May 31st
Lea Farm Lake – Green Sandpiper between Ron’s and the Waitrose hides, 2 Greenfinch on the feeders, Cetti’s Warbler heard, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gull, Reed Bunting on feeders, Little Egret (Andrew Curd); Grey Wagtail adult male collecting food along edge between hide and the Waitrose screen, 2 Reed Warbler back and forth between the hedge and the small reed bed, 12+ Common Tern on island with possibly 8 “sitting”, Hobby hunting briefly low above Lodge Wood then moved away north (Trevor Guyatt)
May 30th
Lavell’s Lake – Green Sandpiper on the Tern Scrape, Grey Wagtail, 3 Little Egret (Alan Jackman)
Sandford Lake – Oystercatcher (Alan Jackman)
May 29th
Lea Farm Lake – Greenshank on the north spit (FJC); Oystercatcher, Little Egret (Marek Walford)
Greenshank at Lea Farm Lake – Steve Clarke
May 28th
Lea Farm Lake – Lesser Black-backed Gull on the island, Oystercatcher flying towards the Activity Centre really low (Steve Clarke)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Shoveler, 3 Gadwall, 9 Tufted Duck, Lapwing, 10 Mallard on the Bund, Little Egret on the Scrape (Peter Scudamore)
May 27th
Lea Farm Lake – Little Ringed Plover heard calling then seen flying high east, 18 Common Tern, Cuckoo, Little Egret in the north west corner (FJC)
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo heard calling in the tall Alder tree, 2 Common Sandpiper, Lesser Whitethroat calling in the Car Park field central copse (Steve Clarke); Shoveler male, 3 Little Egret, Kestrel over the Car Park field (FJC) ; Oystercatcher calling on the Bund, 2 Little Egret (Phil Sigley); 2 Little Ringed Plover (Brian Bennett); 3 Common Sandpiper (Grant Evans)
Black Swan Lake – Peregrine male over flying south to north (FJC)
May 25th
Lea Farm Lake – Reed Bunting male at Ron’s today, Cuckoo flew in front of hide towards Lavell’s (Nick Kightley)
May 24th
Lavell’s Lake – Lesser Whitethroat in the Car Park field central copse (Alan Jackman); Tawny Owl being ruthlessly mobbed by a dozen corvids before diving for cover (Steve Hughes); Oystercatcher on the Bund (Geoff Emmett)
Sandford Lake – 2 Common Sandpiper, Oystercatcher both on one of the island (Alan Jackman)
May 23rd
Lea Farm Lake – Skylark over Landfill (Nick Kightley)
Lavell’s Lake – Lesser Whitethroat still in the Car Park field central copse (Alan Rymer)
May 22nd
Lea Farm Lake – Hobby hawking for insects over the Landfill (Brian Bennett)
Lavell’s Lake – Lesser Whitethroat singing and showing well in the Car Park field copse, Cuckoo calling from the tall Poplar (Dave Rimes); Kingfisher flying downstream past the Green Bridge (Brian Bennett)
Black Swan Lake – 4 Oystercatcher two adults with two chicks on the small beach area on the east side of Goat Island, Mandarin Duck male at duck feeding area then flew east (Dave Rimes)
May 21st
Lea Farm Lake – Sparrowhawk female on the path behind Ron’s hide with a black bird but having difficulty flying off with it so unlikely to be a Blackbird probably a Crow or Jackdaw? Gone into bushes now (Peter Scudamore)
Lavell’s Lake – Lesser Whitethroat in the middle copse in the Car Park field calling constantly then flew to hedge (FJC); Kestrel male briefly interacted with a Hobby around the large Poplar (Roger Stansfield)
May 20th
Lavell’s Lake – Great Crested Grebe with a chick on it’s back (FJC)
Sandford Lake – 3 Grey Wagtail adult and two young near Sandford Bridge (Tim James)
May 19th
Lea Farm Lake – 27 Common Tern on the main Island many mating whilst others scrapping for nesting rites, 11 Black Headed Gulls, 3 Lesser Black-backed Gull on the east shore, 60+ Sand Martin, Shoveler male, Little Egret, Sparrowhawk male flew past feeder’s, Cetti’s Warbler calling repeatedly from reeds (Michael Hubbard)
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo calling from the island, Oystercatcher over calling (Michael Hubbard)
Black Swan Lake – 4 Oystercatcher two adults with two chicks on the small beach area on the east side of Goat Island (Tim James)
May 18th
Lea Farm Lake – 7 Common Tern including 2 pairs on the island (Andrew Curd)
Lavell’s Lake – Oystercatcher adult on the Bund, Sedge Warbler singing from right of hide, 2 Shoveler both males (Alan Rymer)
May 17th
Lea Farm Lake – 6 Common Tern on the island (Alan Jackman)
Lavell’s Lake – Kingfisher calling this morning heard from near Bittern hide (Jon Cole)
May 16th
Lea Farm Lake – Kingfisher flew passed the front of Ron’s hide, Cuckoo just flew passed Ron’s hide (Richard Sajdak)
May 15th
Lea Farm Lake – Oystercatcher, Skylark (Nick Kightley)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Hobby over the Car Park field, Whitethroat in the paddock (Nick Kightley)
May 14th
Lea Farm Lake – 2 Shoveler both male on the south east shore (FJC); 3 Little Egret, 2 families of Long-tailed Tits with numerous young, 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker feeding young opposite the Green Bridge (Peter Scudamore)
Lavell’s Lake – Hobby over the Car Park field (FJC)
Sandford Lake – Grey Wagtail near the lay-by (Jamie Samson)
May 13th
Black Swan Lake – 40+ Swallow, 50+ Swift, Sand Martin’s and House Martin’s in limited numbers near the Activity Centre (FJC)
May 12th
Lavell’s Lake – Treecreeper in a tree outside Bittern hide (David White); Cuckoo calling from the island (Tim James)
May 10th
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo calling above Teal hide then moved to edge of scrape (Peter Scudamore)
May 9th
Lea Farm Lake – Sparrowhawk in an Alder opposite Lea Farm (Roger Stansfield)
Lavell’s Lake – Reed Warbler heard in reeds before hide, 2 Ring-necked Parakeet on the feeder’s, Green Woodpecker in the Car Park field (Andrew Curd); Hobby circled over large Poplar and drifted off over landfill (Roger Stansfield)
Black Swan Lake – 2 Common Terns near the Activity Centre (Andrew Curd)
Middle Marsh – 2 Garden Warbler along southern most hedgerow, Whitethroat in middle not far south of the wooden bridge (FJC)
Sparrowhawk at Lavell’s Lake – Roger Stansfield
May 8th
Lea Farm Lake – Little Ringed Plover on the east shore behind the main island (Brian Bennett)
Black Swan Lake – Ringed Plover over high heading west calling (FJC); 20+ Swift circling overhead and calling (Paul Mattingly)
May 7th
Lea Farm Lake – Oystercatcher on the north spit, 10 Common Tern overhead, Common Gull on the east shore (Steve Clarke); Common Sandpiper, 2 Little Ringed Plover on the east shore left of back shingle spit, Whitethroat behind trees at back of the south west corner (FJC)
Lavell’s Lake – Cuckoo heard, Mixed hirundines mostly Swallow’s and Swift’s over the Car Park field (Steve Clarke)
White Swan Lake – Hobby hawking over the reed bed ,4 Reed Warbler at least singing from within the reed bed (Michael Hubbard)
May 6th
Lea Farm Lake – Oystercatcher heading north (Steve Clarke); Common Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Cuckoo over low towards Lodge Wood, Common Gull second summer on spit on the east shore (FJC)
Sandford Lake – Mandarin Duck male on the Loddon between White Swan and Sandford (Dave Rimes)
Black Swan Lake – 120+ Swift, 30+ Swallow, 70+ House Martin, 30+ Sand Martin (FJC)
May 5th
Lea Farm Lake – 18 Common Tern flying around lake, 3 Gadwall all males, Oystercatcher, 4 Little Egret, Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover on the east shore (FJC); 2 Little Ringed Plover on the east shore, Common Sandpiper on the east shore (John MacGovan)
May 4th
Lea Farm Lake – 2 Common Sandpiper (Alan Jackman)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Common Tern near Bittern hide, 2 Garden Warbler one by the Yellow Gate the second near the Loddon (Alan Jackman)
Garden Warbler at Lavell’s Lake – Alan Jackman
May 3rd
Lea Farm Lake – Common Sandpiper, 2 Little Grebe (John MacGovan); 2 Goldfinch, Greenfinch on the feeder’s at Ron’s hide, Little Egret (Jenn Runde)
Lavell’s Lake – Oystercatcher seen from Bittern hide, Pochard, Swift over, Raven over, Reed Warbler in reeds on path to the hide, 2 Shoveler (Ralph Watts)
Sandford Lake – 2 Oystercatcher flying around by Sandford Lane mill (Jamie Samson)
May 2nd
Lea Farm Lake – 2 Common Sandpiper (FJC)
Lavell’s Lake – 3 Swift just flew over and back towards Sandford Lane (Peter Scudamore); 2 Shoveler both male, 4 Tufted Duck, 2+ Reed Warbler in the reed beds, Cetti’s Warbler heard, Reed Bunting singing too (Michael Hubbard)
Sandford Lake – Tawny Owl female calling repeatedly whilst flying over the Lake and Loddon area to the west (Michael Hubbard)
May 1st
Lea Farm Lake – Common Sandpiper (Rick Dawson); Little Egret, 3 Common Tern, Cuckoo calling from Lavell’s, Reed Warbler in reeds to the left, Garden Warbler third of way towards Waitrose screen, Sedge Warbler singing further down the reed bed, Sand Martin with all white tail (FJC)
Lavell’s Lake – 2 Shoveler both male, Teal male, 5+ Reed Warbler (FJC)
Black Swan Lake – 35+ Swift, 10+ House Martin all seen near the Activity Centre (FJC); Hobby flying over main centre buildings heading west (Tim James)
