• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

A Sneaky Saturday Afternoon Session (1 Viewer)

Jasonbirder

Jason-occasional-twitcher
Saturday 26th April

In the Blackwell family it almost the eleventh commandment “thou shalt not go birding on a Saturday”, my wife is firmly of the belief that it was created for the purpose of shopping, gardening and DIY! So a degree of grovelling and promises were required before she would let me out for the afternoon; the reason a trip of Dotterel at Gringley Carr only a short drive from my house.

I have been to Gringley Carr a few times over the last year, most recently in the new year to see the extremely rare Blyth`s Pipit. It is at first glance an unremarkable area of low-lying Arable farmland alongside the banks of the River Idle in North Nottinghamshire, completely flat in all directions apart from the raised flood banks of the river and criss-crossed by a network of drainage dikes, to my untrained eye there is no real reason it should attract as many rare birds as it does, but I have been fortunate enough to have seen Montagu`s Harrier, Red-footed Falcon & Blyth`s Pipit here in the last 18 months. Perhaps its just the skill and dedication of the people that cover this as their local patch!

Dotterel often stop off at traditional sites on their spring migration back to their breeding grounds on the high tops of the Scottish Mountains, the same sites attracting resting birds year after year, Gringley Carr is one such site. I arrived mid afternoon, driving down the narrow approach road and parking my car with a small group of other birders. The weather was pleasantly warm and sunny but with quite a brisk South-Westerly breeze blowing. A small group of birders were intently scoping one of the roadside fields, which looked to have been recently planted and only shoots were appearing through the earth. Joining them and scoping out into the field I was rewarded by the sight of a small group of Dotterel in the field about 100 yards away. A couple were standing upright but closer attention also revealed a few birds crouched low and surprisingly unobtrusive against the earth. There were seven birds in total that I could see. Unlike most birds in Dotterel the female is brightly coloured and the male more drab, here there were 4 brightly plumaged females and 3 drabber males. The males actually take on the bulk of the egg sitting duties hence their more camouflaged appearance (Its called reverse sexual dimorphism so there!!). They really are one of our most beautiful waders, with a bold white supercilium curving back to join at the nape, a white throat shading onto a brown breast and then a bold white stripe separating the breast from the bright orange chest, their underbelly is black and they have white undertail coverts. Beautiful!! Even the supposedly drab brown wings if focused on closely, is revealed to have delicate orange pale fringes to the individual feathers. It was a pleasure to stand and watch them as they stood or sat in the field occasionally shuffling round to get a more comfortable position. All the fields around were full of Lapwing, another beautiful bird whose abundance probably means we don`t pay them the attention they deserve, they would take to the air to chase off any passing Crows with their broad round wings and characteristic rolling-acrobatic flight, their haunting “pee-wit” calls could be heard from all round. Scanning through the field containing the Dotterel I spotted a couple of Golden Plover slightly further away. They had moulted into their smart summer plumage their upperparts a smart spangled gold, black and white their underparts from belly up to their face a deep, dark, black.

Now the dilemma, I had promised my better half I wouldn’t be out too long but I knew that only a few miles further up the A1 was a Bonaparte’s Gull at Fairburn Ings RSPB, no dilemma really…I`d take the flak later and headed north. I have never visited the reserve before and was surprised at the large area of water visible as I drove down from the motorway, I believe and someone more local can correct me, that these pools and lakes were created by the flooding of mining subsidence. Just goes to show how quickly nature can reclaim once industrial landscape because it is now a lovely network of pools and lakes full of vegetation and surrounded by trees and scrub. Walking down towards the first hide, the trackside hawthorns held a selection of Warblers singing their hearts out, trying to claim a territory and attract a mate. I could hear the repetitive song of a Chiff-Chaff, the descending notes of a Willow Warbler and the scratchy trill of a Whitethroat. One of the Chiff-Chaffs gave good views perched in the tops of a hawthorn but the others proved elusive in the dense cover. I also had nice views of a single Long-tailed Tit looking delicate in white, pink and black. The main lake to my right held a selection of waterfowl, Great-crested Grebes, Gadwall and Tufted Duck in amongst the more numerous Mallard and Coots. On some of the smaller more secluded pools to my left Coots were busy building their bulky high nests in amongst the bankside reeds. I walked down to the “Cut Hide” and was surprised to find it full of birders. It looked out onto a largish open lake with a long shingle spit directly in front of the hide. Good numbers of Black-headed Gulls were roosting on the spit along with half a dozen Oystercatchers which I was surprised to see. Obviously it was the Gulls which caught my attention and I began to scan through them searching for the Boneparte`s Gull, I was fairly confident I would be able to find it but a helpful birder immediately gave me directions to its position. It was helpful to have a good number of Black-headed Gulls alongside as a comparison, as its small size immediately stood out, it was almost like a Little Gull, its legs were a bright pale pink (the bird books describe it as bubble gum pink) obviously different to the dark red legs of the Black-headed Gulls. Unhelpfully it was fast asleep with its head tucked into its wing, but in comparison it was a slightly darker shade of grey on the wings and mantle than the paler Black-headed Gulls. Interestingly enough one of the adjacent Black-headed Gulls was stained completely brown, it looked as if it had gone rusty! I shudder to think what it had been washing in to stain itself so thoroughly.
Gradually the roosting Gulls became more alert and active and the Boneparte`s Gull woke up to reveal its beak, slimmer and more pointed than the Black-headed Gulls and all black, another diagnostic feature. When sat up it could be seen to have a grey wash to its nape and rear neck, unlike the white nape of the Black-headed Gulls. After watching it for a while It eventually made a short flight, and allowed a quick glance of its underwing which is clean white with a black trailing edge another difference from Black-headed Gull. I would have been happy to stay here for longer as plenty of birds were coming and going, but I new that my better half would be less than chuffed with my afternoon out so I thought it wisest to head home pronto!

My parents are pretty keen birdwatchers too so when I took a call from them on my way home it could only mean one thing; they’d been out birding! Sure enough they had visited Attenborough Gravel Pits, another Nottinghamshire site and been successful in seeing the Purple Heron which had been discovered there earlier in the morning. Luckily I was due to visit my parents socially that evening so a short detour could take me to Attenborough and give me a chance of seeing it too!

When I was young (11-12) and my interest in birds was first kindled, Attenborough was my local patch, and I spent many happy hours there searching round for birds, so I knew the site well, it was just like old times as I walked over the railway crossing from Long Lane and onto the reserve. The Purple Heron had been seen in an area of dense reeds known as “the delta” and had been showing well earlier, however a birder coming back up the footpath informed me that it had just flown off up the reserve possibly to roost. Curses! There is a huge area of lakes and Islands running south along the River Trent for miles so to try and locate it before it got dark would be an enormous task. However Purple Herons feed most actively at dawn and dusk (they are “crepuscular”) so I thought it would be worthwhile staking out its favoured area in case it came back. Walking down through the large area of damp woodland I picked up the alternately scratchy, alternately melodic song of a Blackcap I stopped and managed to pick it up hopping unobtrusively in a big hawthorn overhanging one of the lakes. Lovely birds Blackcaps and this male was singing away while showing me its slate grey upperparts and pencil grey underparts, topped off with a sooty black cap. I could distantly hear the weak but lengthy drumming of a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, distinctly different from the shorter more explosive drumming of the Greater-spotted, the woods are a fenced off breeding area so there was to be no chance of seeing it as it was obviously some distance away from the path. Walking across a spit known as “the bund” which separates 2 lakes I could look across to the tern platform which was erected in the centre of the lake for the Common Terns to breed on. There were 2 Common Terns perched on the platform, but at least half a dozen more were chasing round the lake drawing attention to themselves with their persistent “Keeah-Keeah” calls. I reached the area in front of the Delta and settled down quietly on the bank to watch, I was hoping the Purple Heron might fly back in to feed before it settled down for the night. It was a lovely warm sunny evening and there were plenty of birds active around me to hold my attention while I waited. Numbers of Sedge Warblers could be heard singing from the reedbed opposite, their scratchy, churring song carrying across the water, the birds themselves remained hidden, except when their vertical songflight would reveal them as they rose above the reeds before dropping back down. Also hopping about and showing occasionally were a few Reed Buntings now looking smart with their Black hoods and white sub-moustachial stripe. Good numbers of Jackdaws were flying into the woods behind the reedbed, boisterously chasing each other round and round, their “chak-chak” call carrying across to me before they settled in the trees to roost. A few Swallows and Sand Martins were hawking across the water, its still early enough in the year that their hawking and swooping flight over the water was a pleasant diversion. Side by side it is surprising how much bigger Swallows appear than Sand Martins. Common Terns would pass by in front of me, beautiful white birds with narrow pointed wings and long forked tails, while I know that these are the Common Terns which breed on the reserve, its always good practice to check for the distinguishing marks that separate them from Arctic Terns as they are very similar. A real bonus for me was a Kingfisher which would occasionally dash low across the water in front of the reedbed, a lovely bolt of blue flashing across the water with an even brighter turquoise rump and back, sometimes silent, sometimes announcing itself with a Nuthatch-like high pitched whistle. I watched a few Herons in flight over their reserve, they look huge on their bowed, rounded wings but they were all Grey Herons, the light started to fade so I made my way back to the car having “dipped out. Never mind I`d be back again for another visit at first light tomorrow…..
 
A great read and I too 'got' a Bonaparte's but having seen the photos on the net there is not a possibility they were the same bird as mine was in full breeding dress. What do you think? If you want details of mine I posted a report in this forum.

I know of Attenborough as it is a fishing place, do they fish all the lakes or are some cut off for nature reserves?
 
Warning! This thread is more than 21 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top