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 20 - 23 - 25/02/18

This week I have been down to Holmebrook Valley three times.
On the 20th of February I went down for about an hour. On the lake there was the usual Great Crested Grebe, Mute Swans, 40+ Black-Headed Gulls, a few Mallards, Coots and a couple of Moorhens. The Tufted Ducks were there as usual and I counted 9 of them which I think is a new site record. Also on the lake were two Canada Geese which were new, but no Greylag Goose, although there was one seen at Linacre Reservoirs which would have been the same bird. This bird has flown from Holmebrook Valley to Linacre before as is just about a 5 minute flight for it.

8 of the 9 Tufted Ducks

Both Canada Geese

On the 23rd I went down for about 50 minutes. There was basically the same on the lake but instead there were no Tufted Ducks, no Canada Geese and the Greylag Goose had returned from his/her flight up to Linacre Reservoir. Also on the lake was 1 Common Gull, 2 Cormorants, 1 Great Crested Grebe and about 120 Black-Headed Gulls which was a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't find any ringed gulls but quiet a few of the birds were in breeding plumage and I managed to get some nice photos of one of these birds.

 Also on the 23rd there were 2 Kingfishers calling on the river.

Today the sun was out and it was quiet a nice day so I went down for half and hour. I knew that there had been quiet a few Whooper Swans around South Yorkshire this morning so I kept my fingers crossed that they might fly over to the lake at Holmebrook.
Unfortunately there were no Whoopers on the lake but there were 6 Tufted Ducks, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Mute Swans and about 60 Black-Headed Gulls. Also there were very low numbers of Mallards today with only about 20 - 30 birds present.

2 of the Mute Swans

Holmebrook Valley Park 17 - 18/02/18

This week I am off school and I have managed to get down to Holmebrook Valley a couple of times.

17/02/18

I popped down for about 45 minutes on Saturday and had a walk round the lake. On the lake there was a flock of about 60 Black-Headed Gulls, 1 Common Gull, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Greylag Goose, 3 Tufted Ducks, all 3 Mute Swans and 2 Cormorants.

Common Gull

The tame Robin was still by the boardwalk in his normal tree and I managed to get some nice shots of him.

18/02/18

Today I went to Holmebrook Valley about half an hour.
Birds on the lake were 50+ Black-Headed Gulls, 1 Lesser Black Backed Gull, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Tufted Ducks (3 Male + 2 Female, A good record for HBV), 2 Cormorants, all 3 Mute Swans and 1 Greylag Goose.

Great Crested Grebe nearing full breeding plumage.

I also saw 1 female Goosander fly over and it was coming in to land but it flew off. Around the lake there was the usual tame Robin and I could hear the Kingfisher calling on the river and when I went to look, it flew off. I guess seeming that it was calling a lot, there was another bird.

Tame Robin

Also I added Green Woodpecker and Tawny Owl to my year list. I saw the Green Woodpecker this morning at Linacre Reservoirs and the Tawny Owl last weekend flying over a roundabout near Batemoor.

Holmebrook Valley Park 03/02/18

I was up early this morning with my Uncle and we had a 30min walk round the lake. There wasn't much about but the Greylag Goose that has been here since December had gone and there were only 2 Tufted Ducks (1 Female + 1 Male). All 3 Mute Swans were there and the Kingfisher was back on her favourite perch at the top end of the lake. I tried to photograph the Kingfisher but it was still to dark. As we were about to leave my uncle noticed a Goosander which must have landed whilst we were not looking. The bird was a female and looked like the bird that was present last Saturday and Sunday.

                                      My record shot of the Goosander. It was still quiet dark.

Rufford CP 28/01/18

This afternoon I went to Rufford CP in Nottinghamshire. My main focus was to try see the Hawfinches that have been feeding around the main carpark over the winter as they would be a "lifer" for me. When we arrived I managed to spot one straight away at the top of a tall tree in the carpark, but by the time we had parked and got out it had disappeared. I waited for about 5 minutes with a group of birders and we managed to find a couple at the tops of the trees. There were at least 5 when I was there but there had been up to 20 the day before. I managed some record shots but they were hard to photograph amongst the branches and were very high up in the trees. That was my first "lifer" of the year.

                                                                   Male Hawfinch

                                             Female Hawfinch compared to Greenfinch

After seeing the Hawfinches we went for a walk round the lake. On the lake there were 6 Goosander, 1 Little Grebe, 7 Mute Swans, lots of Canada Geese, a few Greylag Geese, 150+ Black-Headed Gulls, 20+ Common Gulls and 1 Kingfisher that was heard and then seen flying under the bridge on the island in the middle of the lake. There were quiet a lot of Tufted Ducks but unfortunately no Potchard.

                           Greylag x Canada Goose Hybrid                    Common Gull

                             Female Tufted Duck                      Greylag Geese scaring of the Canada's

It was interesting to see the cygnet Mute Swans as they had a lot more adult feathers on them then the birds at Holmebrook Valley. I guess that they were born earlier. Also one of the birds (bottom left photo) had a weird shaped bill that went of to the side. It obviously hasn't affected it as it is still alive. Possibly next time I may find it in full adult plumage?

Another bird I was hoping to see was Marsh Tit as I was told by a friend that they had seen one there the week before. Last year I didn't manage to see either Marsh or Willow Tit so I was eager to find one and tick it off the year list. It didn't take long as on the first bridge round the lake I found one coming to seed quiet regularly. I waited but it was quick and I only managed a record shot.

                                                                         Marsh Tit

One last bird that I saw was one I wasn't expecting to find today. We were driving home through a town called Nether Langwith which is on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire when I saw a Little Egret on the stream. We stopped and went back to look for it. By this time it had been spooked up into the trees by some runners who told me that it had been on the river there for a few months. Luckily it was just in Derbyshire by 10m. Little Egrets are not that common in Derbyshire and I have only seen them here whilst on the train to Derby from Chesterfield and once flying over Bakewell so it was a nice Derbyshire record for me and was also a year tick.

Holmebrook Valley Park 28/01/18

I went down to Holmebrook Valley from 09:40 to 10:20 this morning just to check if there was anything new on the lake. It was sunny, which was good for photos but very windy which made it quiet cold. On the lake there was the female Goosander still from yesterday but it flew off at 09:54. All 3 of the Tufted Ducks were still on the lake and there were still good numbers of Coots, which were fighting each other. Apart from that it was just a normal day with the long stay Greylag Goose, about 40 Black-Headed Gulls and a Lesser Black Backed Gull. One other bird that I heard today was the Kingfisher. It was calling a few times at the north end of the lake when I first got there but I couldn't locate it. Its nice to get the Kingfisher back as I haven't had it there for a few weeks.

 Here's a couple of photos of the Mute Swans from this morning. The low sun made some good light for photos.

                                              The female Goosander before it flew off
One last bird that I saw today was a Buzzard which glided over whilst being mobbed by a group of about 20 Rooks and Jackdaws.

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.