An enjoyable afternoon out 21/04/09 at Marston Vale Country Park, Bedfordshire.
The weather was beautiful today. So we decided to go for another walk this afternoon. We went to Marston Vale with binoculars and Scope in hand looking forward to seeing any interesting birds. We wanted to see what species where around on a hot, sunny afternoon.
We past by the large
Rookery by the A421 roadway, and we could see all the
Rooks doing their best to build a nest. One bird was flying with a stick longer than its own body. It wrestled with that stick as we drove by. The
Rook was determined to add more nest material to its nest. The nests must be quite robust as they need to be as
Rooks are quite large birds, and like to be in a sociable, family group as they do.
We drove past the new road works, and all the additional traffic cones everywhere. Lots of improvements going on the local road network in Bedford. In theory it is supposed to make it more car friendly. Wonder if it really works or does it increase the flow of traffic. The problem only goes around in a vicious circle each and every time. I am sure that the Large
Rook colony will appreciate it as it means that not so many cars will be so close to their nests in the future. Maybe a blessing for the
Rooks after all, so they have some peace in their lives.
We made our way into Marston Vale carpark, and the first bird we heard was a
Willow Warbler. What an unmistakeable song that they have, and they are very vocal birds for their size. The car park was quite busy. I had a feeling that the school holidays where still on the go. There where quite a few cars around, and the place was quite busy even for a week day.
We started on our walk heading towards the Chimneys at Stewartsby lake. I looked over the waterway. The water was calm and still. All I could see where
Gulls of all sorts. No sign of any
Terns at all. Some immature gulls where moving around too though it was hard to see if there where parent birds and youngsters together. We could some possible
Black Headed Gulls though not ruling out
Little Gulls as they look so similar. The
Gulls we saw flying above looked quite stocky and small, as they flew overhead so that would need to be confirmed by someone else. I heard someone mention that there had been
Little Gulls seem in the area. So you never know what you are going to see at all.
A
Peacock Butterfly flew past, then a large
Male Brimstone. The place was alight with Butterflies. Another Brown butterfly flew past to fast for us to see. We tried to take a picture of it but it was too fast for us. It was brown with cream speckles on the wings, and quite distinctive looking. I thought it was a
Speckled Wood. We tried to take a picture of it but it was too fast for us. A
Speckled Wood was a positive ID later in the day. I was pleased because I had never seen one before.
We set up the Scope facing the chimneys to see what was around. We could see
Gulls of all types,
Coots, Great Crested Grebes, and
Mallards where everywhere.
As we stood looking around, a
Dragonfly buzzed past us. My OH was amazed to see it, and so was I. This is ideal territory for them as they like lots of reeds, plants, covered area, overgrown pools of water. I thought it might be early but if one was seen it tells a lot about the species.
We carried on looking out over the lake and it was quiet other than the sea of
Gulls close to the chimneys.
Terns like to stand on the coloured buoys and that is a giveaway to their presence. They seem to like to sit on landmarks a lot – wonder why?
We saw
3 Orange Tip Butterflies in all at different areas of our walk. They where very active, and very hard to take a picture as they just seemed to know that we where there and they flew off. They disappeared the moment you approached them with a camera.
At one stage we saw a
Small Tortoiseshell, and it flew past in the slight wind, and did not stay long at all as they do.
We went back to looking through the scope over the water and we could see a group of
Coots, a couple of
Mute Swans nearby, and a lone
Great Crested Grebe. I wonder if it had a mate at all. After a few minutes we decided to move on, and see what else we could see on our walkabout.
We could hear members of the
Warbler family from all angles. The
Willow Warblers, Sedge Warblers and
Blackcaps where all singing their hearts out, and it made for a beautiful singing contest. I could have stood all day listening to the chorus of birds, so soothing on the mind.
Willow Warblers where singing from all corners of the Reserve. There was no shortage of them at all from where we walked around. At one point one
Willow Warbler sat on a thin branch, almost going around in circles first one way then another way, singing like fury. It was happy sitting up in the highest point of a spindly tree. It fluffed itself into song. It felt although this bird wanted all birds in the area to hear its song. It was the bird with the loudest call that counted over the other birds. There appeared to so much competition going on between the same species.
We set the scope up, and the same bird stayed put, and was so very obliging. The bird allowed us to spend a bit of valuable time to study it. It was a beauty, and what a call it had. I am sure this is the bird was staking its territory and was having no impostors near him at all.
We past a lot of wild flowers, and the
Cowslips where growing in abundance. I took a couple of pictures of the wild flowers. Put it another way, at least they stayed still and did not fly off away from being photographed at all. So more running about with camera in hand thank goodness for that.
Then another little bird made its presence known. Lots of ‘scratching’ noises, a good mixture of tunes as the songster made its presence known in a nearby bush. We knew it was a
Sedge Warbler. Still very distinctive as birds calls go. We stood and let it make its own decisions where it wanted to be. It flew into a spindly tree.
The white line above its eyes, was the best ID for us to focus on, and that rasping so easily noted. It sat on its branch singing its heart out, and we had the scope on the bird in question. It was easy to see.
I was so chuffed to see all of these birds close up and personal. Great to practice using the scope we had on our person. Practice and more practice makes perfect. To be honest we had not used the scope enough, other than on garden birds at the feeders in our back garden. Now we had moved on to other things, and that just made our day. Bird book in hand, oh yes we wanted to know our species, and we will.
We moved on, and another
Peacock Butterfly flew past, then another, and a
White butterfly flew above our head.
A butterfly of some type, landed on the dock leaves, and we did not manage to ID it straight away. Description wise, it was mainly mid Brown coloured, speckled and with shade of cream yellow.
Speckled Wood fitted its description. It flew of before we could get a picture of it.
There was a group of evergreen bushes close by. Another
Sedge Warbler had appeared. He would go quiet for a minute, and then burst into an array of very quick rasping song. He went quiet and then another burst of rasping song. Each time he sang his song he appeared for a second near the top of the bush. He hoped into the top of a spindly area of the bush. We scoped him, though this time he was much harder to see.
Anyway, we continued and we stopped once more to hear a
Male Blackcap melody tinkling in a nearby bush. We moved on for a few metres to hear more
Blackcaps as we went.
We stood and waited patiently, and we could see a
Male and a
Female Blackcap through our scope moving about low down in a large bush together. They where so vocal it was amazing to hear such a lot of bird compacted in a few decibels of song. Fabulous to listen too any day as one would. Never tire of their songs. They are beautiful to listen too any day.
We had another look over the lakes. We could see birds gathering nest material. Then two
Sand Martins flew over head. Not many
Sand Martins this around this afternoon but it showed that they are still here at the moment. Lots of twittering where be heard from the
Sand Martins overhead. Maybe it is the wrong time of day for them to be around, and in the strong sun too - they need dull days for their food source.
I could hear a few Yaffling noises in the distance. A
Green Woodpecker was moving around. No doubt responding to all the different resounding calls, close by to where we stood. So unmistakable to hear that ‘Yaffle’ any day. There are more
Green Woodpeckers in the trees close by to us and they made their presence known.
After passing the Garden Feeders, we went into the bird hide for a 15 minutes or so. We could see all of the activity over the lake. There is some nesting going on. Lots of
Coots, Great Crested Grebes, Canada Geese, Mallard Ducks, and
Mute Swans where scattered everywhere over the lake. There where 4
Great Cormorants sitting one of the many islands. They sat either sunning their feathers, or just sitting about as they do.
The weather was very hot and not much activity was taking place at all. I was under the impression that birds where hiding to keep cool from the sun.
As we continued our walk, a lone
Damselfly flew past. We could tell from the size of the body and the way it was flying. Like the
Dragonfly earlier maybe it is going be a good year for them. The area is ideal for them to live and breed anytime. Looking forward to seeing how they do this year.
Another
Peacock Butterfly fluttered past. So now I had counted
6 Peacock Butterflies in this one 2 hour 30 min walk. A group of
Goldfinches where sitting in the nearby tree. Lots of
Goldfinchs lovely resounding tinkling notes of their song resounded back to us. Two
Canada Geese fly right over our heads honking as they did and they landed in the nearby fields. Another group of geese greeted them with louder honking
As we passed the Wetlands area signpost on our way back to the Visitors Centre, the
Sedge Warblers where everywhere claiming their patch. Lots of rasping calls filled the air. A busy little establishment of
Sedge Warblers singing together claiming their patch as they do as part of nature. They where so vocal as they are towards their own species
In the fields behind we could see
5 Magpies sitting close together on the fence wire. Again the scope became very useful. It was hard to tell if the
Magpies where a family group, or not. Anyway they where close, and they flew everywhere together. They where not wanting to be apart in any way.
We moved on, and I could hear another large group of
Goldfinches in a tree. They sat in a group singing over each other. Another Scope filled vision of Goldfinches - so beautiful. The yellow colour of their plumage shone out for us to see in the warm, sunny, weather.
A
Damselfly flies past me. I thought it is too early for them but it was the size of a
Damselfly buzzing past me. I was amazed so it must be getting close to their season now.
Lots more
Canadian Geese took off over our heads to join their group in the local fields to graze to socialize with other geese and a Farmyard Goose or two. Lots of goose language going on between Geese once more.
We made our way back to the visitor centre. I could hear further twittering from the Warbler family in the trees. The
Willow Warblers where the most numerous of calls heard throughout our whole trip.
We walked by a lot of
Marsh Marigolds which are growing on the lake edge near outside area of the cafeteria. A couple of
Mute Swans where swimming about and a
Mallard or two stayed in one place. A
Crow who was sitting on top of a dead looking tree, decides to move off, and Caws loudly. He manages to get our attention in the process and he flies of in the opposite direction.
Then of all things to hear we heard the calls of a
Cuckoo. Then another call from a
Cuckoo once more filled the air. It was so good to hear the Cuckoo sounds once more.
Never heard one for years on end, it feels that way. So it proves the point that
Cuckoos are around once more.
We headed of back to the visitors centre for a sit down and a cup of tea. As we did we past a tree with a
Male Yellow Hammer sitting on the top most branches of a tree. His Yellow head was very distinctive again the sunlight. He was singing his heart out. By this point in time we had put our scope away and we relied on the binoculars instead. The bird was beautiful and he sat their singing unphased by all the people walking close by to the tree.
We finally sat down with our tea, and relaxed. Then a
Pied Wagtail flew down close to our table. What a sweet little thing. No doubt he was on the search for crumbs. He sat there staring at us intently, and he flew away chirping in quick succession as he did. He flew off into a clump of low bushes close by.
Loved our trip today, and we have learned a lot from our trips over the last while or so. Lots of learning to do now and in the future of wildlife watching. Cannot wait for our next journey out
Picture 1 - Peacock Butterfly
Picture 2 - Islands in Lake
Picture 3 - Cowslip
Picture 4 - Lake by vistors Centre
Picture 5 - Marsh Marigold
