Endcliffe Park Wood

So today was my last full day in Sheffield, but I had arranged to see many people to say goodbye. However, I had the afternoon to myself so decided to go for a walk in Endcliffe Park Wood up to where I thought I had heard garden warbler before.

Starting in Endcliffe Park, along the edge of the top pond there was a very bold family of moorhens, 1 adult with 5 well grown juveniles. I was sat on the bank and they would come within 2 feet of me, I could have reached out and touch them if I had wanted. I tried some photos but the light was quite poor and the birds, ridiculas though it sounds, were too close, but I got a few decent snaps.

-Moorhen Chick

I continued up and in Whiteley Woods I got a bird that I really had not expected to find. It was a Dipper, only my second this year. It was not really hunting but just casually resting on the side of the river. I tried to get some photos but it was far too dark. I did get a great view of the bird though, and it did not seem to bothered by me being there.

I carried on up past Forge Dam where there was not much besides the Mallards, Moorhens and Woodpigeons. I did not spend much time there, but I did find a few nuthatches, maybe a family but difficult to tell, in the woods behind the dam.

When I passed the dam things began to get interesting. First I heard what I thought was a green woodpecker, but as it continued I realised that was not the case and that it was a bird of prey. I began to try and find it but it flew off before I could find it. I moved out into the open to see if I could relocate it, and had some success. At first I spotted 2 Sparrowhawks flying over a tree in the distance, which I figured must have been the source of the call. These birds were then joined by a Buzzard, but as I looked through the bins I observed the buzzard was being heavily mobbed by another smaller bird. I had a quick glance through my photos and noted that it was not a swift but a falcon, and due to its small size I wondered if it was a hobby.

I lost the bird behind the trees and when they re-appeared only the buzzard was there. The buzzard however soon became 2 buzzards as they soared in the air around. They even landed in some of the trees but they were some way away, and too far for a photo.

Back at the flat I checked the photos of the small falcon and it is a Kestrel, as indicated by the dark boundary between the primaries and the secondaries on the upper wing. It was exciting but sadly not what I had hoped.

-Kestrel and Buzzard

-Buzzard

I continued a little way until I reached where I thought I had heard the warblers previously. I heard a similar call and tracked down the bird making it, finally getting eyes on it, only for it to show itself as a male Blackcap, a stunning bird in its own right, but sadly not the bird I had hoped for. I think from this discovery that I need to work on my calls between these two species.

The walk on the way back did not yield much, Jay in the distance and another Blackcap, as well as the usual Robins and Blackbirds. I had a good time but did not get the warblers I had hoped. It started to rain on the way back so I made my way back quickly due to the fact I was very unprepared for such a turn in the weather.

Species List:

Endcliffe Park Wood: Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Woodpigeon, Jay, Robin, Blackbird, Moorhen, Mallard, Blackcap, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Grey Wagtail, Dipper, Nuthatch, Dunnock, Great Tit, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Grey Heron, 

Dorset Holiday-Day 12: Fort Nelson Royal Armouries, Arundel WWT

Another scorching day and my family decided to take us to Arundel WWT, but only after we had been to Fort Nelson Royal Armouries. When we got there I found that there was a nature reserve across the road, though it was little more than a field so I went to have a look while my family spent the morning at the armouries.

The field had a lot of butterflies but the were all the same species, though they were in excess. These included things like Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Large and Small White, But there were other species which were a bit more unusual, not least Marbled White and Small Skipper.

-Small Skipper

-Marbled White

Walking through the field I also found some none butterfly wildlife, though there was a lot less of this unless you counted the 6 Spot Burnet Moths which were once more very common.

-6 Spot Burnet Moth

While I was walking around there was a curious song coming from the grass and I eventually tracked it down to a very menacing cricket species, which Google informs me is a Roesel's Bush-Cricket, not that I regularly record cricket species, but it certainly struck me because of the striking yellow lines behind its head.

-Roesel's Bush-Cricket

On the bird front it was very quiet, with the exception of a couple of Magpies and on the way out I stumbled across a family of Willow Warblers. They were very flighty and I did not get exceptional views of them.

-Willow Warbler

I went to the museum cafe because my mum said that there we were going to have a coffee. While we were there my mum told me about all the butterflies that were on the wildflowers growing inside the museum. There was nothing that I hadn't seen, until during our coffee my dad spotted a Pill Millipede descending the wall of the museum, which is not a bug I can regularly see.

-Pill Millipede 

The journey to Arundel was none exciting except that there was a fire on the road which blocked everything up and restricted out speed at reaching the site. 

I have always wanted to go to Arundel, and when I arrived my first impressions were good, as on the first pond prior to entry there were Broad Bodied Chasers and Black Tailed Skimmers hunting it. The entry was good and we learnt that there were boat trips running, so we decided to go for one of those first before we had lunch and set off round the reserve.

The boat trip was very enjoyable and relaxing. I spotted some baby Tufted Ducks, as well as large families of Canada and Graylag Geese. On the mammal front we were delighted to see a Water Vole swim across the channel, though the delight would wear off as we walked round the reserve. On the Dragonfly front there were Black Tailed Skimmers, and there was another which I reckon was a hairy dragonfly but I did not get a good enough view. The only thing that would put me off that i.d. is that it is very late in their flight season, but apart from that, it ticked all the boxes. On the damselfly front there were Azure and Common Blue but also Red Eyed, but since we were on a boat I was unable to get any photos. For that reason my only photo of that species is from Norfolk 2 years ago.

We had lunch in the wildlife garden but did not really see anything.There was a school trip lunching next to us and that could be partly to blame. After lunch the trip headed off towards the lapwing hide, so we decided to  go to that hide later and instead go to the 'Sir Peter Scott centenary sand martin hide'. On the way, there were some Egyptian Geese on the path.

-Egyptian Geese

The hide was OK in terms of birdlife. There were Moorhens and Canada Geese feeding directly in front of the hide, as well as Mallards, Tufted Duck and Shelduck. There were also a pair of Common Terns on a raft in front of the hide, which were showing nesting behavior but no sign of chicks, despite what the sightings board said. They were quite close though, and they obviously were not too bothered by people who I imagine were often noisy which could have disturbed them from their nest.

-Common Tern

After we had finished in that hide we went back to the two hides we had meant to go to, Ramsar hide first, where there was nothing much except a female Mandarin. The second hide was the Lapwing hide, and it lived up to its name since the only bird in there besides Mallards was indeed a Lapwing.

After those two disappointments we headed to Scrape hide which was the best hide on the reserve, but that really did not say much. There was a good number of species, including Mallard, Shelduck, Tufted duck but also a few Gadwall sheltering from the heat under a tall tree. At the far end of the pond there was a Grey Heron hunting but it was some way away. There were also quite a few dragonflies around, but the only ones close enough to identify were Four Spot Chasers and Black Tailed Skimmer.

-Gadwall

-Grey Heron

We were watching the far dragonflies to see what they were, when a small mass began swimming across the lake. My initial thought was grass snake, and why not. But no, it turned out when I looked at it through my camera that it was another Water Vole, though to be honest I would rather that it was a grass snake.

-Water Vole

After we had finished at Scrape hide we moved on to Reedbed hide. Here there was very little, but there was a very cute family of four well grown Moorhen chicks. The adult bird then mounted a small platform in front of the hide, being very bold and then started looking in, even though we were only about 2 feet away.

-Moorhen

It was the best view of a moorhen I had ever had. After we had finished in Reedbed hide we moved on to the reedbed walk. About half way through the reedbed walk we sat down and were soon surrounded by a small gathering of Moorhens and Mallards, so my dad fished out the crumbs from lunch and started to feed them from our hands. The moorhen though decided that it would rather have my flesh than bread crumbs. 

After that we moved on and were just watching some more moorhens when I noticed that the reeds next to us were moving of their own accord. So I had a peek in and spotted another Water Vole there happily chomping away even though we were only about a meter away. Now the appeal of water voles at this site was beginning to diminish. On the boat, our pilot had told us that the reserve was in a big fence so that no water vole predators could get in with the exception of birds, but it also restricted the voles moving out. So effectively, it was like a big water vole zoo, but you don't really think of it until we start to see them as tame as this.

-Water Vole

We finished the reedbed walk and headed to the waterfalls enclosure. Here there was the only Blue Duck outside of New Zealand and that was quite exciting. After a few mins of watching it though you began to feel sorry for it, alone with only a farm duck for company. It was exciting to see because it is such a rare duck but for the above reason it seemed a bit bitter sweet.

-Blue Duck

We finished by walking back through the pet wildfowl zone and we got to see some large groups of rare wildfowl of the world, as you would expect from a WWT place. Once more though as we were walking over the white faced whistling duck boardwalk, a Water Vole appeared and started swimming across the pond, even though we were almost directly above it.

-Water Vole

I thought the reserve was a big disappointment really, I had expected a bit more. My dad summed it up quite well-Its a great place if you want to see Moorhens, but otherwise. We headed back to the caravan site, but the wildlife did not stop there, oh no.

That evening once more we set off to look for nightjars to see how many we would get. We had to wait a little longer than the night before and for a few minuets we were wondering if they would even turn up tonight when we were suddenly surrounded by churring and we saw one flying right towards us. We soon had 3 Nightjars flying all around us, and once more quite close. This time I had brought the tripod to try and get some photos of when the birds were landed. However, it did not really work as the camera still vibrated while on the tripod. Still I got more amazing views of these bizarre birds.

-Nightjar

So ends our last full day on holiday, alas that there 13 days have flown by so quick. Hopefully, on the way home we will go out on a high.

Stranger things...

We have had many unusual birds in our garden over the years; linnet, reed bunting and stock dove are the ones that spring to mind, and this must be up there with them. Casually on a sunday morning whilst putting on my shoes before Church, I glance out of the back window towards the pond. There at the top of the waterfall, is a moorhen. As soon as you read this, you would think that by saying pond you would think of a large, borderline lake. However, our pond (top) is only around 2meter by two meters, so to have a bird of open water pools casually standing on the top of the waterfall was quite unusual! it certainly surprised me.
  It was very flighty, as soon as it saw us, through two panes of glass it began to move towards the decking at the back. After church we saw it hop over the wall into the field and we thought that we had lost it, but it was soon back. It was so weird watching it swim on the pond. It stayed with us for most of the day, leaving late in the afternoon, flying southwards. I wonder what on earth made it want to stay here, I wonder what it was doing. Either way, its a wonderfull sighting for the garden, if not slightly unusual...

-Moorhen

derbyshire holiday ;day 1 (sunday)

today we arrived at our campsite. it was very sunny and so we hoped it would stay for the rest of the holiday. however our hopefullness was spoiled as we arrived. not the weather, but a huge queue of caravans trying to get onto the site. so as we waited behind some 6 caravans. just as i got out a sparrowhawk flew over us, (see below)

most convienitnly the campsite was right next to the river derwent. as we waited we spotted a dabchick, a heron and as we were just setting off a small brown lump emerged from the water on the bank. i thought it was a water vole and was thrilled. water voles on the bank of the river next to the caravan site. when we finally got onto the site. i could loads of people had put out birdfeeders and thus there were plenty of garden birds, most notable were the nuthatches. we finally found a decent pitch and set up there (pitch 48 for anybodys interest) as we waited i saw a wren sitting on the wall behind our pitch. it was singing as we watched it flew into a hole in the wall. upon furthur examination iot turned out that the hole was filled with leaves and other things. i badly needed a wren photo and this was the perfect oppertunity. see below the results of my efforts.

the caravan site was actully the chatsworth campsite. chatsworth is a large historic house owned by the duke of devonshire. it has large grounds (with woods, feilds and a river) just leave the caravan site and you would be in a pristine deer park.

in the afternoon we decided to go into bakewell for a look at the river and to gather some supplies. i stayed by the river photographing the birds.

and fish too it would appear

of ll the days to do my hair up!!

a beautiful sleeping duck.

plenty of stuff on the river:

turfted ducks, lots

mallard, lots

canada geese, lots

a muscovy duck

2 mute swans

2 moorhens

2 coots

black headed gulls, lots