Trip reports

Weekday Wildlife Walk - Watermead Park

RSPB Image

Friday, 15 January 2010

Following a long spell of winter weather we arrived at the car-park with rain falling onto what was left of the snow and ice. The temperature was still low at around 2 or 3º C. Nevertheless 16 people turned up and we saw some interesting birds.

Bittern, woodcock and water rail had been reported as present in the park recently. We met a man in the Plover hide who had seen the bittern on three previous days but it did not come out of the reeds for us. We also failed to see any woodcock. However we were given a wonderful display of skating on the ice by two or three water rails. They were moving rapidly between the banks and islands of one of the lakes and quickly disappearing into the reeds.

There was a good selection of passerines at the feeding station near kingfisher hide including reed bunting, nuthatch and tree creeper.

A large group of shovelers was noted on John Merrick's Lake - possibly 40 or more. They were showing their strange behaviour of groups swimming in circles or 'pinwheeling'. We have noted this behaviour on previous group visits and the explanation is that it causes turbulence which stirs up the mud and with it their food.

Birds recorded were:

Mute swan, shellduck, mallard, shoveller, pheasant, water rail, moorhen, black-headed gull, wood pigeon, dunnock, robin, blackbird, great tit, treecreeper, magpie, carrion crow, chaffinch, green finch, reed bunting

RM

http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/environment/countryside/countryparks/watermead