Yawny Owl?

Little tardy updating here, the owl video is from a couple of weekends ago. The location is... somewhere... along the Trent near Hoveringham, South Notts. Between the large flooded gravel pits and the river that location is a real corridor for birdlife. To add to our Tawny Owl there, Egyptian Goose, Shelduck, Redshank, Goldeneye and Green Woodpecker were the best of a quiet visit. Come the Spring the place will be heaving with Common Terns and Yellow Wagtails.

As for any link between owl and river I think that is purely coincidental on this occasion, however Tawnies do apparently take fish. That said, it'd be one helluva reckless owl that took a dip in a river that large.

River Trent Martins

Took a trip down to the river at the weekend to watch the hirundine colonies. There's a rather grand house above the bank that's crammed with House Martin nest cups, and it's a real treat to be able to stand on the pavement and watch the busy work of feeding chicks at close quarters.

Very cool that the owners don't mind the mess, I've known people to mindlessly knock down the mudcups as soon as they're built.

Meanwhile on the sand cliffs of the riverbank hundreds of Sand Martins excavated homes in a colony that's older than I am. In parts you stand at the water's edge little more than 10 yards away from the activity. The adults will watch you as they fly in, but seem so utterly confident in their aerial ability and the inaccessibility of their nests they'll just breeze by, seeming to look back at you with curiosity rather than alarm. Very nonchalant stuff.

Hoveringham in April

Squeezed out one little trip yesterday, managing to keep inside our bird miles limit. Out to the east of the county, to banks of the Trent at Hoveringham.

The most obvious birds were the hirundine. The vast majority of them Sand Martins examining the previous years excavations on the river bank, and these House Martin checking out the mudcups under the roof of a conservatory, and then among them the odd Swallow or two. Pretty easy to understand why Hobbies get seen in the area, and strengthens the likelihood that those distant falcons I briefly saw from the car as we left was probably the pair seen the day before.

Now if you were a Sedge Warbler, do you suppose life would look and sound like this...?

Video - Reeling Sedge Warbler

Plenty around too, at least of them 8 reeling, even if they were very reluctant to show themselves. Patience paid off with a couple of visual sightings. And that song performance, I once heard someone describe it as 'like a Reed Warbler on acid'.

The other nice finds were the Yellow Wagtails, as many as six enjoying the open waters of the gravel pits and river beside the rich cowpat pasture farmland down there. Also got my first Common Terns of the year [#145] which quartered up and down the Trent.

Hoveringham by Sea

Rough digiscopes, hopefully you can see the impressive structure of the Scoter's bill.

Headed out for that Red-necked Grebe at Hoveringham on Sunday to no avail, seems it moved on to the next town along the river. Disappointment was staved off though by the Common Scoter on the Trent, a top bird for the county. As much as they are known to make nocturnal movements over land in the Spring, we just don't see many of them at all. Really handsome ducks too, coal black all over.
Directing other birders to the individual drake was a happy way of breaking the bad news about the Grebe.

52 species for the day, including my first two Sand Martin for the year, a pair of Oystercatcher on the river bank, and a column of 7 Buzzard in one thermal. More bizarrely was a bat, Pipistrelle so far as I could tell, fighting the winds in the broad daylight of mid-afternoon.

And yesterday at the old Pleasley Pit I scored bird #100 for my carbon neutral list. The first Redshank, a pair actually, I've seen at the still developing site that looks more promising for waders with every visit. Meadow Pipit have suddenly become very vocal there, catching up with the Skylark that have been displaying for well over a month.

Hoveringham Gravel Pits

Disused gravel pits are becoming a real boon for wildlife these days, particularly those nearby rivers like the Trent. Today we scored American Wigeon (here's different one the girlfriend snapped in Cambridgeshire last week) on a network of pools at the old works around the Notts village of Hoveringham.
Splendid day all round, with roosting Tawny Owl, courting Buzzards, stout Stonechat and confiding Goldeneye. Duck-wise this is the time to go looking for them, we still have the winter influx but unlike November/December they're coming into marvellously handsome breeding plumage - which makes IDing jolly easy.

Stonechat

Tawny Owl

The Buzzards.