Box End Park WeBS: 11/03/2012

A nice early start for this months WeBS at Box End Park. Nothing spectacular on the bird front although nice to see both Oystercatchers now back on site. The sun rise was pretty special, I tried to get a displaying Lapwing in front of the sun (below) but only succeeded with a Carrion Crow.

Sunrise

A Mink was hunting along the edge of the river at the north end of the park.

Mink

The Oystercatchers did a noisy circuit of the park.

Oystercatchers

There were a lot of Mute Swans in the Park today, but I was sad to find a dead adult on the river. I could not see any rings although it was difficult to see for sure with the bird in the water. There are 2 pairs on the river in the area and I suspect this bird may have got caught up in territorial disputes, although it may just have floated down from further upstream with the higher water levels last week after the rain.

Highlight of the morning was a single Otter seen on the river at the south end of the park. This is my first sighting since 20th Feb and back in the same place I saw the mother and 2 cubs on 16th Feb. Sadly the wind direction was coming over my shoulder and straight to the animal and it sussed me immediately and was gone before I could get a shot, better luck next time.

None WeBS birds of interest were drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpeckers and a singing Goldcrest. WeBS counts were as follows:


Black-headed Gull 72  
Canada Goose 7  
Common Gull 3  
Cormorant 3  
Great Crested Grebe 1  
Grey Wagtail 1  
Kestrel 1  
Kingfisher 2  
Lapwing 4  
Mallard 26  
Meadow Pipit 1  (Flyover).
Moorhen 3  
Mute Swan 11  (2 juveniles)
Oystercatcher 2  
Pied/White Wagtail 1  
Skylark 2  
Total number of species: 16 Individuals: 140