Allestree, Cromford and Stubbers Green
Every weekend of our year so far has involved birding in some shape or form, this weekend was no different although we decided to plump for some none to strenuous twitching, hoping to bump the life list ever closer towards the 200 mark. Arrived yesterday at a leisurley 12.00-ish at Allestree (a suburb of Derby) where a Waxwing has been in residence for a few weeks now. No problem at all finding it (lifer no 196). It was a very beautiful and confiding bird, just sat at the side of the footpath scoffing away on the rowan berries, absolutely stunning to watch. Was a good laugh too with the other birders and the constant enquiries from members of the public. Close enough to the bird to grab these poor pics...nice to have the memory though...
As it was only a further 14 miles up the A6 it would have been rude not to have a try for the Hawfinch at Cromford, Derbyshire. If anyone is thinking of going be warned - the location on Birdguides for the courtyard is 'slightly' innaccurate, we quite confused but some locals put us on the right track. It took a lot of searching but eventually we had a distant view of two Hawfinch (lifer no 197) on the exposed treetops viewed from the canal wharf. We went back again to the churchyard to see if we could get any nearer but couldn't pick them up again. We were chuffed to bits anyway as we were lucky to see them so late in the day.
Today we stopped off at Stubbers Green at midday en route to fulfil mothers day obligations. This time our luck was in with the 2nd winter Caspian Gull, it was easy enough to find as its a small place and I'd seen photos of this particular bird. I was really pleased to see it and spent some time checking out the ID features. A great place to watch and learn about gulls and easier to manage than the roosts. Lifer no 198 and the 12th Gull on our UK list! There were also a couple of Nordic Jackdaws seen by others and the Iceland Gull was seen briefly this morning.