ChinaBirds
Nick Sismey
Thank you very much to the tenth Birdforum Member to rank this thread. Double figures, a first! :t:
26 December 2011
With just five days left in the year, having smashed my record World Year List, I have been contemplating whether I will have enough time, with festive family commitments, to also break my UK Year record of 220 birds set in 2008.
Having two to three hours free late this morning/early afternoon I made my third visit of the year to Allestree Park (Photo1), North of Derby, in search of the elusive UK Mandarin Duck, having seen one earlier in the year near Beijing, China.
With families out taking in the abnormally warm air for the time of year, many with dogs, I gave little chance of seeing the skulking birds. In one secluded spot however, far from the madding crowd, a lone male Mandarin burst from the covered bank and flew off towards the only island on the lake and back into obscurity. UK Bird 213
Buoyed with my success I decided to take a trip north of Darley Dale onto Bent Lane close to the entry of a farm called Bumper Farm (Photo 2) where Steve told me there were a flock of up to 100 Brambling amongst the Beech Trees. Matlock Bath was its usual busy self as I passed through with the annual raft race having taken place earlier in the day.
There were several birders just up the road from the farm looking across the valley, clearly for something rare. One of the birders, he later introduced himself as Chris Baines, advised that there had been a Great Grey Shrike in the area for some time it last seen a couple of hours earlier. That would also be a new bird for the year if I could get onto it so I parked up the road and returned to where the birders were gathered.
Chris said he had seen the shrike nearer the farm so we both wondered up there but no sight of the shrike and no sight of the Brambling. Suddenly four birds flew over us, the short trills identifying them as Common Crossbills. Not only my 214th UK Year Bird but another one for the World Year list
563.Common Crossbill--------------Bumper Castle (Darley Dale)------England
It was only 1415 but the light was already ebbing away, the silhouetted birds high in the beech consisting of Blue and Coal Tits, Nuthatch, Goldfinch and many Chaffinches but no Bramblings. Twenty minutes later Chris spotted six very flighty Bramblings, which I finally got onto thanks to his expert directions.
564.Brambling---------------------Bumper Castle (Darley Dale)------England
By now I had broken my curfew so had to make a quick dash home to build up enough Brownie points for being late and to justify any further trips later in the week to find those six birds that would take the UK List to a record 221…..
26 December 2011
With just five days left in the year, having smashed my record World Year List, I have been contemplating whether I will have enough time, with festive family commitments, to also break my UK Year record of 220 birds set in 2008.
Having two to three hours free late this morning/early afternoon I made my third visit of the year to Allestree Park (Photo1), North of Derby, in search of the elusive UK Mandarin Duck, having seen one earlier in the year near Beijing, China.
With families out taking in the abnormally warm air for the time of year, many with dogs, I gave little chance of seeing the skulking birds. In one secluded spot however, far from the madding crowd, a lone male Mandarin burst from the covered bank and flew off towards the only island on the lake and back into obscurity. UK Bird 213
Buoyed with my success I decided to take a trip north of Darley Dale onto Bent Lane close to the entry of a farm called Bumper Farm (Photo 2) where Steve told me there were a flock of up to 100 Brambling amongst the Beech Trees. Matlock Bath was its usual busy self as I passed through with the annual raft race having taken place earlier in the day.
There were several birders just up the road from the farm looking across the valley, clearly for something rare. One of the birders, he later introduced himself as Chris Baines, advised that there had been a Great Grey Shrike in the area for some time it last seen a couple of hours earlier. That would also be a new bird for the year if I could get onto it so I parked up the road and returned to where the birders were gathered.
Chris said he had seen the shrike nearer the farm so we both wondered up there but no sight of the shrike and no sight of the Brambling. Suddenly four birds flew over us, the short trills identifying them as Common Crossbills. Not only my 214th UK Year Bird but another one for the World Year list
563.Common Crossbill--------------Bumper Castle (Darley Dale)------England
It was only 1415 but the light was already ebbing away, the silhouetted birds high in the beech consisting of Blue and Coal Tits, Nuthatch, Goldfinch and many Chaffinches but no Bramblings. Twenty minutes later Chris spotted six very flighty Bramblings, which I finally got onto thanks to his expert directions.
564.Brambling---------------------Bumper Castle (Darley Dale)------England
By now I had broken my curfew so had to make a quick dash home to build up enough Brownie points for being late and to justify any further trips later in the week to find those six birds that would take the UK List to a record 221…..