Sunday 7 February 2010

Have I Got Smews For You

Having waited for the best part of five years for a Red-necked Grebe or drake Smew to turn up somewhere reasonably local, my patience finally evaporated yesterday and 007 and I motored over to east Nottinghamshire to try and net both these elusive species.

First port of call was Hoveringham Gravel Pits where after some searching the resident Red-necked Grebe was located at the far corner of the water. Busily fishing for sticklebacks it all but ignored us as it moved to about forty yards from us - stood on the shore - affording cracking views in the ‘scope.

Not the best name for a bird really ‘Red-necked.’ Hick Grebe, Deliverance Grebe, Dungarees Grebe, or my personal choice ‘Cajun Swamp Grebe’, are all far less sinister.

With the bird drifting away from us as it slept off its fish breakfast, there was just enough time for a quick scan of the lake that netted both Kingfisher and Goldeneye, before setting course for Attenborough NR near Nottingham to try and catch up with the drake Smews.

The most handsome of ducks was an absolute nightmare to find and it took two laps and three hours of the area before we eventually found a pair of drakes skulking in an inaccessible corner. They were fairly distant, but with the scope trained on them, we enjoyed excellent views. A genuinely stunning bird and well worth the wait!

Attenborough unquestionably possesses some excellent habitat, but the massive area of flooded gravel pits serve more as a park for local people, than an actual nature reserve, with no attempt by the wildlife trust to delineate between the two.

Most of the ‘wild’ birds seek refuge in the quieter regions of the site (of which there are few) whilst the ‘domesticated’ birds (including worryingly tame Tufted Ducks, Ruddy Shelduck, Egyptian Goose and Red-crested Pochard) besiege the area near the cafeteria.

The result is an unholy mess if I am honest. Conservation organisations only need to look at the WWT reserve at Martin Mere to recognise that it is fairly straight forward to keep the wild and captive parts separate and cater for birders, casual observers and day-trippers alike.

That aside, there were still many excellent birds to enjoy including well over fifty Goosander, Goldeneye, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Tree Sparrow and even a handful of Ruddy Duck that have managed to evade the guns of the Environment Agency.

Until later.

3 comments:

Paul Shenton said...

Green Sandpiper at the River Gowy on Sunday evening - near the mesh bridge between the landfill site and the M56.

Paul.

Anonymous said...

Gave that area a good look-over late last week when walking the dog but nothing about. Was hoping for a green sand myself but the Gowy was almost bursting its banks so not much mud exposed for the birds. Ditches were pretty full too.
Did spot the falconer from the landfill at one point, too far away to see what bird he had on his arm though sadly!

Paul Shenton said...

Hello there, I've always thought that that area has immense potential - it would make an excellent reserve if the flood meadows were restored.

The rough scrub area looks good - I'm always looking for LE Owl roosting in the nearby trees, looks perfect to me.

Have had some good birds down there over the last two years - always good for a Hobby or a Cuckoo in spring.

Cheers, P.