Reports on two very successful trips.
24th May
A mixture of 9 members of both OBC and DOS spent a very pleasant mild evening in the Park. With the recent events of vandalism to the ornamental bridge we noticed
Ornamental Bridge badly damaged
immediately that security was increased. We started off as usual at Hardwick Village at the ford and then the weir and then because of the restrictions in movement within the park because of the vandalism, we moved to the area around the church. Initially we were reasonably confident that we could challenge the all time record of 44 species identified in a previous year, but as time ticked by optimism faded and as 9 p.m. approached we had to move to the Nightjar viewing site. Here we didn’t have to wait long before the first churring was heard. All in all, we thought there were 2-3 Nightjars with good sightings of one bird. In addition, we saw Woodcock overhead and heard a Tawny calling. Sadly our species tally fell well short of the record with 37 identified, the best of which were obviously the Nightjars then Woodcock and good views of a Cuckoo.
6th June
A mix of 10 Ogston and DOS members enjoyed a superb evening and with some very sharp ears and eyes, the record of 44 species was broken with 46 species identified the highlights of which were a Male Blackcap with 2 fledglings, a Hobby which flew over our heads, Reed Warblers, a Kingfisher, a Spotted Flycatcher near the church, Woodcock and Nightjars. The latter began churring at 21:36 and almost immediately gave us good views of their ‘butterfly’ like flight on a number of occasions until we left at about 22:30.