A motley crew of 22 birders set off from a cold and breezy Car Park heading in a westerly direction towards Clattercotes Wood, just south of Ashover Hay. As we got away from the reservoir the breeze dropped slightly making for a pleasant walk. The birds weren’t fooled though and the sightings list was small and rather dull to start. It was at this point our jolly leader decided to distract us by taking us through a rather overgrown wood. Apparently this was once a well used wood by birders and the like but a change of ownership removed any general access rights. Yes, you’ve got it, we were trespassing. At risk of getting shot, caught in a man trap or blown to bits by anti-personnel mines, we trudged our way through and most of us survived the ordeal.
Somehow we managed to find our way back to a footpath near Ogston Carr before eventually heading East back home.
By the time we were at the Car Park, the wind had dropped and the temperature had picked up a bit and there were more birds to boost our list.
As for those birders who didn’t escape the wood?
‘Tis said that when the wind is calm, villagers in nearby Ashover Hay hear voices in the dead of night crying “Blackcap, or was it a Garden Warbler” and “Dag, Dag where are you?”
The full list of birds seen –
Linnet, House Martin, Sand Martin, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Coot, Oystercatcher, B H Gull, Swallow, Lapwing, Yellow Wagtail, Dunlin, Pheasant, Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Blackcap, Robin, Blackbird, Crow, Buzzard, Blue Tit, Yellowhammer, Jay, Song Thrush, Nuthatch, Wren, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove, Starling, Rook, Coal Tit, Jackdaw, Mallard, Willow Warbler, Heron, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Gt Black Back Gull, Gt Crested Grebe, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Gadwall, L R Plover, Bullfinch, Greenshank, Redshank, Ring Plover, Common Sand, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Moorhen, Swift, Sedge warbler.
Thanks for joining us.
See you on June 1st!!
Steve