Three members had arrived in the Old Moor car park by the appointed time of 9:30am and, under the direction of Jeff Davies, duly set off with a target of finding sixty species. The sun shone warmly all day, but with a cold edge to a freshening wind we were glad of the promise of many hides to visit. Alas, these turned out to be colder than being out in the open!

Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Buzzard, Common Kestrel, Common Snipe, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pochard, Reed Bunting, Robin, Sand Martin, Shelduck, Shoveller, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, and Yellowhammer came to 53 species.

The target was therefore easily surpassed by the addition of Speckled Wood, Orange-tip and Peacock butterflies, a large maurauding Carp, a docile Terrapin and several species of plant in bloom (Cowslip, Coltsfoot, Gorse, Broom…)

Ten members assembled beside the extremely noisy A616 at 08:30 then quickly moved onto the relative peace of the Common.  There was very little wind and though the sky was cloudy, it was reasonably warm.  However, very little could be seen or heard in the way of avian fauna although sharp eared Dag picked up the call of a Woodlark but from the opposite direction to that which we were walking.  Pete Faulkner also possesses keen ears and his insistence that he could hear a Yellow Hammer was finally rewarded with a positive sighting.

Yellow Hammer couple

Five Jays in the nearby copse gave some entertainment before we were drawn onwards by the odd, faint call of a Woodlark.  We paused in the middle of the Common just west of the cattle grid for a serious attempt to see our target species.  Eventually we managed to locate one perched at some distance on the top of a tree.  Now I don’t know whether Woodlarks are slugabeds or whether they take time over their breakfast before getting down to courting but all of a sudden, we were surrounded by calls and Woodlarks demonstrating their impressive song flight.

Joyce strikes gold with Woodlark close-up

On the subsequent meander around the Common, we also had sightings of a pair of perched Kestrels, two Common Buzzards and a Peregrine which flashed across the horizon.

Ogstonians

Just before lunchtime, we headed north to the Welbeck Raptor Watchpoint where almost immediately Dougie latched onto a Goshawk which everyone was able to catch a sighting of.  This was the first of three occasions when Goshawks showed themselves.  The other notable sighting was of 14 Buzzards in the air at once.

A thoroughly excellent trip, 43 species seen all told with both target species in the ‘bag’ and for icing on the cake, we ended up in the pub at Cuckney!

For the 3 members who arrived at 07:55, this was an incredibly successful trip because they saw all the birds that had been targeted. The leader who arrived at 08:10 was highly miffed because he ‘dipped’ on the Hawfinches which had just flown off, not to be seen again! Grr!

Hawfinch

However, the 6 members who attended did have an excellent time in pleasant, breeze free, spring like weather, clocking up 49 species before lunchtime.  Besides the the Hawfinches, the other highlights at Rufford were good views of Siskin, Lesser Redpoll, Male and Female Goosander, Goldcrest and close up views of a Marsh Tit.

Disagreement over a lady

Marsh Tit

We then moved over to the nearby Eakring Flash to find and photograph the magnificently plumaged drake Garganey.

Drake Garganey

Photos courtesy of Joyce Sawford and Doug Aston.