[arniemonkey]

im also a member and like daniel said the magazine is a flick through and thats it ...its 1 big advert ..i go to bempton blacktoft old moor but thats about it and its not that much for membership, id only spend it on beer or takeaways...

[James_Owen]

The RSPB gets up to so much that there'll probably always be the odd thing it does which you don't wholly agree with, but generally it does very very good work across the board. Up to you whether you want to be one of the miserable gits who lets that one thing get in the way of supporting all the other great work.

[DaveN]

Bloody glorious today at Carsi. Spent most of the day without a coat and it is not often you can say that in March. The Great Northern Diver was still present. 16+ Chiff Chaff and 6 Blackcaps between Millfields and Hopton.

Just after 14.00hrs, 8 Waders flew in towards Sheepwash. 3 Redshank and the other 5 looked good for Ruff. The 3 Redshank landed to the left of Sheepwash, but the other 5 flew to the other side of the spit. Eventually, 4 Ruff walked up to where the Cormorants sit and to this side of the spit. At no time did I see 5 Ruff, so as to what the 8th Wader was I don't know. After a while the 4 Ruff flew off North.

Not a lot else apart from 4 Shoveler, 1 Goldeneye, 6 Buzzards and 2 Raven.

Interestingly, a few birders came in to Sheepwash mid morning who had been down Cromford looking for Hawfinch. They didn't see any but did have a Common Crane go over. They could hear it calling and that's what alerted them to it flying over.

[BarryH]

Much to the disgust of the gathering up at the Beeley Triangle on Tuesday evening, some person was seen to be trampling all over the area I know as Harewood Moor, the field on the Screetham Lane side of the triangle.

No one seemed to know what he was trying to find or photograph he just wondered all over the moor quite aimlessly, pointing his camera wherever he chose. I know there were Snipe on the ground because they kept flying up. He generally disturbed anything that was about.

Although he was carrying a small camera, I won't refer to him as a photographer because all the photographers I know wouldn't have even considered doing what he did. He was ambling about on the moor for over an hour and a half.

Apologies for the rant but it only takes one person carrying a camera of any description to give all photographers a very bad name.

[DaveN]

Originally Posted by BarryH

Much to the disgust of the gathering up at the Beeley Triangle on Tuesday evening, some person was seen to be trampling all over the area I know as Harefield Moor, the field at the side of the triangle.

No one seemed to know what he was trying to find or photograph he just wondered all over the moor quite aimlessly, pointing his camera wherever he chose. I know there were Snipe on the ground because they kept flying up. He generally disturbed anything that was about.

Although he was carrying a small camera, I won't refer to him as a photographer because all the photographers I know wouldn't have even considered doing what he did. He was ambling about on the moor for over an hour and a half.

Apologies for the rant but it only takes one person to give other a very bad name.

You rant away all you like. What he did was wrong, especially at this time of year. I was talking to somebody today who was also there and was disgusted with his actions. The problem being is that although it isn't exactly a public footpath it is one of those 'right to roam' areas. But anybody with a bit of common sense would not be roaming on there in late March.

By the way, I think the area you refer to is called Harewood Moor.

[Clive A]

Originally Posted by James_Owen

The RSPB gets up to so much that there'll probably always be the odd thing it does which you don't wholly agree with, but generally it does very very good work across the board. Up to you whether you want to be one of the miserable gits who lets that one thing get in the way of supporting all the other great work.

But if they are really interested...

.http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=216478&page=4

From a miserable git.

[BarryH]

Originally Posted by DaveN

You rant away all you like. What he did was wrong, especially at this time of year. I was talking to somebody today who was also there and was disgusted with his actions. The problem being is that although it isn't exactly a public footpath it is one of those 'right to roam' areas. But anybody with a bit of common sense would not be roaming on there in late March.

By the way, I think the area you refer to is called Harewood Moor.

Thanks for the help Dave.

[Daniel Martin]

Originally Posted by Clive A

But if they are really interested...

.http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=216478&page=4

From a miserable git.

Excellent point well made Clive.........for membership like theirs it must be a huge embarrassment to the RSPB that they cannot get behind this.......or do they not want to?

James the organisation are getting closer and closer to wazzing off some of their core support and turning them into "miserable old gits". I know they do a good deal of work that we dont see but am equally sure they do a good deal more than you suggest to ensure the mass cancelling of direct debits....

LGRE campaigns hard against their stance on Ruddy Duck and Monk Parakeets.

I feel they are increasingly more out of touch with their core support as they target the corporate look more and more and need to get back to what they did best in years gone by.

Best wishes form an increasingly more "miserable git".....(must be my age).

[DaveN]

I was standing on the viewing mound down Wyver having a fairly mundane morning when it suddenly burst into life as an Osprey appeared from nowhere. I watched it fly over the reserve and over towards Dunge Wood where it attracted the attention of a couple of Buzzards and a Kestrel. It circled around for several minutes before continuing its journey north. The last record was August 4th 2009.

Not a lot else to report. The 2 Shelduck still, also 2 Gadwall, 2 Shoveler, 2 Oystercatcher, 6 Buzzard, 3 Chiff Chaff, the first Blackcap of the year and a single Meadow Pipit on the old tip.

Now, digiscoping as most will no is practically impossible if your target is moving. But I was determined to get some sort of record shot of the Osprey. And bearing in mind it was not only moving but also about a mile away this is the best I could get. You can just about tell it's a bird so you will have to take my word for it that it is the Osprey. Also a shot of the new Tern raft which was put into place on Tuesday.

[arniemonkey]

ill have to take your word for it ...on another site you could put it up as a ufo..

[James_Owen]

Originally Posted by Daniel Martin

I feel they are increasingly more out of touch with their core support as they target the corporate look more and more and need to get back to what they did best in years gone by.

Twas ever the way. I work for a different conservation charity and hear the exact same words from a very vocal minority whenever we change practice to do anything that might be more professional, more efficient and raise more money. Indeed, it's possible to read through decades worth of consultation papers on that sort of charity modernisation and it's always the same story, the same moans from the purists, yet year on year there's been a growth in the actual conservation work those same purists agree needs to be done.
All right the RSPB employs people who can't tell a sparrow from a chaffinch, but who cares if it funds things like the various Farmland Projects the RSPB has on the go. And the other thing is, being a member of a charity like the RSPB is a good footing for challenging them about those few things you disagree with it on.

Phew, getting off my high horse...

It's getting more interesting at Pleasley, waders returning and pairing up, and there was a Wheatear today in the usual area in front of the hide, Skylarks and Yellowhammer seem more numerous than ever, several Grey Partridge in nearby fields.

[DaveN]

Just spent a couple of hours looking for SEO's with no joy. Plenty of Curlew and Lapwing activity. A male Stonechat on the triangle, 2 Raven over and a Peg nearby.

[John Eaton]

Notices gone up at east end of Willington DWT today stating that planning application has been made for a development on the site to the east of the reserve currently being used for extraction (though for some time a number of us have thought it is being added to rather than extracted from). Anyway the application can be viewed here if interested.

http://www.planning.south-derbys.gov...ef=9/2012/0027

Basically they are wanting to put up a holiday village with 60 cabins. Need to read it all though before coming to conclusions.

[Dint See It]

Is the Grest Northern Diver at Carsington in summer plumage?

Thanks, Paul

[Clive A]

Originally Posted by Dint See It

Is the Grest Northern Diver at Carsington in summer plumage?

Thanks, Paul

Not yet Paul, let's hope it stays until it is.

[Dint See It]

Thanks Clive, kept meaning to go for it for last couple of years but always left it a week to late!!

[DaveN]

Everything seemed to be in 2's down Wyver today. 2 Mute Swans, 2 Mandarin, 2 Wigeon, 2 Shoveler, 2 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Oystercatchers, 2 Chiff Chaffs, 2 Kestrel, 2 Peregrine and 2 Little Grebes. The exceptions were 15 Teal, 3 Tufted Duck and a Grey Heron.

The pair of Peregrines put on a good show whilst I was on the viewing mound. They were at first having a go at a few corvids. Then they were both chasing a pigeon for about half a mile but then gave up. I watched them for about half an hour.

The 2 Little Grebes were a welcome sight. It's quite unusual to get 1 Little Grebe so 2 is a bonus. The last record of 2 was Sep 4th 2006. Gives us hope that they could attempt to breed. Been 13 years since the last attempt.

The pair of Oycs have been mating regularly, as have the pair of Shelduck.

[Clive A]

Originally Posted by DaveN

Everything seemed to be in 2's down Wyver today. 2 Mute Swans, 2 Mandarin, 2 Wigeon, 2 Shoveler, 2 Shelduck, 2 Gadwall, 2 Oystercatchers, 2 Chiff Chaffs, 2 Kestrel,2 Peregrine and 2 Little Grebes. The exceptions were 15 Teal, 3 Tufted Duck and a Grey Heron.

The pair of Peregrines put on a good show whilst I was on the viewing mound. They were at first having a go at a few corvids. Then they were both chasing a pigeon for about half a mile but then gave up. I watched them for about half an hour.

The 2 Little Grebes were a welcome sight. It's quite unusual to get 1 Little Grebe so 2 is a bonus. The last record of 2 was Sep 4th 2006. Givesushope that they could attempt to breed. Been 13 years since the last attempt.

The pair of Oycs have been mating regularly, as have the pair of Shelduck.

Nice, and to contiue the theme, there were 2 ruff at carsington yesterday.

[Clive A]

2 Ruff stilll at carsington, also 2 Curlew, 3 Sand Martins and the GND showing well by the sailing club.

[DaveN]

Some will already know but when I'm not out birding I'm spending most of my time putting together all the bird records for Wyver in its entirity. The problem I've had is that there are literally 10's of thousands of records to go through. And the other problem is that they are everywhere in every possible format. Whether it be in excel spreadsheets, email, notebook, log books, on forums, websites and even little bits of paper.

So slowly but surely I'm getting them all in order by doing 1 species at a time. It's just taken me several days to do Lapwing, and today I have been doing Swallow. Although I have quite a bit of knowledge of what Wyver is all about I'm slowly building up a bigger picture with all these 1'000's of records.

So once i've finished, which will probably be another couple of months I can then just add further records as I go along. And also I'm now aware of extreme dates and record counts. So, as I've been doing Swallow records today the extreme dates are the latest being 1/11/1991. The earliest is 24/03/2009, 2010 and 2012. The record count is a pre roost gathering of 1'000+ on 10/09/2009.

[James_Owen]

Notice after its brief tour of Derbyshire the ringed Stork was back across the Notts border in the sports field at Sookholme yesterday.

Still a decent number of Fieldfare lingering in Hardwick Park, perhaps 80 or more.

[Cheshire Birder]

Osprey reported over Moors near Buxton this morning.

CB

[birdleg]

Last week popped into the Sheepwash Hide (Carsington) briefly and saw a Redshank and a Teal.

[DaveN]

Wyver Lane Bird Notes
March 2012


Highlights include, Osprey, Red Kite, Pink-footed Goose,
Stonechat and returning migrants.

A mainly dry month with unseasonal temperatures that
produced 74 species. Maximum counts include 2 Little
Grebes on 31st. Grebes of any kind are rare for Wyver
so to get 2 was a bonus. The last time there was 2
Little Grebes was in September 2006. Another rare
visitor was a Great Crested Grebe on the 8th. Other
counts include 8 Cormorants on 20th, 2 Grey Heron on
8th and 17th, 2 Mute Swans all month with 3 on 24th,
there were 5 Pink-footed Geese on 1st which then
increased to 7 on 9th, 73 Greylag Geese on 22nd, 60
Canada Geese also on 22nd, 2 Shelduck for most of the
month, and 3 on 20th and 22nd, 7 Mandarin on 30th, 19
Wigeon on 3rd and 17th, as ever, most Wigeon had gone
by the end of the month, although 1 male had stayed on
and had paired up with a female Mallard. 2 Gadwall all
month, 15 Teal on 29th, 8 Shoveler on 6th, 3 Pochard on
3rd, 4th and 6th, 7 Tufted Duck on 18th, a drake Goldeneye
on several dates, 3 Goosander on 23rd and 24th, 21 Coots
on 27th and 8 Moorhen on 2nd.

Raptors put on a good show this month. Following on from
last month's Red Kite there was a further 2 sightings on 6th
and 9th. A site record 12 Buzzards were seen from the
viewing mound in ideal conditions on 12th, 2 Sparrowhawks
on 2nd, a Peregrine on 22nd and 2 on 31st. 2 Kestrel also
on 31st. The bird of the month was an Osprey that flew
through on 29th. This coincided with several other sightings
across the Midlands the same day.

2 Oystercatchers all month were joined by a 3rd bird on 16th,
20th and 23rd. Curlew on 1st, 10th and 24th. 15 Lapwings on
2nd. c500 Black-headed Gulls on 4th, 3 Common Gulls on 3rd,
5 Lesser-black Backed Gulls on 3rd.

A male Stonechat was in the hedgerow in front of the viewing
mound on 4th. 3 Stock Doves on 4th, 9th and 20th. The first
Hirundine was 3 Sand Martins on 20th which was 5 days later
than last year, another 1 on 24th. The first Swallow was 1 on
24th which equals the earliest date of returning Swallows.
There was also 1 on 27th and 31st. The first Chiff Chaff was on
15th which is the same date as last year. By the end of the month
there was 3. The first Blackcap was on 29th. A Kingfisher on 4th
was the first record this year, 14 Starling on 15th, 4 Pied Wagtails
on 22nd, 70 Fieldfare on 22nd, a Skylark on 24th, 2 Green
Woodpeckers on 24th, a single Meadow Pipit on 29th, 2 Raven
for most of the month, 4 Jays on 17th, 15 Magpies on 18th, 3
Redwing on 17th, 10 Goldfinch on 15th, 7 Siskin on 3rd, a Lesser
Redpoll on 24th and 5 Reed Buntings on 16th.

[Clive A]

Just had a text from Roger, Osprey at Sheepwash now.