Wild at Hull: Sunny winter afternoon at Oak Road Lake

Sunday, 8 February 2015

Sunny winter afternoon at Oak Road Lake

It has been ages since I have been at Oak Road, and there is no excuse as I love the place and is just a short drive from home. It has been a glorious winter day today, still and mild, with a wide open blue sky and a sun that definitely feels higher in the sky.

There a new area planted with trees, which is new to me. A Great Tit sings from atop a willow.

Although there is still some snow patches here and there, the lake is mostly ice free and there are a bunch of birds on it. A drake Pochard half sleeps by the reeds, the pair of Mute Swans with a young one from last year approach to check if I have any food, I don't but there is a dog walker who does.

Coots and Moorhens aplenty on the lake, and an eight strong flock of Gadwall, with six males who display calling their funny grunt-whistles, and preening in front of the females. It is only after a while that I notice the drake Shoveler, it must have been feeding in the reed beds. He seemed a bit wary of the walkers around the lake and kept to the middle, often with the Gadwalls.

I walk on the bank by the river but it is very muddy and I see nothing of interest, so I return to the lake perimeter path. A Song Thrush sung loudly from the willows by the lake. Blackbirds, Great Tits and Dunnocks by the newly planted area.

I take a walk on Green Lane, which is extremely muddy. A commotion of Starlings; a speeding shadow of a Sparrowhawk chasing a starling. I see the Sparrowhawk again twice, flying low along the lane shortly after, and then soaring over the fields and dropping onto the wood by the lake. A pair of Stock Doves on the lane was nice. There are large puddles on the playing fields, with crows, common gulls and black-headed gulls feeding. With the sun setting it is time to go home.