Tuesday 6th December 2011 - Captains Pool

With only a little time to spare today I decided to spend it at Captains Pool.  There were no fishermen on the pool this afternoon and I was hopeful of perhaps some interesting wildfowl.....there wasn't.  All that there was of note on the pool were 22 Black-headed Gulls, 26 Canada Geese, 3 Moorhen and a pond load of Mallard.

The visit wasn't a complete loss however the trees around the pool were chuffing with birds.  The Alders along the dam there were 12 Siskin (5♂) and 10 Goldfinch feeding.  Also present were 5 Chaffinch. A large tit flock of c.60 birds went through including a Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tits and many Great Tits & Blue Tits.  With them were also a Nuthatch and a Treecreeper.  At one point a Common Buzzard landed in the trees along the south edge of the pool to be immediately mobbed by 2 Jays.  A highlight though was hearing a Tawny Owl calling from the trees at the farside of the pool

I also managed to add 2 more species to my winter wildflower list - Green Alkanet and Oxeye Daisy. Both of which were growing between the Damn and the water's edge...hence the fencing in the photos.  This takes the count up to 14 species of wildflower in flower this winter.

Green Alkanet















Oxeye Daisy

5 comments:

  1. The winters flowers are beautiful, thanks Jason.

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  2. Cheers Bob...It's nice to find a bit of colour out there on these dull grey days!

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  3. I hav'nt had any Geese at all yet this month Jase, and very few feeding flocks :-(

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  4. Everythings a bit out of sync at the mo Warren...we need a good cold snap to get things moving again.

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  5. Green Alkanet is a nice find, Jason - blue flowers are a treat at any time of the year, never mind December.

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