Recent Sightings - 22nd April 2019
Caste Espie is bursting with life anew this spring! The gulls are courting, the ducks are displaying, the air is alive with zipping hoverflies, the buzz of bumblebees, beautiful butterflies and the woodland is bursting full of birdsong! The woodland is a hive of activity; birds are building nests and defending their territories. And it seems even more full now the summer migrants have returned.
Many birds take the extraordinary decision, although probably a sensible one, to migrate to warmer climes in the winter time. Many of these birds have now returned. Swallows having flown to Southern Africa have arrived back at Castle Espie, scouting out their old nest site in the Crannog. Blackcaps are singing once again in the woodland after returning from the south of France and Spain. The subtle beauty the Willow Warbler, pictured above, has arrived back in the secret swamp having flown back from the jungles of Sub-Saharan Africa! They love foraging for insects in the dense willow jungle that is our secret swamp. Hopefully many will see them as they dart from tree to tree this summer.
It's amazing how all these birds travel to half a world away just to return to us here, each and every spring.
Count was taken at Low Tide
Estuary – visible from the Brent Hide and the Limekiln Observatory
Black-headed Gull 72, Greylag 6, Shelduck 5, Brent 1, Whooper swan 4
Main lake – visible from Sensory garden and Visitor centre
Goldeneye 2, Tufted Duck 6, Gadwall 2, Mallard 15, Teal 2, Shoveler 1 Greylag goose 4, Coot 2, Moorhen 1, Black-headed Gull 8
Shingle bank – visible from Sensory garden, Wadermarsh and Visitor Centre
Black-head Gull 40, Mallard 8, Gadwall 3, Coot 1
Wadermarsh – visible from Wadermarsh lookout and Brent Hide
Gadwall 3, Moorhen 2, Mallard 1, Black-headed Gull 9
Freshwater Lagoon – visible from Brent Hide and Crannóg
Mallard 18, Gadwall 3, Tufted Duck 1, Shoveler 1, Greylag goose 2, Coot 1, Moorhen 3, Black-headed Gull 167, Common Gull 2, Jackdaw 2, Woodpigeon 1, Hooded Crow 1
Saline Lagoon – visible from Limekiln observatory
Black-headed Gull 3, Swallow 1
Limestone Lake
Little Grebe 1
Peninsula Field and Saltmarsh
Black-headed Gull 3
Brickworks
Jackdaw, Pied Wagtail, Swallow
Woodland
Blue tit, Great tit, Coal tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Wren, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Wood Pigeon, Jackdaw, Hooded Crow
Seen in the past week (not on this morning's count)
Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Bullfinch, Treecreeper, Sparrowhawk, Jay, Common Tern, Redshank, Ringed Plover
Butterflies
Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Red Admiral, Green-veined White, Orange-tip, Speckled wood, Holly Blue
