22nd November . A date to remember..........in 1963.

And now for something completely different!!

As you know my days as a volunteer in the birding environment are numbered and having listened to comments about “hanging up my binoculars” I have this week been interviewed for a post as a volunteer at the local city council library in Allestree.    I’m pleased to say that I appear to “cut the mustard” and I have been accepted as a trainee volunteer. Training starts in January next year and I look forward to a nice indoor job, of just half a day a week.

I was asked at the interview what I anticipated the work would entail and I could only hark back to my days as a teenager, when I used to go to the library in Bristol in Zetland Road.  I had a couple of library tickets, and each ticket was exchanged at the check-out (not the word they used in those days for a book – that’s a more recent supermarket introduced phrase) for a library book and then within 14 days, the transaction was (supposed to be-) reversed and I got my card back. In my case, that was also the point when I handed over my “fine” as I regularly went over the lending period.

My interviewer started talking about self-service scanners, which demonstrated that I was 

not up with the modern library procedures. Anyway, it will all be new, and I’ve got nothing to lose by giving it a whirl. I’ve been invited to the Xmas fuddle so that’s a good start. There are 48 volunteers so far… I hope they are wearing name badges!

Interestingly, 55 years ago last Thursday the 22nd, Mary was working as a BBC librarian employed in the Overseas Broadcasting unit in London.     She was on duty on a date many will remember, Friday 22nd November 1963, the day when President John Kennedy was murdered.

That was a frantic day in the library, with requests coming in for a recorded obituary..... which did not exist. Nobody anticipated that one would yet be needed for a President who was only 46. 

Other news?    I’ve finally finished writing a booklet for Derby City Council about the Birds of Markeaton Park, which I hope will be published in the new year. I delivered it on Thursday, and the lady from the council seemed pleased with my ideas so I will have to see if the first draft is what I wrote!!! It’s been fun designing and writing it, but it has only been to help the public… and for the ego trip!!!

I started the leaflet 4 years ago, but when major changes were made in the park, the route and reference points tended to vanish.  The final version therefore had to be rewritten to ensure that the facts were still accurate.  Fortunately, bird wise, apart from the addition of the breeding Red Kites in 2018 at Kedleston Hall which can be seen hovering over Markeaton, the species remain the same.

Tuesday November 20^th, and yet another walk in a hitherto unvisited potential birding location. Chris Gill and I met up for a cold morning to look round Wollaton Park, a park on the West side of Nottingham.

The park with the hall, museum and a large lake is a huge 500-acre site. Whilst it abuts on to the A52, it is peaceful with just a faint traffic hum in the distance. Both the ladies knew the park well, so we struck out to areas where they had some good sightings in the past.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Tawny Owl, Green Woodpecker were the targets… but not today. Anyway, I do now know these locations and they will get visited at a future date and a better time, a day when the birds are not tucked up warm somewhere.

BOSD? (bird of the short day?) A couple of bouncy Jays clearly hunting and storing acorns, and two well horned stags were good to see. The park is probably better known as Wollaton Hall and Deer Park.

Whilst I think of it, in the interest of making my study look more civilised, I have 20  Derbyshire Ornithological Society years books from 1996 – 2015 to give to a good home. Drop me a text on 07721325345 if you are interested.   They would need to be collected, in Derbyshire.

200 Club.   As we start December, as opposed to 4 qualifiers in 2017, I appear to have only 2 candidates for a 2018 award.  A few birders are in the 150+ category, but that final 25%, let alone the last 5, can be hard to get. But nothing is impossible!

Sorry about the delay with this post, but Mary and I only got back from Scarborough yesterday. Bempton and Filey were too wet and cloudy for birding and only at Whitby did we get near the sea. (Ed:  What about THE Oystercatcher, the Cormorants, and the Seal at Whitby?) OK, not all bad!

On the plus side - I won £26 on the hotel Bingo and Mary won £35 on the third night.

Best laugh?  Sitting in the coffee shop in the middle of M & S in Beverley, and watching a lady walk through with her brolly up!!

Upcoming walks?

My last BwB Carsington           Sunday December 2^nd       10.00   Please book

My Last BwB Markeaton          Sunday December 16^th      10.30  …Just turn up!!

Happy Birding

Winter cometh, and so do the Redwings!!

When are we going to see some serious rain?   The level at Carsington Water continues to fall, and this week the measurement shows 62.3% full, or put it another way, over a third empty!!

Bit sad for we birders as the shore waters edge is so far away. It will take more than normal rainfall… we need a downpour such that Severn Trent will start pumping up from the Derwent.

The Ranger staff pick up additional work problems when the water level is low. Despite putting up notices to warn the public to stay away from the waters edge, as the mud can become very glutinous and dangerous, there are visitors who know better and try to cross to one of the islands. To my limited knowledge there was one incident in 2018 (maybe more?) when the fire brigade had to rescue someone unable to extricate themselves from the mud.

Non-humans have similar incidents, and this is where the Rangers get involved. Sheep!!! Sheep don’t read the notices, and particularly those with thick coats get stuck very easily. It takes a strong ranger to lay duckboards, or ladders, or tarpaulins or whatever, to get to, and pull a sheep out of the mud. 

Last time I witnessed Phil doing a recovery job, half an hour later he was still hosing himself down at the Ranger base to get rid of all the mud attached to his protective ware.

This water shortage is evident not just at Carsington.    Last week, viewing from the Tower hide at Attenborough Gravel Pits the level was equally low, but it did mean that there was more exposed mud just beyond the reed bed, which was a positive for waders etc.

Tuesday November 13^th I visited Bestwood Country Park, a bird site on the North side of Nottingham.  This was a new venue for me, and Gill gave Christine and me a guided tour of the Western part of the Reserve, by the River Leen and Mill Lakes.

The reserve is 4 miles north of Nottingham on the edge of Bestwood village. “In days of Yore”, the park was adjoined to a hunting lodge, and was used by the Gentry and Royalty.

Whilst our species count was not notable, it was a most pleasant walk, although I doubt whether I would be able to find my way round what is a 3,711 acres reserve.  Unfortunately, the refreshment cabin was not open on a Tuesday, so lunch was at The Horse and Groom at Linby.

Sunday 18^th November    was my penultimate BwB walk at Markeaton, so it was nice to have 8 

potential converts for the morning walk…… but before I forget, Friday, Mary and I went to a regular location, a quality antique fair at the NEC.

As usual I was looking for legs, and this is a nice one that I decided to buy.  It is made of brass, made in c1880/1890, but it is quite small. Small ones like this were usually used by ladies, who in the 19^th century did smoke pipes.

  

A nice addition to my collection which now totals 124 legs… additions are much rarer now, as I only buy legs which differ significantly from those in my current collection.

Back to the walk, I arrived a bit early giving me time for a stroll up and down Yew walk. I’d hoped to find Redwings and/or Fieldfares in the horse field beyond the farm, but maybe it was not cold enough – this is normally when I see them actively foraging.

Anyway, I did spot the Jay twice, no doubt caching away some acorns.

Unfortunately, nothing unusual for the group, so there was a lot of concentrating on some of the common birds at close quarters. In the duck pond Coots and Moorhens were next to each other, real Mallards could be compared with the hybrids, comparing male and female Mute Swans by their black nasal knobs, and male and female Tufted Ducks in couples helped with the id aids. I did have a number of people very knew to birding, so help with basics was well received. 

Coal Tits were much in evidence when we put food on the bird table, and Redwings were foraging above us in the trees.

And probably not unusual, seeing and appreciating the antics of the Nuthatch made it the BOD. (bird of the Day!)

Oh, well, nothing outstanding this week – we will see what happens in the next 7 days.

Next walk?    Carsington BwB – my final Carsington walk – will be Sunday December 2.

Happy Birding

A French Gite - strictly for the Birds!!

You just never know…. I though there was going to be a paucity of bird news this week, but then several things happen or come to mind, worthy of comment.

The first one concerns the Carsington osprey Project. As you will know, the Volunteer rangers erected 2 extra osprey nests at Carsington water in 2011 in the hope of attracting some young Ospreys interested in starting a family. Rutland Wildlife Trust, well known for their success with their Osprey breeding programme following the translocation of chicks from Scotland, was trying to encourage wildlife conservationists to erect breeding facilities, which is what we did.

Unfortunately, Carsington has resident Cormorants who not only enjoy chasing away any passing Ospreys, but they also decimate the nests to use the sticks for their own nests. Consequently, we must do periodic make-overs, to reinstate nests to a more nesting conducive condition.

Thank goodness, enter DWT who have the long ladder, Mike Walsh and the skill to do what we used to call in my days in the construction industry, “Remedials”. Led by Samantha Willis and using the drone photos we took a couple of months ago next Wednesday the DWT is to give the Lane End nest a make-over and possibly one or two of the other nests.

The Volunteers have always given the DWT a donation each time they do a make-over, in recognition of the help that the DWT provide, and I am grateful to the birders on my BwB walks for THEIR donations which facilitate this work.

You will have seen me refer to a friend, Roy, who I have known longer than I have been married. He has nomadic tendencies, and I suspect some of our passed Xmas cards have not yet caught up with him.   

Currently, he is parlezing Francaise with the mayor of the little village in which he and his family, (wife – Barbara; son – David and 4-legged friend, the latter having more borders visas than I have) have very recently purchased a barn - a village with a name that I can’t even pronounce, but not far from Limoges. (Brigueuill….. how can you pronounce 4 vowels in a row???)

With the Barn comes a small property due for a make over and to be used as a Gite.    And an even smaller property suitable for birds. 

It has 5 bedrooms, 2 dining tables on the terrace, a stair case which Stannah will be looking at with a view to fixing a motor. It has 12 hooks for a variety of foods, and the landing looks as though candles can be added.

Most impressive 

Roy is an enthusiastic birder, and although his Binoculars are currently lying in Portugal, (which rather repudiates the statement that he is enthusiastic!!) from his French home, last week he did witness a significant number of flocks of Geese heading South, which he has resolved as Greylags. In profile, high-flying geese can be a problem, but witnessing the changing position of the leading bird was a good hint.

Roy also told me that he had encountered some local birders on migration watch, and they kept referring to Royal Milan.    This apparently is what they call red Kites in France, the name coming from LouiseIII who decreed that only the Royal family could fly them.

Drop that in a conversation next time you are in  a hide!! 

Tuesday November 6th  

Christine, Gill and I decided to have a walk round Attenborough Gravel Pits, to see what was about. Chris has crossed the Rubicon with the 200 club, but that target will elude Gill and I, in my case with 20+ to reach the 200, and some 45 needed by Gill. 

Gill has had a very good record 2018 with 145 to date, setting herself a new benchmark to exceed in 2019. 

Lest you should think Gill has started twitching she just happened to be on holiday in the locality and got caught up in the excitement of the many birders who went to see this rarity.   Only the second in the UK, and I believe the identification of the first one was a bit suspect.

Nothing like that at Attenborough, in fact although it was a pleasant stroll, and a pleasant languid lunch, there was not even a BOD… well I suppose the Goldeneye could have the credit this time.  

   That’s birding for you.

Upcoming walks??

18 November                10.30    Markeaton   BwB

Happy Birding

Carsington BwB No 167

Sunday 4^th November

Setting off from Allestree for my Carsington BwB walk yesterday, the weather deteriorated, both in visibility and by raining. So, it was gratifying to find that all 13 who had booked did in fact turn up, and with 2 unbooked additions took me off the number 13!! Reminded me of the days when I worked for Shands at Darley Dale. If there was a board meeting including Mr Shand, the MD, if there were 13 people round the table, he would direct one to sit away at a separate small table!!  (His company = his decision!).

Gary was not with us this month, but he had asked Roger Carrington, a very experienced birder and a past Bird Recorder for Carsington, to join us. Amanda came to check on what happens at the start of a walk, (her job from January!!) and finished up coming round for the morning walk. So, with my regular stalwart Keith, Roger, Amanda and myself, the group was well supplied with help and guidance.

We had 3 new people join us for the first time, so it was back to basics like “how do I focus my binoculars?” etc.

With this being my 167^th walk and the penultimate one before Amanda takes over the baton it did leave a bit of a lump in the throat. Those birders who will not be on my final walk in December were wishing me well and asking what I would do instead to which I replied, “I’m only not doing the bird walk – I am still able to go bird watching!!!”

I had one embarrassing situation, which I hope I covered OK. We have a regular 10-year-old boy Peter, who comes with his Dad probably once in 3 months. He’s been coming since January 2017 and wears very appropriate camouflage wear a clear demonstration of his understanding about not being obtrusive with birds. His dad carries his telescope!!   

I noticed his hair was very thick, long and over his collar, not a style I recognised from my Grandsons fashioned style. I asked him why the long hair, and it took his Dad to tell us that he was growing it for a cancer charity, and it was due to be cut in December.      I understand, and I learnt!, that the hair is made into wigs to be used by people who have lost their hair in the course of cancer treatment.

The group were very complimentary, and Peter was told to bring his sponsorship form next month as the fellow birders would support him, giving the charity money as well as the hair. I’ll let you know how he does.

I mentioned that visibility was poor, undoubtedly a major contribution to what I think is our worst ever species count – 27. Regulars know that I have a target for each walk of 30, which qualifies me for a Roast Sunday lunch, so 27 was a failure. (Ed; He still got the Roast Pork this week…I’m too soft with him)

No outstanding birds, but a group of 10 Little Grebes was enjoyed by all and was BOD. Roger was aware that 30 had been counted on site recently.     Far from the days when the Yellow Legged Gull, Brutus, virtually wiped out the species at Carsington with his voracious appetite.

Bird club expert Simon, very much an early morning birder, had seen Shoveller, Ruff and Pintail earlier on but not for us.

Just by way of a warning, until January, when the bird counter is set to zero and I start all over again, I don’t expect to have a great deal of birding information to write about. And I don’t want to bore you with news of such things as my micro-tibialism fetish (= leg collection), so there may be the occasional week when I will not be doing a blog update. 

I hope you will understand. In the meantime, there is nothing to stop YOU putting a comment on my blog!!

But all hell will/should be set loose from January 1!!

Otherwise, next Bird walks…. Sunday November 18^th.  BwB Markeaton 10.30am

                                                Sunday December 2^nd      BwB Carsington 10.00am

I’ve also been asked to lead a walk in April at Nutwood, a nice little reserve at Darley Abbey. Look out for more info in due course.

Happy Birding