I know my priority is our forthcoming 14 days’
holiday in Majorca starting this Tuesday, so I must tell or remind you of a few
things before I go.
As many of you will know, 18th
May 2017 is the 25th anniversary of the day that Carsington Water was opened. On the day that the Queen cut the tape, Carsington was anticipating 300k visitors pa. In 2016, the number was 1.1million!
18th May will be an anniversary event
for those closely involved, and will include the official opening of the new
Janet Ede hide on Stones Island. I had a look round the hide area this morning,
and I must say the finished job does blend in well. ST will decide what to do
by way of adding a bird feeding station and any screening each side of the hide
to prevent bird disturbance. It really
does look a good spot, and you will read below the good waders seen from the
new hide. This morning there was a Ringed Plover visible on the water’s edge,
and that despite a sailing day quite close to the shore.
This photo shows the outdoor classroom by the hide,
and my coffee cup on the ground!
On Saturday and Sunday 20th and 21st,
there will be masses of fun and events throughout the weekend, charities
participating, and also including short bird walks with Carsington Bird club.
I’m back for the next BWB on Sunday 4th
June, but there will be no Markeaton Bird walk on 21st May. NO BLOG on Sundays 21st or 28th.Sorry.
A Commercial!!!
I bought a small travelling mini scope at Rutland Water last week with a
mono pod (and ticked a pair of Ospreys at
Manton bay!). This means I have a Manfrotto mono pod for sale, hardly used,
just £10 if anyone is interested.
Right…..birding.
Sunday 7th
May. With a good turnout of 21
people for the BWB walk, we all enjoyed a lovely morning with excellent light
and visibility, and which turned out to be a real bird bonanza for all the birds,
and birders on the walk.
Straight away, the telescope brigade spotted a
gorgeous male Grey Plover* on water sports island, in handsome breeding plumage.
As we scanned the island, Keith located a Black Tern* just above and beyond the island resulting in all
of us not knowing where to look first! Both birds justified time ensuring that
everyone saw them in one of the scopes, particularly because both species had
never been seen before in 147 beginner walks.
From the same spot, some birders picked up a nice
male Bullfinch, and a further one was seen on Stones Island. At the end of the
causeway by the small reed bed is an excellent spot for woodland birds, and we
found ourselves hearing and seeing a wonderful range of Warblers.
Garden Warbler was the first one to be located, then
Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, and to everyone’s delight, excellent
views of a singing Whitethroat. Bird Guide manuals helped those who did not get
the best views to compare Whitethroat v Lesser Whitethroat.
To end a good haul on Stones Island, we added a
host of waders, including Dunlin, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover, and finally
just in front of the new bird hide 3 Turnstones*. Not
surprising and being the most viewable, Turnstone was the bird of the walk,
with the 3* birds all being additions to our walk life list. A total of 40
species had only ever been beaten once with a count of 42.
Wednesday
10th May, Amanda led her
annual walk up Padley Gorge. Amanda is very good at identifying birds by their
song or call, and the first goodie, at almost the same place as on her walk in
2016, was the lovely yellow breasted Wood Warbler.
As we progressed we found the occasional Pied Flycatcher, both male and female, and a photographer pointed
out a single Spotted Flycatcher, but I was too slow to pick it up, which was a
sad miss. A well-hidden Redstart was added to the list, and once we got out
above the gorge canopy, Meadow and Tree Pipit were added.
We then followed the
stream up to Burbage, spotting a burbling Curlew, and a Great Spotted
Woodpecker disappearing into a nest hole.
Crossing the road on to Burbage, the word was that
there were Cuckoos and Ring Ouzels about, and we had
only walked a couple of hundred yards, when we duly spotted a pair. A good
walk, although Amanda did not hit the targets she wanted, such as Whinchat and
Cuckoo (heard, by the way), but you can’t win them all.
So with 181 to date……………..Viva Espanol!
Good to see that Carsington continues to go from strength to strength with birds like Grey Plover and especially Black Tern. As we have come to expect at Carsington at this time of year, a good haul of warblers and waders. I've seen a Wood Warbler on the Watersmeet path so, for me, bird of the blog is definitely Ring Ouzel. As the writer is currently enjoying foreign parts, as it were, we shall have to contain our impatience for the moment for the next blog.
ReplyDelete