Last August Update + Ticklist

After spending a quiet weekend on my own while everyone i knew was away, i took a trip to holme pierrepont on the 30th, to go and collect more fruit from the trees, although i had just made 6 jars of jams and jellies that weekend. Holme pierrepont is a strange one, it has brought a good amount of rarities into the area but whenever i go it doesnt seem great. I guess its because a lot of the 'wilder' areas are more difficult to get to so you cant really see anything. However the 'finger ponds' at the end are reasonably good and there is a lot of scrub there which attracts a lot of warblers and tits. Today there were plenty of Chiffchaffs, Blue tits and Long Tailed Tits. A couple of Gadwall were sitting on the lake and as i looked across the lakes a Kingfisher swiftly zoomed away in the opposite direction. I collected lots of berries and was just making my way back when in a clearing i caught glimpse of a raptor cutting through the air. It turned out to be a Hobby and i got amazing views of it for a short while as it was hunting the numerous dragonflies that frequent the area. I truly believe the Wildlife Trust should buy this area as it has the potential to become an excellent nature reserve.


Hobby - Holme Pierrepont

On the last day of august i had another routine trip to Attenborough. It seemed a lot quieter than usual today but as always i kept patient and ended up getting a good list, and i spent some time with some very friendly birders and we saw some good stuff. A group of 5 Buzzards were circling over branshill wood in the distance, and closer to home, the reedbeds in clifton pond were also teeming with birdlife. A lot of geese dominated again, along with a count of around 200 Lapwing. Winter duck numbers were still quite low, with only a handful of shoveler and Teal on the lake, but there were over 20 Gadwall dotted around, along with a couple of Pochard.

As has been the case over the last few weeks, the kingfishers were very active, feeding from the fenceposts around the reeds and chasing each other down the channels. 4 different individuals were counted. There were a few herons dotted around, with a couple of juveniles feeding in the channels, hunting crayfish. This has been a common sight over the last few weeks. One Little Egret was still present, its bright white feathers gleaming in contrast to the dark water. Also of note were the 2 Snipe which were seen poking their long needle like bills into the soft mud, searching for any invertebrate unfortunate enough to get in the way.

There were still a few migrants about today, including quite a few common terns. This would be the last time i'd see thesee birds until next year. There were a small number of swallows too. One of the guys i was with commented that a couple of the terns that flew in were very small, so we located them on an island very far away and pondered over them for a while. The general consensus was that these two birds were Little Terns!!! Compared to a common tern they were about half the size, and although it was difficult at such a distance, we agreed that they indeed had yellow bills. Amazing, a lifer and a pretty rare migrant for notts!!!

So thats august wrapped up! What a month! New birds for the 2010 list for august include

• Barn Owl
• Little Tern
• Black Tern
• Snipe
• Greenshank
• Garden Warbler
  

5 out of 6 of them are lifers. And the barn owl is particularly special too. A good months birding - the list stands at 127 - only 23 to go til my target!!!