Monday 26 March 2012

A spring day at Oak Road playing fields

It is hard to believe it is just March. The bare trees remind you that we were deep in winter a month or so ago, with the land covered in snow and blasted by icy winds. Oak Road was glorious today. There was a cacophony of singing birds, and amongst them, the repetitive sound of the Chiffchaff stood out. Two males replied to each other, the first I have heard this year. Crows and Blue tits were collecting lining material for their nests.
 A Great Spotted Woodpecker had found a hollow trunk in the car park and its drumming sound was incredible.
By contrast, in the lake things were much more subdued. There were only a few gulls and no mallards, a pair of Mute Swans and a handful of irascible Coots, getting very territorial. Two of them swirled all puffed up with heads down, in front of each other, presumably marking the limits of their territories.
 I was able to spot a few Reed Buntings on the reedbeds by the lake.
A couple of butterflies flew by, possible Small Tortoiseshells. Many bumblebees were nest searching or feeding on the willows.
 A view of the River Hull. The tide was coming in.
 The pair of Mute Swans
 Reed Bunting on willow
 Swirling Coots
Singing Chiffchaff high up on a plane tree

Bird list
  1. Black-headed Gull 
  2. Blackbird 
  3. Blue Tit 
  4. Carrion Crow 
  5. Chaffinch 
  6. Chiffchaff 
  7. Collared Dove 
  8. Coot 
  9. Dunnock 
  10. Goldfinch 
  11. Great Black-backed Gull 
  12. Great Spotted Woodpecker 
  13. Great Tit 
  14. Greenfinch 
  15. Herring Gull 
  16. House Sparrow 
  17. Lesser Black-backed Gull 
  18. Long-tailed Tit 
  19. Magpie 
  20. Mallard 
  21. Mistle Thrush 
  22. Moorhen 
  23. Mute Swan 
  24. Reed Bunting 
  25. Robin 
  26. Song Thrush 
  27. Starling 
  28. Woodpigeon 
  29. Wren

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