N o 22 Birding 2024

Just a reminder that the Allestree Bird Club will kick off the 2024 monthly walks on Friday 5th January.

We will, on this occasion, meet at the library at 10.00 to welcome and meet any new members, and I anticipate that by 10.30 we will have decamped to Markeaton Park for a couple of hours walk.

Markeaton is good at this time of the year and  is a good place to start our bird list for 2024. Our count for 2024 was 78 and our all-time total for the club is 84.

My medical issues truncated the early months of the 2023 club trips, so I am hoping that a full programme of 12 locations (including some new sites) will top the 100 for next year.

We can park at Coppice End Rd (for free!) which is off the Kedleston Rd, parking at the end on the right by the fence.

A very happy Xmas and happy birding

David.    01332 557942

No 21 Not just ducks that paddle at Willington!!

The first day of December and three stalwart birders arrived at 9.45am at Willington Gravel Pits. 

Believing that the floods had all run off, the wearers of a mixture of three different footwears set off only to find a VERY icy and flooded pathway. There was evidence of much flooding, all frozen, but a number of vehicles had broken the ice and the pathway was truly hazardous with cracked ice and mud all the way through to the hides.  

In view of the above navigation problems and with just 6 species recorded, the walk was aborted and vehicles moved to Egginton church to look for the reported 10+ Cattle Egrets in a nearby field.

Sadly the only Egret in the field was a Great White Egret, a species that the club seems to find regularly!!  The trees adjacent to the church had a good number of woodland  species taking the walk total to 16, including Jay and heard Buzzards.

Not surprisingly the Great White Egret was voted BOD.    Mike also ticked 4 redwings as we headed home.

As a heads-up, this is my thinking for 2024. I have asked all the birders who have been out with me in 2023, and taking into account their opinions, this is the planned timetable for 2024.

We will continue to go out on the first Friday of each month, and  we will plan to be at the scheduled bird site for 10.00am. I will leave my home in Allestree at 9.30, and can take up to three people.The intention will be to get back to Allestree by 1.00pm. 

Dates and Locations

January 5.   For the start of the year, Meet at Library 10.00 for a briefing session.   10.30 adjourn to Markeaton Park

February 2. Meet at Attenborough Gravel Pits  10.00

March 1.     Meet at Carsington Water.   10.00

April 5.       Meet at Willington Gravel Pits  10.00

May 3         Meet at Wyver Lane Belper      10.00

May 24.    Something different. First of all it is not a Friday as I will be abroad. We are going to Matlock Moor to try and  see Nightjar, Woodcock, Cuckoo, Owls etc. These birds are best seen at dusk.  We will meet at Matlock Moor at c7.00pm, and expect to be away by 10.00pm...a good experience for people new to birding....... and regulars !!!

That's the first 6 months. The second 6 months are expected to include an annual costal trip, this time to RSPB Frampton Marsh for a full day. Great bird site - well worth going on this escorted walk with expert guiders.

So, (I don't like starting with so!!!) I hope we will meet on January 5th, and our library publicity lady is hoping to get some further birders to join our group.  Meanwhile, a very happy Xmas to you, keep feeding the hungry birders!! and I'll see you in 2024.

David

 

  

No 20 Willington Gravel Pits walk... a Beaver perhaps??

 Allestree Bird Club  will be at Willington Gravel Pits on Friday 1st December meeting at 10.00am

Following the extensive rain in recent weeks, a reconnaissance of the site on Friday 24th showed that waders are not needed, but strong footwear is!!

The club visited Willington in 2023 counting 29 and 32 species, two of the highest counts for the morning walks.

Members should meet at 10.00am at the car park on the right on the Repton road, just before the river. The walk will finish at 12.30. 

Happy birding.

David.

No 19. 100+ Fieldfare.. a reward for patience at Wyver Lane...Again!!

We was lucky!!!   Thursday it threw it down, and the forecast for Saturday is just as bad. So the monthly walk on Friday, which this time was a return visit to Wyver Lane, was  excellent. Not warm of course, but sunny with excellent visibility with a fair amount of water still running off the hills and across the path.

Three of us in one car drove to Belper and parked up in a safe gateway, ensuring that the occasional vehicle could get through, and did in fact happen for one wide van.

I got off to a good birding start spotting a Kingfisher doing it’s usual bee-line low level fly past, and landing near a nice Great White Egret. 

After that opening couple of beauties along the path by the mound and in the hide, we ticked off a fair number of the usual suspects until we arrived at the partially obliterated feeding station. Mike was the first to spot a Marsh Tit and we all spent some time patiently waiting for it’s infrequent return. Nice to have Great, Blue, Coal, Long Tailed and Marsh tit all at the same feeder.  That was followed by 3 circling Buzzards, and a Kestrel that had initially been identified as a Fieldfare!!!

On the return journey we picked up 3 Goosanders that had dropped in as had a couple of Lesser Black Backed Gulls, but Mike’s observation of a Raven being harassed by a Sparrowhawk added 2 good ticks.   And several large groups of Fieldfare were seen flying S.W. ensuring this time we got them right.

It was good to add three new ticks to the club life list, moving us now on to a species list since August 2021, of 83.

Bird of the walk?   Albeit despite various nominations it had to be the Marsh Tit!

Next walk is Friday 1^st December, and as long as the paths are not flooded (it is 4 weeks away) it will be to Willington Gravel Pits. Watch the blog for the final venue decision

Happy Birding

 David

No 18 Bird Feeding Resumed

Even only two of us enjoyed the October stroll round the Carsington visitor centre, we did have the reward of two new sightings for the club list.

It was good to see the Wildlife Centre feeders well filled up, Severn Trent apparently content to accept that the avian bird flu has now passed. Unfortunately we came to the conclusion that the news had not yet been shared amongst the avian population of Carsington. 

Hoping for Willow Tit and Tree Sparrow, we had to settle for Great and Blue Tits, a lone Robin and Dunnock and a Chaffinch.  Frustrated Mallards were abortively circling the feeders waiting for seed to be spilled but the large amount of growing undergrowth was a further sign that their time spent foraging was short.

Anyway, we did see one Coal Tit making the most of the no queuing at the feeders.

It was Ralph who spotted the first handsome Red Crested Pochard behind the Willow Bush, David then found another, but it was site expert Simon Roddis who had recorded 4 of these birds on site.

So just 24 species for our two hours, but with the year total moving on to 80.

The next visit, 3rd November will be to visit Wyver Lane at Belper again. Trees should be bereft of leaves and with Wyver giving a good sighting list earlier in the year hopefully Redwings and Fieldfares will be on our hit list.

I'll post meeting details later in the month.

Happy birding

David.

More detail

No 17. The wonderful mini-peregrine....The Hobby!!

 The September walk for Allestree Bird Club was back to Attenborough Gravel Pits, a decision by David which turned out to be  well justified.

Considering there are no food stations at the reserve due to bird flu still being a risk, (the ticked species did not include birds like Dunnock, Blackbird, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit etc)  a list of 39 species was excellent.

An apparently empty field beyond Attenborough cricket club yielded a a Green Woodpecker, a Jay and a Stock Dove, the Pecker doing it's familiar yaffle.

This was followed by the first of 2 very visible Great White Egrets with the huge yellow beaks. And within minutes, we all enjoyed excellent views of a Hobby, clearly hunting for food, probably Devils Darning Needles!!!! better known as Dragon Flies. 

Mike's telescope enabled us to watch this lovely small raptor as it returned to it's high vantage point to continuously turn it's head watching for passing food. Quite clearly the Bird of the Walk.

From the Tower hide we picked up a Green Sandpiper on the Ridge & Furrow field, and finally on Conneries pond we were 80% certain that we saw the female Garganey.

Next walk is five weeks away on Friday 6th October. If the bird flu restrictions have been lifted we will be at Carsington Water. Otherwise it will be a return to Wyver Lane in Belper.

Keep watching this space for the final decision.

As a non birding bonus, my picture of the Blue Moon.

Happy Birding     David

 

No 16. Allestree Bird Club sees "Brutus", the Yellow Legged Gull!

Friday 4^th August, four of us had a productive morning with a couple of hours bird watching at Carsington Water Reservoir.

Unfortunately, Bird Flu is still an issue, so to be on the safe side, Severn Trent are not keeping the bird feeders full. It will only be a matter of time to see whether this reasonable decision, does have consequences,

Going many years back a lot of work was done to encourage the rare Tree Sparrow to breed at the site, and the efforts were successful.  But this species had been known to desert the site, so the maintaining of the feeders was kept to try and keep the birds loyal.    Now with the absence of their favourite food, there is the risk that ST will have to work at getting them back.

With the help of a very experienced amateur birder, we all saw a Yellow Legged Gull on a sailing club pier, a species unknown to most of us.  It is a BIG gull, and over the years is a species that has been seen feeding on young birds/chicks.  At one time, they called the resident Yellow Legs, “Brutus”, which said it all.

So little birds were rare, although Goldfinches were, prolific, noisy and everywhere!!  4 Little Egrets was a local illustration of how their numbers are increasing.  It was patience that enable us to see 3 wader types, a Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover and Common Sandpiper.

Next month, on Friday 1^st September, we are going again to Attenborough Gravel Pits. The previous visit was just Mike and myself, (when we saw and heard a Cuckoo) and hopefully we will have a few other birders to experience this great site for the next trip.

We will meet at 10.00am in the main car park by the parking meter,  birding from 10.00 > 12.30. 

Happy Birding

David

No 15 What a confrontation.... A Great White Egret v Mr Fox

 

For a 3 hour walk at Attenborough gravel pits, the participants in the Library bird club walk on the 30^th June, were well rewarded!!

For a start, walking up the ramp to the visitor centre, it was like Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” being continuously buzzed by a huge number of hyper-active Swifts – sometimes passing no more than 3 feet away – phew!  Surprisingly, they were confined to the car park area, and not seen further afield.

They were noisy but not screaming.   I can get that around the city walls of Alcudia in Majorca.  In 4 weeks, they will be going back to Africa.    Oh, I do love that bird, it is well in my top 10.

The next good sighting, and I do mean sighting, was a Cuckoo. At the end of the Strand near the cricket club, we had to turn back due to a closed bridge, apparently due to being unsafe. Then we picked up the call of the cuckoo, repeated several times and becoming louder, so it was calling as it flew, until it landed in a nearby tree. Only a very short stop and it was on its way.  I’ve heard the memorable call several times this year, but to actually see the bird was brilliant. (Another one in my top 10!!)

Being continuously serenaded by Cetti warblers we next visited the empty bird watching tower hide. A large white head with an enormous orange beak, sticking out above the reeds was obviously a Great White Egret.  It was on the edge of a small stony island on which we then watched a handsome looking fox, with an edible kill of some sort.

As we watched, there was some sort of confrontation between the fox and the Egret, with a lot of  eyeballing going on, but when the Egret faced the fox and strongly flapped it’s wings, that was enough to end any dispute!

A nice dry morning walk, only 25 species, and the Cuckoo was undoubtedly BOD.  A pity that only two people enjoyed these memorable moments.

August walk?   To be decided but Willington Gravel Pits appearsto be a possibility, a venue that does have a good variety of birds and  is well watched, plus the possibility of Beavers!

Happy Birding

 

David

No 14 Attenborough Gravel Pits Friday 30th June

 Just a quick reminder of the Library bird walk at Attenborough next Friday at 10.00am. 

Head for the visitor centre, over the level crossing, and gather near the parking meter on the mini roundabout; plan is for 3 hours to 1.00pm, but if you have to get away earlier, that's fine.    Or you can stay all day for the same £3 parking fee.

Little birding story for you...

From my study window over the last two weeks, I have been following the antics of a Feral Pigeon and a Magpie, and the solar panels on the roof of a neighbour’s house.

Earliest observations were the Pigeon repeatedly harassing the Magpie to leave the roof, a protective action that was repeated every time the Magpie returned.

Protecting a nest was the most likely scenario, and just the other day, this was confirmed by seeing a single Pigeon carrying dry grass or sticks, landing on the roof, and always disappearing underneath the solar panels at the same spot.

I don’t know if there would be any warmth, but a nest would be dry.   I’ll keep watching for any further developments.

Regards

David

No 13. Change to date Attenborough bird walk... from 7th July

 Hello fellow birders,

 Change of plans!!!!!!!

 

It has been something of a priority to get some recouperation for Mary and myself, after my hospital treatment so I propose to alter the planned date for the next walk.  

 We are going to Majorca for 7 days and the earliest date we could get was 3 > 10 July so I’m moving the bird-watching date back 7 days to the previous Friday, FRIDAY 30^th JUNE….10.00am Attenborough gravel pits.

 The post code is NG9 6DY and we can meet in the furthest visitor centre  car park, having crossed the level crossing,  in Barton Lane.

I trust this is OK, and if you have any questions or want to join some car sharing, 01332 557942.

 Plan is 10.00am > 1.00pm. It takes me 20 minutes from Allestree to the car park.

 I will put this change on the blog.

 

Thanks for your understanding

No 12 Back to the Bird World of Allestree Bird Club... and worth waiting

 Friday 2nd June 2023 at 10.00 saw four of us enjoying a pleasant couple of hours up and down the lane in the middle of Willington Gravel Pits.

Before my medical sabbatical, we had visited 7 locations, and our life list was a satisfactory 57 species.

Thanks to the remedial path work by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, coupled with the dry weather, the hitherto muddy Willington pathway was now much easier (and cleaner!) to negotiate. 

The first addition to our life list was a Kestrel, way, way high up and still climbing as we watched.

We weren't disappointed with the main attraction at the Pits, Warblers - they were everywhere.  The bird song was non-stop, confused and loud.  With a lot of patience, amongst the Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Chiffchafs and Whitethroats,  we managed to tick off a new listing Sedge Warbler. But the trip highlight was a pair of Reed Warblers near the hide, very visible and at the wrong place, at the TOP of the reeds!!

 Nor surprisingly, Reed Warblers were universally agreed as the Bird of the Day, and the year/life list has moved on to 63.

Dates for diaries 

 Friday 7th July.        Attenborough Gravel Pits  10.00am > 1.00pm

look forward to a good count. If anyone does not want to spend a full 3 hours, we will never be far from the car park.   Parking is £3 a day, apart from Wildlife Trust members ( I think!!)

Friday 4th August.   Wyver Lane, Belper        10.00 am > 12.30pm. 

A very close local location, well known for Snipe. Free parking

Car sharing would be a good idea whenever possible.

Happy Birding          David

                            

No 11 The Birding wonders of Wyver Lane, Belper

 Friday 3rd March was the monthly walk for the bird club, unfortunately not led by David due to a hospital commitment, but very ably led my Mike D, a long time and very experienced birder.   He had only one birder for company, but on a nice morning, they have a very respectable list of 31 different species..

The club has a good record of spotting Great White Egrets as they progressively spread further north, and probably why this time they saw 2!!  Seven more species were added to the club life list, now increasing to 64 different species.

New hits included the vocal, minute but most common UK bird, the Wren; Goosanders one of the Sawbill group and the lovely bird that can go DOWN the trunk of a tree, the Nuthatch.

But the Bird of the Day, on which they both agreed, was the uncommon Tit, a Marsh Tit.  They are rarer than, but somewhat similar to, a Willow Tit. Mike's birding knowledge ensured which one WAS the Marsh Tit aided by the birding Jungle Drums, sending messages that the species was at Wyver Lane.

A good mornings birding.

Please note that the first Friday in April, the 7th,  is Good Friday. The library will not be open but a location for the club walk on that or a later date, will be placed on this blog towards the end of March.

Happy birding.      David

Contact number 07721 325 345

 

10. Cancellation

 The trip to Wyver Lane, Belper on Friday March 3rd will not be lead by David due to a hospital commitment. 

You can contact him on 07721325345 or the library on 01332 559761 for information about future walks. 

Or keep tabs on this blog!!

No 9. Allestree Library Bird Club

 Three weeks from today, Friday 3rd March, will be our next outdoor walk and I have found another venue were there are no parking charges!!

Wyver Lane nature reserve may not be known to many people, but birders know it as the birding jewel in the crown for Belper. It is a long narrow winding road, running north and on the west side of the Derwent.

So we have the two alternative ways of getting to the site.

We can meet at 10.00am (prompt) to drive to the site, which should not take more than 15 minutes, and I can take 5 people in my car (including me!!).  We would leave to come back after 2 hours at 12.15.

This should mean that from parking at Park Farm, to getting back to the car, would be well within the free 3 hours parking (9.45 > 12.45.) To avoid parking charges, arrive as close as possible to 10.00am!!

OR

Meet at 10.15 at Wyver Lane. The route is up the A6 to Belper, turn left at Strutts Mill, the turn to Ashbourne (A517).  After 100 yards turn right at the sharp left bend, and right again into Wyver Lane. Initially the narrow lane passes cottages on the left and then progresses for about 1 mile in a tree lined lane. When the lane opens out, there is an interpretation board on the right, and a field gate on the left. Park where possible but sensibly.     I understand that it is now possible to drive further down the lane allegedly to a small car park, which I will try and research before the day. 

You may be aware of all the publicity about closing Derby libraries. Allestree is involved in the saga and as a volunteer I watch developments without any more information than is in the press. The future of the bird club may depend on the outcome for the library.

David

  

No 8 Willington never let's us down!!

ABC     Allestree Bird Club.

With the January walk cancelled due to my enjoying the catering at the Derby Royal Hospital!!!, it was February 3 before we got back to birding and for our first walk in 2023.

Once again unfortunately only one person decided to join me, so Mike and I had two cold hours at Willington Gravel Pits, but once again digging out some lovely and rare beauties. When we visited last November we did very well with 32 species of which 15 were new to the bird club all time list.  This time, between the two of us we listed 34 species, the best ever count for a morning walk, and added ten new tickable species to our all-time list.

An excellent bird within 5 minutes was a brief view of a Tree Creeper.  Soon after, being such a big bird, the Great White Egret only had to lift it's head for a brief look round the reed bed and it's bright yellow beak made it instantly unmistakable. 

Another big bird was one Great Black Backed Gull, whereas both male and female Goldeneyes were much in evidence. Other nice additions included Water Rail (at least 3), and male and female Reed Buntings on the feeding station.

The next trip should be Friday 3rd March but in view of the low number of participants this is up for discussion. For Mike and I todays record number was very rewarding - in just 5 short walks the club has recorded 50 different species.

I look forward to any feedback for the future.