SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to Gloucester Park

Wednesday, 6 May 2020

Visit to Gloucester Park – 6th May 2020

Date: 6th May 2020

Time: from 6:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, moderate wind, 4°C to 12°C

By the underpass heading to the entrance to Gloucester Park, I heard 2 singing male Blackcaps, one either side of the underpass.

Football is currently suspended due to the COVID-19 health crisis but the football pitch on the way to the main lake held a small flock of Canada Geese trying to get the game restarted 😀.

This was another early morning visit to Gloucester Park. It was a beautiful sunny morning although cold at the beginning with a little ground frost remaining.

It was again a good visit for birds with 32 species recorded including 2 additional species for my site list, increasing it to 36 species: a single male Greenfinch and a single male House Sparrow.

On my last visit, I added Common Whitethroat and Stock Dove to my site list and I saw both of these birds again at the same locations, the former singing from the trees and bushes close to the pond adjacent to the new development of flats and the latter sitting at the top of the tall trees between the main lake and the smaller lake.

I also saw Common Terns again on this visit. There were initially 2 flying around the main lake and on my return home via the north side of the lake there were 2 (presumably the same individuals) perched in trees on the island.

Other highlights included a singing male Blackcap with a further 7 heard but not seen, 1 singing Chiffchaff heard but not seen, 1 Green Woodpecker, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 1 Cormorant on the main lake.

There are still 2 pairs of Greylag Geese with goslings but 3 pairs of Canada Geese now have goslings.

I additionally saw a Grey Squirrel.

During my visit, I spoke briefly with a cyclist who was interested in what I had seen and photographed. He said he thought that the lake only had “geese” and “ caiman”. Now Caiman would be an amazing record for Gloucester Park given that this crocodile species is found in the mangrove swamps, rivers and lakes of Mexico and central and northern South America 😀. After he further described a “large, black seabird”, we settled on Cormorant 😀.

Species recorded during this visit were as follows (heard only records in italics):

Common Whitethroat
Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Wren
Dunnock
Blackbird
Song Thrush
Starling
House Sparrow
Greenfinch
Goldfinch
Pied Wagtail
Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Stock Dove
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Canada Goose
Greylag Goose
Mallard
Coot
Moorhen
Common Tern
Black-headed Gull
Herring Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull

Grey Squirrel

Here are some photos from my visit: