Funny old day at Cranford Park

It's been a funny old day at Cranford Park.

 

 When I was wrapping myself up this morning, I took off my lucky jumper because I was too warm, and put on an old sweatshirt instead. Hence I was cold all day and discovered my sweatshirt is not as 'lucky' as my jumper !

 

 I saw loads of interesting things yet failed miserably in my attempts to photograph them. The weather was a bit hit and miss too. One moment it was dark grey and foreboding, the next it was glorious sunshine.

 

I was on a mission today to try and see if any of my found Weasel sighting spots were still active with Weasels. Fewy joined me later, with his participation being to watch one particular hot spot where I've had five sightings of Weasels over the last three years. We baited a hidden area with broken raw eggs, lumps of raw chicken and a pouch of whiffy turkey flavoured cat food and Fewy settled down to wait and watch. Meanwhile I went off to another hot spot where I had also discovered a well disguised hole, and left another cracked raw egg near to the entrance. I then visited the site of my very first Weasel sighting eight years ago, and left another cracked egg there.

 

Did we have any luck ? Did we duck ! Neither of my two eggs were touched. But Fewys little baited area proved to be popular with something else.....

Despite waiting and watching for two hours, Fewy had seen nothing except a male Kestrel, some Mallard ducks and several Robins, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits. So we decided to have a coffee break in the car park then a wander around some other possible locations.

As we were walking back to the original baited area later on this afternoon, I spotted a Fox slinking away from the site and knew straight away it had found our bait. And it had. All that was left was one raw egg. We had to laugh about it. It's not often you see a Fox in broad daylight in Cranford Park, and I've never got a photo of one there. So we put down some more eggs and waited to see if the Fox came back. Unfortunately the cold got the better of me and we decided to head off for another coffee. Sods law, just as we left we spotted the Fox emerging from a nearby copse. It spotted us too and shot back in to the shelter. So Fewy, being the honourable gent that he is, went off to make the coffee while I went back to the baited area to hide and hope the Fox would come back. Well it did, sort of. Instead of coming back for more eggs, it went straight past where I was hiding and disappeared in the woods behind me. Not one photo could I get.

So no Weasel sightings, let alone photos, and no Fox photos despite seeing it three times.

 

In Cranford Woods first thing this morning, for once the sound of singing birds drowned out the sound of the M4 traffic. Both Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers could be heard, Blue and Great Tits were constantly calling and chasing each other around, Robins, Wrens and Blackbirds were starting to mark out their patches with lots of territorial singing. The woods were alive.

 

Last week the Long-tailed Tits were flying around in flocks, often with the odd Goldcrest or Treecreeper joining them. This week those flocks have started breaking up and birds are pairing up and bonding. I saw several pairs of Long-tailed feeding and calling to each other.....

 

 

and saw lots of Goldcrests in pairs. Though trying to photograph them is just as challenging and difficult as ever.....

 

 

Up by the orchard it is particularly muddy at the moment, but that makes it a good place to look for tracks. I know from talking to several early morning dog walkers that deer have been seen in the orchard, and after scanning the ground I was rewarded with a perfect Muntjac deer 'slot' or print.

 

In St Dunstans graveyard the snowdrops are really coming out en masse now. So here's an overload of my second favourite bulb....

 

There was even one peeping out under Tony Hancock's plaque.....

All over the woods I kept finding holes. They're too small for rabbits or foxes and too big for mice. They're also evidently well used as there are no cobwebs across the holes nor any old leaves blocking them....

 

I don't know yet if they are Weasels, or maybe just rats, but I'll be keeping an eye on them anyway.

 

Posh Boy and Fewy re-joined me at the Meadow Pipit area where the birds didn't disappoint We could see 15 at one stage, but the flock often separated and went in to the longer grasses or on the shrubby bushes in smaller groups....

 

We also had a Red Kite go over.....

 

 

but no sign of last weeks mixed flock of Lapwings and Golden Plovers.

 

Also seen in the woods today were Alison Shipley and Bob Barton, leading the 'Knights, Earls and Ghosts' History tour group with Bob looking very dapper in his costume (second from left).....

 

 

 There are lots of different events, guided walks and volunteering opportunities at the park. This is a link to the 2015 list

 

So it was a funny old day at Cranford Park. Lots was seen, but I either didn't get photos or my photos weren't good. Foxy was a bonus, the lack of Weasels were not.

I guess I should have worn my lucky jumper after all.

 

Anyway, to finish off todays blog here's a distant shot of the Fewy.......

 

 

and one of the Posh Boy.....

 

Both great company as always, and who are both probably dreading what I'm going to say about them on my blog post........