I've decided I'm going to spend more dinnertimes in 2011 birding at Roundhay, rather than working through my lunch.
I've been up a couple of times lately and walked the lake near The Mansion.
Does anyone have any tips to working Roundhay Park - best bits, any feeding stations etc.?
What does the lake hold in summer grebe wise? At the moment only Mallards and Tufties.
I've usually found the 'Gorge' and the area between the large lower (Waterloo) Lake and the golf couse the best, probably because they're the quietest.
Someone did hang feeders and spread seed on the walls of the Castle ruin at the north end of the Waterloo Lake, which attracted tits (including a Marsh Tit for several winters), nuthatch, finches, but this seems to have stopped. The ducks and geese are fed on both lakes, which attracts a few sparrows, corvids, etc. as well.
The small (upper) lake usually has a pair of Little Grebes in summer whilst the Waterloo Lake has up to five pairs of Great Crested Grebe in the area that the boats can't access.
The large lake seems to attract more fly-over waders and a wider variety of wildfowl.
The churchyard near the car park in the old open-air swimming pool site (just below the dam on the large lake) is also worth visiting (Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Spotted Flycatcher and large Brambling flocks in years gone by).