Welbeck

As my dad had a few days off work, we'd planned a morning's birding at Welbeck, where an Osprey had been reported frequently over the past two weeks, along with a Honey Buzzard and a Hobby. Arriving at my place just after 5:30am, we set off to get to Welbeck about 50 minutes later. The main birding spot is known as the Raptor Watchpoint, but we weren't exactly sure where that was. Previously, my parent's had been parked up at a layby here where feeding cups adorn the fence posts, attracting plenty of finches, tits, and the occasional Nuthatch. The layby was our obvious guess, as it's the closest you can get to the lake, but it's quite low down and didn't really fit our idea of a "watchpoint".

As we pulled up the mist was clearing over the lake, and dad had seen something that looked a bit like a large gull flying over the water to the right. As it doubled back I grabbed our bins in a hurry - it was the Osprey! We both got onto the bird in time before it disappeared to the western edge of the lake, but our best views were without the bins when it flew right past us. We waited for it to come back for the next 30 minutes or so, but without any luck. A Grey Heron landed in the nearby field with a large fish, which it downed in one, and we watched the odd Great Crested Grebe amongst the more numerous waterfowl, but there was still no sign of the Osprey.

After looking at the map, we decided to have a drive to the western side of the lake, and give our legs a stretch. The road twisted and turned past several old fashioned lodges and a war memorial, up hill, and into a village. The war memorial had been mentioned in one of the recent reports, so it was our turn to double back and check it out. Just before we got there, we had a brief glimpse of a probable Hobby flying through in front of us - everything looked good in terms of size, shape, and behaviour, but it was the briefest of views and no plumage detail was seen. The area where it was was full of hirundines passing through the trees, and parking up at the memorial, we got out in the hope of sighting it again. No sign of a Hobby - whatever it was, was long gone, but I did get onto my second lifer of the day. A Spotted Flycatcher was in a large tree next to the memorial, and repeatedly looping in flight from a favoured perch, hunting its prey.

Moving on to our walk, we passed someone setting up their scope at the side of the road further up the hill - something to note for later. The walk was one my dad had done previously - not very long, but covering a few types of habitat. First off was some farmland, which produced a pair of Red-legged Partridge, a Lesser Whitethroat, and plenty of Linnet. As we entered the woodland, a juvenile buzzard was calling from somewhere, and walking around to the far side of the lake, dad got onto it, calling from an exposed perched in an old tree. Before it took off, we'd confirmed it as a Common Buzzard, so no joy with the honey!

Heading back I noted an odd looking duck in the lake. Its plumage was like that of a female tufty, but it had an overly long neck - I've since put it down as probable Mallard in moult (seems likely for the time of year) or a yuck duck. At the gates to the Welbeck estate, I had a Nuthatch up in one tree, whilst we heard increasingly-closer calls from a buzzard. We had a bit of fun with the security guy, who insisted on telling us we were on private land, when we were clearly on the footpath side of the gate - it must be a dull job. Anyway, the buzzard carried on calling ovehead as we walked back, but we didn't connect with it again for a while. As we did it was to our enjoyment that there were two, and the both passed right over us, giving good enough views through the clearings to confirm two juvenile Common Buzzard. Heading back over the farmland also produced a Common Whitethroat - the first I've seen in over a month!

We drove back to see that another birder had now joined the one we'd seen previously, so we pulled up to ask what was going on. It turned out that this spot was the infamous "Raptor Watchpoint", so thanks to the two guys from South Yorkshire for clearing that up for us. They'd had the Osprey too, and we all saw a few more Common Buzzard, but no sign of the honey. We didn't have time to stick around, and it was pretty clear that we'd struggle from this spot without a scope of our own, so we thanked them and moved on back to the layby, where a local birding couple were looking out from their car. We had no further joy with the Osprey, and they'd not seen it either, but we had a nice chat with them and added a pair of Marsh Tit (on the nearby feeder cups) to the day list. That was our rather productive morning at Welbeck done, before heading on to my local patch for a late morning walk.

Another Tern

Today, at work, a single Common Tern was over the main lake at lunchtime [seen from the office window].

Nightjar Walk at Budby Common

Despite the awful weather, my dad and I went along to the Nightjar walk at Budby Common, which was organized by Notts Birders. The weather had been awful throughout most of the day with thunderstorms in the afternoon and serious flooding in nearby counties. This had put most birders off, and only four cars turned up - including the guide's! We ended up a group of 7, considerably less than last year's 50+! At least three of us had not seen a Nighjar previously, hence our determination. As we set off, the weather was beginning to clear, and even some blue sky appeared.

Along the first trail we had a Jay and a couple of Willow Warbler; one of which was swiftly taken by the Jay. A Yellowhammer was singing in the adjacent field, and moths began to emerge, which was a good sign for the Nightjar. Further along the trail to Hanger Hill, we saw more Willow Warbler, several Tree Pipit and Linnet, and heard a Blackcap and juvenile woodpecker.

We went over a gate onto the MOD land in the search for Wood Lark, and saw a few at the tops of trees, and a singing male. More Tree Pipit were around, with a pair on adjacent fence posts, and a male Kestrel was hunting over the heathland. A Red-legged Partridge was crossing the cattle grid at the far end of our path before we headed into the woodland. We heard a bird calling that sounded like a 'squeaky gate', which the guide told us was a juvenile Long-eared Owl, and that if we we quiet, we might locate it further along the track. We continued down the track until we were approximately parallel with the bird, which was still calling. After a minute or so, my dad was the one to locate the bird on the branch of a tree about 70 meters from the path. It was a great moment for me, because I've not had much luck with owls; my third ever owl sighting being this one. We got everyone on to the bird and watched it for a few more minutes before heading back down towards the Nightjars, which should have been starting to appear.

The pine forest adjacent to the path had been scalloped for the purpose of attracting species such as Nightjar, and one of the clearings was a known site. As we approached I glimpsed a small wader silohette flying over us and calling, which the guide told us was a Woodcock (my first definite sighting of the species) and it would be back around again in a few minutes! We were told by the guide that the Nightjar would appear any time soon and fly about before landing in a birch tree in the centre - quite a precise prediction really! One of the more-experienced birders in our party located the bird on a branch of a pine tree close to the birch, which was pretty remarkable considering the failing light and the fact it looked like a small grey branch amongst all the others. No sooner had I got onto the Nightjar, it took off and displayed for a couple of minutes before disappearing behind the trees. Although I'd seen and read of the white wing patches before, it never dawned on me how obvious they'd actually be until I saw it in person - really impressive. Whilst waiting, a pair of Woodcock flew over calling, apparently displaying, and were then seen repeated right up until we left.

The Nightjar reappeared a few minutes later, but it wasn't long before it descended into the scrub showing the probable location of its nest. The guide, who worked for Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, was monitoring the Nightjars and therefore went to locate and examine the nest. Unfortunately nothing was found, and he informed us later that there was a good chance that the nearby Tawny Owl had taken any young. (We could hear at least one juvenile Tawny Owl calling from the trees at the edge of the clearing.) After that the Nightjar had settled in a tree and began to 'churr' or 'reel', which was extremely impressive. This lasted for a couple of minutes, (apparently it can go on for much longer), before it flew off to forage in the woods. Walking back to the car we heard another male beginning to 'reel' further away, but it was getting late. We thanked our guide for the excellent evening and talked with some of the other birders before setting off back home. A brilliant trip for both my dad and myself, with a few great life ticks for both of us.

Combs Wood and Oxton Bogs

Had a nice afternoon walk around an area called Combs Wood north of Oxton with my dad this afternoon. The area seems to hold the typical farmland/countryside birds with plenty of birds heard, but not so many seen. The more notable sightings started with a Skylark in a farmer's field, and a female Blackcap in a hedgerow along the edge of the wood. We followed the path along hearing at least one Chiffchaff and some other warbler, that we didn't know. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was calling sporadically, and feeding at the top of a tall tree, and a Green Woodpecker was laughing nearby.

Heading down the steeper part of the track towards the main road produced a family of Great Tit, with the parents dashing back and forth bringing food back to a hole in a tree. Another Chiffchaff was calling from a sea of green leaves above, with little hope of being found.

Out on the main road, the Green Woodpecker was still calling, and soon located sitting proudly at the top of a large oak tree. I picked up my first Red-legged Partridge, sat in the middle of a fallow field in plain view, and a few more were further up the road where we'd parked.

On the way back, we had a quick look at the seemingly non-private part of Oxton Bogs, which was pretty overgrown and hidden away. The only birds of note were a couple of Treecreeper, which stood out in the dark closed-in woods around the ford.