve Seal

Pheasant by Pete Lunt

Common Gull by Steve Seal

Avocet by Pete Lunt from last year

Goosanders by Steve Seal

1 March 2011

2011-03-01T00:08:00.000-08:00

Nice dry morning with a bit of sunshine, temp was 4c but didn't feel that low, visit from 07.00 - 08.00.

Good count of 70 Goosander on the boating lake first thing was the highlight of the morning, also the usual 2 Great Crested Grebes and a single Tufted Duck on the main lake a single Pochard, Shoveler and Lesser Black-backed Gull and around 20 Tufted Duck and 4 Great Crested Grebes, not very much in the nature reserve but a few Siskin were flying around, on the gas works 2 Stock Doves and a Mistle Thrush flew over the old sewage works, also on here a Coal Tit and a couple of Collared Doves.

Nick Smith also had the Green Woodpecker calling from Prices field area.

To follow later catch up on previous weeks after getting the Internet back on line and photo's from Steve Seal.

16 February 2011

2011-02-16T14:10:00.000-08:00

From Nick Smith and Steve Seal today a massive count of 47 Goosanders plus 3 Goldeneye which included a full male.