No 28 ...in fact 28 species!!

Friday April 5th four members of the Allestree Bird Club donned wellies for the adventure course down the Willington wetland pathway.  Sadly one pair of wellies was more fashionable than functional, as evidence by the water emptying session at the end!!

Despite my doing a recce on Thursday, it became clear on Friday that whilst the initial part of the  pathway was OK in boots, from the Beaver gate it just seemed to get deeper. So the morning was spent in a lazy stroll around the new housing site, listening to the continuous chiffchaffs and also the lovely"cronk" call of a number of Ravens.  It was only Mike who spotted a Kingfisher dashing down a water course, and it was BOD only for him (Bird of the Day). Our BOD was a Song Thrush, actually a new addition to the ABC life list. All things considered 28 was a good count.

Forthcoming.   

Wyver Lane on FRIDAY MAY 3rd is the next walk. Previous trips to Wyver have been rewarding We meet at 10.00am at the gravel layby down Wyver lane, on the right, and shortly after the hide.   Contact David at 01332 557942 to confirm a place and check for car sharing.

The June walk is the first special for 2024.   We are having an evening walk to Matlock Moor to hopefully see dusk birds, Nightjars and Woodcocks.  Owls are also possible. Because David is on holiday on Friday 7th June, we have pulled the monthly meeting back to FRIDAY 24th MAY. at 7.00pm

Again, book a place via David, as this will definitely be a car sharing trip.... and torches will be useful!!   Midge cream may be needed, a drink of some sort, and probably finish c 10.00pm.  A new experience for those new to birding.

Keep watching

David

No 27. Rain stopped play!!

 7.00am this morning it looked good. 8.00am it didn't.   

So I'm sorry but the sensible decision, at the time, was to cancel the walk at Carsington Water. Particularly unfortunate because almost a record count of 5 people were down for the walk  There are not many places to hide at Carsington, we could have retreated in the 2 hides, but not for two hours.

Mike, who is a regular volunteer on a Tuesday at the reservoir, reported that the Cattle Egret which had been around for a couple of weeks, and would have been a great bird to tick had not been seen for a couple of days although the Great Northern Diver is still around.

Looking forward, next walk is Friday 5th April and the plan is to visit Willington Gravel Pits. You will recall we went there in January, only having to abort to Eggington due to the flooded path.  From recent reports Willington has continued to be very wet throughout February, so we can but hope that things will improve in the next 35 days!!! 

Not a good start to the plans for 2024, 1 lost through illness, 1 through weather and 1 wrecked by floods.

Prayer mats out please.

David