UK Sightings 2008

Padley Gorge - Derbys 26th May 2008

A visit to this area is really worthwhile to see some of the scarcer of our woodland summer visitors. After a short walk through the woodland we saw our first Redstart a male in full summer plumage this was followed by sightings of a further 2 pairs of this beautiful bird. Wood Warbler was slightly harder to find and would have been missed altogether if i hadn't heard one singing high up in one of the Oak Trees. Whilst watching the warbler i noticed a black and white bird fly into the same tree Pied Flycatcher. We were to see a further 4 flycatcher throughout the walk. This stunning woodland is well worth a visit to see these 3 scarce woodland species. 

Lesser Scaup - Swithland Reservoir Leic's - 29th March

1st summer Lesser Scaup located from the dam end of Swithland Res after 10mins of arriving. The bird was very distant at first but soon came a bit closer to the dam enabling the distinctive features of the bird to be seen: strongly vermiculated upper parts giving a dark grey appearance to the mantle, dark lower scapulars, head shape (bump on the rear of the crown) and white band on the wing restricted to the secondaries seen twice when the scaup flapped its wings, I only managed one decent photo as the weather conditions were appalling with strong winds and rain.

               

                    

Dipper - Buxton Derby's 9th March

Spent the day walking along the river Wye along the Monsal trail trying to get some decent shots of Dipper and Grey Wagtail with my new camera setup. Dipper showed very well but Grey Wagtail was only seen distantly.

 

Ferruginous Duck - Loscoe Dam Derby's 7th Feb

  

   

I manged to get a few hours off from work this afternoon to go and see this cracking drake Ferruginous Duck that had just relocated to this site. It had previously spent a couple of weeks at Shipley Park where viewing was very restricted with no access to the lake due to ongoing construction work . Showing very well but rather distant on far side of the small lake on the outskirts of Heaner. A very easy bird to locate as its white behind was viewable from the car as soon as i parked up.

White-Crowned Sparrow Cley-Next-the Sea 25th Jan

After only an half hour wait this little stunner showed very well on the seeded driveway at Cley. The Sparrow has been present since early January but i decided to wait until the crowds had dispersed, as i was told it was like trying to birdwatch whilst been in the middle of a ruby scrum when the sparrow first arrived. This morning there were only about 20 other birders  plus a ITV film crew at the site so good views were had by all present .

 View the ITV film crew footage:  http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/news/?player=ANG_Home_26&void=143905

Other good sightings seen today were Ross's Goose, Lesser Snow Goose, 40,000+Pink-footed Geese, Black Brant, Snow Bunting, Twite, Woodcock , Marsh Harrier and Red-throated Diver. An excellent day with the sparrow been bird of the day but a very close second was the Woodcock (showing down to 4ft)skulking around the wooded area near the car park at Tichwell . 

Red-necked Grebe - Attenborough 19th Jan 2008

   

              Showing extremely well on Clifton Pit early afternoon.

Bittern-Attenborough Nature Reserve  12th Jan 2008

    

Showing very well from the delta hide at 3.10pm