Bushy Park Walk (1 August 2023)

The weather was fine for a change and we had a good turnout of 43 people for the walk. We first went to the Model Boating Pond where amongst the Mallards we spotted a beautiful male Red Crested Pochard. A small number of Egyptian Geese were on the side of the pond and a couple of Black-headed Gulls were circling the pond making a lot of noise.

Moving North of the pond we passed by some Hawthorns which had several birds flitting about on them: young Blue Tits, Great Tits and Green Woodpecker along with 3 Reed Buntings we continued towards Hawthorn Lodge where we had good views of a Little Owl in one of the Hawthorns.

Next stop was the Warren Plantation where 3 Treecreepers were seen along with Jays and several more Green Woodpeckers. Unfortunately we did not see the Cuckoo that had been there the previous week.

On to the Skylark Protection Area where we unfortunately did not see any Skylarks which was not too surprising as it is the end of the season for them now but we did see 4 Meadow  Pipits as we entered the Bracken area to the West. We finished at Porters Stream where on our approach 2 Kestrels were spotted and although there was no sight of the Kingfisher we saw a Heron.

by John Strachan