A couple of 'dips'

After getting home after whisby, i checked the notts birdwatchers website and came across a few interesting sightings...

Clumber Park - GREAT WHITE EGRET
- this i had to see, but alas no money til friday so this would have to wait, so instead i looked closer to home

Attenborough NR - DUNLIN, GREEN SANDPIPER, REDSHANK
- the first two i've never seen and i dipped on seeing a dunlin in may this year at the same site, the redshank i've only ever seen abroad

So the next morning i hopped on my bike and made my way to attenborough, however it wasn't to be, and none of the aforementioned birds were there. it wasn't a fruitless trip though, as i got excellent views of 2 Little Egrets, over 200 Lapwing, a reeling grasshopper warbler, and a male kestrel which was causing some ID problems in the hide due to its positioning and the wind ruffling up its feathers. I was disappointed not to see the waders, but it was nice to go.

With wages in my pocket, and the Great White Egret having been spotted again on thursday, i got up early friday morning and got a train to worksop, from where i had a gruelling bikeride to clumber park to see this bird. I had trouble deciding which bridge was the 'ornamental' one which was in the description of the birds location, and ended up circling the entire lake before realising that it was in fact Clumber Bridge, which is where i'd started anyway, as there were a group looking down telescopes for the bird. Unfortunately, despite looking for nearly two hours, the closest i got to a Great White Egret was a Grey heron.... Typical.

It was nice to visit the park though and i'll be returning soon as its a hotspot for birds, and on this trip i did see some nice species, such as Yellowhammers, Treecreepers, Nuthatch, Linnet, Kestrel, buzzard and on the farmland at the far end of the park were many birds in the hedgerows, mostly made up of greenfinch, goldfinch, house sparrow and linnet, with a few yellowhammers singing away too. The reedbeds in the 'wetland' was home to many Reed warblers and Buntings too.

Now as i write i'm about to go to attenborough again, as i've seen that the following birds are present

- Little ringed plover
-little egret
-black tailed godwit
-common sandpiper

and more interestingly (for me)
-KNOT
-GREEN SANDPIPER
-RUFF(!)
-SNIPE
-DUNLIN
-YELLOW LEGGED GULL

lets hope i see at least one!