Wheatears? What Wheatears?

Fair do’s, last week you could have been forgiven for coming to the conclusion that my bird watching achievements were not up to my required  objectives. True, but oh boy, I’ve made up for it this week, in spades.

Tuesday 25^th April a sunny but chilly morning, and Gill, Chris and I are on the ramp up to the visitor centre at Attenborough, listening to and looking at a Reed Warbler singing it’s heart out in the reeds.   Good start.

There doesn’t seem to be any hurry this morning, and as we are loitering near the Kingfisher hide listening to Cettis, Sedge Warblers and Blackcaps, we pick up the fishing reel whir of a Grasshopper Warbler. As we watch, it flies right past us into the bushes next to the hide, continuing to sing as it gets there.  

We have walked no distance, but subterranean rumblings indicate that it is time for lunch. With a quick check of the flash across the Trent we head for the Centre. Almost immediately we get a good view of a handsome Whitethroat. I check the call on my phone app, and compare it with Lesser (I’m not very good on song and calls…), and as we get to know the difference, so does a Lesser Whitethroat!!  So we have both species in the same stretch of bushes.

After lunch, Chris and I have a stroll round Trent Meadows (which is Derbyshire by the way) and having added House Martin to the list, we drive to Carsington Water for the annual 6pm Yellow Wagtail walk. The event, which I organise, has been running for a number of years and was led by Carsington Bird Club experts, Simon Roddis and Jon Bradley.

27 people turned up and were rewarded with one Yellow Wagtail. White Wagtails were also seen, together with Dunlin, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Redshank and one Godwit, a nice collection of waders at dusk.

Phil Lemon, the longest full time Severn Trent Ranger at Carsington, was astride his favourite JCB finalising the site area for the new hide, which will be adjacent to the outdoor classroom, and he left us with the comment -”Next week, there will be a new hide there!         

         Thursday 27 April, I’m off early’ish to see a (fairly-) hi tide on the Wirral, which from past experiences has been great for Raptors. But today, the 25 – 30 people in the Bath House car park at Parkgate were to be disappointed, (apart from one Wheatear on the marsh) so as I had booked a stay on Anglesey, I pounded off along the A55 to the Trearddur Bay Hotel where I spent the night.     

Trearddur has a small rocky bay just 10 minutes short of South Stack. Good hotel, a good dinner at sensible prices, and a full English, eh, Welsh breakfast. A scramble over the rocks pre-dinner was rewarded by seeing 5 Wheatears. 

The only drawback was the power failure during the night, which put the radio/alarm clock into re-boot mood, and I got up an hour late.

My first site was just 3 miles to South Stack, but as it was only 8.45, still chilly and few people around, I stopped en route at a barren headland, part of the South Stack site, known as The Range, and walked down to the cliff edge.  Linnets, Stonechat, 4 more Wheatears and a Whinchat were nice rewards for my efforts.

With the road bereft of traffic, as I slowly drove the last mile to South Stack, a field of corvids on the left caught my eye, JACKPOT!!  13 Chough, mostly in pairs, probing for worms, a bird I had missed whilst on Anglesey last month. At South Stack itself, a warden told me that the previous day, the major influx of Guillemots and Razorbills had arrived on the cliffs and as always it was dramatic to observe. 

The reported 5 Puffins were hard to find, but I was quite happy with spotting Billy No mates bobbing alone on the waves, from the Ellin’s Tower.

After a well-earned coffee, next stop was off Holyhead to the Inland Sea for a Black Necked Grebe, but to no avail. Then to Cemlyn Bay, well known for Terns, where a walk round the headland produced Sandwich Tern, Whimbrel and some striking Grey Plovers in breeding plumage.  Oh and 3 more Wheatears.

So, a cracking week. 11 additions for the year, making 171…I HAVE persevered!