April 30th
Lea Farm Lake – 2 Common Sandpiper flying around then landed on the north spit (FJC); Oystercatcher (Alan Jackman)
Lavell’s Lake – Sparrowhawk in the tall Popular (Steve Clarke)
Sandford Lake – 2 Common Tern (Alan Jackman)
White Swan Lake – Common Sandpiper (Steve Clarke)
Middle Marsh – Common Sandpiper (Steve Clarke)
2 Common Sandpiper’s on Lea Farm Lake – Alan Jackman
April 29th
2023 Dawn Chorus Walk Summary with Fraser
Lea Farm Lake – 2 Oystercatcher, 2 Common Tern
Lavell’s Lake – 3 Garden Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 3 Reed Warbler, lots Blackcap & Chiffchaff, Cuckoo heard, 2 Shoveler both male, Sparrowhawk perched in big Poplar
Black Swan Lake – Common Sandpiper, Kingfisher, Barnacle Goose presumed feral on shore near the Activity Centre
Other Sightings
Lea Farm Lake – 2 Common Sandpiper in front of Ron’s hide, Cuckoo heard briefly over Lodge Wood (Steve Clarke)
April 28th
Lea Farm Lake – 3 Dunlin picked up in flight moving fast and low over the lake then rose up and kept going west appeared to be adults as black bellies on all of them (FJC)
April 27th
Lea Farm Lake – 3 Kingfisher one over the lake into the south west corner also seen along Loddon before and two near the Green Bridge (FJC); 2 Grey Wagtail (Nick Kightley)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Sparrowhawk over Jack’s (Nick Kightley)
Sandford Lake – Garden Warbler, Treecreeper both near the Yellow gate (Nick Kightley)
Black Swan Lake – 150 mixed hirundines, 10+ Swift, 3 Common Tern all seen near the Activity Centre (FJC)
April 26th
Lea Farm Lake – Sedge Warbler in the reeds to the left of the Ron’s hide, Hobby over heading north (Steve Clarke); Oystercatcher on the east shore (John MacGovan)
Black Swan Lake – 6 Swallow near the Activity Centre (Steve Clarke)
White Swan Lake – 30+ flock of mixed hirundines mostly Swallow’s and Swift’s between White and Black Swan lakes (Steve Clarke)
Middle Marsh – Whitethroat, Reed Warbler (Steve Clarke)
April 25th
Lea Farm Lake – Sedge Warbler in the reeds to the left of the Ron’s hide (John MacGovan); Stonechat on fence, Raven mobbed over Lodge Wood (Nick Kightley)
Lavell’s Lake – Sedge Warbler singing on meadow side of path to Bittern hide (Dave Rimes)
Black Swan Lake – 13 Common Tern feeding in the south west corner (Peter Scudamore)
White Swan Lake – Common Sandpiper flying along the lake edge in the north east corner by the viewpoint (Peter Scudamore)
April 24th
Lavell’s Lake – Sedge Warbler singing on meadow side of path to Bittern hide (Dave Rimes); Cuckoo (John MacGovan)
Black Swan Lake – 2 Bullfinch male and female in the trees near Quinn the squirrel (Paul Mattingly); 4 Common Tern, 100+ Sand Martin, Swallow near the Activity Centre (FJC)
Cuckoo on Lavell’s Lake – John MacGovan
April 23rd
Lea Farm Lake – Common Sandpiper (Steve Clarke); Sedge Warbler in the reeds front left of the hide, Willow Warbler in Willow opposite outside gate, 4 Common Tern on buoys and the ‘T’ bars in front of the hide, Mandarin Duck male flew along east shore and out of sight into south east corner probably kept going, Common Sandpiper landed in front of Ron’s then into the south west corner, Garden Warbler singing in Blackthorn then Willow 60m from Thames Water gate (FJC); 2 Common Sandpiper in front of the Waitrose Screen (Alan Jackman); Little Ringed Plover on the east shore (Dave Rimes)
Lavell’s Lake – Kestrel flew south east over the Landfill towards Car Park field, Garden Warbler singing by yellow gate in Ash and bush around it, Cuckoo calling in the middle somewhere (FJC); Sedge Warbler in reeds (Sally Bryson-Bond); Snipe on the Bund (Peter Scudamore)
Black Swan Lake – Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Blackcap (Steve Clarke); 60+ mixed hirundines mostly over the west side, Swift overhead (FJC)
White Swan Lake – Common Sandpiper (Steve Clarke)
Middle Marsh – Whitethroat (Steve Clarke)
2 Common Sandpiper’s on Lea Farm Lake – Alan Jackman
April 22nd
Lea Farm Lake – Willow Warbler singing 60m from Ron’s hide in a low Willow by a lone Ash along the Loddon, A probable Curlew was seen flying over yesterday evening (FJC); 4 Common Tern (Roger Stansfield)
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo heard on the main island (FJC); Cuckoo calling from the top of the Poplar (Brian Bennett)
Sandford Lake – Garden Warbler singing and showing well by the Wincor Nixdorf screen (Brian Bennett)
Black Swan Lake – Swift over Goat Island with a mixed Hirundine flock (Brian Bennett)
April 21st
Lea Farm Lake – Common Tern variously on island and buoys, 2 Greenfinch, Reed Bunting around the feeder’s (Simon Huggins)
Black Swan Lake – 2 House Martin, 6 Swallow, 10 Sand Martin, Oystercatcher on Goat Island (Brian Bennett)
April 20th
Lea Farm Lake – 5 Green Sandpiper at the north end showing well from the Waitrose screen, 2 Grey Wagtail by the Green Bridge (Alan Jackman)
Lavell’s Lake – Sedge Warbler in reed bed by path to Bittern hide, Cetti’s Warbler also singing (Colin Holmes)
Sandford Lake – Garden Warbler singing in fisherman’s car park on the Loddon (Alan Jackman)
April 19th
Lea Farm Lake – Common Tern just flew in (FJC); 4 Whitethroat in long grass scrub on the estate side of the Green bridge, Cuckoo now in Lodge wood (Nick Kightley)
Lavell’s Lake – Reed Warbler singing from the back of Bittern scrape (Alan Rymer)
Sandford Lake – Reed Warbler singing on the west side near the sluice (Brian Bennett); Kingfisher flew upriver past the weir that feeds the stream on the west side of the lake (Roger Stansfield)
Black Swan Lake – Whitethroat singing and showing well beside main path 100m south of cut through to White Swan, Swift over head (Roger Stansfield)
White Swan Lake – Whitethroat singing in the strip between Black Swan and White Swan lakes (Brian Bennett)
April 18th
Lea Farm Lake – Curlew feeding on landfill before flying off high south west calling (Brian Bennett); Greenshank in north east corner feeding, Cuckoo calling near the Teal scrape (Roger Stansfield)
Lavell’s Lake – Greenshank feeding on the scrape then flew off calling, Snipe (Alan Jackman)
Greenshank on Lea Farm Lake – FJC
Greenshank on Lavell’s Lake – Alan Jackman
April 17th
Lea Farm Lake – Sedge Warbler singing and showing at times in reeds close to hide (Brian Bennett); 5 Buzzard over Ron’s hide, Willow Warblers singing by the Green Bridge (Nick Kightley); 2 Common Tern just arrived and sat on the buoys (Roger Stansfield)
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo male singing and showing from willows behind scrape seen from Tern hide, Sedge Warbler singing and showing in the scrape reed bed seen from Bittern hide (Mike Kirby); 2 Willow Warbler one near Bittern hide and the second in the top Car Park field, Reed Warbler at Bittern hide, 2 Sparrowhawk circling (Nick Kightley)
Black Swan Lake – 2 Common Tern (Nick Kightley)
White Swan Lake – Reed Warbler singing and showing occasionally in the north east reed bed (Brian Bennett)
April 16th
Lea Farm Lake – Cuckoo in the big Alder above Waitrose screen then flew to Lavell’s, Sedge Warbler showing on and off then moved to the Sedge right in front of hide (FJC); 4 House Martin from the Waitrose screen (Ralph Watts)
Lavell’s Lake – Swift on Lavell’s boundary near the Emm Brook (FJC); 3 Willow Warbler near Bittern hide and the Car Park field, Little Egret, 2 Ring-necked Parakeet, 5 Chiffchaff (Ralph Watts)
April 15th
Lea Farm Lake – 100+ Sand Martin remain here the colony is now bigger than it’s ever been, 10+ Buzzard up high across wider airspace, Cuckoo calling off to north, Green Sandpiper on the east shore (FJC); Reed Warbler near the Waitrose hide, 30 House Martin over the lake before heading north (Brian Crathorne)
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo heard calling somewhere in the middle, 5 Willow Warbler between Bittern hide and the Car Park field (FJC); Cuckoo calling from northern edge (Neil Simmons)
Black Swan Lake – Swift moving over a wide area between the Activity Centre and Sandford (FJC)
April 14th
Lea Farm Lake – Willow Warbler singing just outside Ron’s hide, 2 Snipe on the east shore near the mouth of the south east bay, 7 Teal, Shoveler, Reed Warbler singing briefly under left hand end of Ron’s hide (FJC); Little Ringed Plover just arrived on the east shore (Dave Rimes)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Willow Warbler in Car Park field (FJC)
April 13th
Lea Farm Lake – 3 Willow Warbler one singing just before Ron’s hide and two by the Green Bridge (Nick Kightley); 22 Common Gull just dropped in (FJC)
Lavell’s Lake – Willow Warbler singing in the Car Park field (Dave Rimes); 200+ Hirindines feeding very high above Lodge Wood seen from the Car Park field (Trevor Guyatt); 9 Willow Warbler four between Teal hide and the Green Bridge two near Gerry’s bench two in the central copse in the Car Park field and one near the Yellow Gate (Nick Kightley)
Sandford Lake – Grey Wagtail on wires over Sandford Bridge (Nick Kightley); Redstart on the path between the lake and the road near the screen (Tim James)
Black Swan Lake – Swift over Goat Island, Willow Warbler singing in the Activity Centre car park, 2 Common Tern just dropped in (Dave Rimes); Willow Warbler by the Wooden Bridge over the Emm Brook (Colin Holmes)
April 12th
Lea Farm Lake – Swallow over lake with the Sand Martins (Peter Scudamore)
April 11th
Lea Farm Lake – 70+ Sand Martin at the wall (FJC)
Lavell’s Lake – Willow Warbler singing by beginning of path to Bittern hide (Dave Rimes); Kingfisher flying upstream along Loddon near Teal hide (FJC)
Black Swan Lake – 2 Swallow past the Activity Centre (FJC)
April 9th
Lea Farm Lake – Cuckoo heard at Ron’s hide, 2 Swallow over Ron’s hide (Steve Clarke)
April 8th
Lavell’s Lake – Cattle Egret flew along the Loddon (John Warren)
April 7th
Lavell’s Lake – Green Sandpiper flew to the north shore (Richard Marsh)
April 6th
Lea Farm Lake – Swallow, Raven over Ron’s hide heading towards the housing estate (Nick Kightley); 4 Swallow, 40+ Sand Martin, Green Sandpiper, Common Gull adult (Brian Bennett)
Lavell’s Lake – Willow Warbler at the top of the Car Park field (Nick Kightley)
Black Swan Lake – Swallow on wire in the Activity Centre (Nick Kightley)
Sandford Lake – Grey Wagtail near Sandford Bridge (Nick Kightley)
April 5th
Lea Farm Lake – 15 Sand Martin high over the lake (Ray Reedman); Sand Martins busy collecting grasses from the track and taking to wall for their nests (Peter Scudamore)
April 4th
Lavell’s Lake – Kingfisher seen from the path to Bittern hide (Steve Clarke)
April 3rd
Lavell’s Lake – Barn Owl appeared from it’s Box (Alan Jackman)
Black Swan Lake – Common Tern darting about by the solar panels, Swallow on wire in the Activity Centre carpark, Oystercatcher on Goat island (Colin Holmes)
Sandford Lake – Oystercatcher on one of the island (Colin Holmes)
April 2nd
Black Swan Lake – 8 Swallow, 2 Common Tern (Brian Crathorne)
April 1st
Lavell’s Lake – Raven heard east of Car Park, 1+ House Martin overhead, 2 Willow Warbler in Car Park field, 3 Fieldfare just flew off north from the Car Park field, 2 Redwing dropped onto the Landfill,
Sandford Lake – Willow Warbler singing over Aviation Museum near jet with folding wings (FJC)
Black Swan Lake – Mistle Thrush singing in large Oak on the east side 200m down from Activity Centre on the Old Golf Course, 90+ Sand Martin, 3 Swallow through north, House Martin (FJC); Common Tern over (Elaine Charlson); 2 Common Tern on the jetty in front of the Activity Centre (Alan Jackman)
Common Tern on Black Swan Lake – Alan Jackman
