The weather this week has been absolutely fantastic, meaning that i've been able to get out and about on my bike, even wearing shorts and t shirts!
On monday, i went to wollaton with a few friends, but didn't really do a lot of wildlife watching, but i did bump into a wildlife photographer named Wolf (www.wolf-photography.com) who had spent the last few days down there photographing the local wildlife. He was most interested in photographing aggressive coot behaviour and i have seen some excellent results of his patience. We spent some time watching herons in their nests too. Otherwise there was still a few Gadwall on the lake, and lots of noisy geese, but little else was noted.
I left early(ish) on tuesday morning for a bike ride to Attenborough, the sun was shining and i had a great day. On the way down i heard my first Chiffchaffs of the year, probably counting around ten throughout the whole day. Also of note were a grey wagtail at Beeston weir, and over the river i could see lapwings displaying over the farmers fields.
I was going to spend some time in the Delta Hide today, but the padlock has been changed so i had to press on. I parked up my bike after glancing over to the main pond, counting a few Goldeneye and Goosander amongst the gulls. Walking round, it was clear spring was in the air as lots of birds were singing loudly and there was quite a lot of activity on the water. I got som swan photos that i'm pretty happy with, of an obliging bird near the path. Nesting herons were everywhere in their massive treetop nests, and there were lots of singing finches tits and thrushes.
I walked through the little wooded area next to the village green, where there were once again plenty of passerines, and it was here that i layed eyes on my first visible Chiffchaff of the year, it was flitting about restlessly on top of a willow tree, and was lovley to watch.
Moving on, i looked over the tween scrapes to see if there was anything of interest. There were handful of Lapwing and a few teal amongst a throng of gulls, as well as the trusty pair of Shelduck, and once again, feeding in the same place as last time, a Redshank. I then moved on to the kingfisher hide, where lots of birds were using the feeders, although no Tree Sparrows this time. A couple of Oystercatcher also passed through over towards the island on clifton pond, but were lost from view shortly after.
There were still a few ducks about when i sat watching out of the tower hide, mostly Shoveler and a few Gadwall, as well as a couple of Goldeneye. There were also plenty of Lapwing about amongst the masses of gulls. The highlight however came when i left the hide and heard the loud tell-tale call of a Cetti's Warbler, my first of the year, ringing out clearly from the brambles on the wheatear field, i heard another one too on my way through the wet marsh and back home.
On the way back i decided i'd go and have a look at the Lapwings displaying over the river at clifton. En route i heard even more Chiffchaffs singing in the sunshine, and even chanced upon 8 Goosander and 4 Goldeneye, clinging on near clifton bridge. The lapwings didnt disappoint, and i saw around 20 birds on the field, although viewing them was quite difficult. The farmer was ploughing the field so hopefully this has been done early enough not to deter them from breeding. While there, i did see a few birds in display, and even a few mobbing corvids, so this is encouraging behaviour. A small flock of Linnet passed overhead when i was there too.
Wednesday and Thursday were spent volunteering with the Wildlife Trust, on two absolutely stunning days in the sun. It felt almost like midsummer! Birding wise, i didnt get much done, but there were once again a lot of Chiffchaffs singing loudly, and on the thursday at fardon, 3 Buzzards were seen displaying in the morning, and then at dinner time we were treated to a displaying sparrowhawk, the first i've actually seen doing this. It was after this that we went to ploughmans wood, to see the toads breeding away.
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