Monday 7 September 2015

An afternoon at Great Glen, Leicestershire - September 3, 2015

David and I went to Great Glen and walked the southern footpath that goes by the sewage works.  When we arrived there was some weak sunshine but it soon became overcast but remained dry.  Initially it was fairly quiet bird wise but we did have a Painted Lady, at least five Speckled Woods and a Migrant Hawker.  As we approached the sewage works there were three Buzzards to the south and a small party of passerines alongside the stream.  The passerines were mainly Long-tailed Tits but did include both Goldcrest and Chiffchaff and we eventually saw two Goldcrest and three Chiffchaff.  There were several Pied Wagtails on the filter beds but there was no sign of the hoped for Grey Wagtail, although we did hear one call on a couple of occasions.  As we continued along the footpath we had a forth Buzzard and just as we reached the metal gate a falcon flew over and disappeared over the hedge in front of us.  We were unsure of its identity and considered both Hobby and Merlin but neither was a perfect fit.  We continued on to view the area beyond the hedge but we couldn’t locate the bird but a few minutes later a Hobby flew over and we therefore assumed that it was the same bird.  We walked a little further before turning around seeing a Coal Tit at the furthest point.  As we got back to the metal gate we heard a Willow Tit call, which then showed pretty well and called quite incessantly.  Whilst we have seen this species at this site in the past it was my first record for nearly two years and nice to confirm they are still here.  As we walked back we saw what was probably the same party of passerines but other than a couple of Bullfinches we saw nothing else.  We checked out the small lake before we called it a day, which had the usual Canada Geese and Mallard but also a Cormorant, which was my first record at the site.

No comments:

Post a Comment