On the way home this lunchtime I decided to stop off at Sutcliffe Park Local Nature Reserve. This is the only site in my local area for Reed Warbler, a summer visitor, and having heard of their arrival just north of us on the River, I was hopeful that there might be an early arrival here too.
The Marsh area was very dry and with the rather scant vegetation, it seemed unlikely there would be any waders present hiding secretively in the channels (I did later hear from Conrad, another local bird-watcher, that he had seen a Common Snipe fly from the marsh earlier). It seemed remarkably quiet and there were no signs or sounds of migrant birds from the scrub or the trees.
The lake contained the usual common species and the Little Grebe was nowhere to be seen (no doubt busy with nesting in the reeds). The Reed-beds did contain some small birds but they all turned out to be the resident species and there was no sign nor sound of a Reed Warbler – Ah well that’s the beauty of wildlife watching – you never know what you are going to find – and there is always next time!
Canada Goose [sp] (Branta canadensis)
Mute Swan (Cygnus olor)
Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
Common Moorhen [sp] (Gallinula chloropus)
Eurasian Coot [sp] (Fulica atra)
Common Pigeon [sp] (Columba livia)
Common Wood Pigeon [sp] (Columba palumbus)
Rose-ringed Parakeet [sp] (Psittacula krameri)
Eurasian Magpie [sp] (Pica pica)
Carrion Crow [sp] (Corvus corone)
Great Tit [sp] (Parus major)
Eurasian Blue Tit [sp] (Cyanistes caeruleus)
Eurasian Wren [sp] (Troglodytes troglodytes)
Common Starling [sp] (Sturnus vulgaris)
Common Blackbird [sp] (Turdus merula)
European Robin [sp] (Erithacus rubecula)
House Sparrow [sp] (Passer domesticus)
Dunnock [sp] (Prunella modularis)
European Goldfinch [sp] (Carduelis carduelis)
Pete's Favourite Things 