Is this an improvement...or a brief reprieve?

Wahay! Monday is dry and - are my eyes deceiving me? - sunny! Yep the weather forecast looked good for Monday morning so I got up at dawn and headed down to Attenborough to mop up as much as I could of the recent summer migrant arrivals. I was hoping for Black and Arctic Tern and Little Gull, but none of these were on show. However, I did manage an impressive list of 48 species in 2 hours! 

The difference a bit of sunshine makes is phenomenal. There were birds everywhere and each one had a song in its heart! The Linnets at the Tower Hide were looking brilliant, this female (left) sat up long enough for a snap. Blackcaps stood out warbling proudly, Chiffchaff chiffed and chaffed happily in the morning sun and this Whitethroat was one of many scratching out it's little song from the tops of the low shrubs.

You tell by my writing that even I'm a bit infected by this spring feeling. The new additions to the yearlist came in the form of Sedge and Reed Warbler, Common Tern, the aforementioned Whitethroat (and I'm pretty sure I heard a Lesser Whitethroat too), Swift and to top it off, a quick chat with a photographer on the bridge by the Nature Centre made us pause long enough to spot two Hobbies flying over. A truly fantastic spring morning, and made all the more pleasing by the shiny yellow thing in the sky!


A couple of flowers caught my eye on my wanderings and I wonder if anyone reading this can identify them for me (flowers are still a bit of a black art for me!). No doubt they are common species but one's that I haven't noticed before.

The day just got better with temperatures reaching 19degrees on my way home. "The trap is definitely going out tonight" I thought to myself. "It'll be brilliant!". The temperature stayed around 12 degrees until I got home from the City/Man U game and I inspected the trap.

The only new visitor was this V-Pug, found on the shed wall. In fact he was the ONLY visitor. As the rain started again about 2300hrs I packed the trap away to discover that I hadn't caught anything!

Is the trap not up to spec, or am I still a bit too hopeful? We'll see soon enough I'm sure...


Bird Year List = 136
Moth Year List = 27

A Bumper find

6th March 2012 - The fact that Great Grey Shrike has been present on Beeley Moor for at least since before Christmas has been bugging me cos it's one of those places that I never know where to look, but I finally decided to go and find it today. The locality has also got Bramblings (we went to find those before Xmas too!) so hopefully I could get a BOGOF deal.
A quick dash over to Beeley after picking the nipper up from school found us on site at Wragg's Quarry for 1615. A guy was coming off the moor as we arrived and told us that he'd just had the shrike down near Bumper Castle. We followed them down to where they thought it had been and parked up. After a short scan round the shrike gave itself up by flying to a hawthorn and showing really well!

The Brambling were also found by my new birding friend and after satisfying myself with shrike-views I moved further up the hill to view the birches which held a good flock of at least 12 Brambling (this is probably an under-estimation!), plus Chaffinch and Linnet. Not bad for 45 minutes twitching before tea and many thanks to the birders that helped secure the sightings.

2012 Yearlist - 117

Fairly quiet on both fronts

The lack of posting is probably a good indication that I don't have much to tell! The birding has slowed considerably after January's mad dash, and I'm slowly creeping up the list (105 at present). Work and family have kept me rather busy, and snow has kept me indoors (excuses, excuses!)

Recent additions include a Grey Wagtail over the car park at work.
A wander round Alvaston Park, Derby and down the river Derwent provided some Goosander, Stock Dove and about 20+ Linnet on the new reserve near Raynesway.
And Kingfisher fell onto the list as the resident bird at Codnor Park Reservoir showed really well on the slightly frozen canal section. If anyone reading this wants to see Kingfisher REALLY well then I advise a visit!

Tuesday night I visited Elvaston Castle to see if any Tawny Owl were about but I think it was so cold they'd given up any ideas of action. The only birds seen were the roosting Herons. I did manage to add Winter Moth (372nd Species) to my Derbyshire list though, in the headlights as I was putting my kit away.