Every evening I walk the dog and tonight I walked past the arboretum.  In the field opposite there was a pair of Grey Partridge.  Ideal for the year list.

After an appointment in Burton I had time to scan the main lake at Whitemoor, which I have not done for some time.  3 Mallard, 22 Tufted Duck, 56 Goldeneye, 2 Pochard, 3 Wigeon, Wren, Great Tit, Robin, Canada Geese, 280 Lapwing, 1 Smew (Redhead), 6 Redshank, 10 Teal, 5 Gadwall, 2 Oystercatcher. 

This was primarily a visit to practice my digi-scoping.  Fortunately for you guys, the camera did not come out of the bag.  As I walked around nothing became obvious to photo but I did see the following.  Robin, Mallard, Canada Geese, Coot, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Wren, Reed Bunting, Magpie, House Sparrow, Dunnock and Carrion Crow were all seen in and around the car park.  Around the pool I saw Blue Tit, Great-crested grebe, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Great Tit, Bullfinch, Wood Pigeon, Cormorant and Shoveler.  Through the woodland area I added Long-tailed Tit, Collared Dove, Blackbird, Song Thrush and Greenfinch.

It was quite a warm afternoon and when I arrived at Croxall, the car park was almost full.  I don't know where everyone was as I met three couples on the reserve, and by the time I got back to the car, the car park was empty.  In between I did see a good mix of birds.  Great-crested Grebe, Pochard, Teal, Coot, Magpie and Buzzard were seen from the car park.  Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Moorhen, Pied Wagtail, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Redshank, Wigeon, Canada geese, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Tufted Duck, and Black-headed Gull all seen upto and around the Main Hide.  Over to the east side and i added Robin, Blackbird, Starling, Stock Dove, Grey Heron and Mute Swan.

With an afternoon off and i ws working in Tamworth I popped to this site to try and locate the Firecrests.  Dead easy before xmas, bloody hard now, and yes you guessed it, another trip and another dip.  I did see Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Blackbird, Wren, Great Tit, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blue Tit,, Black-headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Robin and Kestrel.  The birds are there though but they are proving elusive.  maybe mornings would be a better time to visit.

Message for Dave Talbot.  John Quiney fell into the cut today.  Ring and mock.  Message for Janine.  Change your message option to allow messages to be sent.

After a quick call out I had a couple of hours spare until the cup final.  Many of you would have gathered that Derby were unlucky to get to the final but i needed to rest my back a bit so I popped over to Alvecote before sitting on my rear for the next few hours.  the obvious target here was the Firecrests.  I had them here before xmas but missed them last time and did not do too much better this time but I did see the follwing:- Great Tit, Wren, Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Starling, Lapwing, Goldcrest, herring Gull, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Dunnock, Black-headed Gull, and Carrion Crow.

Still struggling with my back (worse than yesterday), I hobbled around the square walk, dragged along by my mother and my dog.  here is what i saw.  Skylark (there were at least six singing), Blak-headed Gulls, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Blackbird, Chaffinch, ? partridge (I briefly got a site of a pair as they lifted from a hollow and flew around one of the mounds, English or french I could't tell),  Yellowhammer, Fieldfare, Wood Pigeon, Wren, Great Tit, Buzzard, Starling, Blue Tit, Song Thrush, and Great-Black-backed Gull.  Whitemoor has not really took off yet.  There were a few birds in the list but none in any great numbers.  I have not had a Corn Bunting yet, although my mother walked around Monday morning (25th Feb) and had one in the usual bush.  Plenty of time yet.    

The Mandarin was still present this afternoon.

For those of you who recieve the Croxall Chronicles, it will be finished very shortly.  Over the past few weeks I have had other things to concentrate on and I want to make sure the newsletter is right.  I do not put a sending out time on the newsletter but I like to get it finished within two weeks after the month has ended, so I apologise for it being late and it will be at your houses pretty soon.  If you would like to recieve a copy, contact me and I will get some information off you. 

It wasn't untill the afternoon that I was feeling really adventerous and decided to head to the water park!!  The car park was almost full but I walked around and only bumped into a few folk.  I was hoping to do a bit of digi-scoping but there was a slight breeze so I kept my camera stuff fimly hidden.  The birds I did see were :- Canada Geese, Coot, Mallard, Black-headed Gull, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Robin, Great-crested Grebe, Blue Tit, carrion Crow, Cormorant, Shoveler, Pochard, Magpie, Moorhen, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Collared Dove, Great Tit, Wood Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Long-tailed Tit, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting and Dunnock.That was enough for as I was struggling with my back so it was off home to listen to the mighty Rams put Wigan to the sword (I am writing this on Sunday morning as the sun is coming up and we lost 2-0).

Pretty limited as to what I could do today as a) I was on call and b) I tweaked my back whilst putting on my trainers to go to work on Friday.  Walking distance is a bit tricky.  Croxall seemed the ideal place (what a suprise) so I was up with the lark (one that had a lie in untill 8.00) and off to the car park.  From there I saw Tufted Duck, Mallard, Moorhen, Cormorant, Buzzard, Canada Geese and Coot.  Walking upto the hide I saw Wren, Wood Pigeon, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Coal Tit (a new bird for me here), Bullfinch, Great-crested Grebe, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Starling, Pochard, Teal, Mute Swan, Magpie, Long-tailed Tit, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Greenfinch, four Shelduck, and Skylark.  Through to the East Hide and, whilst I rested at the gate, I looked along the ditch where the Water Rail was seen a few weeks ago.  I did see a bird quickly run across the ditch and into dense undergrowth.  It was definetaly rail size and shape but counld easily have been a Moorhen.  I hung around for a bit but could not locate it.  Onto the hide and I added Rook, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker, Redshank, Gadwall, Black-headed Gull, and a flyover by a single Goldfinch.  Onh the scrape there was another two Shelduck.  Back towards the car and I added Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover.

Just been looking at The Biggest Twitch blog.  Ruth and Alan are attemting a record year list for 2008.  On 15th February they had got their 1500 bird.  Excellent going guy.  Keep upto date with this record attempt at their wbsite. See the address in the links area.

Over the past few weeks, a Mandarin has been staying on the millstream.  These are feral birds but they are very pretty and it is nice to see them close up.  I have been taking bird food down and it has been happily feeding with the ducks.  I have taken a few photos and I put a sign up as a few people were asking what the strange duck was. Unfortunately the nice youths of Alrewas ripped it down Thursday night.  It was there Friday afternoon (22nd Feb).

 

Monday evening there was a report of a Bittern showing in the reeds.  This is a bird I need for my Staffordshire list so I put my gear in the car, did a hard days work (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), and then met my mother and my dog , hoping to see the Bittern.  We only had a short time untill it was dark so we went straight opposite the reed bed.  the birds I saw on the way to the site , and whilst waiting for the star bird were Great Tit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull, Coot, Moorhen, Little Grebe and Great-crested Grebe.  Unfortunately the Bittern did not show (and hasn't shown upto Friday afternoon).  It was proberbly on the move and roosted their for the evening.  This weekend (23rd and 24th of Feb) I will be out and about more but staying local as I am on call. 

The dog needed a walk and i needed one so I grabbed the bins and walked around the back fields along the Rivber Trent, past Alrewas Scrapes upto the River Swarburn, and then back home to a comfy sofa.  The birds I saw around Alrewas were :- Starling, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Blue Tit, Redwing, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Wren, Great Tit, Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot Robin, Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit, Goldfinch and Kingfisher.

Around Alrewas Scrapes I saw :- Snipe, Mute Swan and Cormorant.

In Potters Meadow I saw :- Lapwing, Wren, Kingfisher, Long-tailed Tit and Cormorant.

I am back.  The computer is not properly fixed yet but I can get online at the moment.  You have not missed much over the past week.  Last saturday I was working all day and I went and had a few beers in the evening.  Sunday I had a quite day, chilling out at home and watched football.  At one point I took the dog for a walk but before I left I had to go to my shed (where the Dunnock Hide is attached to), and saw a bird fly from the feeders to a nearby tree.  I thought it was a House Sparrow but as it flew I thought I saw white edges on the tail feathers.  I ran and got my bins and located the bird.  I ouldn't believe that I was looking at a Reed Bunting.  Not an amazing bird but I never expected one in the garden.

An over due visit to a country park for another bird on my 'need to get list'.  This site is known for roosting Long-eared Owl.  I have tried various sites for these birds  in the past but failed.  I arrived in the car park (opposite end to the visitor centre), and thought where the hell are they.  There are tall pine trees everywhere, so I headed for the visitor centre.  On the way I saw Great Tit, Robin, Redpoll (which I was a milli-second away from getting a nice photograph), Long-tailed Tit, Coal Tit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Magpie, Bullfinch and Song Thrush.  I arrived at the VC and they gave me directions to the owl roost.  A rapid walk led me to the tall trees and a few people had bins set on a single tree, and up the top was four LONG-EARED OWLS.  Fantastic.  I managed to fire off a few shots but they were well hidden in the trees.  I hung around a bit watching them until I peeled myself away.  In all, a fantastic weekend.  Bring on next Saturday.

East Moors.

 

Another attempt for Red Grouse ended in failure but I did get Lapwing, Carrion Crow, Wren, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Goldcrest and Pheasant.

 

Swallow Moss.

 

No Red Grouse but Chaffinch, Great Tit, Robin, Blackbird, Kestrel, Carrion Crow, Stonechat and Wood Pigeon. 

This year I am going to tick off a few of the more common species.  Hawfinch, Red Grouse, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Goshawk to name just a few have all eluded my little black book, so this is my second visit to Cromford in a week.  The obvious target here was Hawfinch and as I pulled up into the car park by the rugby club, a bird landed in the top of the tree in the car park.  I got my gear out and at just after eight o'clock, and within two minutes of my arrival, I had a HAWFINCH.  I couldn't believe it.  A couple of blokes turned up asking the usual question and I pointed out the bird in the tree.  I then got brave and got my digi-scoping gear out to photo it.  I got it in screen and just about to press the button when it flew off.  Never mind.  Other birds included Jackdaw, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Great Tit, Mallard, Goldfinch, Redwing, Chaffinch and Magpie.  A cracking start to the day.

I would like to thank those of you who gave me info about Red Grouse.  It is a bird that I have not had yet, but with the advice from a few of you, I will soon.  Cheers