David and I set of Rufford
Park in Nottinghamshire hoping for Hawfinch and possibly Lesser Spotted
Woodpecker. When we arrived on site,
there were a few other birders present but there was no sign of either of the
target species with just a few Chaffinch and Greenfinch seen in the Hawfinches
favoured trees. At around eight-thirty
three Hawfinch were found at the western edge of the lime trees and two, a male
and female, provided some nice views.
With the Hawfinch in the bag we moved to an area where we had seen
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the past. I
picked up three Lesser Redpoll feeding in a birch tree and we had plenty of
sightings of Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tits and more Chaffinch. By nine-fifteen there was still no sign of the
woodpecker and we decided to go to Eakring Flash, which was just a few miles
away and where a drake Garganey had been present for a few days.
After parking we walked the
short distance to the small flash but all we could find were a few Teal and
Mallard. We walked in the opposite
direction but it was not possible to see the flash from the eastern edge but we
did flush a Woodcock. We made on final
check form the western edge but with still no sign we presumed it wasn’t there
and left for Clumber Park.
In Clumber Park we sat for a few
minutes in the car observing feeding station before making our way to the
bridge to search for Mandarin. There
were plenty of birds visiting the feeders including a Marsh Tit and a
Nuthatch. I soon located two male Mandarins
that were partially hidden by the lake side bushes and further scanning
produced a single female. David thought
he heard Siskin calling although despite searching the numerous alders we
couldn’t see them but just as we were about to give up he picked up five in
flight as they flew further down the lake towards the church. We were surprised not to see either Goldeneye
or Goosander on the lake as both are usually present but we did see a drake
Goosander in flight just after seeing the Siskin.
As lunch time was approaching
we decided we take it at the Welbeck Watchpoint, which is just a few minutes
drive away. When we arrived the wind had
increased a little but it was still quite sunny and whilst we were not
expecting too much we did see at least seven Buzzards over the woodland and two
drake Goosanders flew over.
We had heard that the drake
Garganey had also been seen at Rufford Park and so we returned and walked
around the lake. We did have nice views
of a Marsh Tit and there were nine Goosanders on the lake but there was no sign
of the Garganey.
Drake Goosander
Robin
Great Tit
Blue Tit
Chaffinch
Marsh Tit
Marsh Tit
Marsh Tit
Leicester Tigers were playing
tonight and with David being a season ticket holder we needed to make our way
back but called at Swithland Reservoir on route home. There were quite a few Tufted Duck, Goldeneye
and Great Crested Grebes on the northern end and we did locate the first-winter
drake Scaup but saw very little else.
On checking Bird Guides late
in the day the Garganey was reported as still being present at Eakring Flash
but there was no time given for the sighting.
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