News that a couple of black-necked grebes were back at nearby Woolston Eyes convinced me that Houghton Green Pool could be worth a visit today, because they are
often here, especially early in the season. Sure enough there were two in the
middle, an adult summer plumage bird and a non-breeding adult.
Houghton Green Pool has changed dramatically since I first starting visiting.
Thirty years ago there were no trees and water levels were considerably higher,
and this was a great local birding place. The best I saw here in those days
was a lesser yellowlegs, but the site has also had laughing gull and it held good numbers of duck, and waders. In more
recent times I found a yellow-browed warbler here.
Over the years the pool was
reduced to a puddle thanks to pumping and levels have been up and down ever
since. Only in recent years have the trees been this abundant and they grow in
rings around the pool reflecting the differing levels. In 2016 I wrote a blog
post describing the site as it was then which makes interesting reading (to
me at least!) The blog post is here (opens in a new window).
The recent higher water levels have resulted in some of the inner rings of trees becoming water logged and these now grow out of
the water, and particularly in summer when the leaves are on the trees, this
makes viewing very difficult.
Here are some photos which show how the pool has changed. All taken from more or less the same place.
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