woke up this morning to the sun shining and decided to take a quick trip to my prefered local patch (not all that local considering its locality to my house but oh well) Summerleyes Nature Reserve. if your in northamptonshire you should know of it; in my opinion the best place to watch birds in the county as a whole unless its winter time in which case pitsford res is possibly better (due to wildfowl)
anyways after arriving in the car park at 7:45 i was greeted by a sky full of swifts walking threw the carpark towards a pathway which runs side by side with the road next to summerleyes in an area i always called the forgotten summerleyes simply because no one really went there. i saw carrion crow & blackheaded gulls flying over head.
carrying along the footpath bird songs were plentyfull how ever due to the thickness of the hedge rows spotting the majority of the birds prooved dificult. how ever as i walked along the path before heading to an open part of grassland and the first glimps of summerleys lake i managed to get willow warbler, wren, wood pigeon & cormorant the latter flying over head in the direction of the lake.
looking out onto the area of the lake i could see i spotted grey heron, great crested grebe & common tern carrying along the path i counted sedge warbler these birds would become the most common warbler of the trip as well as reed bunting, goldfinch, great tit, black bird & white throat. reaching the end of the path i turned back but not before adding green finch, mute swan, mallard & song thrush to the list.
got back to the carpark by about 8:10 and headed into the first hide. managed dunnock & black cap before i enterd the door. the hide over looks the lake and a small island infront of the hide has black headed gulls and common terns breeding there, i also managed in the first hide of the trip to secure morehen, coot, oystercatcher, tufted duck & lapwing to the list.
heading towards the 2nd hide also in the carpark area i heard a cuckoo and saw a pheasant. into the 2nd hide i went shocked to see a couple of little egret in the mud, this part of summerleys is ideal for waders and i managed to add ringed plover and redshank to the list here as well as canada geese & green woodpecker. heading outside the hide i went along the peremiter path which goes all the way around summerleyes. along the way to the 3rd hide i saw robin & magpie as well as a lovely displaying willow warbler.
the 3rd hide has two levels and offer a diffrent view of the same area of the reserve as the 2nd hide does. but alas no new birds were added here but did get much better views of the ring plover and redshank here.
the 4th hide is in the open a little and got a bit nippy however i was joined in the 4th hide by bird photographers searching for the elusive cuckoo i had heard earlier i managed to add pied wagtail & swallow to the list here but that was it.
the 5th and final hide in summerleyes nature reserve is a personal favourite because its a feeding station and its one of the best places in the county maybe even the country to see tree sparrows on there day however today i only managed to see 1 male tree sparrow, blue tit & chaffinch i moved on after spending a few more minuets here watching a family of nearly fully grown mallards attempt to steal the bird feed.
i was starting to feel hungry so i headed back along the far side of summerleyes along the way to the car i got my last two birds bullfinch & herring gull
all in all a very nice morning the most productive trip to summerleyes so far this year.. afterall it has been a good couple of years since iv done some serious birdwatching, and considering summerleys in migration times can be very good but overall 40birds is not all that bad for summer considering there was some missing from the list which should have been there (collard dove etc)
hope u enjoyed my trip report more to come
anyways after arriving in the car park at 7:45 i was greeted by a sky full of swifts walking threw the carpark towards a pathway which runs side by side with the road next to summerleyes in an area i always called the forgotten summerleyes simply because no one really went there. i saw carrion crow & blackheaded gulls flying over head.
carrying along the footpath bird songs were plentyfull how ever due to the thickness of the hedge rows spotting the majority of the birds prooved dificult. how ever as i walked along the path before heading to an open part of grassland and the first glimps of summerleys lake i managed to get willow warbler, wren, wood pigeon & cormorant the latter flying over head in the direction of the lake.
looking out onto the area of the lake i could see i spotted grey heron, great crested grebe & common tern carrying along the path i counted sedge warbler these birds would become the most common warbler of the trip as well as reed bunting, goldfinch, great tit, black bird & white throat. reaching the end of the path i turned back but not before adding green finch, mute swan, mallard & song thrush to the list.
got back to the carpark by about 8:10 and headed into the first hide. managed dunnock & black cap before i enterd the door. the hide over looks the lake and a small island infront of the hide has black headed gulls and common terns breeding there, i also managed in the first hide of the trip to secure morehen, coot, oystercatcher, tufted duck & lapwing to the list.
heading towards the 2nd hide also in the carpark area i heard a cuckoo and saw a pheasant. into the 2nd hide i went shocked to see a couple of little egret in the mud, this part of summerleys is ideal for waders and i managed to add ringed plover and redshank to the list here as well as canada geese & green woodpecker. heading outside the hide i went along the peremiter path which goes all the way around summerleyes. along the way to the 3rd hide i saw robin & magpie as well as a lovely displaying willow warbler.
the 3rd hide has two levels and offer a diffrent view of the same area of the reserve as the 2nd hide does. but alas no new birds were added here but did get much better views of the ring plover and redshank here.
the 4th hide is in the open a little and got a bit nippy however i was joined in the 4th hide by bird photographers searching for the elusive cuckoo i had heard earlier i managed to add pied wagtail & swallow to the list here but that was it.
the 5th and final hide in summerleyes nature reserve is a personal favourite because its a feeding station and its one of the best places in the county maybe even the country to see tree sparrows on there day however today i only managed to see 1 male tree sparrow, blue tit & chaffinch i moved on after spending a few more minuets here watching a family of nearly fully grown mallards attempt to steal the bird feed.
i was starting to feel hungry so i headed back along the far side of summerleyes along the way to the car i got my last two birds bullfinch & herring gull
all in all a very nice morning the most productive trip to summerleyes so far this year.. afterall it has been a good couple of years since iv done some serious birdwatching, and considering summerleys in migration times can be very good but overall 40birds is not all that bad for summer considering there was some missing from the list which should have been there (collard dove etc)
hope u enjoyed my trip report more to come
