Avocet. Attenborough. Standing at the screen overlooking the wader scrape, two birdwatchers casually asked if I had seen the Avocet! Almost disbelieving them I located the bird and hurriedly got the sketchbook out but moments later an immature Black headed Gull chased the wader off and I thought it had gone - without getting any sketches. After a few minutes I scanned the area to find it had returned to the same place and was busily feeding. It swam for the majority of time and up-ended like a duck frequently, kicking its legs out. The Gull constantly followed and harrassed the feeding bird at every opportunity. The wind was savage blowing directly into my face from the east and numbed my hands and face. After a while the Avocet swam to an island and slept, its black and white plumage tinged pink by the sun.

 

 

Green Woodpecker. Thompson's Wood, Wollaton. Sat at the top of a Sycamore and hardly moved as the tree swayed in the strong wind before flying off through the trees towards the lake. The lack of red below the eye makes this a female bird.

Female Goosander swimming up the Trent at Attenborough. It dived frequently gradually increasing the distance between itself and me.

Bittern. Attenborough, wet marsh. Walking back to the car I took the wet marsh path and scanned the reeds on the opposite side. This turned out to be an amazingly lucky moment as I caught sight of a Bittern moving slowly along the edge behind a screen of reeds. I watched it for a good ten minutes before it disappeared into thicker reeds.

Black headed Gulls resting. Part of a large flock of Black-heads at Bennerley most of which had heads tucked back and were sleeping. Amongst the flock were a few Common Gulls and 1 or 2 Lesser Black Backs. Teal dabbled at the edge of the flood pool.

Red Deer in the sun. The sun decided to show itself later in the afternoon so I visited Wollaton where the Red Deer stags were gathered around the sugar beet all laying down in the sun.

Red Deer studies. All the younger stags still have their antlers. The older males who shed their antlers a few weeks ago are beginning to grow new antlers already.

Another visit to Bennerley Marsh. The 20+ Golden Plover were scattered across the edges of the flood pools and were watched by Black headed Gulls eager for snatching ane asy worm. Lapwings looked resplendent in the sun and a pair of Little Ring Plovers ran amongst bigger birds.

A strange coincidence. Just as I was asked by another birdwatcher if I had seen anything of the Kingfisher, a small bird flew into a Hawthorn on the riverbank. Its colours glowed even without the telescope and to our surprise the Kingfisher sat in full view for some minutes before plunge diving and flying off out of view.

Golden Plover. Bennerley Marsh. Feeding on the far bank. Inconspicuous and quite hard to locate on the sere grass especially in the frequent snow showers. They were occasionally harrassed by Black headed Gulls. Also with Lapwings, Teal and Wigeon. Extremely cold, numbing wind blowing across the marsh punctuated by brief periods of sunshine. A commotion was heard above as a group of Pied Wagtails mobbed a passing Buzzard.

Wollaton Park lake. Egyptian Geese.

Canada Geese feeding in a blizzard. Wollaton Park. The paint actually froze on the paper it was that cold and I had to give up, completing the picture at home.

 

Fallow does sitting out in the open covered in snow from a passing blizzard. After a time they got to their feet shaking the snow off their coats before walking up to the feeding area.