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 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