Foot It ends for Another Year

Managed my final visit to the Foot It patch today and that's it for January 2014 and added a meagre two additional species to this years efforts which can be harshly but very fairly summed up  abjectly poor.

 

BH Gull - on the rare occasion the sun came out!

 

I failed and my efforts were pretty much ruined by the weather.  Far too wet, river ridiculously high and exceedingly mild.

 

 

 

 

I had predicted what I thought was a fairly respectable and highly achievable target of 69 species however have fallen someway sort of that mark although have picked up four bonus species; Sparrowhawk (which was somehow missed off my predicted target), Yellowhammer, Snipe and Jack Snipe.  Neither of the latter species were found by me - thanks go to my terrific Clumber Spaniel - Luna.

 

Last year was a much better winter for the patch with cold weather, snow, lots of Waxwings (including in the garden) and all my wildfowl predictions picked up pretty much in the first couple of days.  Woodcock were also pretty easy (again found by Luna) with many found along the River Derwent and one in a ditch on the local rough grassland fields.

 

With time spent working away from home as well as on the PatchWork Challenge patch have both limited the number of Foot It visits to 5 in January.

 

 

Final scores are  53/69 predicted species plus the aforementioned four bonuses.

List is shown below:

	Species	Date		Species	Date
1	Mute Swan	01/01	26	Jay	03/01
2	Greylag Goose	19/01	27	Jackdaw	01/01
3	Canada Goose	01/01	28	Rook	03/01
	Gadwall	NR	29	Carrion Crow	01/01
4	Teal	19/01	30	Goldcrest	01/01
5	Mallard	01/01	31	Blue Tit	01/01
6	Pochard	01/01	32	Great Tit	01/01
7	Tufted Duck	01/01	33	Coal Tit	01/01
8	Goosander	01/01		Skylark	NR
	Red-legged Partridge	NR	34	Long-tailed Tit	01/01
9	Pheasant	03/01		Waxwing	NR
10	Cormorant	01/01		Nuthatch	NR
11	Grey Heron	01/01	35	Treecreeper	01/01
	Little Grebe	NR	36	Wren	01/01
12	Great Crested Grebe	11/01	37	Starling	01/01
13	Buzzard	11/01	38	Blackbird	01/01
14	Kestrel	27/01	39	Fieldfare	01/01
	Peregrine	NR	40	Song Thrush	01/01
	Water Rail	NR	41	Redwing	01/01
15	Moorhen	01/01	42	Mistle Thrush	01/01
16	Coot	01/01	43	Robin	01/01
	Woodcock	NR	44	Dunnock	01/01
17	Black-headed Gull	01/01	45	House Sparrow	01/01
18	Common Gull	01/01		Grey Wagtail	NR
	Lesser Black-backed Gull	NR	46	Pied Wagtail	01/01
19	Herring Gull	01/01		Meadow Pipit	NR
20	Feral Pigeon	01/01	47	Chaffinch	03/01
21	Stock Dove	03/01	48	Greenfinch	01/01
22	Woodpigeon	01/01	49	Goldfinch	01/01
23	Collared Dove	01/01		Siskin	NR
	Little Owl	NR	50	Linnet	01/01
	Kingfisher	NR	51	Lesser Redpoll	19/01
	Green Woodpecker	NR	52	Bullfinch	01/01
24	Great Spotted Woodpecker	11/01	53	Reed Bunting	11/01
25	Magpie	01/01
	Additional Species
	Sparrowhawk	01/01		Jack Snipe	19/01
	Snipe	11/01		Yelllowhammer	27/01

            NR – Not Recorded

Notable absentees included Gadwall - usually up to 20 on my patch of the Derwent in January, Waxwing (although pretty much absent from most of the UK this winter).  Siskin - again usually guaranteed in the Alders on the river but alas not this year.  No Green Woodpeckers, LBB Gull or Grey Wagtail - suspect the latter due to high river levels and the one that was in the garden last year.  I could go on but its pretty obvious from the list above.

 

This is not the end for the Foot It walks so the list will continue to be kept over the course of the year and I will update / post pics here and on Twitter and here's hoping to a proper January next year (cold and snowy and a few more birds). 

 

Other option is to set my targets much lower for 2015!!

Derbyshire Gold, Trip to A&E and First Patchwork Visit

Finally after what has to be the wettest Christmas break in my memory a day of sunshine was forecast.  Kids and dogs packed in to the car we headed off to Calke Abbey to hopefully blow away a few cobwebs and some energy. 

 

 

On arrival Red Deer were in the paddock next to the car park and a quick look at the bird hide was not that revelatory!  Stuffed full of grumpy old men with long lens none of whom moved slightly to allow access to the benches so we gave up and headed off for a walk.  More deer in the paddocks below the lake (both Red and Fallow Deer), Nuthatches in the trees and finally a Chaffinch (both new for the year). 

 

Along the top path I found a small mixed tit and finch flock and totally by chance a small woodpecker - a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER no less. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a species which I have seen very rarely in the UK (probably only the third or fourth that I have actually seen in the UK).  This is also a species which is not particularly that common in the County and is also a County tick for me. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I only managed to fire off a couple of record shots and will hopefully get something better later in the year - now I know that they are there! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am particularly chuffed to get this species on the yearlist - especially on Day 2 of the year.

 

After the excitement of the woodpecker my son had a tumble and a quick trip to A&E was enforced upon us.  Fortunately it turned out to be soft tissue damage and the visit to the hospital was not as painful as other occasions as we were in and out in 20 minutes!  Hopefully he will learn not to walk while trying to spot gold daubloons with his pirate telescope!  He should leave the gold standard spotting to Daddy!

 

 

 

Still managed to squeeze in a late afternoon trip to the Patchwork site - Willington Gravel Pits - although I did have to wade through the flooded track to access the site.  Nothing particularly of note  but at least I have some sightings to input on to the score sheet!  Highlights include good numbers of Shoveler and Wigeon plus a single Goosander, Cetti's Warbler and a late  Sparrowhawk back at the car.  Hopefully the rain will stop at some point in 2014 and the water levels will drop slightly or my wader list will be very poor indeed! 

New Years Madness

Not the best start to 2014 - weather was truly shocking and made 6 hours walking pretty miserable but its the 1st of the Year and I have a pass to go birding so it really must be used.... and cash it in I did.

 

I decided to split the FootIt patch in to two.  Headed south to the fields (famed for my best self-found county bird - Quail 2012) and then back home to continue north in the afternoon.  Dogs came with in the morning but both whimped out for the afternoon trek to the River Derwent!

 

Morning walk was horrid - heavy and persistent rain (although to be fair the afternoon was no better).

 

First bird of the year was ten or so Redwing in the trees outside the house, quickly followed by Starling, House Sparrow and Wood Pigeon.

 

 

The walk south didn't produce much else of note but 20 Common Gulls on the playing fields were nice to see as was a lone (and very damp) male Bullfinch.  I was particularly pleased to find this species as it was highly elusive last year and didn't reveal itself until well on in to January 2013.

 

A quick pit-stop at home to drop the dogs off and to change.  Forecast as always was rubbish and it wasn't supposed to rain until 12 o'clock however it started soon after leaving home first thing.  Therefore first coat of the day (which wasn't fully waterproof) didn't stand up to well to the onslaught and leaked in a rather epic way! So epic it is still at 2130 still drying!

 

Walk south was pretty dull to start until I hit the lake at Alvaston Park where I picked up a few duck but not Goosander which was slightly disappointing.  Highlight there was a small flock of 50 Linnet plus 7 Shoveler. 

 

The River Derwent was pretty full and fast and the usual Grey Wagtail spots were under water so this species still needs further searching.  Hopefully the garden bird will turn up at some point.  Goosander was finally found with a single male on the River Derwent as was an exceedingly pissed off looking Grey Heron.

 

Final highlight of the day was a female Sparrowhawk over the river before I turned around and headed back for home.

 

 

Final tally was 40 species out of my predicted / target of 69 plus the female Sparrowhawk which I somehow omitted off my target list so in essence total should be 41 out of 70. 

 

6 hours, two coats, many miles and all for yearlist of 41 - total New Years Madness....... and not even a Chaffinch!!