|
|
|

|
|
Wildfowl walk 15th
January 2012 – Dick Beeden
Glorious weather, bright sunshine
almost no wind, cold but not bitter. There was some ice on the lake but
plenty of open water. The weather had been mild up until a couple of days
before so wildfowl were in short supply and probably some of the more
northerly species had not migrated this far south. None the less we had a
good walk and saw a pretty good range of birds. At least 30 people met us
on the causeway so it was a pretty big group, some of whom saw the stoat (or was it a weasel) scurry
through the undergrowth in front of the seat while we sorted ourselves
out for the walk. My thanks to the several people who helped with the
spotting and identifications and to Christine for keeping the tally; some
45 species in all.
Wildfowl numbers were a bit thin
although most species one might expect to see at this time of year were
present. There were good numbers of Tufted
Duck and Coot. There were
respectable numbers of Pochard and Shoveler (many
displaying). There were small numbers of Mallard mainly on the canal and river, male and female Goldeneye
dotted around the lake, Moorhens
(on the Ark Royal raft and along the canal), Great Crested Grebe and Wigeon. Oddly no Gadwall
although they were reported on Inns lake. The sawbills
(they look like large ducks but have teeth and eat fish) were represented
this year by a couple of splendid male goosanders though they were tucked up under the bank of one
of the islands and not that easy to see. Regrettably no Smew although there were reports of a female being
seen on the lake. We also saw Egyptian
and Canada Geese with Greylag
reported by some in the party.
There were large numbers of Black Headed Gulls (though none
had yet got its black head) plus a few Common, Lesser Black-backed and at least one Greater Black-backed Gull. There
were plenty of Cormorant mainly standing out enjoying the
sun and fair numbers of Grey
Herons with some sitting on their nests. We added a couple of Mute Swan on the river and, early
on, near Shoveler hide, a Kingfisher was seen by some of the party. The Scrape hide
turned up a Water Rail but
unfortunately it dissolved into the reeds by the time the majority of the
party got there. There were several sightings of Lapwings. No Reed Bunting though.
The woodland birds were a bit sparse
too. However there was a pretty wide variety. We saw Dunnock and Treecreeper near to Tern
hide, Great, Blue and Long tailed
tits all around the lake, Chaffinch,
Greenfinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Song Thrush (singing
loudly near the iron bridge), Redwing,
and a few Fieldfare, Robin, Wren,
Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Carrion Crow, Jay and Magpie. We managed a few Siskins
but no sizable flock this year. Both Greater
Spotted and Green Woodpecker
were heard and the Ring-necked Parakeets
put in a brief appearance.
A pretty good morning.
HMWT
Bat Walk 2nd September 2011 - Jennifer Gilbert
Following our bat survey workshop at
Denham Country Park on the 2nd September, we embarked on another bat walk
of Stocker's Lake to give our volunteer bat surveyors the chance to hone
their bat detecting skills. This is the first of several training workshops
being run as part of Herts & Middlesex
Wildlife Trust (HMWT)’s' 'Connecting People with the Colne Volley' project. We aim to encourage more
people to become volunteer surveyors in the Colne
Volley and play their part in caring for this fantastic landscape. FoSL members were informed about this event and a few
come along.
We really couldn't have asked for a
better night. Starting along the canal side of the lake we stood watching
and listening to at least five Soprano
Pipistrelles putting on quite a show! These
were the most numerous bats of the night, but we were also lucky enough
to hear the familiar chip-chop echolocation
call of the Noctule bat. More frequently however, we
heard them making what we believe to be a social call. Moving round to
the riverside of the lake we then came across a couple of Daubenton's
bats hunting for insects over the lake.
All in all, a great evening for bats!
However, stealing the show was a fantastic, never to be forgotten,
encounter with a badger.
Reaching the metal bridge near Uxbridge Road a young badger come running
over the bridge only to get spooked by a strange group of people in his
way! After much confusion (on both parts!) he ran back to where he had
come from - hopefully to finish his nightly foraging after we departed.
Next on the list of workshops will be
a wildfowl survey workshop. This will take place on 21st January 2012
also at Stocker's Lake. To find out more
please contact me at wildlifetrust@hillingdon.gov.uk
|
|
Butterfly &
Dragonfly Walk 21st August 2011 – Wendy Wilson
A dozen of us assembled in the rain
on the causeway on Sunday 21st August, to go in search of butterflies and
dragonflies. Not a promising start - insects don't like to fly in the
rain. However it brightened up as we set off and, though we didn't see
much sun on our walk, it remained warm and dry. The first Lepidoptera to
be seen were moths, two of which we identified as common carpet and silver
Y. Then the butterflies started to appear starting with a meadow brown and some small whites. On the thistles in
the field by the river we saw small
tortoiseshell, red admiral and comma,
all of which were lovely brightly coloured fresh specimens. Later we saw
several gatekeepers, green-veined
whites speckled woods and a holly
blue. ln all there
were nine butterfly species.
Dragonflies and damselflies were
harder to identify as they zoomed around at high speed and rarely
settled. Definitely identified were several common blue damselflies (including a mating pair) and two black-tailed damselflies. A
female common darter rested on
top of a nettle by the river and a brown
hawker made several posses in front of us when we had a lunch-stop by
the weir. We saw many other hawkers patrolling their territories at great
speed along the river and canal. They were probably migrant and southern hawkers, which are both common here in
August, but they never obliged by sitting still. We all had a good time and
at least we had a lot to see. Of course the sun came out after we had all
gone home.
At the end we talked about the timing
of our walk. The general opinion was that we should start earlier, say at
10.30am, and finish at 12.30pm so that people could go home for lunch.
(Noted: editor)
|
|
Warbler walk 10th
May 2011 – Dick Breeden
Half a dozen people gathered on the
Causeway for a walk round the lake at half past eight. The weather was
somewhat overcast and cool to begin with but brightened and warmed up as
the morning went on. The trees this year were well in leaf if not quite
full out which obscured our views a bit. Maybe we should do it a week
earlier next year. And so our tally of little brown jobs was somewhat
slow to mount. Quite a lot heard, not so many seen. We managed reed warbler on the causeway and reed bunting on the stretch
approaching Stocker's House. Maybe the next was a garden warbler as we made our way along the canal side path
but the identification was not certain. No blackcap although blackbird and wrens, robins and chaffinches
were plentiful. A few song
thrushes were calling too and a number of the party saw treecreeper
by tern hide. We heard and some saw chiffchaff
but no whitethroat or lesser whitethroat joined the chorus. We did not
get confirmed sightings of sedge
warbler until we reached the reed bed on the river side.
The terns were much in evidence as were the Canada geese plus goslings and a coot with chick was nesting on
the river. There were a few greylag
geese too. We had views of a greater
spotted woodpecker and the ring-necked
parakeets were among the most common sight. Just one kestrel above the causeway
represented the raptors. The herons
were busy but there were few cormorants
this year. The male mallards
were particularly colourful in the bright sunshine with their heads and
neck shining emerald green. There were a few pochards among the rather
more plentiful tufted ducks, coots and moorhens. Otherwise great
and blue tits flitted about. The swallows
were much in evidence over Stocker's House and Lock with some more over
the lake. Only one house martin
identified but several swifts
high up. Including the other common species like swan, woodpigeon, collared dove, crow, magpie and so on we
spotted about 30 species altogether. All in all a pretty good morning.
|
|
Herts
& Middlesex Wildlife Trust Bat Walk 20th April 2011
Robert Hopkins, H&MWT
Reserves Officer
It was an absolutely perfect evening
mild and still with amazing thick clouds of insects forming in the tops
of some of the taller trees. We were delighted to have a group of 27
adults and children attending. After a short introduction into bat
ecology and why Stocker's is a good place for bats we started a leisurely
circuit of the lake. As dusk started our first distant sounds of bat
activity were heard on the bat detectors that had been distributed
amongst the group. The bat detectors were 'tuned into' the echo location
frequencies of different bat species 45KHz for Common Pipistrelle, 55KHz for the 'Soprano' Pipistrelle
and 25Khz for the Noctule.
Soon we were hearing plenty of both species of Pipistrelle
and near Ihe boardwalk a Noctule
was clearly heard with its distinctive 'chip chop' sound.
Viewing the River Colne
from the metal bridge near the Uxbridge
Road entrance, with torches using filtered
red light, we watched a number of Daubentons bats skimming the water eating the emerging
insects.
Returning to our start point at 10.15pm
we were delighted to have heard and seen so much bat activity, and a good
time was had by all. Special thanks to Jane Archer, a FoSL
member who is doing her bat training and who helped tremendously with the
walk.
|
|
Heron watch 10th
April 2011 – Dick Beeden
Pleasant weather so no need for the
shelter. There were a lot of people about enjoying the warm spring
afternoon. The trouble was that not one heron nest was visible from the
causeway. Consequently Ian and I split our forces. He stayed on the causeway
chatting to people and sending those who were interested round to me on
the canal path by the binocular support. From there we had good views of
half a dozen nests. One in particular had three well developed young who
obligingly got up from time to time and
showed up quite well. We also had some good views of birds
by the water's edge and plenty of herons
flying over. The small birds,
tits, chaffinches, wrens, kept us entertained as they flitted in and
out of the trees and bushes to either side of us. Some long tailed tits went through.
Lots of people and children had a look through the telescopes and were
amazed at what they could see so far away. A very worthwhile few hours
spent and a number of new recruits to FoSL
gained.
|
|
Wildfowl
walk 13th February 2011 – Dick Beeden
The weather was dull and damp but not
too cold. The lake was ice free. About 20 members and potential members
gathered on the Causeway for a walk round the lake. Peter Jenkins led one
half round one way and I took the others round the canal side first.
The dabbling ducks were there, mallard,
shoveler, wigeon and
a few gadwall. So too were the diving ducks, tufted,
and pochard and a splendid pair of red crested pochard. The ‘sea ducks’ were represented
too in the shape of several male and female goldeneye.
On this outing the sawbills (ducks with teeth)
showed up right at the beginning of the walk with a good view of a male smew from the causeway and goosander (at least one
male and three females) from the Shoveler hide
and various other places around the lake. No ruddy duck this year. The
lake produced great crested grebe, many coot, only a few moorhens (on the
river), mute swans and Canada geese. The gull family had three
representatives; the ubiquitous black headed gulls (with very variable
amounts of black as their full breading plumage develops), one common
gull on Ark Royal and what was probably a herring gull on the far side
viewed from Tern hide. There were good numbers of herons in the trees.
Some were clearly nesting. Cormorants too were roosting in many of the
trees on the islands. One in particular had a very striking white front.
There were a few lapwings on one of the tern rafts and later a small
flock gave quite an aerial display over Ark Royal.
So much for the lake what about in
the trees? Not a lot sadly. A large flock of siskin near the pumping
station/Kingfisher Hide was a splendid sight. Sadly no treecreeper or nuthatch this year. There were a few great
and blue tits (but surprisingly no long-tailed), wrens, chaffinches,
robins, blackbird and dunnock. House sparrow
was spotted by Stockers House and redwing on the flooded meadow by
Stockers Farm. Greater spotted woodpecker was heard but not seen. The
crow family was represented by common crows, jackdaws and magpies (no
jays). Plenty of wood pigeons and collared doves were roosting in the
trees and a couple of ring necked parakeet put in a noisy appearance.
All in all not a bad morning, given
how quiet it was ornithologically, with a tally
of 37 species.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
.
|
|
|