Friday 21 January 2022

Visit to Gloucester Park – 21st January 2022

Date: 21st January 2022

Time: from 8:45 a.m.

Weather: dry, sunny, light wind, -1°C to 1°C

This was my second visit to the site during 2022 following my first on New Years Day.

It was a very similar morning being very sunny and dry although there was a significant difference in the temperature: -1°C with a ground frost this morning compared with a balmy 14°C on 1st January 2022. In fact, it was so cold that much of the main lake and all of the small lake at the eastern end of the site were covered in a thin layer of ice.

There were several highlights to my visit this morning with a new site record plus 3 other additions to my site list for 2022.

The new site record was Gadwall (both a male and female) which I saw several times at various locations on the main lake. I was able to take several photos of the male bird.















Photo: male Gadwall















Photo: male Gadwall















Photo: male Gadwall

The 4 additions to my site list for 2022 were Kingfisher (a single female seen twice perched in bushes at the very western end of the main lake and also flying off down the lake), Common Gull (a single bird associating with a few Black-headed Gulls and an adult and first winter Herring Gull on the small lake at the eastern end of the site), Green Woodpecker (1 heard calling) and Collared Dove.

Frustratingly, the Kingfisher refused to perch out in the open and remained partially obscured by the branches of the bush it was sitting in. Therefore, I only achieved a poor record photo ….















Photo: a shy female Kingfisher 😀

The other highlight from my visit were Grey Heron at the western end of the main lake which proved to be very approachable and easy to photograph.

With regard to water birds, I saw the following all on the main lake although numbers were much reduced compared with my last visit due to the frozen conditions: an immature Mute Swan, c.10 Canada Geese, c.20 Mallards, 6 Coots and c.15 Moorhens.

In addition, there were c.10 Cormorants perched in the tall trees on the island in the main lake or fishing in the lake itself.

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

Blue Tit
Great Tit
Robin
Dunnock
Blackbird
Goldfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Woodpigeon
Collared Dove
Carrion Crow
Magpie
Kingfisher
Grey Heron
Gadwall
Mallard
Mute Swan
Canada Goose
Coot
Moorhen
Cormorant
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Black-headed Gull

Here are some photos from my visit: 















Photo: Grey Heron















Photo: Grey Heron















Photo: Grey Heron
















Photo: Grey Heron















Photo: Cormorant















Photo: Cormorants















Photo: Cormorant















Photo: Cormorant















Photo: male Mallard















Photo: Mallards















Photo: male Mallard















Photo: male Mallard















Photo: male Mallard















Photo: female Mallard















Photo: Canada Geese















Photo: Canada Geese















Photo: Canada Geese















Photo: Coot















Photo: Moorhen
















Photo: Moorhen















Photo: Common Gull














Photo: Herring Gull















Photo: Black-headed Gull















Photo: Black-headed Gull
















Photo: Black-headed Gull
















Photo: Black-headed Gull
















Photo: Black-headed Gull
















Photo: Black-headed Gull
















Photo: Black-headed Gull
















Photo: Black-headed Gull















Photo: Robin















Photo: Dunnock















Photo: Magpie















Photo: Collared Dove

Site totals to date (2022 totals in brackets):

Birds = 48  (28)
Mammals = 2  (1)
Butterflies = 1  (0)
Dragonflies and damselflies = 0  (0)
Reptiles = 0  (0)
Amphibians = 0  (0)

💚🦆 🦉🦋🐝🦊🦡🌼 🌳💚
Stay safe, stay well, stay strong, stay connected with nature


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