With some leave to use up, I had yesterday afternoon off work, and after running an errand in town, headed to Collingham. What was a steady visit came good at the end; I'd been thinking about Kittiwakes, and was had been checking the few gulls that were around. As I was heading off later afternoon, I noted a group of small gulls dropping into Ferry Lane Lake. I had a quick scan, and bingo, there was a Kittiwake - very nice too! The group didn't seem to settle, taking flight several times, before eventually the whole loot flew off east. My first patch Kittiwake in four years of patching. Added to this was my first Grey Wagtail of the year as I was watching the Kittiwake, and then a flock of 95 Whooper Swans which flew over heading north.
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
Today, and I too Sorrel Lyall and her grandparents looking for Woodlarks on Budby Heath. After a worryingly quiet start, we eventually pinned down a singing male, and then had another displaying overhead, which was joined by its mate. We also tracked down the Black Oil Beetles (see here). On to Welbeck, and we had decent views of a male Goshawk flapping around from the Raptor Watchpoint, and then a Red Kite, plus a pair of Mandarins back at the feeder layby. So not a bad morning at all.
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| Black Oil Beetle |
It was back to Collingham for the afternoon, where a Great Northern Diver was on Ferry Lane Lake (no doubt the Girton bird), but no sign of the Smew; my third patch yeartick in 24 hours, putting me on 99 for the year... A singing Chiffchaff at Mons Pool was my first of the year, and put a smile on my face.
I had 50 minutes spare whilst in Wellow this morning, and decided to head into Sherwood for some quick birding. I'd already decided that either Budby Pumping Station Flash or Welbeck Lake would be my destination, but didn't make my mind up on which until I got to the double roundabouts at Budby; Welbeck it was, in the hope of a Mandarin or two.
This proved to be the correct decision. Having pulled up at the lay-by with the feeders, I began scanning, and there by the side of the lake with the Grey Herons was a Great White Egret. Fantastic! No Mandarins though, perhaps not helped by the low water levels.
A GWE had been seen at Welbeck back on 15th of January, with presumably the same bird on 1st and 2nd in Clumber Park. I think one was seen in South Yorkshire after the Welbeck sighting, and of course one was seen at Kilvington on 4th Feb and then at Langford Lowfields on 4th and 5th Feb. Is this just the one bird touring around?
In between redecorating the hall and staining the garden furniture (rock and roll), I managed one visit to the patch this weekend (Saturday), and a second visit of the year to Welbeck Raptor Watchpoint (Sunday). Collingham was quiet... the highlight was a family of Shelduck with 10 new ducklings on Mons Pool.
Welbeck today was at full capacity, but I found a spot next to Alan Clewes, and after 2 hours a Honey Buzzard cruised overhead at about 1240, circled back round, and then disappeared off to the west. No Osprey this time, and no Red Kites - having now seen Monty, Osprey and HB this year in Notts, Red Kite is beginning to be a bit of a glaring hole in my Notts yearlist...
After a quite patch visit on Saturday morning, I headed over the Welbeck Raptor Watchpoint; the Honey Buzzards failed to show, and there were no Red Kites to be had either, but (one of?) the Ospreys put on a nice show.
Sunday, and two patch visits, morning and evening, didn't produced the hoped for Sanderling, which seemed to be turning up all over the place. The fact that four out of the five Coot nests on Mons Pool had been flooded out by the recent rains didn't improve things, but hundreds, maybe 500, Swifts were over the site.
