Review of 2008

In 2008 I recorded 96 species - essentially the same number as in 2007, but with a few differences. Nine of the species were additions to my patch list, but some of those were confirmations of previous probable sightings, and one was a probable escape. There were a few surprises where I re-found scarce or difficult species seen in the previous year, and two patch-found life ticks. I improved on 2007 in visiting more during the passage and migration periods, but didn't cover the summer months very well due to other commitments. Here's the month-by-month overview of the highlights.

My New Year's Day visit produced a highest count of 36 Lapwing and added a predicted species with four Red-legged Partridge in fields along Lamin's Lane. Other January highlights were a pair of Kingfisher and a Water Rail on the 6th, and a flock of twelve Great Black-backed Gull on the 12th. February broke my maximum Reed Bunting count, with at least six birds on the Pit Tip Top on the 9th. The addition of a cheap ALDI scope permitted reasonable views and photos of the wintering Golden Plover flock on the 18th, and a single male Shelduck at the Mill Lakes on the 24th. March provided a high count of eleven Common Snipe on the 9th, and - on the same morning - the earliest known record of the year for Sand Martin in the East Midlands when two were present over fields around the Mill Lakes and later Bestwood Quarry - patch ticked in style.

In April I got a great phonescoped image of a Wren singing at the Mill Lakes. On the 13th, two Kingfisher and another Shelduck were present on the lake, and an unseasonal flock of ten Lesser Redpoll appeared at Bestwood Quarry and remained late into the month. On the 19th, the Lamin's Lane area held between 230 and 240 Golden Plover, many in summer plumage.

At the end of the month I dipped on a Pied Flycatcher by a day - the bird had been seen along the Sustrans path near Bulwell Forest Golf Course for a few days. The 29th of April was probably my best birding day of the year, with Herring Gull finally added to the patch list, good and prolonged views of a singing male Cuckoo, Garden Warbler life ticked, five Blackcaps, and a very satisfying Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. The eleven visits to the park I made in April had paid off! May's highlight was centered around finding a pair of Little Ringed Plover at the Mill Lakes on the 11th - another patch life tick, with the pair being seen on subsequent visits and remaining until at least June 1st, when a Common Buzzard was soaring over the lake. Subsequent June visits also produced a probable escape Ring-necked Parakeet and a pair of Common Buzzard on the 8th, a Common Tern on the 10th, and a pair of Ruddy Duck and a parachuting Meadow Pipit on the 15th and 26th respectively.

Late summer was a busy time for me, and I only managed five visits throughout July and August. July 13th permitted good views of three young Kestrel for a second consecutive year, and two Common Tern were seen fighting over a fish at the lake. August's only visit on the 24th, gained me my first half-decent shot of a Kingfisher, a high count of 250 Mallard on the lake, and a scarce patch tick in the form of a flyover Curlew at Bestwood Quarry. In early September I dipped a couple of sightings of Northern Wheatear on the Pit Tip Top, but made up for it in finding two Whinchat there and a high count of 22 Meadow Pipit. Early returning Siskin were present there on the 18th.

October produced a high count of three Common Buzzard seen soaring together from Lamin's Lane on the 6th, and three Little Grebe at the Mill Lakes on the 28th. The first Water Rail of the second winter period was seen on the 1st of November at the Mill Lakes, and a massive 350 Redwing flew west over Lamin's Lane on the 4th. A Water Rail was seen again on the 10th, and a long-awaited patch tick - a Goosander - was present on the same morning. On the 22nd November, I found five Waxwing in the oak tree on Finsbury Road in Warren Hill - the same tree as the one I found in 2007! The flock was present throughout the week, slowly increasing in numbers and gaining mild interest from birders around the city. A high count of 15 birds were present on the 30th, but the local berry stocks were depleted and the birds moved on in the following few days. Also of note on the 30th, was a leucistic Nuthatch (lacking its black eyestripe) visiting the feeders of the Wildlife Garden. On the 6th of December, a Water Rail was present at the Mill Lakes and circa twenty Waxwing were seen flying over Moor Road towards the north end of the site.

In 2008 I located around half the species that had eluded me previously and I'd set out to see. Many of these have been recorded by other birders in the park during 2008, but most were just single records. Coverage of the park's birds has declined this year, with one of its experienced and dedicated birders moving on to pastures new. This has had a noted effect on records coming from the Mill Lakes site, and the Leen Pastures Feeding Station has not been maintained. This, in turn, has drastically reduced the number of Willow Tit sightings, and I've set myself a personal challenge to try rectify this to some extent in the coming year. I'll also be hoping to tick off a few more of those scare birds I've yet to get to grips with: Woodcock, Common Sandpiper, Turtle Dove, Little Owl, Brambling, and maybe even a Common Redpoll.

The End of 2008

For my last visit of the year, I walked much of my usual route: Pit Tip, Dawson's Corner, Sustrans and Mill Lakes, but headed back the same route and walked around the bottom of the Pit Tip behind the Winding House and back up on to the Pit Tip Top via the horsetrail from the Sidings. This morning's Magpie roost at Dawson's Corner showed at least twelve birds leaving at dawn, but I suspect there to be a lot more. At the Mill Lakes, the single Greylag Goose was joined by a flock of 57 others that flew in just after sunrise. The flock contained a few pale hybrid-type birds. Just a few pairs of Canada Goose were present, including one bird with pale plumage onits face/upper neck (where plumage is usually black). A male and female Pochard were amongst the flotilla of Tufted Duck at the southern end of the lake. A Little Grebe was fishing off shore of Tern Island, a single Cormorant was on the island, and two more were over to the north. A Grey Heron was fishing from the mud bank near the Dipping Ponds Viewpoint. At least four Common Snipe could be seen in the undergrowth on Mud Island, and there was large Siskin flockof about sixty birds in alders around the Peninsula. There were about thirty Black-headed Gull on the water, with a single 1st-winter Common Gull amongst them.

It was a better than average day for gulls: ten Lesser Black-backed Gull were heading north-east over the Pit Tip and Sidings - roughly half were adult birds; and at least one adult Herring Gull was flying about over the Pit Tip Top. On the horsetrail up to the Pit Tip Top, a party of Bullfinch consisted of a male, a female and one other bird in the hedgerow alongside the cow field. I flushed a Green Woodpecker from the bottom of this field up to the Pit Tip Top were it was later seen by the main Plantation fence, and a Skylark also flushed from the Pit Tip Top.

Woodland Photo Quest

A pretty gloomy morning before work with one break in the clouds and some early morning sunshine. My quest was to get some decent photos of the local woodland birds. I stuck to the area of woodland closest to home where there's usually a good chance of seeing Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, and Goldcrest. I got lucky on all three accounts, but with mixed results.

Photobirding

Today's walk was more about giving my new camera a whirl, than the usual crawling through the undergrowth with scope in hand. Birding highlights were: a Bullfinch and a couple of Redwing at Dawson's Corner; a Water Rail feeding on the mud of the newly-drained willow area at the Mill Lakes, five or more Common Snipe on Mud Island, a Common Gull, several Herring Gull, a Great Spotted Woodpecker by the Double Dates at Mill Lakes; a flock of around twenty Waxwing flying at rooftop height over Moor Road near the Main Entrance to Mill Lakes towards the Mill Lakes; a Nuthatch at the Wildlife Garden Feeders, and two Lesser Redpoll opposite in the trees of Bramley Wood.