Some impressive migration

The last week has really seen migration picking up in the county. With the end of a bit of cold weather a couple of weeks ago, I thought that some late spring passage would start to occur, and it seemed to have done so in style.

On Friday, after a few Black Terns were reported in the county, a brace of Whiskered Tern graced Attenborough, and unlike many other previous records, these birds stuck about and I managed to get down after work to have a look. The birds showed well, either sitting on the deck for extended periods, or flying round feeding with numerous Common Terns and a couple of Black Terns to boot.

I had expected that it wouldn't be long before the Tern-fest reached my patch, but I couldn't really make it down over the weekend due to other commitments. However after one was reported on Sunday morning, I managed to get half an hour to bike down and have a quick look on the A52 pit in the afternoon. Looking from the eastern end of the pit, looking directly into the sun, it was evident that there were many terns present, but it was hard to estimate numbers without a scope and a better angle. I managed a count of 12 Black Tern, but knew there must have been more as I could see more birds in the distance. Later on I found that there had actually been around 50 Black Tern over the lake, an incredible count, even in comparison to the 69 birds that were at Lound the same day.

Things continued to improve, with a Great Reed Warbler at Netherfield (as well as another in derbyshire the same day!) as well as a little tern and BNG at attenborough. I considered going after work for the GRW but didnt really have time as I was heading into town to see my brothers band that evening. Instead I thought about going to HP instead for a quick blast, but last minute decided I would be cutting it too fine to be able to get to town in time. I wish I hadn't, as 2 Temmincks Stint were seen on Blotts, amongst other things, a much sought after patch tick!

It looks like its shaping up to be a decent week, as today seems to have been a bit of a wader fest in the county, with numerous sites getting records of gems like wood sand, temmincks and sanderlings. With it hammering it down all day, I was worreid I'd be getting a soaking, but wasn't going to let that stand in my way, but luckily by the time I got to the patch at about half 6 it had all but stopped. I got there just in time to pick out a flock of 18 Redshank, clustered together on one of the bunds on Blott's pit, and amongst them was a cracking summer-plumage Knot, only the second I've seen in the county and my first on patch. Also present was a Turnstone, a long-awaited county tick. Within a few minutes however they all spooked and flew off North, leaving the Knot behind, but that seemed to disappear shortly after.

I stuck around for a while, intent on picking something else up, and managed a Common Sand and a Ringed Plover, but nothing special!

Knot.... I need to sort my phonescope setup... or start remembering to take my camera out...

Last trip of april

Just a brief one. Spent this morning birding before going away to Manchester til Monday. Walked the entirety of blotts pit, hoping for some migrant passerines on the eastern banks, such as wheatear or whinchat. No such luck unfortunately, but a couple of Common Sandpipers on Hackett's lakes made it worthwhile, and there were good numbers of Swift and House Martin about.

On the western side, I finally managed my first Cuckoo of the year, a nice male which sat out on a fenceline for a while, and Alan got me onto my first Gropper for the site, a species i've been after for a while.

Cuckoo

I also went round the finger ponds later on with the dog, but didnt add much to the list, although as usual the place was teeming with warblers, particularly Whitethroats. The cuckooflower must have known about my sighting this morning, as it was flowering in abundance, and I found some orange-tip butterfly eggs on some. This and garlic mustard seem to be the favoured foodplants of this species.

Cuckooflower - with orange-tip egg

Early april birding

I've been out birding every night after work this week, trying to squeeze in a few new birds before I disappear to Portugal for a week.

Monday I was down at Holme Pierrepont, where 3 LRP were noted, and a Redshank, that I had seen on Saturday, and was still knocking about. Otherwise, not much of interest, although a few more Willow Warblers were singing.

Tuesday, I popped down briefly to Clifton Grove to have a look for the Ring Ouzels that had been seen on Branshill, but as usual I couldn't locate any in the time I was there. I then went back to HP for another look round, the LRPs had increased to at least 4 birds, and were showing some territorial behaviour, and the Redshank was still about too. A Lapwing has begun nesting onsite too, lets hope they succeed in raising a brood, as they failed last year.

Yesterday, a Ring-necked Duck was reported at Kilvington, so I decided to have a look after work. The poor light and extremely windy conditions made for difficult viewing, but within a few minutes I had located what I thought to be the bird in question, but it was diving frequently and was hard to place as the choppy water kept obstructing my view. After a while though, it showed pretty well, and I was happy to get a new bird before I went away. Hopefully its the beginning of a productive spring in the county.

Spring rushing in

I had a feeling this weekend would be decent. With some southerly winds forecast and some warmer weather forecast, it surely meant that some migrants would be about. It started well last night with a couple of House Martins in the evening, and then as I went to walk the dog in the rain, there were good numbers of Sand Martins over the rowing course, with a few Swallows and House Martins in there too. Blackcap were also singing in the old Skylarks reserve.

After heading home to drop the hound off and have some lunch with my girlfriend, I headed back down on my bike to seee what else was about on the A52 and blotts pits, maybe some of the Sandwich terns reported the other side of town this morning?

As it happened, there were no terns, but another patch tic, the long awaited Nuthatch, was heard singing in the blotts country club garden whilst I was surveying the heronry. I also noted 2 Grey Partridge on the eastern side of Blotts pit, my first here since 2014. A Willow warbler  was also noted, singing in the scrub nearby. Otherwise, there were a few Little Ringed Plover about, and the swans were getting particularly frisky, and there were also a few butterflies on the wing, Peacocks, Small Torts and Comma.

Patchwork Update: March

Species: 83
Points:87

Additions this month:10
Ringed Plover, Skylark, Jay, Curlew, Meadow Pipit, Chiffchaff, Grey plover, Stonechat, Sand Martin, Little Ringed Plover

March was pretty good on the patch and I have ended up with a higher points total than before at this stage in the year. Some good additions this month include the 3 patch-ticks in as many weekends - Curlew, Grey Plover and Stonechat. It was also nice to get in some of the 'easier' birds like Jay, Mipit and Skylark. There seems to be more Skylarks than the last couple of years which is encouraging. Some spring additions have been trickling in, and it was nice to squeeze in Little Ringed Plover at the end of the month.

Male Stonechat

From looking through reports and from what I know personally, at least 98 species have been recorded this year on site, though i may have missed a few commoner species that haven't been reported elsewhere. About the only species I'm missing which I would have expected by now are Coal Tit, Tawny Owl and perhaps lesser black-backed gull.

Curlew

April is the classic month for bulking up the PWC yearlist, so I'm hoping for a decent month. I only added 13 in April in 2014, but in 2015 I added 22 species, and ended on 103 species. That's a target of 20 additions this month, if I'm to match that total. It shouldn't be too difficult, although I will be going away to Portugal from the 8th-15th, so may miss the odd passage bird, but the 'bread and butter' stuff like warblers and commoner waders should be easy. (19 is the taget now, as I got House Martin on the 1st!)

Easter birding

I only managed to get out properly birding once this weekend, despite having 4 days off work, as I had a busy schedule of family and friends to see.

I managed to get a good walk in on Good Friday with the dog, covering the finger ponds and rowing course, and it was nice to finally get some good numbers of singing Chiffchaff, after a quiet week regarding that species. Otherwise, an Oystercatcher and Shelduck on the flooded fields near Radcliffe viaduct were about the only other thing of interest, as well as 7 displaying Buzzard above the rowing course.

Saturday, I managed to get a good visit to blotts pit and the surrounding area, where I added to the mornings tally of little egrets to total 6 for the day. Otherwise 4 oystercatcher and a patch-first Stonechat were highlights. Thats 3 patch ticks in as many weekends...

Things slowed down after that, with only two brief and rather uneventful visits whilst walking the dog on Sunday and Monday. I missed out Monday morning, as a couple of little gulls and 3 Brent geese were noted, among other things, but you can't help these things sometimes. The little gulls seem to have been part of a mini influx, as birds were noted at several sites across the county this morning. The evenings are longer now, so at least I'll be able to make the most of this and hopefully the species tally will begin to increase.

#patchgrey

I only managed one proper visit to the patch over last weekend, as I was in Wales on Saturday cleaning out some Pied flycatcher nest-boxes which are monitored by the ringing group. It was a good, but tiring day, but its always nice to see Red Kites and Ravens, and I even flushed a Woodcock which was nice.

Sunday, I was leading the volunteer group on the patch, so got down early to see if there was much about before we entered blott's pit to remove willow saplings from the waters edge. After an initial scan of the area, I decided to check facebook as in the distance I could see Alan Clewes looking at something. I was right, he had reported a Grey Plover which had been present for over an hour now. I couldn't see if from where I stood so wandered round to the middle viewing screen but despite scanning, I didn't see it. I later heard from him that it had been there the whole time I was stood there, so I felt a little stupid. Luckily the bird stuck around despite our being there for most of the morning, and Alan got me on it at around 1pm, so I was pleased with that, as its a notts tick for me.

Other birds around included another Curlew and a Redshank, and I heard my first Chiffchaff of the spring. Otherwise, a Ringed Plover was on site on Friday evening.