What no Brambling !! To add to our Local Year list

We spent Monday morning in the NNHS squares hoping to add to our year list.  We started at a Local well known site for Peregrine Falcon and we didn't have to wait too long before a pair put in an appearance.  The weather was poor and heavy snow was falling so we didn't hang about but decided to take shelter at a site we have seen Marsh Tit and Green Woodpecker before.  The snow continued to fall and we gave it half an hour but had no joy with either species - a good excuse to come back !

Next we headed to the Cholmondeley area in the hope of Brambling.  There is a spot where a local gamekeeper has large seed hoppers in the field and is always my go to place for finches.  As soon as we arrived we could see the surrounding hedgerows were not going to let us down and we quickly added Tree Sparrow (20) Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting to the year list but no Brambling. This is unusual as in previous years we have always seen them there, but with another site a short drive away we weren't worried.   We never fail to see them at Moss Wood on the Cholmondeley Estate but again, after 2 hours trapsing around the Mosses not a Brambling to be seen.  We did record 4 Crossbill (two pair) and a flock of Siskin which had 9 Redpoll in with them, so not a total loss.  In total we added 10 species to our year list which now stands at 71.

Thanks to NNHS member Peter Atherton for the first Two Photos

 Peregrine Falcon

 Redpoll

 Crossbill

Crossbill

A New Year and a New List

As another year begins so does another year list.  In recent years we have not twitched much across the UK because of the ever increasing crazy cost of fuel and the fact that we were spending hours sitting in traffic.  We have missed the birding so this year we have decided to keep a year list in the recording area of our local Nantwich Natural History Society a club which we have been involved with for many years.  I contacted Mike Holmes who is the Societys' "go to man" on most things birding, as we were trying to establish if a year list/count had been recorded before.  No record could be found so we have set ourselves a target of 123 species

The first Saturday of the year is traditionally the day when members of the society go out and about to record as many species as they can in our area.  We managed 62, which started our year list off nicely.  Species of note: Little Egret, Stonechat Goosander and Cettis Warbler.

A first for me and Ash in the Nantwich Natural History Society recording squares. 

We will keep updating our list on this blog and would appreciate news of any sightings within our recording area that are a bit more unusual. 

Happy New Year and Good Birding in 2015 !  

Little Egret

Wigeon

 Burleydam pool

Little Egret