August Update 3

After the excellent day at attenborough i went to Boomtown Fair festival so no birding for a few days and then the week i got back, i didnt feel too great so didnt do too much birding, although i went foraging a bit instead. Went to colwick park, but didnt really see anything spectacular, and visited holme pierrepont a couple of times but again didnt really see anything worth noting. Did get plenty of blackberries though!!!

That weekend i went back to lincolnshire, and went to my parents house. Went for a drive on the sunday evening with my dad in the open top sports car, which was very nice and we had the pleasure of seeing a Barn Owl close to one of the country roads we were driving down. Over the sunday and monday at my parents house i spent a lot of time in the garden, seeing quite a few birds in the process. There were a lot of House Martins flying over the house over the 2 days often being very vocal, along with a few swallows. At one point a Hobby flew over, presumably attracted by these hirundines. also of note were good numbers of house sparrows and collared doves, and at a single sparrowhawk flew over the house at one point, being mobbed by the martins. A nice birdy stay at the parents!!!


House Sparrow in Sleaford


















Collared Doves in Sleaford

































Now my bike was fixed it meant i could finally get out and about again so that tuesday i took a ride down to attenborough for the first time since i've moved. It was ridiculously windy and at one point i thought about turning back as i was riding headlong into winds around 20mph! The wind meant that there was not much to see in the air or out in the open, but i still managed to get 39 species that day.

Grey Heron, Attenborough



The main thing that i noticed when i got to the tower hide was that there was a lot more wildfowl about and summer migrants were starting to disappear. There were a few common terns about, as well as my first confirmed Black Tern. There were loads of geese, about 400 greylag and nearly as many Canadas, plus one ross's goose. Duck numbers were building too, with around 50 gadwall, 2 wigeon, about 10 shoveler and about 7 teal. There was also around 350 lapwing, 2 kingfisher and 4 snipe!

The usual mix of tame wildfowl were around the visitor centre, but interestingly there was a tame female shelduck, taking advantage of the free seed dropped by the visitors.

Egyptian Goose and Female Shelduck, Attenborough Visitor Centre




The next day was a lot less windy and i made my way down the other side of the trent to clifton grove. I managed to get 46 species today. On the weir field there were lots of passerines in the brambles, mainly chaffinch whitethroat and goldfinch, but there was also a notable number of linnet about too. A look down over the trent produced a sighting of a kingfisher, and then a bird was seen flying quickly up towards the weir. I quickly made my way up to the weir and was surprised to see it was a green sandpiper - only the 3rd to be sighted in the area. I waited around to see if it would reappear but it must have gone into hiding as i failed to relocate the bird. While waiting however i did see a couple of Sedge Warblers in some reeds next to the river.

I made my way across to the woods, and took a walk down to branshill moor to see if i could find a hobby. En route i took a look in the hedgerows between branshill and the rough wood, which is a top quality bit of habitat, often attracting a good mix of species. It proved itself as usual, as in one oak tree which overhangs the hedgerow i was able to see 7 species, chiffchaff, blackcap, whitethroat, long tailed tit, blue tit, chaffinch and most interesting of all, my first treecreeper of the area. After this i walked onto the moor and almost instantly spooked a Hobby, which flew away over the fields. I wandered over the moor to try and relocate it, and saw it once again as i got closer to the ponds. It was flying up and down the ponds on the edge of the wood very low, presumably hawking dragonflies. A juvenile buzzard in a dead tree seemed to be watching it with me.

Whitethroat, Clifton



After this there wasnt much else to see so i wandered back down to my bike, stopping off at holme pit where the only thing of note was several reed warblers at the cow-drink end of the lake.


Chaffinch, Clifton