First in a While

Well, since I'd not been out for over a month I decided to make a good morning of it and visit most of the park - weather permitting. However, the weather wasn't very permitting, and it rained most of the morning, making life difficult for my optics and my not-so-waterproof left walking boot!

At dawn, there was little to see or hear on the Pit Tip Top. No Skylark, no Meadow Pipit, just a lowly Lesser Black-backed Gull flying over. Even the very common stuff was eluding me - except a load of Woodpigeon - but it's hard not to see one of those. Dawson's Corner was scarcely better. I could hear a couple of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff calling, but never saw them.

The Reedbed was bare, except for a Wren on the Boardwalk and another Willow Warbler calling nearby. The two remaining juvenile Mute Swan were together on the lake, and a single Cormarant briefly flew around the south end. Duck-wise there were far more Mallard than are usually present, with around 250 birds seen. They were very flighty, and seemed to be working their way toward the south end, where most of the 20 or so Tufted Duck were. At the north end was a single Gadwall, and an eclipse male Teal. A Kingfisher calling from a perch on Mud Island, provided the best footage I managed to-date, and returned to the perched a few times throughout the hour.

The Leen Pastures and Broad Valley Stables were both very quiet, with nothing of note during a light rain shower. At Bestwood Quarry the quietness continued, and two Green Woodpecker flying over were the only new birds I picked up on. I sat down to try and scope the hillside, but it was silent and still. Looking up, something was flying over towards Lamin's Lane, it looked gullish, so I got the bins onto it before it disappeared. How glad I was that I bothered to look - it was a Curlew. My first for the park! Keeping my eyes to the sky, I also picked up a distant Sparrowhawk high over the back of the Quarry before I headed home.