A Slavionan Grebe has been knocking about the A52 Pit at Holme Pierrepont this week. I decided as it had been seen yesterday evening that it would be a good idea to spend the morning around HP and then do some more birding elsewhere. The problem with the A52 pit is that its enormous and is in the middle of privately owned land which is inaccessible to the public, and the range of viewpoints for this huge waterbody is restricted, as far as i know, to ONE place next to a stinky pig farm. I had the joyful experience of dipping on a Red-necked Phalarope there last summer, and was worried about it happening again. I got to the view point and set to scanning the tiny area of water that can be seen from it and lo and behold... no Slav! I waited around for a bit but had no joy though there was plenty of other stuff to look at, including a 'flock' of about 12 Crested Grebes all together in the sun. Very nice but the wrong grebe! Some Wigeon were knocking about on the far bank along with a flock of gulls and some lapwings but all too far for my scope to see properly.
After a while I decided to have a wander round the scrubby grassland at the eastern edge of the site where we do the ringing with South Notts Ringing Group. There was certainly a lot about in the morning sunshine but nothing to write home about. I did however have a pleasant wander about, seeing some Green Woodpeckers, which this site is particularly good for, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and several noisy Jays. A small flock of Siskin flew over and Goldfinches were knocking about too. In the scrub were lots of Long Tailed Tits, along with a few other tits and lots of Chiffchaff were heard calling as well as the odd Bullfinch. Just as I was leaving the site a Cetti's Warbler burst into song several times in succession.
Moving on from this site I cycled over to Clifton to do my final butterfly survey of the year and to see if any Chats were about. Both Whinchat and Stonechat were here over the weekend but again I had no joy. There's usually a good passage of Whinchat towards the end of august and beginning of september with stonechats a bit later but its not been as obvious this year, though I did get sightings of both species in the spring this year.
I had a brilliant afternoon nonetheless, spending 4 hours strolling around the site. Not much of note was seen on the grove where I did my Butterfly survey (which was awful although I wasn't expecting much at this late stage), aside from common garden/woodland birds including several showy Goldcrest. The area of most interest was Cottages Flash, which was much more underwater than last time I was here. It seemed like a wetland paradise, and seemed to have stolen most of its birds from Attenborough. There were at least 250 Lapwing, some of which were making life hard for a singleton Green Sandpiper. There were 2 Grey Heron and 2 Little Egret (my first for the area!) as well as a load of gulls, ducks and geese. Would have been nice to get some snipe or other waders but it was great to watch so many birds in one place. There were around 200 Starling about too.
It was a day for Finches today though. On Branshill moor 2 largish flocks of linnet went through possibly numbering around 120, and near the rough wood another flock of 30 or so birds were very active, and they didn't go unnoticed as a Sparrowhawk ploughed into them at one point, audibly 'whoooshing' through the air but unsuccessful as far as I could tell. A small flock of the resident Bullfinch were about too in the hedgerow. As I worked the hedgerow at Branshill, several Siskin flocks went over and I was treated to a sight of around ten of these charismatic finches feeding on some Alder in the Rough Wood. A late Blackcap also put in an appearance and several Meadow Pipit were noted flying overhead throughout the afternoon. Some Swallows and lots of House Martin were still in the area.
I got home to find the Slav Grebe was seen about half an hour after I left and again in the afternoon, so I'm going back tomorrow morning! Also a Black Necked Grebe at Attenborough, though I doubt I'll get there before I go away to Bristol on Sunday.
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