Friday was unusual choice for a day out with Dave W, but we covered some miles and both enjoyed it. Drove over to Barnsley to pick Dave up and we were soon on our way, firstly to try to see a very strange occurrence of a Pallas`s Warbler. A species usually associated with our east coast at autumn time, it should be heading for its breeding grounds in eastern Asia about now. How on earth has it found its way to Attenborough nature reserve in Nottingham? The fact that it was at the side of a busy train line made me think, did it come by train? We reached the spot and along with about 10 other birder`s enjoyed 30 minutes with this Seven striped wonder There was also a few Chiff-Chaff`s present one of which could well have been a sub-species Siberian Chiff-Chaff. A Cattle Egret was also seen nearby.
We headed for Budby common, normally the haunt of unusual humans walking around wearing next to no clothes, but as it was so cold, none were thankfully encountered! Our real quarry was not seen in the shape of Woodlark, even after a good walk around. Stock Dove and a passing Red Kite were seen though.
We headed north towards Thrybergh reservoir near Rotherham to try to find the long staying adult male Scaup, a sea duck that must have lost its way but now enjoying the company of the similar species, Tufted Duck. We used the reservoir post code, but as we know these are not always reliable! We met a couple who told us the reservoir was a five minute walk away Dont know what time zone these helpful people were from, but it took us both a good 25 minutes to reach the reservoir! Thankfully the bird was easier to find than the actual place, it was a really good example of a very smart species.
As the early evening came we headed to Dave W`s who had kindly invited me for a meal at his house (to save me from the horrors of a Friday evening M62 trip) It was very enjoyable, thanks again the pair of you! Even the M62 was fairly quiet as I got home by 9pm. Good day out.
