We stayed quite close to home for our latest walk on Sunday 17th March at the Wyver Lane DWT Reserve in Belper. Meeting up on a very wet morning, it did not look promising for seeing many birds, but the weather slowly cleared up and the 8 CBC members who made the trip were rewarded with a good variety of species seen or heard.
Setting off from the car park we had a quick look from the bridge over the River Derwent for the chance of Goosanders or Grey Wagtails, but the river was probably flowing far too quickly. As we walked along Wyver Lane towards the reserve, several of the more common birds were seen, including Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wren, Dunnock and House Sparrow.
Reaching the wetland area we picked out a number of Tufted Duck, Teal and Gadwall on the water, along with a male Mandarin Duck which added a splash of colour with its bright plumage. A female Goosander and a pair of Shoveler were observed from the hide, then as we left it a pair of Snipe were flushed and flew briefly before dropping out of sight.
A single Great White Egret was spotted creeping along inside the reeds, before flying away over the river. A couple of Grey Herons were more obliging though and stayed in full view on the water’s edge.
The sound of singing Chiffchaffs became almost a constant backdrop to our walk, with probably at least 10 individuals heard and in some cases seen at the top of the trees. From the fields behind the hide and the ramp, the ‘yaffling’ of a Green Woodpecker was heard several times, but we were unable to find it. Similarly, the distant drumming of a Great Spotted Woodpecker was picked out, but again the bird was not seen.
We spent some time watching the feeders towards the end of the lane and were very pleased to see a Marsh Tit, which is becoming increasingly rare across the country, as well as Nuthatches, Long-tailed Tits, Coal Tits and of course numerous Blue and Great Tits. A Water Rail was briefly spotted by one of the group in the reeds near the feeders, but couldn’t be located again.
By the end of the morning a total of 44 species had been recorded by the group, which was far better than expected given the heavy rain earlier on:
Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mandarin Duck, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Tufted Duck, Goosander, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Coot, Water Rail, Snipe, Pheasant, Woodpigeon, Black-headed Gull, Great White Egret, Grey Heron, Green Woodpecker (heard yaffling), Great Spotted Woodpecker (heard drumming), Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Raven, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Nuthatch, Wren, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting
Chris Lamb
CBC Events Organiser