Broadwater GP - 3rd July 2020

We're experiencing yet another spell of windy weather with very strong gusts. This makes it difficult to get out and ring, obviously, but Broadwater has quite a few sheltered areas. We also needed to see if our access is still possible as the last time we visited there was a heavy metal chain, albeit unlocked when we last went, and this may be linked to the HS2 work that will be undertaken over the next several years.

Not wanting to get up early, only to find our access blocked we arrived at 8.00am to find the chain and padlock gone although a rather amateur looking monitoring post seemed to be in operation filming the road. We decided we'd have to ask the people who live at the caravans there what exactly is happening here.

We'd only just got on site when a couple of the water bailiffs from the fishing club arrived. They told us that the ground agents for the pit have now changed, explaining the lack of replies when we emailed our contact. They also knew that our side of the lake should remain untouched while the HS2 work is in progress and there will only be disruption if the planned nature centre goes ahead (in a few years time) with partial infilling of the lake at this end, and redevelopment of the old plant area to make the several hazards safe for the general public. That will probably be the end of our wild areas but they are secure for the time being. Apparently the chain had been used during lockdown as the lake had been used for illegal fishing, canoeing and swimming (a bad idea as the lake is extremely deep) with the added complication of more barges on the adjacent canal as bargees had brought them out of London during the Covid-19 peak. We also got a name from the new land agents to contact.

So, we've already achieved what we mainly came for and just put up three nets, since we'd lost a bit of time, but we were there and the trees were blocking the worst of the wind so we'd do a few birds before we left.

We'd been intending to leave by midday, but did rather well taking a catch of 80 birds and it was nearly 1pm when we finally padlocked the gate and drove off. An awful lot of the catch were tits, the Great Tits seem to have done particularly well. Blackcaps and Chiffchaff  also featured strongly in the data.

Total: 78 (2)

Blackbird - 1
Reed Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 19
Chiffchaff - 18
Long-tailed Tit - 2
Blue Tit - 14 (2)
Great Tit - 23

It was also possible to identify Mute Swans 4AJE (cob) W21281 and 4EEX (pen) W48014 in residence on the lake with two small cygnets.