Staveley & Nosterfield

14 of us had a good trip to Staveley and then on to Nosterfield on Sunday. In all, by the time I left, we had clocked up 69.5 species (the 0.5 being 2 White wagtails at Nosterfield).
Other good birds were:
Numerous singing Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and (unexpectedly a bit early) Willow warblers at Staveley.
Also at Staveley:
A few Swallows
Loads of Sand martins
1 Redwing
One possibly 2 Cetti’s warblers (a local said they had first appeared on the reserve last year)
A pair of willow tits excavating a nest (photographed from safe distance by Tom).

We missed out on several waders reported from Nosterfield earlier in the day, but managed to find:
Slavonian grebe coming into breeding plumage
A lone Greenland whitefront with the Greylags
A Little owl in the ‘usual’ tree.

JHL

Thanks for a great day out to John.

We added Little Egret, Little Grebe, a lone Whooper Swan and one Dunlin in full breeding plumage (very smart)a few more Redshank and three Ringed Plovers at Nosterfield LNR.

KJC