Well, the best laid plans etc etc. I was all
enthused up about having a stroll around Shipley park on Thursday with
200-Chris and I go and get the sort of cold that is best kept under the duvet –
which is exactly what I did. Pity really, because Shipley has a good mixed
environment, with 3 different size and sort of lakes, housing, woodlands and
fields.
In an RSPB guided walk many years ago, before I got to know a bit about
birding, I was pointed out a Grey Heron in the trees at Mapperley reservoir
which turned out to be a plastic bag. It was also the first bird site that I
ever went to for a dawn chorus walk.
My only compensation this week was that on Tuesday
on the way back from Carsington after a Volunteer Ranger meeting, a Barn
Owl flew over near the Cock Inn at Mugginton, so that
dragged me on to 179 year to date.
Good news from the meeting. Plans are starting to
be formulated for the celebration on 22nd May. 2017, of the 25th
Anniversary of the opening of Carsington Water by The Queen in 1992. 22nd May will be a Monday, so most
of the activities and celebrations will be in the previous week. It will also
include the official opening of the new bird hide on Stones Island, thanks
mainly to the generous bequest by the late Janet Ede. I have written about
Janet before, and this will be a fitting tribute to her memory.
A quick look at Birdguides shows that there have
been 37 reports TO-DAY (Thursday 24th
November) of Waxwing sightings mainly
way up in the North East, including one report of 600 in Nairn on the Moray
Firth. A few have drifted further south, with 15 in Somerset near
Weston-Super-Mare, but closer to home some have been sighted in Bamford and
Glossop. A group appears to be well settled at The Spa PH in Scarborough, and a
few have been seen in Norfolk. I don’t
think there is much doubt – the irruption is happening.
Ed:
A nice cock pheasant had Kamikaze intentions on the road to Ashbourne. Missed!
Hello………………. Quick flurry of Whatsapp messages as a
result of Supergran adding a Scaup at Carsington this morning, to hit 198!!
Just
received my copy of the DOS Bird Report for 2015. Superb publication with an
incredible 226 pages, 4 more than last year. It has a huge amount of
information on sightings, specialists, rarities, ringing, trip reports, just masses
of good useful information. Many people contribute to the publication,
compiling sections on groups of species to build up the jigsaw of the 143-page
systematic list of the 2015 sightings.
I particularly like the ringing section. If you
have been (lucky enough-) to see my Osprey presentation, you will know how I
enthuse amount how much we found out about the 3 Carsington Osprey visitors
just based on the leg ring.
In the Report, as examples, there is a Blackbird
seen in Clowne, then 3 years later dead in Sweden, or the Chiffchaff ringed in
Derbyshire and caught by a ringer 2 years later in Norway. Fascinating stuff.
Sunday
27th November.
Encountered a group of birders from Grimsby RSPB
who had come for a days’ birding at Carsington. No reports yet of the GN Diver,
but at the Wildlife Centre, a Stonechat was very visible for everyone, on
Horseshoe Island, and a Brambling popped in briefly on the willow bush in front
of the windows.
Guess who didn’t hear the
call!!
Sunday
4th December. Just a reminder that next Sunday will be the last
Beginners walk for 2016.
BFN
No comments:
Post a Comment