A chat over lunch

I called into the Main Pit at Collingham briefly at lunchtime, en route to a site meeting at South Clifton. Other than 4 Goldeneye there was very little on the pit itself, but a small passerine perched in the ruderal vegetation between the grassland and the water could only be one thing - a Stonechat. Stonechats were very thin on the ground the last couple of winters (e.g. just nine recorded at five sites across the whole county in January and February 2010), so it was nice to find this bird - a female, which showed quite pronounced orangey fringes to the secondaries (just about discernable in the picture below).



Stonechat at Collingham Pits

 

Reed all about it

Girton Pits today, and for once no time constraints. There was quite a lot of disturbance, especially on the sailing lake - some guys (presumably from the sailing club) were cutting scrub with chainsaws on one of the islands, and there were several fisherman dotted around. However, the A1133 Pit was a bit quieter, with lots of duck on the southern part. There was nothing of particular note, with a total of 358 Tufted Duck and 45 Goldeneye the stand-out counts. Single Redshank and Green Sands were also present (the latter on the Spalford Pit). Nearby, I took a drive through Spalford Warren to check the feeders - loads of tits and finches, plus a single Lesser Redpoll.

A revisit of Mons Pool (this time accessed from the north) didn't produce much different from yesterday, so I bumped down the track to Besthorpe NWT North. The new reedbed was officially opened here last week, with water let in from the adjacent storage lagoon. The Newark Advertiser rather optimistically described this as a 'vast' wetland with the creation of 8 hectares of reedbed and 3 hectares of wet grassland during recent works (across both this site and Mons Pool). Whilst definately not 'vast', these sites will no doubt become important areas of habitat, and I look forward to seeing how the sites evolve over the next few years.

The newly flooded (future) reedbed at Besthorpe NWT North

All calm at Collingham

I had a quick run round at Collingham Pits this morning; the Ferry Lane Farm Pit and the Main Pit were pretty birdless, although there were 5 Buzzards up together over Mons Pool. The Silt Lagoon held a bit more, including 7 Redshank and a Little Egret. There was more still on Mons Pool, with 2 more Redshank and at least 1 (and possibly 2) Curlew, whilst a nice pair of Pintail and 4 Shelduck were amongst the duck. 

Happy in Hampshire

The lure of two potential ticks finally proved too much, and myself and Carl C headed to Hampshire today. After a four hour drive down from Newark, first stop was Calshot, where we quickly caught up with the Spanish Sparrow - a smart bird. It showed well in a hedgerow, before flying to feeders in a back garden. Having had its breakfast it then flew off into another part of the housing estate. Just to the north, 2 Peregrines were sat up on the power station chimney.

Spanish Sparrow at Calshot, Hampshire

One down, one to go. Next stop was Hawkhill Inclosure in the New Forest. We saw the Dark-eyed Junco pretty quickly in the area that it favours around some fallen pines. These were a bit fleeting at first, and it then flew off with the Reed Bunting gang that it was hanging out with. It reappeared half an hour or so later, and gave better views. Whilst perched up (before flying off for a second time) it gave a trilling 'trillit' - reference to Sibley at home suggest this was its song, so it was good to hear this. Also in the area were quite a few Crossbills, a nice bonus.

Dark-eyed Junco at Hawkhill Inclosure, Hampshire

All in all a good day, although it seemed a shame to visit such a great part of the country for such a flying visit - all that heathland looked amazing! The long drive home was made a bit more interesting by spotting Red Kites.

A goose in a gale

Dunham Pools isn't a site I normally visit - a few decent birds do get seen there now and then, but it's not a site I like much, being a bit over-landscaped; short mown grass and trees in neatly fenced plots. However, a Pale-bellied Brent Goose had been reported there yesterday, so I headed up there this morning, having never seen a Brent Goose (of any form) in the county before.

Another birder had just seen the goose fly from the pools over to the opposite side of the Trent when I arrived. The wind was blowing an absolute gale, but I located it after a few minutes with three Canada Geese. It showed well, spending most of its time sat, eating grass within reaching distance, but periodically standing and walking to a new spot. However, it was darker on the flanks and belly than a hrota should be, and was in fact a 1st winter Dark-bellied Brent Goose.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose at Dunham Pools

After a while, it flew a short distance north, but still on the opposite side of the Trent. This meant it was in Lincolnshire the whole time I saw it, so I still haven't got Brent Goose on my Notts list!



A little drummer

I had some site visits to do for work this afternoon, one of which was in Edwinstowe, so I had my lunch break at Rufford Country Park with the aim of seeing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Parking in the 'woodland' carpark, one was calling from the woodland just to the north, but it took another 5 or 10 minutes for it to show itself; it was a female, which flew up into the top of one of the lime trees towards the western end of the Lime Tree Avenue, drumming gently against a dead limb right at the top. Unfortunately I didn't have time to look for Hawfinches, so they'll have to wait for another visit.

Wild goose chase

Today was a notbirding out-of-county trip. Myself and Carl Cornish (minus a certain Mr French who had to bail on us to go up to Scotland for work) headed for Buckenham Marshes in Norfolk. Our quarry was the Lesser White-fronted Goose, which I had dipped just after Christmas (and hadn't bothered to go and see last year). The bird showed upon our arrival, albeit rather distantly, and spent a lot of time either obscured in a ditch, or asleep, when its long wing tips, projecting well beyond the end of the tail, were a particularly useful ID feature.

A particularly bad picture of the Lesser White-fronted Goose at Buckenham Marshes

Buckenham really is a superb site - wouldn't it be great to have some habitat like this in Notts?! As well as the LWFG, there were c.70 Taiga Bean Geese with which it was associating, small numbers of Eurasian White-fronts, Pink-feet and Barnies, at least 2 (and probably 3) Peregrines, 2 Bitterns in flight together, and 2 Short-eared Owls to the south of the Yare. Plus lots of Wigeon, Golden Plover and Lapwing, several Cetti's Warblers, etc.!

Pleased with how the day was panning out, we headed for Titchwell. We had sufficient views of the Coues' Arctic Redpoll with the flock of Lessers and at least one rosy-pink breasted Mealy, although viewing wasn't particularly easy and I couldn't manage a photo. Elsewhere on site, of note were a female Mandarin and a 2nd W Yellow-legged Gull on the freshmarsh and several Spotted Redshank on the brackish marsh.

Spotted Redshank at Titchwell RSPB

There was also a nice selection of stuff on the sea; 5 Long-tailed Ducks, 3 Velvet Scoters, 3 Eider, single Red-necked Grebe and Fulmar, several Razorbills, and a fly-by Goosander. Two Snow Buntings also flew east up the beach, and then back again. A nice end to a good day.