Monday i went on a bikeride on my usual local route to Holme Pierrepont. Not a great deal was about, as the lakes had thawed, so most birds will have gone elsewhere. However i did see a number of wildfowl on the other lakes surrounding the rowing course, they were just a bit more spread out. There were quite a lot of gadwall about today, i counted over 30, as well as the usual wildfowl, mostly tufted ducks. A good number of Goldeneye were about too today, but i couldnt get great views of them, as they kept swimming away,now the ice has thawed (d'oh!). I spotted a bird on the ski-tow lake that looked interesting, it was a lot smaller than the other ducks, but it was in a really awkward position on the other side of the lake and the sun was in my eyes. I went over the other side to try and get another view but it had moved. However, a female goldeneye feeding nearby led me to think it was just her, rather than anything rarer! ( i still love goldeneye though!)
On Tuesday, the sun was shining bright so i hopped on my bike and rode to attenborough for the first time in ages. It was a lovely morning, if a little cold, and there were plenty of small birds hopping about the bushes all the way there. I didnt have a brilliant day at the reserve, it was pretty quiet in all.
I sat at the delta hide waiting to see a bittern (or anything else exciting) and as it was the first time i've been there since it thawed, it was nice to see plenty of birds about on this lovely quiet sanctuary. There were a lot of Wigeon and Gadwall feeding on the lake, which looked lovely in the sunshine, along with a handful of Pochard and Shoveler. A falcon of some sort, possibly peregrine, flew from the trees just before i left.... no Bittern though!
I biked past the main pond, stopping periodically to survey the birds, and there were quite a few Goosander about, around 16.
I wandered round the rest of the reserve, hoping to see something good. There were a lot of passerines about today, especially Robins and roving tit-flocks. Despite looking quite a lot, i didnt see anything out of the ordinary in any of them, but it was lovely to see the reserve such a hive of activity. I went to see if there was much of interest at the Kingfisher hide, but there wasn't much about as a cat was there, terrorising a squirrel, these are becoming a nuisance at the reserve and i can't imagine the damage they'll do in nesting season.
It was pretty quiet at the tower hide too, there were some groups of wildfowl here and there, including quite a few Teal on the central island, as well as all the other common ducks. Several goldeneye were also dotted about, as well as a large flock of Black Headed gulls to the left of the lake. Some of these birds were already getting their breeding plumage. On the otherside, over on the Tween Pond, there were around 90 Lapwing, the best count i've had here for a while. The highlight of the day however was seeing a couple of snipe in their usual spot on the spit on the end of the reedbeds.
So not a bad day, all the passerines and brightly coloured ducks looked nice in the sunshine, but i feel it could have been a better day bird-wise.
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