Normanton Hall Bird Walk

Today eight of us visited the Hall, which is a gem for birding. The garden is set on higher ground looking out over the flood plain of the meandering River Soar which spills into small lakes, some used for fishing. There are views over the surrounding countryside on three sides of the garden with a wide variety of habitats - fields and meadows, tree-lined river, lakes with reed beds, hedgerows, landscaped gardens, mixed woodland, old buildings. This was the venue for our cancelled walk three weeks ago, when it snowed. What brought us here today was the sighting of three swallows yesterday, increasing to six by the end of the day, coupled with a possible view of boxing hares. The swallows nest in the horses' stables in old red brick barns. Last year, we were told that the swallows arrived on 3rd April, so surprisingly just a few days late this year. Joy had calculated that there must have been over 120 fledgling swallows last year from these barns alone.

Our first challenge on arrival was to negotiate the track, filled with young lambs and their mothers, to reach Joy and Ken's property. As soon as we parked in the yard we could see the swallows circling overhead and hear birds singing all around us. Slowly walking around the garden we began to appreciate the variety of birds in such a small area. At times it was hard to separate all the different calls - from woodpeckers drumming and cackling, to the sweet songs of dunnock, robin and blackbird. Of course the pheasant, chiff chaff and chaffinches were doing their own thing.

After spending an hour in the garden we walked down towards the fishing lakes. From the track we spied a very enthusiastic nuthatch singing his heart out, several pheasants and red-legged partridges and 6 yellowhammers fluttering around the hedgerow. Later we went to the other side of the property down by the river from where we discovered the reed bunting in the reed beds. Altogether, in two hours, we counted 33 species sighted and 3 calling.

Given the opportunity this site is one for visiting each season to appreciate the changes in the wildlife and their habitats.

Species sighted: Mute swan, greylag geese, mallard, red-legged partridge, pheasant, grey heron, common buzzard, kestrel, moorhen, coot, wood pigeon, great spotted woodpecker, skylark, barn swallow, dunnock, robin, redwing, mistle thrush, blackbird, goldcrest, wren, great tit, coal tit, blue tit, long-tailed tit, nuthatch, carrion crow, house sparrow, chaffinch, goldfinch, greenfinch, reed bunting, yellowhammer

Species calling: green woodpecker, blackcap, chiffchaff

Madeleine

Nuthatch

Swallow

Chaffinch Spring

Watermead Country Park

On Sunday 18th February, before the Siberian weather arrived, nine of us (Nev, Graham, Dave M., Vicky, Ellen, Terry, Alma, Bev and Madeleine) visited the nature reserve at the northern end of Watermead Country Park in Syston.

It was a cold enough day then, but with lovely, bright sunshine. We did see over 40 different birds, however it felt quiet. We had to search for the unexpected like the lone Siskin; the Treecreeper and Cetti's warbler which we could hear but not see, the latter proving totally elusive; the Water rail scurrying out of the stream to disappear into the brambles and the distant goosanders. However, there were excellent views to be had of a female green woodpecker and a goldcrest behaving as if it was a flycatcher darting out from an ivy-clad tree stump to snatch insects enjoying the sunbeams.

As ever, it proved to be a worthwhile morning.

Summer Leys

On Sunday 14th January a group of eight (Nev, Graham, Lee, Wendy, Terry, Alma, Bev and Madeleine) braved the cold weather to visit this reserve in the Nene Valley, Northamptonshire. There are a variety of wetland sites as well as grasslands and young woodlands, consequently a wide variety of waterfowl and many other birds arrive with the changing seasons. We were particularly looking for the great egret which had been reported here. Three of us were lucky enough to see the bird from the Pioneer hide almost as soon as we arrived as it flew leisurely from one end of the lake to the other disappearing out of sight at the back of a reed bed. After a few minutes the other members began to arrive, but the great egret had gone.

However, very soon many other waterfowl began to attract our attention - adult mute swans with juveniles in tow and a wide variety of ducks, but no waders. A peregrine falcon eased its way overhead into a tree on the far side of the lake.

We decided to move on along a thinly wooded path to the Paul Britten hide which would give us an alternative view of the reed bed with, perhaps, a sight of the elusive great egret. This hide is right next to what is supposed to be the waders' scrape. Little egrets had been seen from the other hide, but no sighting of the great yet. Nev found us a lovely snipe beautifully camouflaged on the edge of a small island and finally a lone teal was spotted. There was much discussion of some of the more confusing ducks. We were looking at the brown females and the gadwall. Some of us began to feel much more confident about their identification. You can't beat the real thing rather than looking in books.

After leaving the hide we stopped on the path looking out across the water from a different angle. Suddenly someone spotted the great egret off to our left not far from a little egret. Although it was partially hidden by some reeds you could clearly see the difference in size between the two. Everyone was thrilled to have seen it. The other real highlight of the morning was our visit to the bird feeding station at the Charles Towler hide. There were so many small birds here - finches, tits etc. - a birdwatcher's paradise!

It was a very satisfying morning. Summer Leys is a place many of us will return to.

Madeleine

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Great White Egret

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