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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Roundhay Park Bird News (1 Viewer)

It's lovely to hear news from the park... I lived not too far away in the '70s at Thorner.

Goosanders are great birds, aren't they - one of my favourites to see on the river here.

Thanks Tony.
 
Hi Delia,

Yes fantastic to see them at close quarters - they are very tame considering the number of people walking around the pond / lake. No chance to go today - I am really hoping for a Med gull in with the common gulls but we shall see.

Best for now,

Tony
 
Don't get down there as often as I should given my proximity. However that will change come 2020 when I will be making extremely regular trips to the Park and Gorge as I will be retired by then and will be compiling records to go into my proposed book on a year at Roundhay Park.
 
Great news Keith, although 2020 seems a while away (not certain I'll still be counting the goosanders there then !).

I will keep chipping in records as and when time permits. Do you happen to know when the last records were of birds like hawfinch and lesser spotted woodpecker from the Park ? Tony
 
No idea Tony, nothing in YNU Bird Report for the years 2006 to 2012 (still waiting 2013 to be issued). The (now defunct) Leeds Birdwatchers Club used to issue a yearly report and would have records from Roundhay Park - sadly I have only 2 of those reports and no records in them. When I get time I will trawl the Yorkshire Birding magazine (again defunct) - got all but 3 issues of that covering the years from 1993, if I turn up anything will post on here.
 
Dug out some info from Yorkshire Birding magazine - Lesser pecker Feb 1997 and 1998 single records in both years. No Hawfinch records so far
 
I used to live within walking distance of the park and visited fairly regularly. I was also one of the Recorders for the Leeds Birdwatchers' Club for 20 or so years, and have pulled up this info.
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was regularly (though not annually) reported through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s but then just three reports in 2000 and one in 2005, with up to three birds at times. Drumming was heard in several years but breeding was never proved. Most of my records came from the area between the Waterloo Lake and the Golf Course. The decrease was probably due to fewer active birders visiting the park in the later years.
I never saw Hawfinch myself (indeed I have only had two sightings in the Leeds area in 40 years) but they possibly bred in 1960, with other records in 1961, 1962 and 1965 but since then just singles in 1977, 1991 and 2001.
Both species can be difficult to find and see even when known to be present. It is likely that Lesser Spotted Woodpecker is still around, but Hawfinch is almost a mythical beast in Yorkshire these days so the chances of seeing one in the park are slim at best. Hope this helps.
Paul
 
Thanks for that Paul - I will agree about the status of hawfinch in Yorkshire. Last one I saw was at Millington Woods when the rough-leg was wintering there. Never seen one in Leeds area
 
Thanks loiner and Keith on the updates - I wouldn't be confident on seeing either of them - but it gives me something to go at.

With the ongoing rapid decline in lsw, I wonder if hawfinch is nowadays the likelier ?

My best bird to date is probably little gull (2 at the same time), but I am an ad-hoc visitor to the park really...

6 goosander there today (2 drakes, 4 ducks), 31 mute swan, and some half decent gull numbers - the goosanders favour the Upper Lake....

Cheers

Tony
 
Upwards of 2000 gulls on Soldiers Field this AM, mostly black-heads but there were a few commons in there. No black-backs and as I was driving couldn't grill them for a med.
 
Crikey. 2000 is a decent count. I will have to try and get out next week (been away most of week). Am I correct in thinking that common gull (rather than black-headed gull is a better 'carrier' species for Med. gull), in which case more common gulls would be ideal ? Or have I just made this up ?

I also see more herring gulls than LBBGs.

Common always present in lower numbers but were reasonable numbers the other day (don't have notebook to hand). Have there been many records of Med. gull from Eccup (I assume this is where everything heads to roost) ?
 
The bulk of the gulls do head for Eccup - there are usually a scattering of Med gulls found there each year - I was talking with a regular Eccup watcher earlier this year about the gulls, he said that best time is from late October through March at the evening roost. Really don't have a clue about carrier species for Meds, the long stayer at Fairburn was co-habiting with the black-headeds.
 
Keith, do you have an email address, and also email address for an Eccup regular I can contact about the gulls please ?

Roundhay numbers (brief visit) Saturday 19 December pm:

Goosander 2 female only (Upper Lake)

Other totals: Mallard 56, Mute Swan 30, Tufted Duck 10 (upper lake count only), Cormorant 1, Bh Gull c. 570, Common gull (few, <20?), Herring gull 2, Red Kite 1-2
 
Sunday 10th January

Some evidence of waterfowl build up during past week.

Upper Lake

Still 5 goosander present (incl. 2 males); maxima recorded over the last fortnight has been 17.
12 tufted duck
13 coot
44 mallard
3 mute swan
180 black-headed gulls.

Waterloo Lake

4 little grebe
3 great crested grebe
17 tufted duck
3 pochard (male)
1 cormorant
420+ black-headed gull
20+ common gull
40 mallard
31 mute swan
47 Canada goose
20+ coot
 
Roundhay 13th Feb

I hadn't really rated the wildlife at Roundhay but I was very pleasantly surprised when last weekend I saw 4 cormorant and 3 great crested grebe. It hasn't struck me as a place to see non-water birds but let me know if you have any interesting spots...
 
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