Patch Year Begins

My dad and I were up early at Willington this morning just as the sun was coming up, hoping for a Bittern sighting or perhaps a Great White Egret leaving the roost. Sadly, we weren’t so lucky, though the reports in the sightings book seem to suggest Bittern is being seen regularly at the moment which is great news.
The view from the hide at Willington GPs
We spent around two hours birding the main reserve, clocking the usual species for the patch year list but nothing too out of the ordinary. A Peregrine overhead was a nice surprise, and Oystercatcher, Goldeneye, Snipe and Jayfeatured in the list of the sometimes-trickier species. Cetti’s Warblers were vocal as always and several Water Rails made their presence known. Unfortunately, we didn’t get Willow Tit or Treecreeper this morning – two big winter targets.

 After visiting all the platforms and the hide, the morning was getting on so we moved across to Egginton, a new area on my patch for this year, to see what this new habitat could offer. I was delighted to find Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Kingfisher and most incredibly two drake Mandarin, all of which are not easy on the main reserve. The Mandarin were particularly exciting and perhaps explain the single bird I had at Willington in 2017. 
A quick stop at Etwall STW added just Kestrel and Pied Wagtail not the hoped-for Green Sandpiper so we moved onto the final stop of the morning – High Bridge GPs. This reserve is very much in its infancy and I haven’t spent that much time birding here, but I’m hoping to this year.
By this point, it had begun to rain quite heavily, and new birds were not forthcoming, though we did add Fieldfare. This site seems to have a lot of potential and reminds me of Willington years ago. 
Wellies were certainly advisable today!
With just the morning to spare during revision for university, I took the heavy rain as a sign to call it a day and headed back after a very successful haul of 61 species for the year list. Some key winter targets had been missed but with a bit of luck none should be too difficult over the next few weeks, and who knows what else could show up.

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