TUESDAY 18 MARCH
Although largely dry, it was a dreary and
grey type of day with an increasingly cold pretty strong WNW wind. Temperatures
peaked at around 12 degrees C but it felt much colder in the strong
wind.
I reserved today for another crack at LESSER
SPOTTED WOODPECKER, where I concentrated my efforts in BEDFORDSHIRE where at
least 1 pair bred successfully in 2013.....
I started my search at FLITWICK MOOR SSSI
(TL 0435), arriving on site at 1030 hours. Nothing was doing in the usual area
behind the clay shooting range but as I walked between the two bridges, a
'woodpecker commotion' at around TL 047 353, revealed the presence of a pair of
LESSER SPOTS having an argument with a male Great Spotted Woodpecker. Both birds
were aggressively mobbing the Great Spot leading me to suspect that they were
perhaps guarding a potential nesting hole, the male having its red crown raised.
If you park at TL 046 354, enter the wood and turn left at the reserve sign.
Follow this main track down to the first boardwalk and bridge and turn right.
Around half way between here and the next bridge and metal railings, the flooded
woodland on the left was harbouring the birds - activity continuing for over 15
minutes.
The area of trees where the Lesser Spots were
Turn right at this bridge crossing
What was most amazing about the reserve was
its incredible number of WINTER WRENS, with no less than 26 territories, by far
the most densest I have ever recorded this species in Britain.
Otherwise, a typical selection of Birch
woodland species but with the noticeable absence of Nuthatch - Green Woodpecker,
Great Spotted Woodpecker (4), Common Treecreeper (6 singing males), Blue, Great,
Coal & Long-tailed Tits, Robin, Common Blackbird (2), Redwing (9), Fieldfare
(1), Goldcrest (2), Bullfinch (pair), Chaffinch (6), Jay (2), Carrion Crow,
Jackdaw, Woodpigeon and Common Buzzard (pair).
Hoping to find yesterday's Little Ringed
Plover, I then visited BROOM GP, where GYPSY LANE EAST held just 1 Ringed
Plover, a pair of Oystercatchers, pair of Common Redshanks, 18 Black-headed
Gull, 6 Common Gull, 2 Mute Swans, 14 Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebe, 87
Greylag Geese, 8 Atlantic Canada Geese, a single EGYPTIAN GOOSE (resting on the
far bank - see image), 4 Mallard, 28 Gadwall and 8 Coot (plus Skylark and
Robin), while GYPSY LANE WEST yielded an additional 5 Ringed Plover, pair of
Common Shelduck, 18 further Black-headed Gulls, Common Magpie, Carrion Crow and
4 more Skylark. No LRP though........
Gypsy Lane East in full flood
and the Egyptian Goose
Driving the OLD WARDEN TO CARDINGTON ROAD,
first off a pair of Red Kite were feeding on a dead Brown Hare and then a pair
of COMMON RAVEN feeding on a dead female Common Pheasant. There was no sign of
the Peregrine that I had seen at the nest site a few days ago.
The Raven pair flying away after being disturbed from the dead Pheasant
Further north, at RADWELL PITS, the adult
WHOOPER SWAN was still to be found in the cereal crop with 134 Mute Swans
(visible distantly from the Sewage Works), along with 56 Wigeon, 270 Woodpigeon
and 68 Fieldfare (Grey Wagtail on the sludge beds).
In the THURLEIGH AIRFIELD AREA (TL 0660),
highlight was a tight-knit flock of 336 sheltering EUROPEAN GOLDEN PLOVER, along
with 2 Red Kite, 12 Lapwing, 280 Fieldfare and 330 Common Starling. I could not
find the pair of Eurasian Curlew on the airfield and I am guessing the
Short-eared Owls are more likely to be at the former site at Knotting Green (no
suitable habitat at Thurleigh). The hamlet of KEYSOE ROW WEST held a population
of 14 House Sparrows, with 6 singing Skylark in the area.
Over at HARROLD-ODELL COUNTRY PARK, the
PINK-FOOTED GOOSE with the drooping wing was showing very well on Kingfisher
Water (pictures below), with 23 active Sinensis Cormorant nests on the
island, 4 Grey Heron, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 30 Greylag Geese, 5 Mute Swan, 56
Tufted Duck, 18 Mallard, the resident pair of RED-CRESTED POCHARD, 6 remaining
Common Goldeneye (1 drake) and 32 Coot; 4 Pied Wagtail in the area
also.
The Rookery in the village held 28 active
nests (note Roger) whilst the fields to the south of the village added a further
430 grazing geese (314 Greylag and 116 Atlantic Canada) as well as 8 Mute
Swans.
CARLTON VILLAGE (SP 9595) produced Dunnock,
2 Common Blackbird, 2 Collared Dove and 24 Jackdaw, with a further 24 active
Rook nests in OAKLEY VILLAGE (TL 0153).
By now (early evening), the wind was getting
pretty strong, and in a quick search of KEMPSTON HARDWICK SOUTH PITS, I could
not locate the recent first-winter female Greater Scaup - just 40 Tufted Duck, 4
Wigeon, 86 Greylag Geese, 24 Mute Swan and 6 Great Crested Grebe.
The SAWPIT SPRING Rookery near CHANDLER'S
CROSS (HERTS) (TQ 0598) now held 16 active nests
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