The Mojo is ticking faster... Red Necked Grebe and displaying Dippers!!

 Sorry no photos to show you, but my Mojo has certainly been reactivated and whilst I’m not quite twitching, I have been to locations with specific objectives and target birds

14^th December, enjoyed a stroll with Chris at Attenborough, the first there for must be 18 months, so we found quite a few changes, like vehicle recognition parking in the car park, and free parking areas along the access road all blocked up.

After a reunion drink!!, we did a leisurely circuit, and ticked off 39 species without any real effort. A somewhat precocious but enthusiastic young boy, aspiring to birding, asked if we had seen the Smew!! Which resulted in us visiting the Kingfisher hide and seeing a nice Redhead off to the right. And then whilst we were in the hide, a Water Rail emerged from the reeds!! At first we thought there were 2, but it’s partner turned out to be a Moorhen…not a surprising temporary mistake – they are both from the Rail genus.

30^th December,  I went to RSPB Old Moor via Broomhill Flash. Looking back on my records, the last time I was there was 28^th January 2020, virtually 2 years ago. In the 2 years they have done a lot of good work on the site assisted by a large lottery grant.   The car park is no longer gravel and looking much more welcoming. Entry to the reserve is no longer through the shop and when I visited the volunteers were manning an information gazebo to help visitors. The Family hide is now quite different but the distant hides where birders go only differs by the addition of some plastic partitioning so that birders are separated.

Bird wise, the Sparrow Farm (which has no Tree sparrows since the major flood last year) gave me good views of Bullfinch and Reed Bunting, and after some id difficulty (I’m rusty!) I identified a Green Sandpiper from the Wader Scrape hide. And finished with an excellent sight of a disruptive Peregrine Falcon island-hopping in front of the Family Hide. 

2^nd January 2022 started with the BwB walk with Amanda, and 2 Gull species plus a pair of Barnacle Geese (I called them!!) took me to 95. After my lengthy hibernation, getting back up to speed on identification has been slow, but 95 in the first 2 months is quite satisfactory.

Thursday 13th January despite yet another very frosty start, I went to Carsington and saw the red Necked Grebe near the draw-off tower.  Not being inclined to go Diver hunting I opted to go on to Cromford, obviously hoping for a Hawfinch (failed!) but trying again to add Dipper to my list.

With a welcoming take-away hot chocolate, I took up position by the little fisherman chapel near the Derwent bridge, and despite the high water level I quite quickly saw a Dipper fly out from under the bridge and land on a branch overhanging the water. When it flew to the other side of the Derwent, a second Dipper joined it and landed nearby. For over a quarter of an hour I watched them dipping in and out for food, and at one point displaying to each other. The male (I assumed) was acting like a Jack Snipe, bobbing up and down rhythmically  whilst the other stood very erect.

What an enjoyable tick for the day!

20^th January to end my birding for the month, this week we again visited Attenborough, Chris Gill and myself. Again a leisurely walk ticked 35 species. We could have hoped to see Bittern, Stonechat, Woodpecker or Kingfisher, but had to settle for a Song Thrush and 2 Chiffchaffs. The Chiffchaffs were seen on a path alongside the railway towards the sailing club.  I have ticked them here some years ago, and whilst Chiffchaffs are Warblers that now over-winter it is always nice to see them as early as possible in the birding year.. and before they can get confused with Willow Warblers!!

This is my second bi-monthly Birding blog, so with 104 YTD the end of March should show a small increase but the summer migrants will be just round the corner.

Happy birding and a Happy 2022 to both of you!!!

The Twitcher/Microtibialist!!

December 2021...Here we go birding again!!

Hello

If you happen to still have your automatic link with any of my postings on my old birding blog then this message will come as a bit of a surprise.

 

It was in May 2020 when Covid was starting to get a grip that not only did I stop birding, but I stopped doing my birding blog. My pocket book of sightings just dried up in mid 2020 and my Mojo did the same.

In the summer, life was not too bad. Restricted as where one could go, we had plenty to do in the garden, and were really pleased with the result of our efforts.  Going through the 2020/2021 months, I did an incredible amount of writing, well over 107,000 words with 22 different chapters.  Getting frustrated without any writing projects, in March 2021 I started a new blog, so it moved from Allesbirdtree blog to Alleslegtree blog!!  That has continued for 24 postings up to this month the majority of which have no record of any web browser making a “hit”.  Doesn’t matter, I still enjoy writing.

The memoirs continued to a lesser degree, but we enjoyed the summer by swinging on our new garden swing on No 3 patio!! This was a site development well worth while.

ANYWAY!!  Whilst we had enjoyed the bird life in and through our garden, Mary’s bird knowledge has certainly improved.

A pair of Goldfinches popped in together regularly, usually going to the bird bath for a drink.

A Sparrowhawk did a temporary pause on the fence when we had some distancing visitors in the garden and Woodpigeons and Dunnocks were clearly co-habiting. The Robin was an infrequent visitor but when he did come it seemed to be to the same spot on the fence from whence he serenaded us.

In October I decided it was time to get back to birding. Birders, like me, like to count birds in a calendar year, and just once I have hit the magical 200. November 7^th Amanda told me that the Glossy Ibis was her number 200 UK bird for 2021… with almost 2 months still to go.

As I can see no reason why a year should be a calendar year, I decided to start on Wednesday 3^rd November and go 365 days from there.. and why not?   Just got the seasons in a confused order!

So I got going with three walks in Markeaton Park, and the November Bird walk with Amanda and in two weeks I was on 42 species.  

The big psychological boost was the 7 days staying at Exmouth, and, of course, including the 3 hour birding cruise up the Exe to Topsham. Derek Carter was the good leader for the cruise and I ticked 31 species. Nothing unexpected and a couple that I thought we would see, we dipped.

We listed a number of others birds during our holiday, which included on a trip to Berry Head. 3 birds competed for Bird of the Holiday. At the second attempt I found 5 Purple sandpipers on the rocky foreshore at Exmouth (with 7 Turnstones both times)), and we needed a return visit to Labrador Bay south of Teignmouth before we spotted a lovely Cirl Bunting. And Mary is now au fait with the call of a Raven over Exmouth marina. (Pity about dipping for the Black Restart).

Anyway, of 56 species, 28 were new moving my total on to 70 YTD.

Started December well, with a Jay in Regents Park, 5 Red Kites seen from the train to London near Oxford – and on the Carsington walk for December, Siskin and Redpoll and a lovely male Ruff.  (YTD = 78).

So, whilst it will only be monthly, I’ve decided to reactivate posts on my bird blog and this is number one.

Next news will be in January 2022 and my progress to date is very encouraging.

So a very Happy Xmas (that bird on the table does not count!!) and a I'll talk again next year

David