GUC Leicester - Syston

Januari 21, 2001

Cold and wet walk from Leicester via Grand Union Canal to Sileby. The latter is not a good place to finish walking on a Sunday as busses back to Leicester are scarce and trains don't stop... The canal and the gravel pits were partly frozen.

Highlights: Waterrail and a hunting Sparrowhawk near southmost gravel pit of Birstall. Plus a Song Thrush hammering on snail.

  1. Little Grebe Tachybaptus ruficollis
  2. Great Crested Grebe Podiceps cristatus
  3. Grey Heron Ardea cinerea
  4. Mute Swan Cygnus olor
  5. Canada Goose Branta canadensis [One with red leg ring with white letters AAL on the left leg and a metal ringed right leg. On the 27/6/1997 this bird has been ringedby (the group of) Mr Dave Clifton from Walsall, West Midlands as a bird of that year at Fazeley near Tamworth Staffs.]
  6. Eurasian Wigeon Anas penelope
  7. Eurasian Teal Anas crecca
  8. Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
  9. Northern Pintail Anas acuta
  10. Northern Shoveler Anas clypeata
  11. Tufted Duck Aythya fuligula
  12. Common Pochard Aythya ferina
  13. Goosander Mergus merganser
  14. Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus
  15. Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculus
  16. Water Rail Rallus aquaticus
  17. Common Moorhen Gallinula chloropus
  18. Common Coot Fulica atra
  19. Northern Lapwing Vanellus vanellus
  20. Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus
  21. Mew Gull Larus canus
  22. Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus
  23. Little Owl Athene noctua[ North of Old lock]
  24. Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea [Several, along canal in city]
  25. White / Pied Wagtail Motacilla alba
  26. Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes
  27. Hedge Accentor Prunella modularis
  28. European Robin Erithacus rubecula
  29. Common Blackbird Turdus merula
  30. Fieldfare Turdus pilaris
  31. Redwing Turdus iliacus
  32. Song Thrush Turdus philomelos [One specimen happily hammering on a snail.]
  33. Mistle Thrush Turdus viscivorus
  34. Blue Tit Parus caeruleus
  35. Great Tit Parus major
  36. Black-billed Magpie Pica pica
  37. Eurasian Jackdaw Corvus monedula
  38. Carrion Crow Corvus corone
  39. Common Starling Sturnus vulgaris
  40. Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs
  41. European Greenfinch Carduelis chloris
  42. Common Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula

Fer-Jan de Vries

Nomenclature follows Voous’s List of Recent Holarctic Bird Species (BOU 1977, revised edition). English names are as in BOU Checklist of Birds of Britain and Ireland (6th Edition, 1992)