A dozen of us set off from the bench on the causeway and made our way clockwise round the lake. The weather was fair with a good deal of sunshine. We were fortunate to hear large numbers of Reed Warblers and had good views of a few. We also heard a cuckoo some way off which then flew over the lake. The walk was in some ways uneventful apart from the frequent stops to listen and see if we could see the birds that were calling. Modern technology was much in evidence with several walkers using the Merlin app on their phones to assist with the identification. We got back to the seat after about 2 hours and having heard and in most cases seen 44 different species including Reed, Cettie’s and Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff. The Sedge Warbler was however conspicuous by its absence. And given that it was a sunny day in May we did not see a single butterfly. Both odd. The full list was as follows:

Great Crested Grebe, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Egyptian Goose, Mallard, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Red Kite, Moorhen, Coot, Dunlin, Black headed Gull, Common Gull, Common Tern, Wood Pigeon, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Cuckoo, Swift, Kingfisher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, House Martin, Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Cetti's Warbler, Reed Warbler, Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Greenfinch, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Jay, Common Magpie, Crow, House Sparrow and Chaffinch.

Richard Beeden