Let’s start with a couple of bits of birding news that you may have
missed!!
1.In the Swedish city of Sodertalje environmentalists are
training crows to pick up cigarette butts, and when they drop them in a
receptacle they get rewarded with a snack. (I can think of some UK pubs where rewards
would be so plentiful as to make them obese within a week!!)
2.Conversely, in Brighton immature Herring Gulls have been seen
picking parking tickets off the windscreens of cars! Pity the motorist that tries to justify to
the authorities that they DID buy a
parking ticket. The traffic warden will have photos of the (absence of-)
tickets on the windscreens, leaving the poor motorist with no defence,. … and
no chance.
3.That reminded me of the lady who went to the reception at
Carsington and asked the staff what we were going to do about the wasp that
stung her. The lady argued that it was a Severn Trent problem as it was at a Severn
Trent reservoir so “it was a Severn Trent wasp”. Sadly the receptionist was so taken aback
that she omitted to say “Madam, if you can point out the wasp to me, I will
have it seen to!!!”
My getting back into birdwatching is taking off at a good
pace. By the end of 2021 (having started on 3rd November 2021) I was
on 92… and now on March 2, I’m on 115.
In January and February I had
several visits to Attenborough adding 3 species, in particular a Stonechat. It took me 3 visits to find a male close to
the sewage works and the railway line. The cold quiet day had the best result. One
Attenborough visit was special seeing a Little Egret and a Great White Egret in
my bins at the same time… what a contrast.
5.My patience at Cromford on January
13, standing on the bridge over the Derwent, was rewarded by a Dipper
landing on a nearby branch and then joined by another. Both Dippers were diving
and searching for food together, and then I watched the male displaying as the mate watched on a
nearby branch – Fabulous.
6.16th February (the
calm weather day between the 15th and 17th stormy days!)
included a trip with Christine to Slimbridge. Very rewarding with the expected
Bewicks, Cranes and White Fronted Geese, and also a Snow Goose, Ross’s Goose
(3) and a Grey Wagtail.. a rewarding addition of 6, some compensation for a
traumatic journey – both ways, coming to a 15 minute highway closure on the
road down to Slimbridge. Some consolation as we waited was to see through the
hedge a huge number of Redwings and Fieldfares.
7.A Red Necked Grebe, and the Great Northern Diver at
Carsington 21 were good contributions to the year to date.
8. Tuesday 2nd March,
Christine, Gill and I did a 15,000 step, 5-mile walk in Sherwood Forest and the awful wet weather produced Nil points,
apart from a nice close up of a friendly Tree Creeper. A return in better weather is called for.
Current news is that Little Ring Plovers, sand Martins and
Wheatears have been reported on the south coast, so I expect March and April to
start adding Summer visitors to my year list. Bring it on!!
Happy Birding
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