Holmebrook Valley 10 - 11/03/18

Last weekend I went down to Holmebrook Valley for nearly 3 hours as it wasn't as cold and all the snow had gone.

On the 10th I cycled down and round the park for about 1hr and 20mins. On the playing fields by the main carpark there were about 200 Black-Headed Gull which is my highest record for the site. I scanned through the flock but only managed to pick out 1 Common Gull and no ringed gulls.

Playing field full of BH Gulls

On the lake there was 2 Canada Geese, 1 Greylag Goose, all 3 Mute Swans and the Great Crested Grebe. Unfortunately there were no Tufted Ducks even though the lake had no ice on it.

Mute Swan

Other birds seen around the site were a Goldcrest by the river and a Bullfinch.

On the 11th I went down for an hour round the lake. The only change from the day before was that there were now 4 Canada Geese (2 extra), 2 Tufted Ducks were on the lake. Also 2 Mandarin Ducks flew over and a Kingfisher was heard on the lake.

Greylag Goose on raft

Holmebrook Valley 28/02/18 - 01 - 02/03/18

Over night from the 27th to the 28th of March it snowed a lot in Chesterfield and when I woke up I found myself off school which meant I could go down to Holmebrook Valley to do a bit of birding. Despite it being -5° I went down for about two hours during the day.

The lake was almost completely frozen over but there were still 2 Canada Geese, 1 Greylag Goose, all 3 Mute Swans, 3 Tufted Ducks and the Great Crested Grebe.

Mute Swan

On the frozen lake there were about 40 Black-Headed Gulls, 2 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and at least 4 Common Gulls throughout the day (new sight record). Other birds seen around the site were Redwing, Fieldfare and about 7 Bullfinch which spent all of the morning feeding in the bushes on the east side of the lake.

Frozen lake on the 1st of March

On the 1st of March I was off school again and I spent the day walking round Chesterfield getting some nice pictures in the snow. Whilst in Chesterfield I had a look on the lake in Queens Park and was happy to find 1 Common Gull, 4 Lesser Back-Backed Gulls and about 40 Black-Headed Gulls.

Common Gull with BH Gulls

When I returned home I popped down to Holmebrook Valley for about 20 minutes. Nothing had change much but there were only 2 Common Gulls today and 4 Canada Geese including 2 new birds that landed whilst I was there. I was also told by my uncle that the Mute Swans were not on the lake earlier in the day as it was completely frozen over, but they had returned and all 3 birds were on the lake. They had most likely gone to Linacre Reservoirs or Walton Dam as they are both about a 2 minute flight from Holmebrook.

All 3 Mute Swans in a small gap in the ice

Common Gull

The Greylag Goose and the Tufted Ducks weren't there but there were at least 10 Bullfinches still in the bushes on the east side of the lake.
On the 2nd of March it was the same as on the 1st with 2 Common Gull but only about 5 Bullfinches and still no Greylag Goose or Tufted Ducks.

1 of 4 Canada Geese

Holmebrook Valley Park 12/02/18

From last Saturday night through to Monday it snowed a bit in Chesterfield, so when I woke up I found out that my school was closed due to the snow. This gave me chance to get down to Holmebrook Valley to see if there was anything about.

I walked round the lake for about an hour and 25 minutes. On the lake there was a big flock of gulls with at least 100 birds present. I had a quick scan through the Black-Headed Gulls and managed to find 2 Common Gulls and a juvenile Black-Headed Gull with a metal ring on it. The ringed bird was to far out on a raft to reed the ring so unfortunately I don't know where it has come from.

A few on the gulls including the ringed Black-Headed Gull (2nd from the right on the raft) and the common gull (Just left of the middle Cormorant)

Other birds present on the lake where, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Tufted Ducks, 3 Cormorants, all 3 Mute Swans and a Grey Heron which was fishing. A bird that I thought had gone was the Greylag Goose, but it was back on the lake so it may have been hiding somewhere. If it was there the day before, then I don't know how I missed it.

                                                                  The Greylag Goose

                                 Black-Headed Gulls on the boardwalk. Unfortunately no rings!
Around the lake there was a Sparrowhawk, a Kestrel, a couple of Bullfinch, a Greenfinch calling at the top end of the lake, which is a nice Holmebrook Valley record as I don't see them much there, and this very friendly and tame Robin in his/her normal location by the boardwalk. I have not seen this Robin for at least a month so it was nice to see it back and in the snow I got some nice photos.

                                                    I tried to hide the seed in the snow!

                                                                 The lake in the snow

Holmebrook Valley Park 04/02/18

I went down to Holmebrook Valley for about 15 minutes today just to check the lake for any new birds that might have come since yesterday morning. The sun was out today but it was still quiet chilly. On the lake there were 2 Goosanders (1 Male and 1 Female), only 1 Tufted Duck and the Greylag Goose had returned. I presume that it was there yesterday, but was asleep on the bank in the trees where we couldn't see it. All of the Mute Swans were still there but I couldn't locate the Kingfisher which wasn't even on its normal perch. Around the lake I could here at least 3 different Bullfinches but they were to far in the bushes to see.

                      The cygnet Mute Swan with quiet a few white feathers coming through.

                                                                    Greylag Goose

 One last thing I saw was a Rat at the bottom end of the lake. It froze when it saw me and stopped for just enough time for a photo. Over the last winter I have seen Rats on nearly every visit. Some people don't like Rats but I actually think there cute.

Holmebrook Valley Park 14/01/18

I went down to the lake at Holmebrook Valley for about 45 minutes yesterday. There were certainly a few more gulls that the day before with about 70 to 80 Black Headed Gulls on the water. I had a quick scan through the flock and found a Common Gull, 1 adult Lesser Black Backed Gull and 2 young gulls. I am not very good at identifying young gulls but I presume that they were either Lesser Black Backed or Herring Gull. I would prefer Herring Gull as they are not very common on the lake. As luck would have it, an adult Herring Gull landed on the lake at 12:15. That means I got 4 species of gull in one day which is good for Holmebrook Valley.

Here's one of the young gulls which is either Herring or Lesser Black Backed. Any suggestions are welcomed.

Apart from the gulls there was now a new Canada Goose on the lake. The bird was very shy and wouldn't come to seed like the local swans. There were also two male and a female Tufted Ducks today instead of just a female. The Greylag Goose and the Mute Swans were still there as normal and one of the Kingfishers was back on the lake after not being seen for a few days, although it was not being very photogenic and was flying away regularly.

                                            All three Tufted Ducks and the Canada Goose.

On my last post I mentioned that there seemed to be a lot of Bullfinches about and today there was even more and I managed to count at least 20 in two flocks.

One last photo for today. This is one of the cygnets from last years brood that survived, looking all grown up with adult feathers come through on its wings.

Holmebrook Valley Park 13/01/2018

I went down Holmebrook from about 10:20 to 10:50 on Saturday. I am glad I did because there were two Gadwall (Male and female) on the lake. Although they are widespread across central Britain they are still a rarity for Holmebrook Valley and this is only my 2nd record for them here. My previous record was from February 2017 when there was two on the lake in the evening. Although the lake at Holmebrook Valley is not that big, they were still hard to photograph because they swam away from me every time I got close. The dark light didn't help either so here's my record shot.

Apart from that there was just the normal water birds like the Mallards, all 3 Mute Swans and the Greylag Goose that has been here since the 28th of December. There was also still a female Tufted Duck. Gull wise, there wasn't much with only about 30 Black Headed Gulls and 1 Lesser Black Blacked Gull. There also seemed to be quiet a lot of Bullfinches about and I counted at least 7 together at one time. Apart from birds there was also 3 Rats including 2 very confident animals that came within about 20cm of my camera. They were very quick though and were hard to photograph.