Clocked off work early as the sun was shining and hopped on the bus to Attenborough Nature Reserve, probably my favourite patch, as the diversity of habitats means an array of species. It has a habit of producing some county rarities every now and again too.
The first thing of note was a male chaffinch loudly singing in a hedge next to the railway track before you get to the reserve. He looked so majestic singing in the sun, i had to get some shots. Unfortunately as i got closer he ducked into the trees so i couldn't get the shot i wanted, but he still looks great!
At the visitor centre, the usual collection of waterfowl was present, busy as ever. Got some shots of the Ruddy Shelduck and an Egyptian Goose, and there were also several Red Crested Pochard and a pair of Gadwall present. Having a peak through my bins produced a bried sight of a Kingfisher as well as a wild Greylag. Next to the boardwalk was a pair of coot, one sitting on a nest of around 7 eggs while husband was busy getting more nest material. Spring is here! There were also several Grey Wagtail flying about too.
Over the bridge, i noticed a lot of Black-headed Gulls, and managed to get my personal best inflight shots yet.
On the tween pond there was mostly just gulls and other common waterfowl, but there were a couple of Shelduck which i got great views of before they flew off over my head, i just wish i could have got a shot! There was also a single lapwing sleeping on the drift, as well as two teal and one goosander present. Walking towards the main pond i heard an odd sound, and was treated to a lifer, 2 Oystercatchers flying past, got great views before they flew off into the distance towards the visitor centre. :)
I was in the kingfisher hide for all of about a minute before the warden came to lock it up, meaning i could only get a fleeting view of what was there, although i did manage to see a Tree Sparrow or two!
The tower hide was also locked, much to my disappointment, but i kept on going. In the scrubland i saw a Kestrel sitting next to the entrance to the raptor nestbox, very promising. Looking out towards the reedbed, i also got a reasonable view of a female Goldeneye, and around 10 Ruddy Duck, obviously survived the cull!
Had a walk to the delta hide, where on the way i bumped into a Grey Squirrel enjoying a feast of seeds that someone had left on a wall, and there were plenty of birds singing away and feeding. Lots of Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.
There wasn;t much on the river, although i did see some Swallows overhead. There were lots of Chiffchaff singing away too. The delta hide didn't produce much more than a few mallard and tufted duck, but it was nice and quiet, although the sun was too bright to stay there too long.
The path back to the village was reasonably quiet aside from a few Chaffinch and more Chiffchaff, but a Reed Bunting was a nice addition to the days species list. There was little else of note all the way back to the village. Going back into the reserve next to the cricket pitch produced a few House Sparrow, and there were a few remaining Goosander on the ponds. There was also a very vocal Mistle Thrush singing, but i failed to locate it. I left the reserve with the final sight of another pair of coots collecting nesting material, and managed a final photo of a shaken Greylag goose, having recently been seen off by a pair of hostile Canada Geese.
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