Allestree, Birds and Croots
or
Action, Babes, Camera!
Friday 11th January 2019
A cool, watery sun greeted Jo, Maggie, Julia and the Helens in the round car park at Allestree Nature Reserve. Over a flask of coffee, mini-stollen and a brief chat about Christmas presents already opened, wearing, eaten or drinking from, we heard a familiar tweet from up on high. Blue tits are welcome to be first on our 2019 bird list. But, will we add to our rolling bird count and come closer to our target of the magical one hundred?
Shadows prove the sun is out.
We think about Pam skiing in Pamporovo and wonder if Alison is skiing in the Ali-pines. We talk about setting up a WhatsApp group which might be useful in the future when the right word won't come to mind, but a picture or emoji might say it all. It might also help those who don't read their emails properly!
Bob and Betty have clearly escaped!
We plough on up the hill, waiting patiently for the golfers to do their bit before crossing the green, stop to catch our breath and admire the rather extensive views. The golfers may look small but...
.. we didn't wish to be their target for the day!
And looking the other way, we spend a bit of time discussing the brick chimney in the far distance and all agreed with Helen M that it must be another...
Strutt creation at Milford.
Although this may start to sound like an A.A. Milne story, we continue into Big Wood, where, yet again, Helen M's close observation correctly identifies presence of a quarry: Sand Quarry, a Regionally Important Geological Site. In fact, there is a lot of very interesting information on the 'inderby' page about the long-term management of Allestree Nature Park, including lots on flora and fauna, but at over 150 pages long, is a bit much for the blog. Some of us start to see a few more birds, including a cheeky robin, a pair of jays and five magpies...
Five for silver.
Walking up and down quarry paths is tiring work and worthy of a sit-down ...
and a treat...
Betty: Quick Bob, swap places and we might get another treat!
A gentle downhill walk through mixed trees brings us to a rather impressive tree. It is time to see if we can find a bird or two. This pair of ring-necked parakeets capture everyone's attention and are possibly the only birds everyone sees at the same time! Fairly new incomers to the park, whilst looking exotic and colourful, it probably won't be long before there are far more....
This old woodpecker hole in the tree looks perfect for a nest.
We drift down to the pond, where, courtesy of other dogs and children, we do a quick count and manage a pair of overwintering beauties...
Goosander
And a pair of regulars
Tufted duck
Just as we are heading for the car park, a dog-walker, with whom we had chatted whilst talking about chimneys, offers to take a photograph. Never missing an opportunity for a bit of a pose, we line up. When she starts to remove all the orange cones and bits of debris, it becomes pretty clear that she knows what she is doing....
A favour is then asked and without thinking what this might be, we agree. Laura from AF1 Photography then lines us up, repositions us and snaps away.
Result!
We finish off our walk, quite excited by the prospect of appearing in Laura's display window in Allestree. But, what are we promoting? A wedding,? A family portrait? Or, are we ... an Event!
We turn up at Croots, where Lynn has been waiting quite patiently for us. Once six-soups-a-slurping have been downed, we cover a range of topics. Amongst these, we do talk..
well, Lynn, mostly!!..
We talk about seeing, but make no actual plans to see Jane, where apart from seeing Jane, we would have a wonderful opportunity to develop our bird skills and may even see a manx shearwater (and not pretend this time!). We chat about the wonders of cauliflower, soup made from Christmas leftovers and marmite vs brussel sprouts, but not together! The usual other topics arise: being guardians of family heirlooms (posh for 'stuff', and 'no' Alison, she hasn't!) and Bubbles' next adventures where she's not going to be a jet-setter for all of them!
And so, we come to the end of a wonderful day and count up our birds.
black-headed gull
blackbird
blue tit
coot
cormorant
crow
dunnock
goldfinch
goosander
great tit
grey heron
jackdaw
jay
kingfisher (but only by Jo... hmm, was she excited?)
magpie
mallard
moorhen
ring-necked parakeet (new for the record!) Bird of the day.
robin
tufted duck
woodpigeon
wren
22 for the day, which is good considering all the talking we were doing. If only Pam had been with us, we could have added Raven to the list. Courtesy of the ring-necked parakeet we are now on 98 for our running total. We have plenty of birds we wish to see make the first 100 and hope that Bittern and Goldcrest may be there. But which ones make it,is anyone's guess!
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