On a cold, breezy evening, 22 members arrived at the Flash Lane parking spot, fortunately, most dressed in their winter birding gear. At 9 pm we set off to walk the few hundred metres to the viewing spot. Disappointingly, with the exception of a couple of Black Birds, the place was silent except for the sound of the wind in the trees. Not put off by this lack of avian life, the assembled multitude stood alert and patient and this was eventually rewarded at about 9:30 pm with the appearance of a couple of Woodcock flying above the trees. We then had fairly frequent sightings of Woodcock although it was impossible to know whether it was the same bird doing circuits or different ones. At about 9:45 pm, the sharp of hearing picked up the first churring sounds of a nearby Nightjar. Subsequently, we were entertained by a number of fly passes, more churring and also occasionally the yapping type call of the Nightjar. On one occasion, one bird perched on the top of a nearby dead tree trunk. Based on sound alone, there were two males in the near vicinity. At just gone 10:00, our leader, Steve Slack called time and sent us home to defrost. A very successful trip and very well attended too.

No photos – too dark!

This trip was rescheduled at the last minute from the Wednesday to the Thursday which sadly meant that a number of folks couldn’t go.  However, it did prove to be a good move because the weather on Thursday was excellent.
Two members who had signed up for Wednesday and couldn’t change, nonetheless, braved the weather and did see all that we’d hoped for minus any raptors but the rain started at 11:00!
The trip – while waiting in the car park for all to assemble, we saw a number of different

Someone’s taking Ring Ouzels too seriously

species including a close view of what was for some, the season’s first Willow Warbler. After we set off up Jarvis Clough, it was immediately apparent that we’d had an extremely wet winter with even the normally dry parts very muddy. However, the day’s fine weather with a fair breeze did bring out the raptors with sightings of first a Red Kite, then a Buzzard and Kestrel and finally a Peregrine flew overhead and all that in the first 15 minutes.
At the head of Jarvis Clough, a pair of Ring Ouzels were spotted (a lifer for one of us) although at 300 metres, they didn’t look very big even in the scope. From there, the group made its way towards Stanage Edge, entertained by the evocative sounds of the many Curlews, the occasional Red Grouse and plenty of Meadow Pipits.

The early start brought on the lunch stop before midday, sitting on convenient gritstone boulders just below the Edge. As is often the case, staying still for a while allows you to see more than if you’re continuously on the move, and so it was; with Ring Ouzels, Wheatears and Meadow Pipits popping up all around us. In addition, we were further entertained by the appearance of 5 Ravens and a Red Kite being remorselessly harassed by crows. And as the icing on the cake, a Peregrine circled overhead giving members neck ache for a couple of minutes.
At the end of the trip, one of the party popped over to the moor on the north side of the A57 and saw a Ring Ouzel in the side valley a couple of hundred metres up the track and also heard a Snipe ‘chipping’.

Summary – 7 members saw 29 species – an excellent trip!
Photos thanks to Dave Griffin and Martin Kaye.

Seven members met up at Budby Pumping Station on a cold misty morning but fortunately there was no wind.  During the walk from there to the Common, we encountered typical woodland birds including Jay and a small flock of Siskin while in the field to the left of the track, Red-legged Partridge were spotted.  Once on the heathland area, it was very much a case of bird with one’s ears rather than eyes.  A Buzzard was heard ‘mewing’, a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming and a Song Thrush gave a distant operatic performance from a hidden perch.  To really rub it in, at least one Green Woodpecker was ‘yaffling’ from just out of sight every few minutes as we completed our circuit of the Common.  While we should have been pleased that at least this year, we could hear some bird song (last year it was as silent as the grave), it was nonetheless dispiriting to think that we weren’t going to see Woodlark. And then, just the faintest hint of that tell tale descending set of notes. We paused and listened, and it came again. We

Woodlark spotting

were onto it. Arriving at a strategically placed seat, we stopped.  The weather was improving as the clouds began to part allowing the sun and a bit of warmth to filter through.  Initially distracted by a Green Woodpecker posing at the top of a nearby tree, one of the party noticed a potential Woodlark at the top of an oak.  Sadly scoping it came up with Meadow Pipit instead, but then a couple of sharp eyed individuals saw a couple of Pipit type birds drop down onto some bare earth.  This time, the scope revealed two stunning Woodlark and everyone was able to feast their eyes on them. Then to cap it all,

one of them gave the full singing display rising higher and higher into the blue sky. The cloud then closed in and all went quiet upon the Common so we left for Welbeck.
Here, the sun never truly burnt off the mist and while we saw up to 6 Buzzards and 2 Red Kites in the air at a time, there was little else of note.

All in all, 39 species. Group photo B Padley, Green Woodpecker & Woodlark M Kaye using a toy camera on a scope.

This trip was brought forward by a day and thank goodness it was because it snowed quite heavily most of the following day.
5 members ‘enjoyed’ an early start, meeting inside Rufford Abbey Park at 07:30. After a 10 minute wait we got a brief view of 3 Hawfinch and a much longer sighting of a drumming Gt Spotted Woodpecker. On the way to the lake via the walled-garden, we had good views of a Song Thrush and several Redwing, On the lakeside path, we witnessed intriguing

behaviour from a Buzzard. Seemingly oblivious of our presence and only 20m away, it flew repeatedly from low perches onto the woodland floor presumably after worms. It must have been still hungry, because on our return 20 minutes later, it was still engaged in the same activity. On the lake we counted an impressive 31 Goosander and a few Pochard,

while a small number of Lesser Redpoll were picking seeds from the silver birch. One of the party had gone back early to the car park where they had a further brief view of a single Hawfinch.
After that it was off to the Welbeck Feeder Station where we were lucky enough to see a male Goshawk which flew from the distant trees then right over our heads. Moving on to the Raptor Watch Point proved to be a little disappointing. Perhaps the lack of wind didn’t encourage birds of prey to fly although, we did have a close fly by from a male Sparrowhawk and eventually 2 Red Kites took to the air. Also of note were 4 Jays and a Gt White Egret flying past.
At about midday, frostbite had started to set in so the party broke up. However, Rob lunched back at the feeder station where he was able to catch up with a Marsh Tit while Martin, having been alerted by RBA that a Gt Grey Shrike had been seen on Budby Common, headed off there where he was rewarded by excellent views of this very attractive bird.

46 species for the trip.
Photos courtesy of Maureen Shearer, Rob Simmons and Martin Kaye

The gang of 12 minus the photographer

On a bitterly cold but sunny, still day, a goodly turn out of 12 members met at North Cave to enjoy a walk round the increasingly extensive reserve. All in all, 50 species were seen, nothing particularly unusual but a flock of 20 Curlew, a Sparrowhawk that flew alongside the party, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Dunlin, Tree Sparrows (now seemingly absent from Blacktoft) and a Pochard were all nice to see. Then it was off to Blacktoft where the species list was increased by a measly 7, but included several flypasts by the resident Kingfisher, up to 8 Marsh Harriers in the air at one time, a distant Barn Owl and 4 Bearded Tits.
The 2 good photos thanks to Rob Simmons – the blurry one by Martin Kaye and the group by Bill Padley.

Marsh Harriers ‘mucking around’

Male Marsh harrier

Proof we saw a Bearded Tit