Birding Day Out 19/02/18

Every February half term, me and my uncle go out for a day birding. This year we decided to go off round the Midlands and I managed 4 lifers and quite a few year ticks.

The first stop of the day was Willington Gravel Pits to try to find a Great White Egret which has been there for a while. We arrived about 8am and had a walk around all of the hides and managed to spot Water Rail, Oystercatchers, Redshank, Wigeon, Shoveler, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Shelduck, Great Black-Backed Gull and a lovely summer plumage Mediterranean Gull which did some fly-bys of the hide. Calling in the reeds there were also some Cetti's Warblers and some Reed Bunting. Whilst waiting in the main bird hide for the Great White Egret to return we also got some lovely close views of a Kingfisher as it fished just outside. We saw it manage to catch 3 fish in about 5 minutes. We waited for about 10 minutes before the Great White Egret returned and we got nice views as it flew past the hide and whilst walking back to the car we found it again sat in a neighbouring field with some Grey Herons.

Kingfisher

Record shot of Great White Egret as it flew past

The next stop of the day was about a 10 minute drive away at Newton Solney to try to find two Cattle Egrets that were in some sheep fields by the side of Repton Road. We located one of the birds straight away and watched it feeding for about 10 minutes before it flew off. Unfortunately we could not locate the other bird that had been reported.

Cattle Egret

The next stop was Albert Village Lake near Swadlincote to try see a Black-Throated Diver that had been there for about a week. We had a walk down to the lake and within 20 minutes had found the bird fishing. Unfortunately it was quite distant and dived for along time so I only managed a record shot but it was still a lovely bird to look at through the scope.

Black-Throated Diver record shot

Other birds seen on the lake included 1 Little Grebe, 6 Mute Swan, Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, Herring Gull, Black-Headed Gull and Great Crested Grebe.

Albert Village Lake

The last stop of the day was Holme Pierrepont Watersports Centre near Nottingham to look for a Spotted Sandpiper and a Long-Tailed Duck. The Long-Tailed Duck was near the finish line on a 2km long rowing lake. At first we went to the wrong end of the lake but eventually after walking the full length of the lake twice we found the bird swimming with the Tufted Ducks about 15 metres away from the shore.

Long-Tailed Duck

The Spotted Sandpiper was not as easy. It had been seen where the Slalom Course met the River Trent by the 750m marker on the rowing lake. We searched for about 2 hours and 30 minutes up and down the rapids course but there was no sign of the bird. Just as we were about to give up it appeared out of nowhere and we got great views of the tiny birds as it walked within 10 metres of us.

Spotted Sandpiper

Other birds seen at this sight were Kingfisher, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Gadwall, Egyptian Goose, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Grey Wagtail and Pied Wagtail.

The rowing lake at Holme Pierrepoint