Great Cresties at Sefton Park

Great Crested Grebe - Sefton Park

Fantastic views of the most recent addition to the avian list at Sefton Park today ……The Great Crested Grebe (thanks to the comment Neil), five in total including a very obliging adult female on the East shore of the lake. It is wonderful to see these birds back at the park as they departed when the lake was being dredged five years or so ago, and I wondered if they would ever recolonize the park, let’s hope they are here to stay. On the downside the Little Grebes nest and eggs have again been attacked and destroyed by territorial Coots; I think Great Crested Grebes may provide a more difficult adversary for them! The Mute Swan family has had great success with seven cygnets (at times hitching a ride on mums back) up on the first raised lake. A family of Canada Geese on the main lake was an unusual sight and another pair has young on the lake behind the café as was the case last year. Other birds included two pairs of nesting Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Chiff Chaff, five Swifts, and at least five calling Redpoll calling from tree tops in between the fountain on the second lake and the palm house; this is an unusual sighting for this time of year, it is not too late for them to be potentially migrants or hopefully they may be here to breed.

 

juv Canada Geese - Sefton Park

juv Mute Swans - Sefton Park

A pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers are nesting in Greenbank Park, as are a pair of Treecreepers, Pied Wagtails, and two pairs of Nuthatch. The three Mute Swans still show no signs of breeding, and two Herons fish the park regularly as does the odd Cormorant during the early mornings. Willow Warblers and Chiff Chaff still sing from the wooded edges, up to 40 Swallows, small numbers of Swifts and House Martins can be seen higher in the sky, and and Red Eared Terrapins sun themselves on the rafts. For anyone interested in botany the Honey Garlic clump (a very rare and attractive plant) in the wooded section near Gorsebank Road has multiple flower heads and is about to flower any time soon.

Little Grebe - Sefton Park