Foot It 2014 - Alvaston Derby

FootIt 2014

Another year brings along another opportunity to have a purposeful rummage around the area immediately surrounding my house by taking part in the ultimate of local birding challenges; Foot It 2014.

This year the rules have been changed slightly and I am having to go for the 2km radius (although much of this area won’t be walked) just so I can access water along the River Derwent and Alvaston Park.  Without this area I would have an exceedingly meagre target list. 

There is a map below that shows the area which will be subject to my FootIt efforts (both 1km and 2km radius shown) as well as a more accurate map of the area that I will be walking in. 

My FootIt target list is an optimistic 69 species – just have to hope I can flush a Woodcock (couple were found last year) and we finally get an invasion of Waxwings (follow WaxwingsUK to see their progress).  I was lucky enough in 2013 to find them on my Foot It patch as well as having them visit the garden.

1	Mute Swan	36	Jay
2	Greylag Goose	37	Jackdaw
3	Canada Goose	38	Rook
4	Gadwall	39	Carrion Crow
5	Teal	40	Goldcrest
6	Mallard	41	Blue Tit
7	Pochard	42	Great Tit
8	Tufted Duck	43	Coal Tit
9	Goosander	44	Skylark
10	Red-legged Partridge	45	Long-tailed Tit
11	Pheasant	46	Waxwing
12	Cormorant	47	Nuthatch
13	Grey Heron	48	Treecreeper
14	Little Grebe	49	Wren
15	Great Crested Grebe	50	Starling
16	Buzzard	51	Blackbird
17	Kestrel	52	Fieldfare
18	Peregrine	53	Song Thrush
19	Water Rail	54	Redwing
20	Moorhen	55	Mistle Thrush
21	Coot	56	Robin
22	Woodcock	57	Dunnock
23	Black-headed Gull	58	House Sparrow
24	Common Gull	59	Grey Wagtail
25	Lesser Black-backed Gull	60	Pied Wagtail
26	Herring Gull	61	Meadow Pipit
27	Feral Pigeon	62	Chaffinch
28	Stock Dove	63	Greenfinch
29	Woodpigeon	64	Goldfinch
30	Collared Dove	65	Siskin
31	Little Owl	66	Linnet
32	Kingfisher	67	Lesser Redpoll
33	Green Woodpecker	68	Bullfinch
34	Great Spotted Woodpecker	69	Reed Bunting
35	Magpie

 
I shall try my best to keep the blog up to date but you can always follow me on twitter MarkG76 .  I am also taking part in the 2014 PatchWork Challenge which is being done on a different patch to the very local ‘Foot It’ one as well as contributing to the Garden Moth Challenge.

Let the local urban birding fun begin!