When I was a student many moons ago, I did a student thing and swiped a stool from a pub.  I still have that stool and I am now making good use of it.  Feeling a bit tired, I headed towards the quarry lake, put the radio on in the car and sat on said stool looking out over the lake with my scope.  All the while I was waiting for Derby's first win of the season, and the start of many more.  This did not materialise, and nor did the birds really.  Magpi, Carrion Crow, Cormorant, Mallard, Great-crested Grebe, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Greenshank, Mute Swan, Robin, Wood Pigeon, Swallow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull all made appearances.  Very quite and I think the lack of waders is due to the high water levels still.  Then again I am no expert so I dont know why its quite.  Wrong moon maybe. 

After a quick spot of lunch with my mom at Fradley, I went on to Alrewas Gravel Pits.  I have not been here for some time.  I had Great-crested Grebe, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Coot, Buzzard, Starling, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Robin, Cormorant, Swallow, and Little Egret.  Pretty quite really so I hopped over the train track (legally I will say), and headed for junction pit which is in the National Arboretum grounds.  Over the years I have had some good stuff here and it has the potential for some great waders - but not today.  I saw Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon, Robin, Swallow, Lapwing, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Great-crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Robin, Magpie and Moorhen.  I am thinking about contacting the arboretum to see if a screen or a hide could be put up on the edge of the lake.  The area is free of trouble and, as said earlier, it can be a good spot to do some birding.  Back over the train line and heading towards the car I added Blackbird and Blue Tit to the Alrewas GP list. 

This is the first Saturday in a couple of months that I have woke up and pondered what I could do today.  As usual I was awake early so I opted for a trip to Belvide to get a couple od year ticks and a look at the new hide.  It turned out to be a muggy day but a good list was done.  I saw Wood Pigeon, Robin, Nuthatch, Swallow, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Wren, Mallard, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Coot, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Great-crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Common Tern, Cormorant, Black-necked Grebe, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Stock Dove, Willow Warber, Blackbird, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Black-headed Gull, Teal, Greylag Geese, Common Sandpiper, Shoveler, Chiffchaff, Starling, Goldfinch, Garden Warbler, Sandwich Tern, Ringed Plover, Pied Wagtail, Black Tern, Buzzard, Grey Heron and Willow Tit.  Most of my time was spent in the new hide (which is fantastic), with some of the local birders, good fun.  I think they looked at me strange when I announced Id seen two Sandwich Terns around nine o'clock.  Fortunately I have the photos as proof, hopefully.  All in all a nice start to the day.

I did an evening stint on the quarry pool at Whitemoor, hoping something interested might pop in or pass through.  I took a seat with me and set up by the fence (no tresspassing for me).  It was very quite on the pool, the only birds singing were behind me in the hedge or trees.  On the lake were 2 Grey Heron, 1 Mute Swan, 10 Mallard, 5 Gadwall, 12 Black-headed Gull, 1 Robin (in the hedge), 10 Lesser Black-backed Gulls flew through.  With not much activity after 15 minutes I had a walk to Whitemoor House and back.  I added Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Linnet, Blackbird, and Tree Sparrow.  Back at the lake, a few Swallows started to appear.  Ten, then fifteen, then twenty, and then there must have been about fifty in total.  Then I heard a high pitched call from the bank near where I was standing but could not see.  I walked around to the quarry entrance to get a view and found a smart Greenshank.  With that, the light faded so it was home James.

After a poor summer of birding it is now time to catch up on the birds I need for the year.  Today started with a Garganey at Willington.  From the car park I saw Blue Tit, Black-headed Gull, Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove and Long-tailed Tit.  From the first platform I added Mute Swan, Coot and Moorhen.  I then decided to head straight for the third platform, mainly because not much can be seen from the second due to the undergrowth.  From the third platform I added Common Tern, Grey Heron, Lapwing, Mallard, Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Little Egret, Great-crested Grebe, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Cormorant, Canada Geese and Starling.  The Garganey was in eclipse plumage and I was having trouble spotting it.  A chap joined me on the staging and within five minutes he found the bird right in front of us.  I was well pleased.  As it started to go dark I headed of towards the car and added Greenfinch and Kestrel. 

After the mornings burst of birding activity, it was then working at home putting up a big shed, also a call-out.  We worked until five, had tea and I read the birdguides site.  There had been big movements of terns through the country.  Having seen Black Tern and Common Tern this time of year at Whitemoor, I decided to spend a bit of time by the pool.  Birds I saw were Magpie, Swallow, Mute Swan, Yellow Wagtail, House Martin, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Green Woodpecker, Wood Pigeon, Common Sandpiper, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Black-headed Gull.  Not very good and I missed the tern movement.  Wader numbers were also disapointing with only one Common Sandpiper.  I have put this down to the high water levels at the moment.

Blithfield was good yesterday but it was a bit too far for me to venture whilst on-call.  Thursday night will hopefully be Blithers night.

With renewed vigour I headed for Croxall.  The sun was shining well and the birds I saw were Wren, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Great-crested Grebe, Lapwing, Wood Pigeon, Tufted Duck, Chaffinch, swift, Bullfinch, Cormorant, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Dunnock, Mute Swan, Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail, Cormorant and Goldfinch.  This was upto the Main Hide.  I did not go into the hide but headed to the East Hide.  I added Rook, Buzzard, Little Egret, Green Sandpiper, and Kingfisher.  Back through to the main hide and I saw Sand Martin, Common Sandpiper, Robin, Teal, Canada Geese, Common Whitethroat, Greenfinch and Blackbird. 

Foot to bottom - smack!  Brain to bottom - message understood.  No hangovers, no fishing, on call but nothing in as yet, and no rain so I loaded up the dogs and it was off to Whitemoor for a walk and a bird watch.  I have been struggling with a condition in my foot called Plantar Fasciitis.  If you have had it, you know how I have been struggling for the past three months.  If you have not had it, it is sometimes pure agony.  It is an inflammation of the tendons in the bridge of the under foot.  I have had some insoles and this was my first walk in them.  On to the birds and, as expected, it was quite song wise, but they were their, somewhere.  Birds I saw were Wood Pigeon, Swallow, Carrion Crow, Wren, Jackdaw, Tree Sparrow (I reckon I saw around 40 walking around), Black-tailed Godwit (6 flew over early on), Skylark, Garden Warbler, Canada Geese, Kestrel, Stock Dove, Robin, Linnet, Buzzard, Dunnock, Starling, Magpie, Common Whitethroat, Blue Tit, Cormorant, Grey Heron, and Reed Bunting,  I stopped off at the quarry lake and added Swift, Pied Wagtail, Great-crested Grebe, Mallard, Greylag Geese, Black-headed Gull, Lapwing, Peregrine, Mute Swan and Long-tailed Tit.

Although on call, I managed to get some cover and have a day out a Birdfair.  It is the third year I have been and it is a brilliant show.  There is everything a birdwatcher needs at this show at Rutland Water, a magical place in its own right.  My summer birding has been virtually non-existant for various reasons.  Another couple of weeks of weekend activity then I will be freed up to do more birding.  If you are reading this and have never been to Birdfair, when you open your diary on Chirstmas Day, Find mid-August and scribble in Birdfair, Rutland Water.  You will not be disappointed.

The weekend saw me being a bit of a tourist in London, with my camera in one hand and the underground map in the other.  The main reason I plus a few known drinking associates went down was because of the Great British Beer Festival.  I have been wanting to go here for a few years and this year we got it together and went.  450 breweries were at the show and yes, we got a little drunk, but a great time was had by all.  One of us (no names) even found himself in the corridor naked after some sleep walking.  Not a pretty sight.  We were all up nice and early the next day and we visited Hyde Park.  I do not do cities.  There is always a noise and people, there is no where to hide.  Hyde Park was brilliant.  The noise was in the background but the people were not as busy here and , yes you guessed it, there were birds.  I saw Blue Tit, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Barnacle Geese (sorry Martin), Wood Pigeon, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Starling, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Ring-necked Parakeet (noisy bleeders), House Martin, Swallow and Mute Swan.  Back to the tourist bit and we visited the Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Covent Garden Hyde Park again for speakers corner (bunch of nutters), and then Camden Town, which was an amazing place, before on the train and back home.  I will honestly say that it was aa nice time but it was even nicer to get on the train home.  Bloody yocal.