Walked through the park on Easter Sunday morning on my way towards Crofton Park and an hour or so later returned from the direction of Ladywell. It was cold and windy so, sensibly perhaps, not many birds about and not many people either, although I did spot the park keeper at a distance.
I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Mistle Thrush feeding beside the Cliffview Road path as I usually find them on the other side of the park. There were no House Sparrows in the Cliffview hedge either, perhaps because part of it has been cut even lower than before.
Wandered over to see what progress had been made on the playground and hapily found a Mistle Thrush nesting in
the very same fork of the tree as last year. It's plainly a good spot for them even though it must be the busiest junction in the park.
Total haul? Blackbird (1), Chaffinch (3), Feral Pigeon (2), Goldfinch (1), Mistle Thrush (3), Starling (3)
I also met one of our friendly dog-walkers who'd seen a woman picking daffodils in the park and a Glendale van leaving tyre tracks along the grass verge.
On the positive side, I was pleased to see the brambles that hung over the fence along Vicars Hill were cut right back just a couple of days after the last
Friends of Hilly Fields meeting. It's nice to know they make a difference!
