Woolmer Pond 28/05/25

 With another free afternoon, I got down to Woolmer in good time, hoping for something decent, as Woolmer had been rather quiet recently.

In the woods by the entrance, two Great Spotted Woodpeckers were on a tree, and a few Goldcrest and a single Firecrest were calling.

The pond was very busy, with at least five Black-headed Gulls, the three Little Egrets, now two Herons, and, best of all, two Greylag Geese that had dropped in- a species that has been absent from the pond for a good while. 

A total of three Hobbies were around, giving great but fleeting views.

The cottage and field were very quiet, with only a Mistle Thrush, two Song Thrush and a singing Garden Warbler seen.

I decided to head round towards the south side of the pond again to see if the Hobbies were on the trees on the pond, and seeing as they were, I settled down to get some photos of them- absolutely love these birds!

After a while watching the Hobbies, I headed off again to the cottage to see if anything had surfaced. A Pied Wagtail was on the field, but nothing else new was around the cottage. 

As I was heading back toward the south side of the pond, which had been much more productive so far today, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew past, and a Woodlark was singing overhead.

Around the other side of the pond, two Spotted Flycatchers were heard calling in the woods just out of view, the two Greylags were still swimming around along with two Canada Geese, and a few Stonechat were flying around. 

The Egyptian Geese were around the back of the pond, but not much else was about, so I went back to the cottage, hoping the flags would go down soon. Whilst I was checking the pond behind the cottage, the harsh call of a Jay was good to hear, not at all the most common species here. 

I decided to go back towards the Hobbies again, and as I was leaving the cottage, a Greenfinch calling was also very good.  

Thankfully, the flags were finally put down, so I readily went in and started to bike around the pond, with a smart male Stonechat perched on a branch.

At the back of the pond, the Egyptian Geese were again about, and a Teal was heard. 

As I was heading towards the woods by Cranmer, a Chaffinch was calling, and one of the Hobbies flew overhead. Then the bird I had been finding tricky for a while flew right across the path in front of me! It flew into some bushes, before flying back across the path, showing its bright red tail- this was a stunning male Redstart. Sadly, I couldn't relocate it for photos, maybe another day. This species puts my patch list onto a tantalising 99, and my daylist onto 55- a new record for this site. What a way to break your daylist record!

I walked down a path that went alongside Cranmer, and a family of Stonechat were around, and a distant Tree Pipit was heard. Also, a deer was along the path- brilliant animals. 

With no sign of the Redstart, I decided to go to the southeast side of the pond to sit down and have a snack, a rather unusual combo of Hobnobs and chocolate spread. Gotta try something new every now and then:)

I was kept company by some Swallows catching insects over the water, good fun to watch!

With time fast leaving, I had one more look around the cottage, where a Song Thrush was singing on the cottage itself, and a Kestrel flew overhead. 

Sadly, I had to leave as it was nearing time to get home for dinner, but I didn't leave empty-handed. A patch tick, a new site record of 56, and a really good, fun afternoon.