Kelsey Gardens will be open for all the usual weekend activities this Bank Holiday Monday, the 31st May. This will of course include the refreshment bar.
The next meeting of Hull Model Boat Club scheduled for June 12th will be a special open event. Members of any club or individuals with boats are welcome to attend. It is anticipated that there will also be a Trade Stand. Keep checking here for further details when these have been finalised.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Hottest day of the year brings out the crowds
Kelsey Gardens had a bumper weekend with about 80 people out on canoes and many more enjoying the carefree ambiance, not to mention the refreshments of course. Others were simply enjoying fishing in the warmth, which must have made a change.
A model sailing boat reflected in the calm waters of south lake before the canoes were launched.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Memories of Fenner's pond by Paul McLaren
Good to see you guys putting what you now call the North Lake back on the map. I was a member of Fenner Angling CLub back in the mid 80's courtesy of my father who worked at Fenners. Fenners Pond was the start of my carping career back in the days when the tip was still open at the east side of the site but I see from the ariel photos that is long gone.
Back in the 80's the fishing on the pond was really good and venomously protected from any guesting by a dictatorial baliff Stewart who was also a union rep for the company, can remember many a time being woken up at 6am to see if I had my permit on me even though he knew damn well it was me fishing! I think we fell out the day I asked him if he had his permit on him, which he didn't and that was a serious breach of membership rules!
Membership of Fenners AC was a real golden ticket back then, carping was starting to take off, Motorway was yet to see carp being re-stocked from the Bransholme ponds, Nth Humberside was yet to see it's first 30lb and Jumbo had yet to be discovered before making the journey to Kevin Cliffords pond!
Large shoals of suicidial rudd used to patrol the surface for the taking, margin fishing along the reeds down from sandy bay (the swim in the nw corner) would bring plenty of cruicians and tench along with perch and roach. Never saw or heard of any pike getting caught though. As for the carping, before I stopped fishing it in 88 it never produced a 20lber, the biggest fish was a regular that hovered around the 19lb mark, most of the fish then were mirrors but I only say one of the pretty linears you have now so I guess they might be newer stock.
The majority of Fenners AC were match anglers, only myself and 3 others fished it for the carp, names escape me but Keith and Rob were two but I think we did well by local standards, I'd reckon they were probably a maximum of 20 originals in the water and between us we probably had most of them over a few years. The Fenners carp really liked their boilies and were having them from day 1. They were always obliging even managing to give me 3 doubles in 1 night during a memorable February session.
Hope this fills in some of the jigsaw, feel free to use this in your blog, any more questions let me know.
Back in the 80's the fishing on the pond was really good and venomously protected from any guesting by a dictatorial baliff Stewart who was also a union rep for the company, can remember many a time being woken up at 6am to see if I had my permit on me even though he knew damn well it was me fishing! I think we fell out the day I asked him if he had his permit on him, which he didn't and that was a serious breach of membership rules!
Membership of Fenners AC was a real golden ticket back then, carping was starting to take off, Motorway was yet to see carp being re-stocked from the Bransholme ponds, Nth Humberside was yet to see it's first 30lb and Jumbo had yet to be discovered before making the journey to Kevin Cliffords pond!
Large shoals of suicidial rudd used to patrol the surface for the taking, margin fishing along the reeds down from sandy bay (the swim in the nw corner) would bring plenty of cruicians and tench along with perch and roach. Never saw or heard of any pike getting caught though. As for the carping, before I stopped fishing it in 88 it never produced a 20lber, the biggest fish was a regular that hovered around the 19lb mark, most of the fish then were mirrors but I only say one of the pretty linears you have now so I guess they might be newer stock.
The majority of Fenners AC were match anglers, only myself and 3 others fished it for the carp, names escape me but Keith and Rob were two but I think we did well by local standards, I'd reckon they were probably a maximum of 20 originals in the water and between us we probably had most of them over a few years. The Fenners carp really liked their boilies and were having them from day 1. They were always obliging even managing to give me 3 doubles in 1 night during a memorable February session.
Hope this fills in some of the jigsaw, feel free to use this in your blog, any more questions let me know.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Rare visitor to Kelsey Gardens
About 9am this morning a large bird was heard to drop into the water in north lake and was subsequently seen to fly up with a fish in its talons. It then disappeared from view for about 2 hours when it was seen again over south lake. Good views of this Osprey were enjoyed until it eventually flew off to the north, probably continuing its journey to Scotland.
Unfortunately it was not close enough to get any good photos.
Unfortunately it was not close enough to get any good photos.
The osprey with a pair of mallards behind.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Busy day at Kelsey Gardens
Yesterday was indeed a busy day at Kelsey Gardens. Apart from the birdwatching and canoeing there were plenty of people fishing which meant that Brian - below - could not get his favourite peg on north lake. However he arranged in advance to fish the south lake instead and ended up with a net full of tench, the biggest being about 6 to 7 pounds.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Birdwatching session at Kelsey Gardens
A birdwatching session was held today at Kelsey Gardens under the guidance of local expert Michael Flowers. Here is part of his report. For the full account and more photos visit Michael's blog at http://eybirdwatching.blogspot.com/
We commenced by peering through what at first glance was the unprepossessing barbed wire of the adjacent Sangwins yard. Here, we had amazing views of a Whitethroat, briefer views of a Linnet, and an even shorter view of a Stock Dove. We walked down to the first lake where we were serenaded by a Blackcap. The lake was ringed with anglers, but we saw Mallard, and Coot here. In a bush in the grassy field to our left we had good views of a Meadow Pipit, which later delighted the crowd with its parachuting song flight. After passing the lake we reached an area of reeds where we heard the monotonous rhythmic song of a Reed Warbler, and Kelsey Garden regular, Mike, was able to get his first glimpse of one. Climbing the adjacent slope we heard a Willow Warbler, but the Turtle Doves were silent. The birds were fairly quiet at the top of the hill, but we could hear another Blackcap & a Goldfinch tinkled as it flew overhead. Unsurprisingly, last year’s passing Osprey failed to appear!
Retracing our steps we arrived at ‘The Path of Brian’ where everyone got good views of 3 male Reed Buntings, and heard the songs of a couple more Reed Warblers, but the Sedge Warblers and the Lesser Whitethroat seemed to be absent this year. However, the highlight here, and the star bird of the morning, was a bubbling female Cuckoo, which flew quite close to us a couple of times before it was joined by a male. Later, they flew right over our heads as we climbed the hill between the 2 lakes. We were able to see the nest-hole of the Kingfisher, but it remained out of sight as canoeing was taking place on South Lake. Similarly, we glimpsed a Great Crested Grebe, but it hid itself among the reeds as soon as the first canoe set out. However, one participant was able to see her first Tufted Duck at the back of this lake. Along this hill we continued to hear a Cuckoo, and then saw our first Willow Warbler of the morning. The nearby drain yielded a concealed Sedge Warbler, but along the old railway line we failed to hear the usual Lesser Whitethroat or Turtle Dove. However, I was relieved to hear that Mike had heard the ever-decreasing Turtle Dove much earlier that same morning. In all we saw or heard 37 species, which isn’t bad going, but several expected birds were missing during our trip, so on a weekday when there should be less activity one may expect to encounter around 40 different species. We headed back to the refreshment tent for a welcome drink & a snack. Overall, everyone was very pleased with their trip around Kelsey Gardens.
We commenced by peering through what at first glance was the unprepossessing barbed wire of the adjacent Sangwins yard. Here, we had amazing views of a Whitethroat, briefer views of a Linnet, and an even shorter view of a Stock Dove. We walked down to the first lake where we were serenaded by a Blackcap. The lake was ringed with anglers, but we saw Mallard, and Coot here. In a bush in the grassy field to our left we had good views of a Meadow Pipit, which later delighted the crowd with its parachuting song flight. After passing the lake we reached an area of reeds where we heard the monotonous rhythmic song of a Reed Warbler, and Kelsey Garden regular, Mike, was able to get his first glimpse of one. Climbing the adjacent slope we heard a Willow Warbler, but the Turtle Doves were silent. The birds were fairly quiet at the top of the hill, but we could hear another Blackcap & a Goldfinch tinkled as it flew overhead. Unsurprisingly, last year’s passing Osprey failed to appear!
Retracing our steps we arrived at ‘The Path of Brian’ where everyone got good views of 3 male Reed Buntings, and heard the songs of a couple more Reed Warblers, but the Sedge Warblers and the Lesser Whitethroat seemed to be absent this year. However, the highlight here, and the star bird of the morning, was a bubbling female Cuckoo, which flew quite close to us a couple of times before it was joined by a male. Later, they flew right over our heads as we climbed the hill between the 2 lakes. We were able to see the nest-hole of the Kingfisher, but it remained out of sight as canoeing was taking place on South Lake. Similarly, we glimpsed a Great Crested Grebe, but it hid itself among the reeds as soon as the first canoe set out. However, one participant was able to see her first Tufted Duck at the back of this lake. Along this hill we continued to hear a Cuckoo, and then saw our first Willow Warbler of the morning. The nearby drain yielded a concealed Sedge Warbler, but along the old railway line we failed to hear the usual Lesser Whitethroat or Turtle Dove. However, I was relieved to hear that Mike had heard the ever-decreasing Turtle Dove much earlier that same morning. In all we saw or heard 37 species, which isn’t bad going, but several expected birds were missing during our trip, so on a weekday when there should be less activity one may expect to encounter around 40 different species. We headed back to the refreshment tent for a welcome drink & a snack. Overall, everyone was very pleased with their trip around Kelsey Gardens.
Whitethroat
Blackcap
Report and photographs courtesy of Michael Flowers.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Birding with Flowers
Michael Flowers held two of his classes at Kelsey Gardens today. For a report and some photos go to his blog
http://eybirdwatching.blogspot.com/2010/05/going-cuckoo.html
See below for details of his taster session at Kelsey Gardens next Saturday (15th)
http://eybirdwatching.blogspot.com/2010/05/going-cuckoo.html
See below for details of his taster session at Kelsey Gardens next Saturday (15th)
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