Cress Marsh 2021

20th August
Weather: Sun, warm, SE breeze
Time on site: 17:10-19:00

Black-headed Gull    1
Buzzard    2
Carrion Crow    4
Common Sandpiper    2
Gadwall    5
Golden Plover    1
Goldfinch    2
Greenshank    2
Grey Heron    1
Greylag Goose    55
Hobby    1  - flew over site
Kestrel    1
Lesser Black-backed Gull    1
Linnet    5
Little Egret    8
Little Grebe    4
Magpie    1
Mallard    5
Mute Swan    5
Peregrine    1 - perched on power station chimney
Starling    11
Tufted Duck    12
Woodpigeon    18
Yellow Wagtail    6 

Butterflies:

Large White    2
Small Tortoiseshell    1

All records into BirdTrack.

15th August
Weather: Overcast, warm, WNW breeze
Time on site: 18:10-19:10

Carrion Crow    3
Common Sandpiper    3 - 2 of these birds dropped onto the Kia car terminal, just across the lane from Cress Marsh!
Curlew    1
Gadwall    1
Golden Plover    1
Greenshank    1
Grey Heron    3
Greylag Goose    112
Little Egret    8
Little Grebe    7
Mallard    11
Mute Swan    4
Shoveler    2
Starling    c30
Swallow    5
Tufted Duck    13

Roe Deer    2

Butterflies:
Painted Lady    2

All records entered into BirdTrack
 

14th August
Weather: Overcast, warm, WSW wind
Time on site: 14:30-16:10

Black-headed Gull    8
Buzzard    1
Carrion Crow    2
Collared Dove    1
Common Sandpiper    2
Goldfinch    6
Greenshank    1
Grey Heron    2
Greylag Goose    124
Lesser Black-backed Gull    1
Linnet    c50
Little Egret    9
Little Grebe    7
Magpie    2
Mallard    12
Mute Swan    5
Pied Wagtail    1
Shoveler    9
Snipe    1
Swallow    15
Tufted Duck    12
Wood Sandpiper    1
Woodpigeon    31

Roe Deer    2

Butterflies:
Painted Lady    4
Peacock    1
Small Tortoiseshell    2

All records entered into BirdTrack.

Hi John - I think you’re spot on. It will be interesting to hopefully see that transition take place over the coming years. Still, it’s already an attractive site for plenty of other species and I’m grateful to have it close by. 


Jon - I’ll see what I can do but you might have to wait until winter for my next decent offering - I’m sensing something like a Slaty-backed or Glaucous-winged Gull...got to aim high!


Chris 

From what I can recollect, John, the site was farmed as arable land before the creation of Cress Marsh.

It may be as its only a year or so since flooding its a food issue Chris, and it will require a couple of years to improve hopefully .
Was it intensely farmed arable before the site was created ?

regards John