I left just after 7am to get to the Mill Lakes before it got too busy, but ended up taking my time. I saw loads of Blackbird down the lane that runs around the Pit Tip, with Blue Tit, Great Tit and a single Goldcrest too. Where the path bends at a right angle at the back of Rise Park a Red Fox popped out of the undergrowth, only to see me and disappear back in again. As usual, there were loads of Rook in Farmer Fox's Cow Field, and I had close views of Goldfinch and Redwing at Dawson's Corner before heading along the Sustrands path to the Mill Lakes.
On arriving, I headed to the Vehicle Bridge to get a good view up the lake and saw some of the typical residents (Mallard, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Goose and Tufted Duck) with a single Grey Heron hidden in the bushes on the near bank. Another Grey Heron was further away on the bank of one of the nearer islands.
There were some noisy kids down by the Reedbed area so I decided to avoid them and take the usual anti-clockwise route. I spotted my first patch Cormorant flying SE over the trees, then another when arriving at the first of the lake's viewing points. It was showing well, perched on a post just off Tern Island. I got a better view of the Grey Heron on the island bank from here, and another did a lap of honour flight around the same island before settling on the far side. One of the Great Crested Grebe was here too, maybe the juvenile, but I wasn't paying too much attention. I could also start getting views of the shy ducks from here, which included a Gadwall on the far side. Some Moorhen were also present.
The next viewing point showed three pairs of Gadwall complete with drake Shoveler in full-colour glory, two pairs of Teal and what I thought were a pair of Wigeon on the far bank, but not good enough views to tick. There were 22 Pochard in the middle of the lake staying north of one island and around 40 Black-headed Gull further up. A view from the side over the usually-quite area showed a female Sparrowhawk seemingly struggling in a bush at the near edge of the lake. After settling it flew off into a tall tree on one of the islands. A number of Long-tailed Tits were passing through here too.
I moved on to try and get some better views of the Sparrowhawk, but in doing so heard and saw another raptor over the adjacent farmer's field. It was being harassed by a Black-headed Gull, but was managing quite well (being faster) and was happy to stay around swooping, circling and soaring over the field and showing quite well in the good light. Without the bins on it it showed typical falcon shape and I thought it was a Kestrel (although large). In the bins it showed obvious barring and my first thought was Sparrowhawk. I soon realised it was something a bit more special. The wing shape and fine barring on the tail combined with the definite black "hood" all pointed to Peregrine. To rule out Hobby I checked for red/brown "trousers" and there were no signs. (Could have been a juvenile, but later ruled out the possibility of any Hobby by the time of year.) It's just typical that the day I get good views of the rarest thing I've ever seen on this patch, I leave the video camera at home as the battery was low! I spent about 3-4 minutes watching this wonderful bird, before losing it whilst rummaging for the compact camera. C'est la Vie!
Thinking that the Peregrine might have headed to the Leen Pastures, I headed along the path in that direction. Just before the bridge a large flock of Fieldfare flew up from the same field into the nearby trees. On arrival at the gate of the Leen Pastures, there was plenty to see. First to grab my attention was a female Bullfinch in the trees to the left. Plenty of Blue Tit and Goldfinch were around with lots of Redwing too. When some walkers passed along the overlooking disused railway tracks, they disturbed the birds a bit and two smaller birds also caught my attention in the trees. A male and female Reed Bunting were happy to stay around for most of the time I was there - another great patch tick for me. A Robin and Wren were also about.
Some odd noises caught my attention. It sounded like calls from a raptor, but overly loud. This happened several times whilst I was in the Leen Pastures area. Sometimes the calls seemed hawk-like and other times falcon-like (at least they did to me), always lasting 10-15 seconds and with about ten minutes between calls. It seemed to be some kind of loudspeaker device in a nearby farmer's field. One time it sounded and flushed out quite a few birds, including a male Kestrel, which flew over me to the west. I decided to try and get better views by going up the side of the rail embankment. No sign of it by the time I got there, but I was surprised to find a golf course hidden on the other side of the embankment. Other than a small pond/lake there, there was nothing much to see apart from golfers on the course and walkers on the railway track.
Heading back to the Mill Lake showed more Fieldfare in the trees by the Double Gates, along with the usual Blue Tit. The single Greylag Goose was at the north end of the lake for once. Due the the light, I couldn't see much more from this side, so headed on back via the northern entrance, getting very close views of some House Sparrow in the hedge at the entrance.
I decided to take a scenic route home and headed north on the main road out of the village and then took a right up a supposed public footpath. At the top there was some kind of private looking scrap yard with no sign of a footpath. I found a couple of signs which indicated a very overgrown path, but gave up after the undergrowth got too thick. I backtracked a bit and took an alternate route, which led into a farmer's field. About to turn back, I saw a dog walker heading towards me through the field, so I waited around to ask. He pointed me in the direction of a farmhouse and then up through a sugar beet field. After a lot of clambering through thick undergrowth, I found my way to the path around the top of Bestwood Quarry. I checked the spot I saw the Weasel the week before, but no sign of it. I headed back home through Big Wood, but no sign of anything but Great Tit at that time of day. I didn't bother to look for much anyway, not after already seeing three new patch birds.
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