Wollaton 5th march

Well, after a relatively busy february in birding terms, it seems now that its come to a near standstill, as since I went to attenborough at the end of the month I have only been out birding once. This is partly due to being busy with other things, as well as not having the use of my bike. The weather has been quite crap too.

I did however manage to get to Wollaton last Tuesday, as March is the best time, so I'm told, to see a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Once again I was unsuccessful but it may be due to the time of day (Mid-afternoon isn't a classic birding time). I did, however, have a pleasant walk round in cold, wintry sunshine, racking up a list of the usual suspects seen in winter (early spring?) at the park.

Highlights included the wildfowl still hanging on at the site, made up of several Gadwall, one pair of Shoveler and 12 Pochard. These numbers are significantly lower than recent visits, and shows that a lot of birds will be leaving for the breeding season. This was further bolstered by the lack of any Wigeon or Teal. Interestingly a group of 9 Red-crested Pochard were present, the biggest count I've had at the park, some of which seemed to be displaying. It will be interesting to see if they stay on over the summer. 

The Grey Herons were on their nests, as they have been for a while, and were busy noisily having some territorial disputes. The Mute Swans and Coots seemed to be getting territorial too so I expect there'll be some new arrivals at the park in the coming months.


Otherwise there was little else of note, apart from small numbers of Siskin heard overhead and some Mistle Thrushes in song. The total of 32 species was about average for a visit this time of year.