We visited St George Park, one of our local parks here in Bristol, this afternoon to try to get some photos at the request of the Bristol Duck Project (see thebristolduckproject on Instagram) of a coot which has taken up residence in one of their houses. It was a more difficult job than I imagined as the coot was off searching for more nesting material most of the time.
The trip was well worth it though as there were two little grebes on the lake which presented a good photographic opportunity.
I had a walk over to Duchess Pond in Stoke Park this afternoon and was pleased to see that 10 ducklings (out of 12 last Thursday) are surviving.
As well as mallards there were coots, moorhens, mute swans and Canada Geese all looking very purposeful on the lake but I couldn’t see the little grebe from last week.
Around the edges there were robins, blackbirds, great tits and I could good hear a pair of green finches with their distinctive wheezy call.
I took on the challenge of the mud around Duchess Pond in Stoke Park and was well rewarded.
On the small pond I saw my first ducklings of the year – 12 in all. They had been reported yesterday so at least they had all survived one day. There were plenty of large predators around including a kestrel which, however, was more concerned by its own safety.
Also at the end of the large pond there was a little grebe which came out of the reeds momentarily.
The only small birds I saw were a green finch and a robin.
It felt as though spring was getting closer as we walked around the Dyrham Park Estate this morning, especially in the garden where there was much more insect life evident than last week. Roll on …
2 days before storms and gales are forecast we had a lovely walk in the sunshine in the garden and grounds of the 17th Century Dyrham Park, one of the most notable stately homes of its age.
In the gardens there were robins everywhere and two visited us very close up.
Post script
Sadly there were no deer to see in the parkland – see note below from the National Trust
“We are very sad to report that due to high levels of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) detected in our deer that we have had to cull the entire herd at Dyrham Park.
Despite our efforts to try to control the disease which has included taking advice from Government agencies and other experts, infection rates have continued to rise since it was first detected on site in 2007. We have therefore sadly been left with no other choice but to cull the deer in order to prevent any further suffering due to this terrible disease. The health and welfare of the deer herd has always been our number one priority.
We – all our staff and volunteers – are all devastated by this decision and the loss of the much-loved deer herd from this very special parkland setting and we understand how upsetting this is for everyone.
While it has been a very sad few months coming to this conclusion, we do have every intention to rid the site of bTB and will reintroduce the deer to this historic parkland setting as soon as we are able. “
It was chilly this morning but the sun broke through in the afternoon and I enjoyed my daily exercise walking between Stoke Park and Eastville Park. It was very muddy around Duchess Pond in Stoke Park and I was glad I had chosen to wear wellies.
I only went as far as the entrance to Eastville Park as I spent too long watching 4 long-tailed tits building nests. What a treat.
As part of the National Gardens Scheme we were able to visit the garden of Algars Mill, a 2 acre woodland garden bisected by the River Frome near Iron Acton just north of Bristol.
The main feature of this splendid garden at this time of the year is the spring bulbs and shrubs; in particular the wild Newent daffodils.
It was wonderful on this splendid day to breathe the countryside and to take some exercise in this glorious garden avoiding the crowds of our local park.
A definite note of optimism today with beautiful wall to wall sunshine – at times there was real warmth in the sun and we even sat in the garden to have a late morning coffee.
The highlights of our walk in our local park were a jay, a gold crest (sadly only one chance to take a photo and I did miserably) and long tail tits (I didn’t fare much better with them either).
I thought the blue tit singing in the sun with blue sky behind was my best effort.
To any readers of my blog I apologise that the scope of my blogs is very limited, but such are the necessities of a lockdown. I felt very privileged this morning to have such lovely views of two of my favourite birds: a kingfisher and a grey wagtail. I also enjoyed seeing the gulls (lesser black-backed and black-headed) on the frozen lake, the excitable Canada geese, a crow bashing a nut against a rock and a cute squirrel. I aplologise for a second time that I have included so many photos in my slideshow but hope you enjoy them.
It was very cold as we walked around the park this morning (with a wind chill factor making it feel like -6 degrees) but it was a pleasant experience as it was sunny and there was lots of activity. Coots and Canada geese in particular were very agitated and very noisy as they are getting ready for breeding.
I haven’t seen grey herons there recently so it was rewarding to see the juvenile back and managing to catch some lunch.
We couldn’t face the crowds at the local park today and so my bird watching was restricted to half an hour in my garden.
I was pleased to add two new birds to my garden list (which I am working on – My Garden List) with a wren and a female black cap.
There was a lovely window of sunshine this morning and we risked the crowds at our local park. We were pleasantly surprised as there were fewer people than of late and most were adhering to social distancing rules; also the council (or volunteers?) had cleared the paths of mud.
We looked for kingfishers and dippers but, although everyone and his/her dog had seen them, we were unlucky. We were cheered by seeing long-tailed tits and hearing plenty of robins. Two swans were building a nest on kingfisher island and a cormorant was looking splendid in its breeding plumage.
There was a new addition to the lake and someone had floated a model Colosseum. Athens-on -sea maybe.
It seems that this recent addition is the work of The Bristol Duck Project
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