Pype Hayes Park.

An early morning visit to Pype Hayes Park was the order of the day today where even though it was always threatening to rain I only had to put up with a few light showers.

Highlight of the day was seeing not only my first ever Green Woodpecker at Pype Hayes but seeing two, both of which I actually heard before I actually spotted them. It was also great to see fourteen Song Thrush foraging on the grass on the large open spaces, there must be plenty of Song Thrush here because as well as seeing the ones on the grass, at the same time you could see plenty of them flying from tree to tree. There was also three Great Spotted Woodpecker in the same tree at the same time, that was until one took exception to the presence of another and decided to chase it off and then itself return to the same tree.

Birds spotted today were, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Starling, Grey Wagtail, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Mallard, Canda Goose as well as the following juveniles, Grey Heron, Cygnet (5), Goldfinch, Blue Tit and Woodpigeon.

As you can see by the last picture the Himalayan Balsam has completely taken over the riverbank as well as the path to the left of the picture, in places it's easily eight high or more and there must be tens of thousands of plants, it's even growing through the newly laid tarmac path, any plants unfortunate enough to be under these invasive species are struggling to get any light at all, the only one upside of their presence is they provide some much needed pollen for the very few bees and butterflies are about at the moment even though their numbers may increase if the predicted heatwave arrives. 

In the back garden, the feeding frenzy among the local House Sparrow population has failed to recede, I estimate there are at least a hundred in my road at the moment, judging by my estimates they have at least seven colonies, but they're just the ones I know about because there are over a hundred houses in my road. If you go up or down my road you can always see and hear Sparrows which is definitely not a bad thing.