SS15 wildlife watching: Visit to Gloucester Park

Date: 22nd January 2021

Time: from 11:15 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, 2°C to 7°C

It was another beautiful sunny winter’s morning and fortunately, compared to yesterday, the strong wind had finally dropped.

As I arrived at the site for my second visit of 2021, there was still some ground frost in shaded areas. However, much of the grassland areas were very wet and in some areas there was a lot of standing water, all result of the heavy rain recently.

I added 8 species to my site list for the year this morning: a single Grey Heron at the far western end of the main lake, a single Green Woodpecker foraging on the ground just south of the main lake, a single Great Spotted Woodpecker calling and “drumming” in the vicinity of the small lake at the eastern end of the site, a Sparrowhawk flying very high over the area between the main lake and the small lake at the eastern end of the site plus additionally Collared Dove, Dunnock, Blue Tit and House Sparrow. The record of Grey Heron was my first anywhere for 2021.

In addition, for the second successive visit, I saw a Kingfisher although I had to wait until the end of my visit as I returned to the far western end of the main lake. Yet again, however, I was unable to photograph this colourful bird as it flew quickly away from me. There are many photos of Kingfishers on the Facebook page for Gloucester Park. My turn will come!

Redwings were not as evident as on my last visit but I did see 3 separate individuals at various locations around the site.

With regard to water birds, the male Tufted Duck that I saw on the small lake at the eastern end of the site on my last visit was no longer present nor elsewhere on the other 2 lakes so it has clearly moved on. I saw c.50 Mallards spread around each of the 3 lakes with some male birds already displaying to females in readiness for the breeding season.

Canada Geese were as conspicuous as ever and they are now beginning to engage in noisy and aggressive behaviour as their breeding season approaches. Again, as on my last visit, I did not see a single Greylag Goose. There were still very few Coots but Moorhens were more common with c.20 present. There were still 2 Mute Swans, an adult and an immature, on the small lake at the eastern end of the site.

On my last visit, I recorded my highest count of Cormorants for the site (5) but this morning I exceeded that with 8 perched high in the trees on the island at the western end of the main lake but occasionally fishing in the lake itself.

With regard to mammals, I have occasionally seen a single Brown Rat on my previous visits but this morning I saw 4 in the same area gratefully feeding on food thrown by people for the ducks and geese on the main lake. These animals did not feel at all threatened by the presence of people, most of whom seemed to be oblivious to their presence, and I was able to get my first photos of Brown Rat at the site.

Brown Rats unfortunately have an image problem and many people view them as dirty, disease-ridden pests. However, I was able to watch one for 5 minutes as it continuously cleaned and groomed itself. After that, it was probably cleaner than many human beings who don’t seem to have a clue what soap and hand sanitiser are used for!

During my visit, I also saw just a single Grey Squirrel.

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

Blue Tit
Great Tit
Long-tailed Tit
Robin
Goldfinch
Redwing
Dunnock

Sparrowhawk

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Jay

Carrion Crow

Magpie

Kingfisher