Finding a Patch

Being unable to leave the immediate area of my house recently, has made me grateful for my old trips to my patch Willington Gravel Pits that I used to take for granted. It's a 15 minute drive away but one of my nearest areas of wetland habitat.

I have spent a long time trying to decide where to call my “patch”. Where I live there isn’t an obvious choice. I could bird the area immediately behind my house, and I do this often. But the woodland and farmland habitat and lack of water can become quite frustrating after regular birding because a lot of effort will still only yield the same selection of resident birds and nothing new. This is something I'm finding at the moment now that I am restricted to this area during lockdown.

If this lockdown has shown birders anything though it surely has to be the potential that our gardens, patches and local areas have for turning up unusual birds. So what better time to get out a map and find a patch that you can focus on. Whether it's somewhere around your house that you can start watching now on your exercise walks, or somewhere further afield like me, that you can plan to focus on once life is back to normal.

After trying other years birding elsewhere, it became clear to me that Willington was the only one I felt was my patch – I’m not really sure why. It’s not quite as close to me as Hick’s Lodge and Albert Village Lake and it doesn’t have more potential than Middleton Lakes RPSB, yet that’s the funny thing about patch birding – in some way, there’s the impression that you don’t really choose your patch – you do the best with what you get. I think that’s what I always missed before. There was always that feeling of “I’ve chosen this so if it’s poor why don’t I go elsewhere”. Now that I’ve settled somewhat subconsciously on Willington though, I’m able to employ that stubborn perseverance that gives patching its charm and should (eventually) turn up the goods.

The red area on the screenshot of Google Maps below shows the patch boundary - in accordance with Patchwork Challenge rules, any birds seen in or from this area are included

While Willington GPs is the main part of the patch, the map above shows the full patch area. I use the continuous 3km squared convention set out by patchworkchallenge.com and accordingly count anything seen in or observed from this area. It can be any shape - as contrived as you like as long as the total area does not exceed 3km squared. I like this size – it gives a manageable area which is large enough to avoid the coverage of the same small area becoming too monotonous.

My area includes High Bridge GPs, Egginton and the farmland to the south, Newton Solney and Etwall Farm Sewage Works. See 'Sites' for details of these other areas.

For a small reserve, Willington has a large reedbed and some great wetland habitat. It has resident Bittern, Cetti’s Warbler and Water Rail – I am yet to visit without hearing, and usually seeing, Cetti’s Warbler. In summer, 10 warblers can be seen, including abundant Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler and a reeling Grasshopper Warbler most springs.

Historically the lane was a regular site for Long-Eared Owl, and in January 2011, 4 owl species were regularly seen. Add to that Great White Egret, Peregrine and Willow Tit gives Willington a strong cast of “regulars”.

The feeders often hold Willow Tit and Treecreeper

I think the reason I like Willington so much is also the reason I find it so frustrating. Its position in the Trent valley means that birds are continually passing in and out of the area, commuting between the vast number of bodies of water in the area. Unlike a lot of wetlands, a couple of hours in the hide at Willington can offer an almost completely new set of birds when you leave than when you arrived. For a midlands birder who dreams of a coastal patch, this is a very alluring prospect.

Raptors such as Marsh Harrier and Merlin regularly pass through, Spoonbill, Egrets, including Great-White and Cattle stop off on occasion and Goosander and Goldeneye commute between here and the river. It’s this constant feeling that something new is about to drop in that makes Willington such an exciting place to watch.

The view from the hide at Willington

It’s for this reason also though that of the most recent Willington rarities few have stayed for more than a few days if not a few hours. 

The Long-billed Dowitcher in October 2019 spent just 24 hours at Willington GPs before moving to High Bridge GPs and disappearing completely. Recent highlights such as Temminck’s Stint, Caspian Gull, Cattle Egret, Ring-necked Duck and Great Reed Warbler behaved similarly.

While occasionally frustrating, this makes finding or at least re-finding wandering rarities that much more possible and, indeed, necessary when twitching is so difficult, and the birds are so mobile. And this, at the end of the day, is what I think patch birding is all about.