Weather wasn't that bad this afternoon, only one light shower, quite windy though!
Holden Wood Res. 70 Canadas, 7 Mallard, 2 Moorhen (in seperate locations- I thought I could hear young at the top end), 2 Black Headed Gulls, 1 Kingfisher (sorry Isabel!), 4 Reed Buntings, ~20 Goldfinch, 1 Great Spotted calling, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Woodpigeon
I had much the same at Holden Wood but also had 3 stonechat, 9 mallard & c35 goldfinch. At Ogden there were 2 grey wagtails & 1 lesser black back gull. At Calf Hey there was 1 mallard, 1 moorhen, 8 black headed gulls, 2 juv sparrowhawks & 1 jay.
Usually we walk from the dam up the right hand side to the corner where it is widest. we can usually see pretty well everything from there. Sometimes somone will continue up that side, past Ogden on the left and meet up again at Calf Hey. For the Wildfowl Count the 3 waters are counted separately.
one thing i hae noticed about the mallards is that those with young tend to be on the left hand side where the trees and bushes sometimes can be submerged in the water and right at the top end - near the little "reed bed".
i would say theres been quite few families of mallards which dont always pop out and by now must be almost fully grown. i would estimate a least 10 and possibly up to 15 young have been raised so far. there was one wth 6 young which have survived up till very recently. its posibile they prefer stayig around the edges
