A week outside the home county.

Thought you may like the picture, posted this morning and taken at Markeaton Park which won a small local photographic competition.

As I could expect, the first few days of the year are when birders start their New Year sightings list, which means there are plenty of people out toting binoculars and telescopes. If I see a group of people all looking the same way, I try to see what the attraction is. It may be something dramatic, an obscure plant, a celebrity whatever, but if the people in the group each have 5 legs, you know they are bird watchers with tripods. 

So, Tuesday January 5^th (again!). I get to Rufford Hall on the north side of Nottingham at 8.45am and there they are the 5 – legged brigade, all looking at the top of trees for an elusive bird with a disproportionately large beak that is strong enough to crack nuts. Now don’t get me wrong, I can tote a scope with the best of them, but what these birders do for me is to enable me to see the direction they are looking, and with a bit of luck, I’m in!

And what we are all looking for to-day is a colourful Hawfinch. I’m lucky, because within 2 minutes I am getting frantic semaphore signals from a fellow birder, pointing to a single Hawfinch high in the canopy. What a pleasure - better than 2015 when I was greeted with “You should have been here 5 minutes ago”!!

We look for a Marsh Tit, but to no avail, so we drive to Old Moor, a good RSPB site in S.Yorkshire between Rotherham and Barnsley, and add to the days total of 53 species. Water was unsurprisingly very high, but the feeding station produced great views of Siskin, a single Redpoll, Bullfinches and Reed Buntings.

On the water we found 2 handsome male Pintails, Shovellers and Little Egret, and a small flock of Golden Plover did a nice fly past. A Song Thrush had been singing in the car park when we arrived, and 4 hours later, it was still singing in the same place.  Got him!!

Saturday January 9^th. Decided to join with a group from DOS (Derbyshire Ornithological Society) for a 3-hour walk in Nottinghamshire, at Attenborough Gravel Pits. This is a very good mixed environment site, just over the Derbyshire border near Long Eaton. In 2011, a huge number of birders went to see a rare Squacco Heron which was fishing at the confluence of the Erewash and Trent, catching the fish in the Notts river, and flying into Derbyshire to eat it. So both counties were proudly proclaiming they had a Squacco!

To-day, our group of 8 experts(!!) saw 43 different species including both male and female Mandarin ducks (at different locations, and more of that later!), and 3 Goose species, including 5 Pink Foots which had taken up residence on the other side of the Trent in a very flooded field. The hoped for Bittern and Water rail will have to wait for another day.

Sunday January 10^th. Again at Attenborough, this time with 6 people who join my monthly Carsington walk, and came for an “away day”, the one such event each year. Weather was superb, and between us we saw 36 species, with Adele being thrilled as the spotter of a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Delta area. In addition a calling Cetti warbler in the reeds near the visitor centre, was BOD as Cettis are warblers not normally in the UK until the summer, and can be very hard to see. Radipole Lake in Weymouth is a good place to see, and hear, Cettis. 

 So a week spent mainly outside Derbyshire, but leading to 75 birds to date, made the journeys worthwhile.

Oh, Oh..seen the forecast for Scotland next week?? Can I hire skis?