Sightings September 2009
Tuesday 29th September
A Hobby this afternoon over the Rough Wood seen by Ian Blackmoor was a good sighting as they are getting rather scarce now with most birds already departed from the area. Also 4 Common Buzzard, 3 Kestrel and single Sparrowhawk over Branshill Wood.
Sunday 27th September
A Raven was seen briefly as it flew high over Branshill Wood calling this morning. A walk along the hedge-row near the Rough Wood produce 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 5 Chiffchaff, 7 Blackcap and a large mobile Tit flock. 7 Jay were still in the area collecting acorns from the 2 large Oak trees. 7 Common Buzzard and the Red-tail over Branshill Wood. A single Barn Owl was seen over fields early morning distantly from the back of Holme Pit. 6 Corn Bunting and a large finch flock consisting mainly of Linnet and Greenfinch near Barton Lane also 32 Meadow Pipit feeding in the ploughed field next to Plowright's farm and still large numbers of recently released feral Red-legged Partridge in the area.
Lesser Whitethroat - Rough Wood hedge-row
Saturday 26th September
An adult Peregrine this morning over Branshill Wood also 7 Common Buzzard. A walk along the hedge-row between the Rough Wood and Branshill Wood produced 12 Blackcap and 1 Chiffchaff alsoin this area for the last couple of weeks there have been up to eight Jay collecting acorns from the 2 large Oak trees. Visible migration this morning was in evidence with 33 Barn Swallow, 3 House Martin and 75 Meadow Pipit all heading east. On a return visit this evening there was a Covey of 115 Red-Legged Partridge on Barton Lane next to Plowright's Farm. As these birds are bread locally for shooting purposes I would suspect these to be newly released birds.
Sightings today from James Christmas were: 6 golden plover with 50+ northern lapwing in field next to Gotham rd on plowright's side,spotted on walk home,hope these are the first of many for this winter.also today at barton a fantastic sighting of little owl,it flew from a small tree and headed behind a hedgerow and was lost from view.also in the area was,1 hobby around ponds,4 common buzzard over branshill wood,2 sparrowhawk,1 common kestrel,1 yellow hammer,1 great spotted woodpecker,1 female tufted duck on the bigger of the 2 ponds and a jay flew branshill wood.also on way back the 4 corn bunting were still knocking about the bus stop area,and a large flock of linnet on the pastures,2 grey wagtail also flew over,7 skylark over stubble field on drift.
Thursday 24th September
A Juvenile Reed Warbler feeding in the reed-bed on Holme Pit this evening. 7 Mistle Thrush in the hedge-row near the Yellow Gate, also Treecreeper. 4 calling Tawny Owl in Clifton Woods.
Tuesday 22nd September
A single adult Hobby briefly over the Rough Wood this evening then flew off towards Barton. 1 Chiffchaff and small numbers of Barn Swallow over the Rough Wood. A count of 233 Lesser-Black backed Gull and 556 Black-Headed Gull over branshill Wood en-route to roost late evening.
Sunday 20th September
257 Northern Lapwing on fields near Barton Lane this afternoon also 5 Lesser-Black backed Gull. 8 Common Buzzard over Branshill Wood and 6 Teal on the ponds. Small numbers of House Martin and Barn Swallow near Burrows Farm.
Saturday 19th September
4 Tree Sparrow in hedge-row near Barton Flash. 1 Sedge Warbler in scrub near Beeston Weir. 2 Kingfisher on river near barton-in-Fabis.
Friday 18th September
14 Teal on Branshill ponds this evening also 6 Blackcap, 2 Lesser Whitethroat and 2 Common Whitethroat feeding on elder berries on the edge of the Rough Wood. 5 Common Buzzard up over Clifton Wood.
Thursday 17th September
A walk around Clifton Pastures this evening to see if i could find the large covey of Grey Partridge seen yesterday was unsuccessful, but i did see a smaller covey of 12 GREY Partridge near the duck pond just off the Gotham Rd. Also in the area were 25 Meadow Pipit, 7 Reed Bunting, a mixed flock of Linnet, Greenfinch and Chaffinch, 5 Common Buzzard, 350 Black Headed Gull, 6 Lesser-Blacked backed Gull and a single Barn Owl prior to dusk.
Wednesday 16th September
A remarkable sighting today of a covey of 60 Grey Partridge on Clifton Pastures, seen by Russ Gimson. This is by far the largest covey recorded in the area for years and will be looked for tomorrow evening.
11 Common Buzzard all up together this evening over Branshill Wood. 1 Little Owl flushed from hedge-row near Barton village. 30 Meadow Pipit in field behind Holme Pit. A female Northern Wheatear was seen just outside the area this afternoon whilst on my lunch break near the river soar at Sutton bonington.
Sightings sent in from James Christmas: Had a walk down barton this morning and walked around the stuble field on drift next to larkhill. I counted 17 Corn Bunting in a flock,also in the same area was a 30+ Linnet flock and around 50 Meadow Pipit. It was hard to keep track as the flocks kept mingling. 2 Common Kestrel were also present. Other sightings this morning were,4 Common Buzzard above branshill wood,150+Northern Lapwing at the back of barton village,1 sparrowhawk flew in front of branshill wood.on the walk over to clfton wood were,2 great spotted woodpecker,2 willow warbler,2 lesser whitethroat,1 common whitethroat and a mixed flock of linnet,greenfinch & Chaffinch,also plenty of swallow & house martin being watched by a Hobby around marshalls farm.
Monday 14th September
Mixed flock consisting of c12 Corn Bunting and c20 Linnet in stubble field on the Drift this evening but very mobile, also small group of 23 Northern Lapwing, 8 Lesser-Blacked Backed Gull, c200 Black Headed Gull and 5 Common Buzzard on Clifton Pastures. Small numbers of Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Common Whitethroat in brambles near the Rough Wood
Sunday 13th September
A Juvenile Red Kite was seen this morning at 10.15 am flying low over the flood bank at Barton-in-Fabis heading towards Branshill Wood. As it neared to where i was standing it almost flew right over my head, moving at the last minute when it saw me. It slowly drifted off over the wood and was lost from view. At midday it was relocated feeding on fields on Clifton Pastures with 2 Common Buzzard and up to 200 B.H Gull. The land was been worked by up to three tractors and the Kite and the 2 Buzzard were following picking up insects disturbed by the working tractors.
Also today was 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Chiffchaff and 1 Blackcap near the Rough Wood.
Red Kite - Barton-in-Fabis
Thursday 10th September
A single Redshank high over to the north from the Barton-in-Fabis flood bank this evening. 1 Lesser Whitethroat and several Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat in brambles on the edge of the Rough Wood.
Wednesday 9th September
A excellent movement of passerines through the area this evening. A female Common Redstart was seen very briefly on the edge of the Rough Wood at 5.30pm. It was sat out in the open but disappeared deep into cover just as i got it in the camera lens. This is my first sighting of redstart here and was one of my most wanted to see birds in the area. 2 Spotted Flycatcher were found fly-catching from the dead trees in the Rough Wood and were still present when i left the area. Walking over to the fields near the flash i came across a presumed 1st W male Whinchat on fence posts near the flood bank just behind Barton-in-Fabis village it was still present at 8.00pm. Also this evening were good numbers of warblers including 3 Garden Warbler in the hedge-row near the Rough Wood. Still a few Barn Swallow and House Martin around barton village late evening.
Spotted Flycatcher - the Rough Wood
Whinchat - Barton-in-Fabis
Monday 7th September
3 Hobby again in the area hawking dragonflies over Branshill Wood and also over Clifton Wood. Staying very high but showing well for long periods. 2 Common Sandpiper feeding on the side of the river at Barton-in-Fabis late afternoon. Small numbers of commoner warblers still in the hedge-row near the Rough Wood. 5 Common Buzzard and the Red-tail over Branshill Wood
Hobby - Clifton Wood
Sunday 6th September
Much slower today after such an exciting day yesterday. Still a few common warblers in the hedgerow and 5 Bullfinch feeding on berries. There was a noticeable influx of Meadow Pipit this morning with c160 birds passing through east all morning
3 Spotted Flycatcher were reported from trees near Barton Flash but none could be found on a brief visit this afternoon.
Saturday 5th September
A large movement of passerines this morning that included 5 Garden Warbler, 7 Lesser Whitethroat, 3 Grasshopper Warbler, 1 Spotted Flycatcher and large numbers of Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Chiffchaff all in the hedge-row between the Rough Wood and Branshill Wood. A further 2 Spotted Flycatcher were found in the paddock a the side of the farm on New Road Barton-in-Fabis. 3 Hobby were hawking Dragonflies over Branshill Wood all morning plus 10 Common Buzzard and the Red-tail in the same area.
On a return visit late afternoon 1 Spotted Flycatcher was still present in the paddock next to the farm. Warbler numbers were nothing lke this morning along the hedgerow near the rough wood but there were still a good variety to be found. A walk over to Cottages flash in the corner of the cow field facing branshill wood produced 2 Northern Wheatear feeding at the side of the flash. Driving home along Barton Land there was another Norther Wheatear in the ploughed field next to Plowright's Farm.
Lesser Whitethroat - Near the Rough Wood
Grasshopper Warbler - Near the Rough Wood
Spotted Flycatcher - Near the Rough Wood
Spotted Flycatcher - Barton-in-Fabis
Thursday 3rd September
A single Juvenile Peregrine again over Branshill Wood this evening by the ponds but distant high over the wood, also 9 Common Buzzard and the Red-tail in the area. Small numbers of Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Common Whitethroat feeding in hawthorns on the edge of the Rough Wood. Noticeable movement of Hirundines heading S/W for much of the evening. 38 Lesser-Black backed Gull feeding on newly ploughed field on the Drift was noteworthy as most sighting here are mostly fly-over birds en-route to roost. A single Barn Owl was seen hunting distantly over Clifton Pastures at dusk.
Wedensday 2nd September
2 Reed Warbler in the Reedbed on Holme Pit and a party of 8 Jay on oak trees near the Rough Wood this evening but otherwise very quite.