Wednesday 13th January 2016

Sightings from this morning included the following;

Foumarts Lane - 5 Tree Sparrow.

Castle Lake - 3 Mute Swan, 30 Pink-footed Geese flew in from the north, did a few circuits of the lake and headed off in a southerly direction (pictured below), 250 Canada Geese, 2 Shelduck, drake Goldeneye, 200 Golden Plover over, 300+ Lapwing, 45 Curlew and 10+ Redshank.

River Stell - 2 Little Grebe, 3 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron and 1 possibly 2 Green Sandpiper.

Shocking picture of the Little Egret on the Stell.

Stoneybeck Lake - 6 Mute Swan, 3 Wigeon, 30 Teal, 70 Coot, 200 Lapwing and 35 Curlew.

Saturday 9th January 2016

Catching up with sightings from the last two days.

Friday 8th January 2016 (with thanks to John Olley and Joe Hughes).
Castle Lake - 1600 Lapwing, 600 Wigeon, 210 Curlew, 200 Golden Plover, 10 Shelduck and 12 Redshank.

Saturday 9th January 2016
Stoneybeck Lake - 6 Mute Swan, 60+ Canada Geese, 4 Shelduck, 10 Shoveler, 10 Pochard, 15 Tufted Duck and a Little Grebe.

Monday 4th January 2016

Sightings from this morning;

Castle Lake - 4 Shelduck, 3 Shoveler, 2 Pintail, 3 Goldeneye (1 drake, 1 female & a 1st-winter drake), 7 Mute Swan, 1 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron and 19 Redshank.

A1 Flashes/River Stell - 5 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Heron and 3 Fieldfare.

Stoneybeck Lake - 5 Mute Swan (flew to Castle Lake), 3 Shelduck, 4 Shoveler, 10 Pochard (5 drakes), 2f Tufted Duck, 1 Kestrel and 50+ Curlew.

Saturday 2nd January 2016

Many thanks to John Olley and Dave Makinson for today's sightings;

Stoneybeck Lake - 1 Pochard, drake Goldeneye, 4 Shoveler, 60 Gadwall, 74 Coot, 220 Lapwing, 166 Curlew, 40 Teal and 2 Shelduck.

Castle Lake - 4 Pintail, 520 Wigeon, 300 Teal, 1 Little Egret, 6 Shelduck, 140 Curlew, 120 Lapwing, 4 Shoveler, 2 Goldeneye, 7 Mute Swan, 1 Sparrowhawk, 7 Pied Wagtail and 2 Corn Bunting.

Low Hardwick/A1 Flashes - 1 Short-eared Owl, 800 Lapwing, 500 Golden Plover, 1 Little Grebe, 60 Wigeon and 200 Black-headed Gull.

Island Farm - 3 Corn Bunting, 110 Tree Sparrow, 50 Yellowhammer and 20 Reed Bunting.

Friday 1st January 2016

Happy New Year!
Today's sightings;

Stoneybeck Lake - 7 Mute Swan, 2 Shelduck, 2 Pintail, 200+ Black-headed Gull, 1 Fieldfare and 5+ Redwing.

Castle Lake - 6 Shelduck, 3 Pintail, drake Goldeneye, 8 Grey Partridge, 1 Grey Heron, 130 Curlew, 10+ Redshank, 1 Great Black-backed Gull, 5 Fieldfare and 2 Corn Bunting.

Alan's Pool - 1 Mute Swan.

Fishburn Lake - 12 Mallard, 1 Song Thrush and a flock of 20 Siskin.

Low Hardwick - 2 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 200 Golden Plover, 300 Lapwing, 1 Short-eared Owl out hunting mid-afternoon and 4 Bullfinch.

River Stell - 1 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret and 2 Green Sandpiper together.

Foumarts Lane - 1 Grey Wagtail feeding on floodwater close to the village (rubbish picture below).

Tuesday 29th December 2015

Sightings today with thanks to John Olley and Joe Hughes;

Castle Lake - 23 Redshank, 5 Corn Bunting singing, 1500 Lapwing, 30 Golden Plover, 5 Buzzard, 130 Pink-footed Geese over north-west, 380 Wigeon, 300 Teal, 10 Shoveler and 2 Goldeneye.

Monday 28th December 2015

Today's sightings included the following;

Castle Lake - 1 Shelduck, 1m2f Pintail, 10+ Shoveler, 1m1f Goldeneye, 5 Snipe, 20 Redshank, 5 Great Black-backed Gull over south.

River Stell/A1 Flashes - 3 Little Grebe, 1 Little Egret, 6 Grey Heron, 1 Kestrel, c200 Black-headed Gull, 1 Great Black-backed Gull over south, 30 Pied Wagtail (my highest winter count), 1 Meadow Pipit and 4 Linnet.

Low Hardwick - 3 Barnacle Geese (pictured below), 1 Common Buzzard, 50+ Curlew and 4 Reed Bunting.

Stoneybeck Lake - 31 Canada Geese, 37 Coot, 5 Gadwall, 4 Shelduck, 1 Kestrel, 1 Common Buzzard and another 2 Great Black-backed Gull through south.

A fairly new interpretation board makes interesting reading;