Despite living in Hayes for longer than I care to remember, I have NEVER visited Minet CP, yet geographically it's actually nearer to me than Cranford CP.
When I first moved to Hayes, Lake Farm CP was the object of my affections with regular visits to Cranford. When the school was built at Lake Farm, I found it very depressing to still visit there, and shamefully I haven't been there at all this year yet. No doubt some very good birds have dropped in without my presence. Cranford CP took over the hold of my heart, and still does, but after seeing some very nice bird sightings coming out of Minet CP recently on the London Birders Wikia website, and Alison Shipley often telling me I would love the place, I decided to pay the park a visit.
I did my research and found the best entrance to the park for me and visited several websites about Minet CP. The most informative one is A Rochas site, a Christian society that values conservation. Here is a link to A Rocha's Minet CP page. I also made contact with Dave Bookless who keeps the bird sightings records and also rings birds in the park. Unfortunately we haven't been able to meet up yet, so today I had a wander around on my own.
My first impression was how like Bedfont Lakes CP it was, with it's neatly kept gravel paths and hilly outlook, but just like Cranford there are hidden pockets of areas that are worth investigating.
The River Crane also runs through Minet and it was interesting to note that part of the river has been formed into a pond here....
A Heron came in whilst I was there and caught something so big that it almost choked before swallowing it whole.....
I didn't get to see if it was a fish it caught, but if it was it was certainly a good sized one and a good indicator that the water quality is pretty good at Minets end of the River Crane, compared to the quality of the water at Cranfords end where we generally only get sticklebacks.
Kingfishers are regularly sighted at Minet, though I wasn't fortunate enough to see one today.
I've always known that there are three, possibly four, Kestrel territories in Hayes. A pair nest regularly in Cranford, another pair nest near the canal and town and there used to be a pair that nested on the Stockley Park/Lake Farm boundary. Today there was one at Minet. It was using the telegraph wires for its favoured hunting perch of looking around for any signs of movement or trails left behind by voles or mice. He wasn't easy to approach though, so you'll have to make do with a fairly distant shot.....
and a silhouette shot as I crept up behind him with the sun in my eyes...
A bit more obliging was this male Great Spotted Woodpecker who perched out in the open long enough for me to grab a couple of reasonable photos...
including the one below with the wind blowing through his feathers giving him a Mohican look...
The park isn't just for wildlife. There's a kids playground, picnic areas and surprisingly for me, a proper professional cycling track. The track surrounds another part of the conservation area where Skylarks, Common Whitethroats, Goldfinches, Dunnocks and Starlings were seen by myself today, right in the middle. It was a bit surreal crossing the track watching out that you weren't going to be knocked down by a group of lycra clad cyclists.....
But it does go to show that birds are adaptable. As I was photographing a very showy singing Dunnock on a fence post, just a couple of metres away a group of around 50 cyclists were whizzing past. You would have thought the close proximity and the noise would spook any bird, but not these Minet ones.
Skylarks nest here, as they do at both Lake Farm and Cranford, so it was nice to hear the birds singing and doing their wonderful flying dance before 'parachuting' back down to the long grasses....
Along with the singing Skylark and the singing Dunnock....
there were singing Goldfinches too....
and of course lots of singing and calling Common Whitethroat. At first I couldn't get any decent photos as although the birds like to perch out in the open when they're claiming a new territory, they often flit around if they realise they are being watched....
The one below got caught in a gust of wind and nearly came off his perch....
At Lake Farm when I used to watch these birds arriving every late April and early May, I used to position myself on a bench near to a suitable scrubby bush and just wait quietly and patiently. I used the same technique today and was rewarded within 20 minutes by this little lovely who sang its heart out just five feet from where I was sitting.....
Despite a glorious week of warm weather and sunshine, today was a bit cooler, windier and very much more cloudier and therefore the butterflies weren't really settling for me to have a proper look at them. I saw several whites and blues on the wing but couldn't identify them and apart from the occasional Peacock, the only other butterfly I found settled was this Small Tortoiseshell...
But on looking at the list of butterflies seen at Minet, I will definitely be coming back during summer. Purple Hairstreak would be a lifer for me.
At the back of the old hedgerow by the oaks I found a lovely abundant patch of Greater Stitchwort....
and while my face was down examining them a Little Owl called from very close by. In fact it called several times yet I couldn't locate it once. Just like the Cranford ones, the Minet Little Owls are masters of disguise.
In roughly the same area I found Muntjac poop and tracks. Maybe this could be another place I could position my trail cam one night.
and of course, just like Cranford, there are lots of signs of Rabbits....
All in all a very enjoyable stroll around a new site for me, and one that I will certainly be visiting again. And quite incredible that not only have I never been before when it's so close, but this is yet another park that proves not everything in Hayes is bad, ugly or concrete.
and lastly, for any readers who are on Facebook, there is a Wino Wendy's Wildlife World Facebook page too (link here)
