Here come the Ospreys!!!

Tuesday 11^th April and having to see Solicitors to sign some docs, I had to curtail the planned walk with Chris to try and See Ring Ouzels plus a lonely Glossy Ibis, both in Leicestershire.   

Instead, we had the morning at Attenborough, which being only 20 minutes from home for me, I met up with Chris at 9.00am.    Being there early, and with Schools closed for the Easter holidays and the consequential absence of loud juvenile exuberance, we could readily hear birds in the bushes.

Foliage is now growing very quickly, and it took patience to see what we could hear. I was lucky. No sooner did I get out of the car, but there was a lovely male Blackcap in the car park, clearly heard and visible.

So we did little more than  mosey down to the tower hide and see what we could find. The furrows in Wheatear field did not yield much, until we were coming back. But Chris and a fellow birder were picking up a Sedge Warbler, and after it came out of the bush it was on my 2017 list too. The Owl box appears to be occupied by the Kestrels once again, unless they get usurped..again.

Cetti’s were singing their hearts out and thus readily identifiable, but we fell into a dispute with some fellow birders as to whether what we saw on the furrows were Ringed or Little Ringed Plovers. As we watched and debated, Mike MacDonald, a wildlife centre volunteer from Carsington joined us, and we all benefited from his scope. Sorted ! Yellow Eye-ring and dark beak = Little Ringed!

Cometh 11.30 and cometh the children on holiday, so goeth David and Chris!!

A revealing article in the Daily Telegraph this week. A survey by Twirlywoos, a pre-school TV programme, revealed that in a survey of 2,000 people, over 50% could not identify a Sparrow, and 33% could not tell the difference between a Goldfinch and a Greenfinch.   The survey was commissioned in conjunction with the online awards scheme, “Wild Challenge this Easter” organised by the RSPB, which is designed to encourage children to get closer to nature.

I am all in favour of encouraging children to appreciate birds and wildlife, and I believe that where this can be tailored via and in conjunction with computers, this is the media that children understand (better than me!). Be it research, data recording or communication, or computerisation of bird sightings, they all get children into knowing birds and names and is a step towards recognising them.

Tell me, what was special about Friday April 14^th, Saturday April 15^th, and Sunday April 16^th? 

On each of those day, an Osprey was reported at Carsington water with to-days bird being seen by anyone in the wildlife centre at 1pm!!   But not me. Apparently there were signs that 2 of the birds either tried, or looked as if they were going to try, to catch some lunch. One was abortive, and another was hassled away by Gulls. What good news all round.,

Sunday April 16 was my third Bird Watching for Beginners at Markeaton Park, and whilst Osprey was not on the hit list, the eight people new to birding were thrilled to see and hear a Chiffchaff very close by. 

Yet another birder on my course went away happily understanding the id clue of knowing a (bald as a..) Coot. 

The chance to see close up birds helped them sort out Greylag and Canada, Blue Great and Coal, and Mistle and Song. 

But the piece de resistance was not one, but two Tree Creepers climbing adjacent trees in what looked like formation. A thrill for us all.

Keep birding