Perhaps May will continue on the same high note that we had
in the first 7 days of the month.
Sometimes, when I am ruminating on what
species I have yet to see to reach 200 in the year, I find it hard to see how I
will get the 200, without some additional travelling. Like Scotland would give
me a few endemics or perhaps Norfolk again in the Autumn.
One I have yet to tick in 2019 is that lovely predominantly
West Country bird, the Cirl Bunting. I read an interesting article last week
about the RSPB reserve at Labrador Bay (just south of Teignmouth in Devon)
where good numbers can be seen.
Apparently, Dartmoor Ponies have been given a trip to the
seaside to graze the steep fields overlooking the bay, and stop the fields
becoming overgrown with bracken and scrub.
And it has worked. In the last 11 years Cirl Buntings have increased
from 3 to 20 pairs.
Sadly, you must pay to park by the fields, and there is no
Cirl Bunting guarantee. My track record?…once in 2 visits.
We are looking forward to our next Majorca holiday, and a
friend who will be there at the same time has sent me some good one-liners. The
better ones (in my opinion!) are-
Just got back from a
friend’s funeral. He died after being hit on
the head with a tennis ball. It
was a lovely service.
I went to the cemetery
yesterday to lay some flowers on a grave. As I was standing there, I noticed 4
grave diggers walking about with a coffin.
3 hours later they were still walking around.
I thought to myself, they’ve
lost the plot.
And finally….
A teddy bear is
working on a building site. He goes for a tea break and when he returns, he
notices his pick has been stolen. The bear is angry and reports the theft to
the foreman.
The foreman grins at
the bear and say “ Oh, I forgot to tell you, today’s the day the teddy bears
have their pick nicked!!”
Tuesday
7th May. Together
with Gill, Chris and I once again visited Attenborough Gravel Pits in Notts.
Whilst it is a good site all year, in the Spring it is a great location for
warblers and other migrants.
Overhearing a conversation in the car park that a Black Tern was on
Clifton Pit, we were off!! .. and true to form, we spotted this small Tern from
the Tower hide, flying non-stop over the
water.
Attenborough birders will know of virtually resident Alan,
he of the electric bike, and the camera toter. What had currently been
attracting him to the tower hide for the last week, along with many other
birders, was the hope of seeing the rare Savi’s
Warbler. It had been on the site since 21st April and
could be very elusive in the reed bed
below the tower.
We had only been in the hide for a few minutes when Alan
whooped with excitement and said that the bird was just in front. We all homed
in on the Savi, with its distinctive tail, as it climbed a reed then dropped
down to a greener area to the left, and we continued to have intermittent views
whilst it roved around, until it vanished out of sight. .
Savi’s are rare UK visitors, usually seen in Europe and
Western Asia. Slightly bigger than a Reed Warbler, but with a more spread tale.
Oddly, they reel much like a Grasshopper warbler; sadly outside my hearing
range, but I have spoken to people who say their call is quite distinct. A
cracking lifer for the 3 of us.
Wednesday we had planned to join Amanda on an RSPB walk at
Padley Gorge and Burbage, but with the impending grotty weather, and Burbage
being out in the open with nowhere to hide, Amanda delayed the walk to a later
date.
To make up for the cancellation, Chris and I decided to go solo
(well in a duet!!) to Padley Gorge, on Saturday… and then Amanda said she would
come too, after she and Noel had done the Dawn Chorus walk at Linacre
Reservoir!!! THAT is enthusiasm.
If you dear reader, frequent Padley Gorge, I must make you aware
that there is now a charge for parking at Grindleford Station, so the
alternative appears to be to park at the top of the gorge, in the layby with
the Ice Cream van, and bird Padley from the top downwards. Which is what we did.
EXCEPT that everyone knows that, and when we arrived, Saturday
morning, nice walking weather, sunshine, so had everyone else.. and the layby
was full! Thinking we would have to go
and pay to park at Longshaw Lodge, progressing along the B6521, we quickly came
across another (free) layby.
The lay-by was filling up as we watched, and fortunately
Amada came beetling around the corner in time to get a space. By the time we
were all booted and ready, this layby was full too. So be warned.
We set off down the gorge, and within minutes of going
through the top gate, we had a lovely singing male Pied Flycatcher…. Then another…then another, and so
it went on. Male and Female – brilliant. Our patience was rewarded with a pair of Spotted Flycatchers, and after
quite a bit of loitering we had brief views of a Tree Pipit, acting just like a Flycatcher – flying out
from the top of a tree, catching some food and back into the tree.
And then the bad news….. hail, rain and nowhere to hide, so
it was abandon ship, back to the car and home. Despite that anti-climax, the 3 ticks were
well worthwhile.
Mary and I went to Brian’s funeral on Friday, and so did 120
other friends… a sad occasion, and many birding friends and Ex BR colleagues
gathered together.
Happy Birding
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