Tuesday 4 May 2010

Whitethroats & Mandarins!

First thing on Saturday 1st May on the North Denes, Whitethroats were very much in evidence seemingly singing from every bush near the Oval at least 20 were seen. A Willow warbler and female Blackcap were also seen at the base of the slope here to.
Later in the afternoon I took the walk out to Oulton marshes hoping to see a pair of Mandarin Ducks, seeing Richard W & the warden after a brief chat we walked over having first seen a pair of distant Shelducks and overlooking the newly constructed pit near the digger, we couldn't find them initially. However I spotted the pair of excellent Mandarin Ducks on the southern bank of a dyke running east to west, the both looked fairly sleepy initially but perked up when the pair of Shelducks flew past causing the Mandarins to take flight they did huge inverted "C" flight flying first south and then north finishing up roughly in the same spot.
Walking back we heard a calling Cuckoo near the railway line by Fisher Row but sadly couldn't spot it and a Garden Warbler showed fairly well singing in a bush lining the dry dyke just north of the horse stable and old "Snipe field" now planted as a plant nursery. Before I could photograph it, a family walking by flushed the bird flying over the path and out of sight sadly.

2 comments:

Paul Woolnough said...

Oulton Marshes evening
Heard the cuckoo too. Could not find mandarins but did not spend to much time scanning the marshes and dykes. Good numbers of warblers and a barn owl from 630.

Birds of the day the Minsmere Monty's. Total within reserve boundary 199 (Lizard Land 192!).

Not at Minsmere a nightingale singing in the open and a gimme year tick of kittiwake, no prizes where.

Bird of the week red-rumped swallow. My feeling is that the bird(s) have spent most of Monday and Tuesday feeding away from Loompit Lake.

Peter Ransome said...

Well done with the Monty's I missed it!
Peter