Box End Park WeBS: 18/01/2015

It was Great Duck Hunt day in Bedfordshire so everyone was out counting wildfowl at the local waterways. This is done to try to get an overall view of the number of wildfowl in Bedfordshire. It is deliberately run alongside the WeBS weekend so that many of the sites are already counted.

It was a cold start with the temperature around freezing there were a good number of Lapwings at roost on the Spit when I arrived and as usual they all got up, swirling around, making it tricky to count. After various attempts I came to an estimate of 200, the biggest count of the winter so far. They stuck around for quite some time before heading off west. A few minutes later some of them were back and they settled back in on the Spit until just before I left the site.

A Snipe got up, while the Lapwings were swirling about, and did a circuit of the park before heading off east.

The 3 Little Grebes and 3 Gadwalls were a nice surprise and the Black Swan was back again, hanging out with the 10 Mute Swans.

Here are the morning counts for WeBS.

Black Swan 1
Black-headed Gull 8
Buzzard 1
Canada Goose 2
Coot  1
Cormorant 16
Gadwall 3
Grey Heron 2
Kingfisher 1
Lapwing 200
Little Grebe 3
Mallard 45
Meadow Pipit 4
Moorhen 3
Mute Swan 10 Pair with 5 cygnets and 3 other adults.
Skylark 1
Snipe 1

Total number of species: 17, Individuals: 302
 

Black Swan

Box End Park WeBS: 18/11/2012

WeBS time again and it was a cold frosty start with some patchy fog around the lake which cleared gradually during the morning.

Black-headed Gull 22  
Canada Goose 7  
Cormorant 3  
Great Crested Grebe 1  
Grey Heron 1  
Grey Wagtail 1
Kestrel 1  
Kingfisher 1  
Lapwing 10  
Little Grebe 2  
Mallard 19 Plus another 9 over west.
Moorhen 2  
Mute Swan 7  
Pied Wagtail 1
Total number of species: 14 Individuals: 78

Nothing to get excited about but as always it was great to be out and about early.

Gt. Ouse Otters (Kempston Mill)

I was on the look out for Otters again this morning after last week sighting. The first signs were some ripples at the south end of the island, in the river, just upstream from the church. While trying to identify the cause I spotted something further upstream, out of the corner of my eye, and the binoculars revealed an Otter coming down stream with a large fish in its mouth. This Otter disappeared behind the island so I returned my attention to the ripples and eventually a nose was spotted through the tangle of branches and a second Otter was confirmed. Next thing I knew the Otter with the fish joined the first and proceeded to munch on its prize. The other Otter had come across to my side of the river by this time and suddenly it was swimming past within a few feet of me. I hardly dared breath in case it spotted me, but fortunately it continued by and started hunting close in to the bank but out of sight, just the ripples and bubbles giving away its position.

I finally managed to get in a position to photograph the Otter eating the fish, a Bream I think. It was difficult to get any good shots with the low light and tangle of branches but here we go:  

After a while the second Otter joined the first at the fish and then a third Otter turned up! This was getting better and better. I just managed to get the three in frame together:

I was really hoping they might come out and play in the river after they finished their breakfast but sadly no, a couple of them moved into the reed bed on the opposite side of the river where I managed the best shot of the morning:

After that the activity died down and they just melted away. How do they do that?

What a morning and to top it off an Oystercatcher flew over, heading downstream, as I headed home along the back channel. Hopefully one of the Box End Park birds back for the breeding season.