Trip reports

Sunday morning at Nosterfield

Sunday, 15 February 2009

Seventeen members found their way to Nosterfield Nature Reserve on a dry and, thankfully, much milder morning and, contrary to our early concerns,we were happy to see good numbers of lapwings, curlews, gulls, greylags, teal and widgeon. Other ducks included tufted ducks, shovelers, shelducks and a group of pristine goldeneye males, enthusiastically displaying to two females.

We left the comfort of the sheepskin seats in the hide and walked around the edge of the reserve to the viewing screen over the second lake, on the way enjoying good views of half a dozen yellowhammers posing in the sunlight plus a single redwing and fieldfare. Returning to the car park a shout from the folk at the back alerted everyone to our best bird of the day - a beautiful barn owl flying past us and hunting over the fields......shortly before noon!

At the quarry, a minute's drive from the reserve, we made use of the facilities provided by Tarmac, a small visitor centre with toilet, comfortable chairs, photographs, maps and information.

We scanned the large lake from the viewing screen, then Chris, the quarry manager, very kindly guided us along the paths to further lakes. A raptor disturbing hundreds of lapwings was too far away to identify; some folk deciding peregrine, others sparrowhawk.....with the possibility of goshawk which had been seen to take a lapwing there on the previous day.

Pochard, gadwall and great crested grebe were added to the list and then everyone managed good views of the red-necked grebe we had hoped to find. We were impressed by the work being done to create a variety of habitats, including wader shore, shingle banks, peat bog, limestone grassland, woodland and reedbeds.

With a total of 40 species seen, we returned to the cars in warm sunshine after a very pleasant morning. Our thanks to Chris Pennock for his time and enthusiasm.