Sunday 17th August 2014

Sightings from today;

Stoneybeck Lake - 4 Ruff, 2 Shelduck and a Pochard.

Castle Lake - 3 Shelduck, 2 Wigeon, 1 Pochard, 1 Little Egret, 7 Ruff, 6 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank, 4 Green Sandpiper, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 130 Black-headed Gull, 3 Swift, 4 Yellow Wagtail and a charm of c100 Goldfinch.

The Wood Sandpiper remained typically elusive and distant for most of my visit, but it eventually showed well at the northern end of the lake.

This Green Sandpiper found the area below the hide to its liking.

A1 Flashes - 5 Shelduck, 2 Grey Heron and c100 Curlew.

Friday 15th August 2014

Sightings from the last two days with thanks to Adam Jones, John Olley and Joe Hughes.

Thursday 14th August
Castle Lake - 6 Garganey, 2 Little Egret, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 8 Dunlin, 1 Wood Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 3 Snipe, 1 Kingfisher and 1 Wheatear.

Friday 15th August
Castle Lake - 9 Ruff, 8 Dunlin, 400 Lapwing, 4 Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 8 Shelduck, and Garganey.
A1 Flashes - 200 Curlew, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Buzzard and 2 Kestrel.

Wednesday 13th August 2014

Sightings for today included the following;

Castle Lake - a Marsh Harrier flew through at 13:45 mobbed by Lapwing before drifting off to the north, waders included 1 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Ruff, 15 Dunlin, 9 Snipe, 1 Greenshank, 2 Green Sandpiper and 3 Common Sandpiper, others were a pair of Great Crested Grebe nest building (!), 2 Little Egret, c400 Black-headed Gull and 4 Yellow Wagtail.
A Kingfisher was seen at Fishburn Lake.

Just a small proportion of the 400 or so Black-headed Gull's at Castle Lake this morning, no doubt brought in by the work of a nearby combined harvester.

One of today's Ruff.

Saturday 2nd August 2014

As water levels continue to fall, Castle Lake is starting to return to its former glory.

A pretty decent selection on offer today, the highlight being a Wood Sandpiper on the far side of the lake directly across from the hide.
Other sightings included 7 Mute Swan, 9 Shelduck (8 of which were well grown juveniles), 5 Garganey (an adult accompanied by 4 well grown juveniles), 1 Grey Partridge, 30 Little Grebe, 1 adult Great Crested Grebe, 4 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret, 2 Oystercatcher, 2 juvenile Little Ringed Plover, 100 Lapwing, 1 juvenile Dunlin, 5 Snipe, 4 Curlew overflew, 3 Green Sandpiper (all located in the partially flooded bowl between the north end of Castle Lake and the wildlife garden), 2 Common Sandpiper, 40 Pied Wagtail, 2 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Grey Wagtail, a Wheatear in the south-east corner an a singing Corn Bunting.

The two juvenile LRP's.

The A1 Flashes held 2 Grey Heron, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Snipe, 5 Green Sandpiper and a single Common Sandpiper.
A quick look at Stoneybeck Lake revealed 25 Mute Swan, c500 Greylag Geese and another singing Corn Bunting.

Monday 28th April 2014

A good selection of species seen today including the following;

Mute Swan - 8 on Castle Lake, 18 on Stoneybeck Lake, a single on Alan's Pool and nesting pairs at Fishburn Lake & Low Hardwick.

Great Crested Grebe - a displaying pair on Fishburn Lake (pictured below).

Common Buzzard - two over Low Hardwick.
Dunlin - 4 summer plumaged birds at Castle Lake.
Curlew - 9 at Stoneybeck Lake.
Green Sandpiper - 1 on the A1 Flashes.
Common Sandpiper - 2 at Castle Lake.
House Martin - at least 2 over Castle Lake this morning.
Yellow Wagtail - at least 5 at Castle Lake (two pictured below).

Common Redstart - a stunning male bird provided good views from 1255-1315 along the raised embankment between the old sluice gate and Alan's Pool (two pictures below).

Wheatear - 1 near the Castle Lake shoreline.
Sedge Warbler - 1 back singing at Fishburn Lake.
Whitethroat and Blackcap - good numbers around all areas.
Corn Bunting - 1 singing near the Castle Lake hide (pictured below).

Sunday 13th April 2014

Sightings today included the following;

Stoneybeck Lake - 16 Mute Swan, 10 Shelduck and 3 Redshank.

Castle Lake - 3 Pochard, 3 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlin, 12 Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 5 Swallow, 100+ Sand Martin, 1 Yellow Wagtail and the Channel Wagtail.

A1 Flashes - 1 Green Sandpiper.

Fishburn Lake - numerous singing Willow Warbler.

One of todays Little Ringed Plover at Castle Lake.

Monday 7th April 2014

First blog post for a while.
Highlights from this morning.
Stoneybeck Lake - 14 Mute Swan, 1pr Shelduck, 5 Little Grebe, 1pr Great Crested Grebe, 1 Oystercatcher, 1 Redshank and 1pr Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Castle Lake - 1pr Shelduck, 4 Goldeneye, 5+ GC Grebe, 2 Cormorant, 7 Oystercatcher, 1 Little Ringed Plover, 7 Redshank, 1pr LBb Gull, 30+ Sand Martin and 1 'Channel' Wagtail.

Unusual coloured Greylag Goose on Castle Lake this morning.

A1 Flashes - 1 Shelduck, 3 Grey Heron and 1 Green Sandpiper.
Low Hardwick - 1 Little Egret, 2+ Chiffchaff, 1 Willow Warbler singing, 2 Willow Tit, 6 Linnet and a Treecreeper carrying nesting material.