A brief synopsis of the first two days birding at Collingham and Besthorpe in 2017:
Yesterday, non-stop rain until about 1.30pm hindered my birding, but I managed to finish the day on 72 species, one less than last year. Best were Jack Snipe (at Meering) and Whooper Swan (in two locations), whilst misses included Buzzard, Water Rail, Pied Wagtail and Cetti's Warbler. Most annoyingly, the Smew that was present the previous day had vanished from Ferry Lane Lake, and I wasted quite a lot of time looking for it. I also failed to find any Woodcock at Besthorpe Warren, which is normally a dead cert for this species. I suspect the removal of a large portion of the long-established scrub and old hedgerows at this site hasn't helped in this respect.
An afternoon visit today allowed me to add six species, including the aforementioned Buzzard, Water Rail and Pied Wagtail, along with Pink-footed Goose (a singleton in the Greylag flock, which was elsewhere yesterday), Golden Plover (9 in flight - a very scarce species this winter), and Jay (the first for quite a while).
This puts me on 78 species for 81 points.
I wouldn't know where to start!
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