Good news/Bad news

The end of september really produced some amazing sightings/hearings of birds.

On the 21st i had a routine visit to attenborough, and i had a pretty good day, the wildfowl were still steadily increasing, with numbers of teal exceeding 80 birds, and shoveler and wigeon reaching around 50 individuals. There were 2 little egrets feeding in the clifton pond reedbeds too, as well as 6 red-crested Pochards throughout the reserve.

A surprise Toad at Attenborough

However the really amazing sighting of the day was my first ever Red Kite. I was walking towards the tower hide and had a quick look over the wheatear field, when i saw a large bird of prey. I originally thought it was a buzzard, but a look through my binoculars resulted in a view of the characteristic narrow wings, forked tail and wing patterns of Milvus milvus. A bird i've wanted to see for a long time, especially after writing about them for an assignment at uni, what a pleasure it was to randomly bump into such a majestic creature, albeit briefly, as it slowly glided away out of my vision and over the horizon. Its all very good seeing a new species when you know its going to be there - but to see it at your regular patch compeletely out of the blue is a different feeling - amazing!!!

The Attenborough Red Kite

Reports of a black tern at the reserve brought me back the next week, and on the way i noticed a field had been recently ploughed near the university of nottinghams sports fields in beeston. I decided to have a quick scan across the field to see if any buzzards were about, and was surprised to see a Peregrine sat in the mud. It remained almost motionless while i watched it and took a few distant photos, and i eventually left it, losing patience before it did. There were a few Bullfinch calling from the hedgerows too.

The cold weather had obviously made the wildfowl move on a bit, as there were not as many about, it was a rather grim misty cold day, and numbers were down. However i did see a few decent birds, including my first Common Gulls of the winter, with two birds nestled amongst a flock of black-heads. I went for a cigarette outside the tower hide and looked over the reedbed, when i saw something chasing a kingfisher. The kingfisher managed to get away, and i grabbed my bins and managed to clock onto what was chasing it - a lovely male Sparrowhawk. The bird landed on a post in the reedbed and i got a great view of it - i've only ever seen females properly and this was the best i'd seen of a male, showing his blue and orangey tones off well. He chased another kingfisher and missed again and alighted on another post further out, where i could still watch him when i pleased.

I moved onto the kingfisher hide to see what was on the feeders and was pleasantly surprised when from out of nowhere, the black tern 'terned up' (sorry). It repeatedly flew by the hide very quickly, making photographic oppurtunities difficult, although i did get a few shots before it flew off to the other side of the reedbed, before coming back around again. What a bird!

The best Black tern photo of Monday

I decided the next morning that i couldnt miss an oppurtunity to get some better shots of this bird, as i thought the weather was going to be better. It was marginally better, but still not ideal, but i did manage to get some good shots of this scarce migrant. In fact, as soon as i got to the clifton reedbed from the wet marsh path, i connected with the tern, flying right by me. It came past the little 'headland' over and over, sometimes flying within 10 metres, and even diving very close for food. What added to the experience was a Cetti's Warbler singing loudly from the reedbed, confirming my suspisions of hearing one a few weeks back.

Some (marginally) better shots of the Black Tern

Other highlights of the day were a shelduck, a snipe on the wing while watching the black tern, and a count of over 350 lapwing, what may well be a site record for me!

The bad news in the title relates to what i saw on the way back that day. From the beeston side of the river, i spotted something on the far bank of the trent in the clifton grove area. I thought at first that it might be a sparrowhawk or something resting by the river, but on closer inspection it turned out to be a dead bird of prey. I couldnt really make it out with a photo or my binoculars as the light was very poor, so i decided i'd go back the next day on the other side of the river.

Hard to make out (heavily cropped)

I rode down to clifton grove and quickly located where i had seen the bird, scrambling through some thick understorey in the trees. I then managed to find the bird easily, and it turned out to be a tawny owl. This was not a particularly nice experience, in fact it was rather upsetting, as the bird had clearly caught its wing in a large quantity of fishing line, and had struggled to break free. Becoming exhausted, the poor animal had obviously given up and it had no option but to drown in the water of the Trent, as its weight beared it down on the branch of the tree.

A sad end....

This shows the worst of what can happen when people discard fishing tackle or litter in the countryside, and although it isnt that common a sighting, i have heard of other birds being caught in the same situation. Apparently this image is going to be used on a Wildlife Trust poster to warn anglers of the consequences of discarding tackle, but whether it will make any difference i dont know.

And there we have it, that wraps up september, not exactly on a good note. The year list stands at 131, or 132 if i count hearing a cetti's - but i won't count it properly until i finally lay eyes upon one!!!