The last two days at my local patch, Staunton Harold Reservoir, have produced a few good birds. Monday 21st October I had 3 Whooper Swans fly over the reservoir heading SW and then 30 minutes or so later a Red Kite flew over the dam wall. Then today, 22nd October, I found a pair of Brambling near the Yacht club. So 3 patch year ticks.
Then I get a phone call to say 3 Bearded Tits at Willington GP, so I made my way there but after nearly 3 hours searching, nothing more came of them. There was a female Brambling and a Willow Tit coming to the busy feeders, so it wasn’t a wasted journey.
Brambling – female – Willington GP – 22/10/19Willow Tit – Willington GP – 22/10/19Great Spotted Woodpecker – male – Willington GP – 22/10/19 Goldfinch – Willington GP – 22/10/19Reed Bunting – male – Willington GP – 22/10/19Reed Bunting – male – 22/10/19
The Long-billed Dowitcher returned to Willington Gravel Pits on the morning of Saturday 19th October. So I decided to have another attempt at photographing it. This time it seemed settled as it was roosting on a tiny island just from the main hide. It showed for a good 45 minutes before a Sparrowhawk flew through and flushed it and the accompanying Lapwings.
It flew off towards High Bridge Gravel Pits, where it was re-located briefly in the afternoon.
In the following 2 photographs you can clearly see the plain grey centred tertials which help to identify it from the rarer Short-billed Dowitcher.
The last thing I expected to see this morning was a first record for Derbyshire in the form of a 1st winter Long-billed Dowitcher. Found by Steve Porter first thing this morning, it disappeared for nearly 2 hours, before returning to Willington GP around 10:30am.
I managed a rush from work arriving on site around 11:15 and got to see the bird just before it flew out again around 11:25am. I managed a record shot, just as the wind blew the reeds apart once or twice. It flew off with Lapwings and 2 Ruff heading NE.
Long-billed Dowitcher – Willington GP – 18.10.2019 – 11:20amLong-billed Dowitcher – Willington GP – 18.10.19 – 11:20am
During the past few days I have spent sometime with local Orchids and have seen 1 new species and 1 new variant of Bee Orchid, Wasp Orchid. All with a few miles or so of my house. I even found a Common Spotted Orchid growing in one of the lawns at the front of my house. Totally unexpected but what a great thrill to find this self setter. Goodness knows where it has come from, but they can take up to 4 years to germinate. It seems to me to be a good year for orchids right across the country. It just goes to show that if you leave your lawn and let nature do the work, you can soon end up with a miniature biosphere on your doorstep and a lawn covered in a multitude of insect loving plants.
My Orchid hunting began at my local patch at Staunton Harold, where I found a number of Common Spotted and Southern Marsh Orchid. Some of the Southern Marsh appear to be hybrids, as they have spotted leaves. I also found a number of spikes of Bee Orchid in the wild flower meadows. So it is a particularly good Orchid year here at Staunton Harold.
Over the weekend I went to see a Lizard Orchid that has been discovered growing on a roadside verge in nearby Leicestershire. This was a new orchid species for me and what a stunning plant. In nearby Staffordshire I made a visit to see a Wasp Orchid, a very rare variant of Bee Orchid. Again growing in a public place on the village green. An extremely attractive Orchid that rounded off a superb few days of plant twitching.
Common Spotted Orchid growing on the lawn in front of my house
Common Spotted Orchid – Staunton Harold, Derbyshire
A few good birds were available in Yorkshire this weekend, so a day twitching on Sunday was a wise move.
A male Black-headed Bunting and a female Subalpine Warbler sp, had been discovered at Flamborough Head, whilst a Great Reed Warbler was continuing to sing and show at Wintersett Reservoir, near Barnsley.
The Subalpine Warbler, with it being a female, was virtually impossible to ID to species in the field, but was most probably a Western Subalpine Warbler. This species has now been split into three – Moltoni’s, Eastern & Western Subalpine Warbler. The females look like a diminutive Common Whitethroat, very delicate and quaint in appearance but require tail pattern and a call to be sure of species ID.
The male Black-headed Bunting was showing along the Old Fall Hedge, but always remained distant. Good views of it though through the telescope.
These buntings are rare migrant overshoots from Eastern Europe and several male birds have been seen at various sites in the UK during the past week
Black-headed Bunting – male – Flamborough, Old Fall HedgeBlack-headed Bunting – male – Flamborough, Old Fall Hedge
A Great Reed Warbler had taken up residence in a large Reed-bed at Wintersett Reservoir, near Barnsley. So we called in to see it on our way back home. The bird was easily heard croaking away as we walked towards the site. It was very difficult to try and get a photograph, due to all the differing reeds and branches in the way, but I managed a few record shots of this very rare warbler from Europe.
A Savi’s Warbler, a rare summer migrant that breeds in Eastern Europe, has arrived at Attenborough Nature Reserve in Nottinghamshire. It has been present, showing well on occasions and singing regularly now, for over a week. The bird is favouring a small area of reed bed in front of the Tower Hide that overlooks Clifton Pond.
The distinctive high pitched reeling song, that sounds like an insect, can be heard well before the bird is viewed, if you are lucky!
It took me three attempts before I finally had good views of the bird on Sunday morning at 06:30am and Paul Buxton, one of the local birders at Attenborough, has kindly supplied me with a phone-scoped picture he took, as a record of this bird. Many thanks Paul
Also an Arctic Tern was present briefly and all the common warblers were about in various locations. The drake Scaup was still on Church Pond and a Little Ringed Plover from the track leading towards Tower Hide. A male Bullfinch posed very well for my camera, as it was busy munching on old blackberries. A great morning at a great local reserve.
Savi’s Warbler – reeling from the reed bed at Attenborough. – photo by kind permission of Paul BuxtonBullfinch – maleBullfinch -maleSedge Warbler – plenty singing around the reserve
Willington Gravel Pits, lies alongside the River Trent near Repton in South Derbyshire. The site is now a Derbyshire Wildlife Reserve but for many, many years has been well known for being a great local birding spot.
Over the years it has had some superb birds and I can recall one of my best finds in Derbyshire at this site, a Red Kite in 1966, when Red Kite was a mega rare bird across the country, let alone in Derbyshire.
News of a summer plumaged Little Gull this morning, pulled me away from my local patch at Staunton Harold Reservoir, where I found my first Common Sandpiper for the year, but little else.
I soon found the Little Gull hawking across the pits in amongst the Black-headed Gulls. I also had a few good spring migrants including a Common Tern, Grasshopper Warbler, Reed Warbler, both Lesser and Common Whitethroat. So not a bad morning.
Little GullLittle GullGreat Crested Grebe performing their danceGreat Crested GrebeShelduckRedshank
Saturday 13th April I made a visit to one of my favourite RSPB Reserves, Frampton Marsh, near Boston in Lincolnshire. A Long-billed Dowitcher has wintered at the reserve and had been showing regularly in recent days. The bird is now moulting into summer plumage, so was worth the visit.
Despite our efforts, we failed to see it, but did manage to find a few good birds. An adult Little Gull, a drake Garganey, several Little Ringed Plover, several Yellow Wagtail, 2 Sedge Warbler, a Spotted Redshank, some smart Ruff, 3 Pintail and thousands of Brent Geese. In all we had 65 species during the day.
A male Ruff moulting into summer plumageDrake GarganeyLittle Ringed PloverAvocetAdult summer plumaged Black-headed GullBrent Geese
A Great Grey Shrike has been wintering at the National Trust’s Clumber Park, in Nottinghamshire. It has been favouring an area called South Lawns, a reasonable walk from the visitor centre car park.
I managed to see the bird on Friday 15th March in extremely windy conditions. It was quite challenging for taking photographs and made it very difficult trying to approach the bird. With patience though,
I managed to get a few pictures, of what can be a difficult bird to photograph in Britain.
The Great Grey Shrike is a scarce autumn migrant and annual winter visitor to our shores, mainly from Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.
Shrikes are often called the “Butcher Bird”, due to their habit of impaling their prey on thorns of bushes, such as Hawthorn.
I spent the 24th – 26th February in the Scottish Highlands with professional photographer, Pete Walkden. The plan was to photograph Crested Tit, but due to exceptionally mild weather, our plans had to change.
Crested Tits will only come to feeding stations in cold weather. Once the weather becomes warm, they take to the tree canopy, as they much prefer to feed on insects, than they do on nuts and fat balls.
So I decided that I would try for Ptarmigan and Red Squirrel, so Pete put the plan in place.
The following few images hopefully show that my time spent in one of my favourite parts of the UK was a success. Thanks Pete for a great few days
Ptarmigan – Cairngorm, Scotland – February 2019Ptarmigan – Cairngorm, Scotland – February 2019Ptarmigan – Cairngorm, Scotland – February 2019Red Squirrel – Scottish Highlands – February 2019 Red Squirrel – Scottish Highlands – February 2019Red Squirrel – Scottish Highlands – February 2019Red Squirrel – Scottish Highlands – February 2019Red Squirrel – Scottish Highlands – February 2019Red Grouse – Scottish Highlands – February 2019Red Grouse – Scottish Highlands – February 2019HRed Grouse – Scottish Highlands – February 2019
