Kempston Mill Tuesday 24/07/2012

Another Sedge Warbler this morning. This guy has been belting out his song for the last few mornings, just off the footpath between Kempston Mill and Great Denham.

Kempston Mill 23/07/2012

Out early this morning at Kempston Mill I came across this Sedge Warbler which was still feeding young. Having dropped off a tasty morsel it posed briefly before hurrying off to catch the next meal.

Sedge Warbler

Had a report of one of the Fox cubs sunbathing at the Vicarage at Church End, haven't seen them myself for quite a while now.

The Otter I saw on Friday morning was nowhere to be seen this morning.

Box End Park WeBS: 22/07/2012

Fairly quiet this morning for the WeBS count. A very different situation for the Common Terns compared to last year at this time when there were still good numbers and a lot of juveniles. Just 9 adults this year and no sign of any youngsters this year. The vegetation on the spit, where they nest, has been cut back since my last visit so whether this had an effect or not is uncertain. It's possible that the flooding that has occurred throughout the summer so far has affected the breeding success. The Spit has been much reduced in size due to the high water level on the lake and it can't have been easy for the adult birds to find fish in the swollen river.

A surprising number of Pied Wagtails were on the site with at least 20 noted, many of those were juveniles.

Full counts follow:

Common Tern 9  
Coot 1  
Cormorant 4 Also 8 over high north east.
Great Crested Grebe 3 Including a well grown juvenile still showing striping on the head.
Grey Heron 1  
Lapwing 1  
Mallard 66 1 adult with a single duckling and 1 with 5 ducklings.
Mute Swan 7  
Oystercatcher 1  
Pied/White Wagtail 20

Total number of species: 10 Individuals: 113


Other birds seen/heard were:


Chiffchaff 1
Reed Warbler 1
Swallow 2
Green Woodpecker 1
Blackcap 3
Common Whitethroat 1
Sand Martin 1
House Martin 12


No Swifts was a bit of a surprise.

Back to the badger sett

On return from my holiday I put one of the trail cameras back up at the badger sett, although in a slightly different position. I found another entrance to the sett where there looked to have been some digging so I set the camera up on a nearby tree.

First up a couple of Muntjac pass through, a female with a male in tow. Then later in the week the same or another male Muntjac sniffing the air, possibly trying to find a/the female.

Then some clips of the Badgers, one finds a beetle and snaffles it followed by a bit of a scrap between three Badgers, possibly youngsters.