A walk around Priory Park, Bedford

Hi There

The sun was out today for a change. We decided to have a walk around the Priory Park, and do a bit of bird watching.  Great way to walk of the excess form the day before. We walked from the house to the park with our Binoculars and Camera in hand.  We where in Redwing mode today - after our 'photographic' experience yesterday.

We arrived at the park close to the middle of the day.  We noticed that a lot of people where walking around the park due to the nice weather.  A hard frost had already hit from last night, and there was a lot of frost still around from the sheltered areas of the park.  There was a chill in the air and it was still there even though it was sunny, with a blue sky.  There was a crisp crunch underfoot as we walked around the paths.

Lots of ice on the lakes and most of the water area remained frozen for most of the day.  A Moorhen walked across the ice wondering where the water had gone LOL.

An obliging Crow sat in a tree right above our heads do we took a picture of him/her.  We continued on our way and past the latest sightings board.  We moved on towards the finger Lakes to see what was there.

While passing along the pathway by the trees, we could hear and see lots of birds moving around.  Lots of Tits, Goldfinches, Robins, Magpies where about making their presence felt.  The Magpies where in full volume today and they moved around from branch to branch making their presence felt. The Robins 'Tsskkd' at one another in close range,  A small group of Long Tailed tits flew past us in amongst other members of the Tit family.

At one stage we could hear a loud 'painful' squeal and we though it may have been a Stoat or a Weasal catching a Rabbit,  and the Rabbit came off worst.  The cold would make wildlife more determined to find food to survive the cold snap.

At one point a group of Canadian Geese swam down the Great river Ouse and the current was going at quite a rate so the Geese looked although they where being pulled along in the water.  They had to turn around to stop themselves being swept down the river.  Maybe good in some ways but not in others.

A group of Canadian Geese grazed amongst the reeds on the shoreline together.  They remained close together.

There was some flooding between the Boating Lake and the finger lakes and the public footpath was affected by the overload of water.  At least the area has been designed with some additional culverts to cope with the water.

We past a field. and there was a Song Thrush sitting on the fence pole posing nicely for a photograph.  We took full advantage of the situation.  The Thrush looked although he/she was not sure where to go next.  The Thrush eventually flew into the undergrowth, and out of sight once more.

Further on a Heron sat in silence on a fallen tree trunk by the side of one of the smaller lakes.  The Heron looked very hunched up.  It added to the fact that the Heron was trying to conserve body heat. 

We made our way to the boating lake and there was the usual Swans and Hybrid Ducks being feed by people and they where very hungry.  Who could blame them with the cold weather.  Slightly further out on the lake, there was a single Wigeon swimming about on its own.  We thought the Wigeon was plucking the courage to join up with the feeding frenzy going on at the shoreline - though I do not think it would be in the Wigeons nature to do that.

We walked back through the trees and took a couple of pictures of Blue Tits that where moving around in a group and doing their usual acrobatics in the Trees to find their food source.  They are such lovely little birds and they are a joy to see on the garden feeders at home too.

Enjoyed today's walk about.  It was good to be out of the house for a while and enjoy our favourite pasttime as we always do.

I will post pictures now

Regards

Kathy and Dave