Holmebrook Valley 15th to 22nd of April

During the last two weeks I have managed to get to Holmebrook Valley a couple of times.
On the 15th of April it was very dull, but I still managed to get my first site 2018 Willow Warbler and Swallows. The Willow Warbler was calling in the bushes on the east side of the lake whilst the 2 Swallows flew through. Unfortunately the Willow Warbler wasn't showing and was calling from deep inside the bushes. I also found the two Reed Buntings again and this time they seemed to be looking for a nesting site.

Male Reed Bunting

I checked the Mute Swans nest and found the male bird sat on 4 eggs.

Last week the weather turned nice with the hottest day, the Thursday, being 24°. Due to this and it now being light after school, I managed to get down 3 times during the week. On the 18th I found my first Sand Martin for the site with a flock of about 15 House Martins. The Great Crested Grebes were building a nest and there were 2 Willow Warblers singing but still not showing.

Female Mute Swan sat tightly on nest

On the 19th there was nothing much different from the 18th apart from two Canada Geese. Again I checked the Mute Swan nest and this time when the male stood up there were 6 eggs in the nest. I presume that they will hatch in early June.

Mute Swan eggs

On the 20th I managed to see my first Willow Warbler of the year with one bird showing very well in a tree by the lake.

On the 22nd I had my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year calling in the bushes on the east side of the lake. Unfortunately the bird was hidden deep in bushes and was not seen. Whilst looking for the Whitethroat, I also managed to get my first site butterflies for the year with 2 Commas and 1 Large White Flying round.

Comma

Other birds seen on the 22nd included 5 Greylag Geese (On lake), 15+ House Martins, 3 Swallows and 7+ Chiffchaffs which were calling round site.

Holmebrook Valley 1st to 8th of April

During this week I have managed to get down to Holmebrook Valley every day apart from on Monday. It has been an interesting week and migrant birds are slowly making a comeback for the summer.
Some birds on the lake have started nesting now like the Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans and the Great Crested Grebes. There are at least 4 Coots nests but as of today only one nest had a bird sat on it.

Coot pair with nest

I have only seen one Moorhen pair on a nest but they seem to have moved off it now and possibly abandoned it.
The Mute Swans have their nest at the top of the lake and had at least one egg by the 5th and for the past few days the male bird (089) has been sat on the nest whilst the female bird is on the lake, usually chasing last years cygnet away. As far as I know they could have up to 4 eggs now as it usually takes a Mute Swan up to a week to lay a full clutch of eggs which is usually 5 to 7 eggs.

089 (male) on nest

The Swans nest has been fenced off by the council to stop dogs and people from getting to the nest. Last year dogs attacked two of the three cygnets and one got killed. You can still get a good view but don't go past the fence as the male swan could be quite aggressive.

There has been a single Great Crested Grebe on the lake since February and it disappeared on Friday so when I got news from my Uncle yesterday morning that it was back displaying with another grebe on the lake I had to go get some photos. I went down and got great view of both birds as they displayed to each other yesterday and they were still at it today. They also seemed to be looking for a nesting sight as they were looking round the banks of the lake.

Grebes displaying

If you would like to see my videos of them displaying then either click HERE or HERE. The first video includes there weed dance.

There has been a number of geese round during the last week with up to 4 Greylag Geese on the 7th and 13 Canada Geese on the 3rd which is my highest record for not only Canada Geese but just geese in general on the lake. On other days there have been 2s or 3s of both Greylags and Canadas.

All 13 Canada Geese on the 3rd

Other birds of interest during the week...
On the 5th two Mandarin Ducks (Male and Female) landed on the lake for 10 minutes. This was also my first male Mandarin Duck that has landed on the lake. On the 8th I found two Reed Buntings in the bushes at the bottom end of the lake. This was my 2nd site record for this species at the site. Also there have been around 5 Chiffchaffs singing all week around the lake but I have not heard a Willow Warbler yet.

One last bird to add to my year list was Swallow which I saw flying north at The Gate Pub above Cutthorpe on the 7th.