I hope you have been enjoying the warm and dry weather, which we’ve been experiencing continuously until the last few days when a little bit of rain finally arrived (got to be good for the garden) and the temperatures moderated.
It has, as is traditional, been a quiet time for the club, as we concluded our season of indoor meetings and gave the trips and walks a bit of a break to allow members to go off on summer holidays – and the birdlife to hunker down to raise their new families. As you will see when you read on, however, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see for the determined birder at the reservoir, where two monthly species count records have been broken this year.
We are now picking up the pace again, though, and it’s only a few weeks before the next indoor season carries us across the winter into next spring. We kick off our 2025-26 season next month by retaining the heat, as Gary Hobson delivers a talk on the birdlife of southern Turkey. See below for the upcoming programme, which will also includes the work of the BTO and ‘travels’ to the lush forests of India and the often endemic species that have evolved and inhabit islands around the globe.
I hope you can make one or two of these talks. And we’ll be on the move again with our most recent club outing – one of our slightly longer trips, to Burton Mere in Cheshire. We’ve had a couple of previous trips to this well-maintained site on the edge of the Dee Estuary, which has traditionally produced a good and varied list of birds.
Read on, too, for the latest reservoir report, which is surprisingly busy, including two species record counts – not something usually expected over the summer, and at a time when water levels have rapidly dropped. And we’ve included a summary of the excellent fund-raising activity that has been boosting the club’s bank balance in recent times.
Gary Atkins
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Below are the dates of upcoming events. Remember – all indoor meetings are held in the Visitor Centre’s Henmore Room, beginning at 7.30pm:
** TUESDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER ** – Talk: The birds and wildlife of south-west Turkey; Gary Hobson describes this multi-habitat area sitting at the edge of Europe and Asia.
** SUNDAY, 12 OCTOBER ** – We jump in our cars for a club trip to the RSPB’s excellent reserve at Burton Mere on the Wirral. We aim to arrive at the visitor centre by 10.30am. Contact Chris Lamb (see details at the end of the newsletter) if you wish to come along. A lift could be available for those not wishing to drive.
** TUESDAY, 14 OCTOBER ** – Talk: The British Trust for Ornithology; Jon Potts describes the important work undertaken by the BTO (note that, unusually, this is the second Tuesday of the month).
** TUESDAY, 18 NOVEMBER ** – Talk: India – Land of the Tiger; the ever-entertaining Tony Davison tells us about his trip last year where he encountered a plethora of birdlife … and the iconic Bengal Tiger.
** TUESDAY, 16 DECEMBER ** – Talk: Birds and Islands; David Parkin reprises the presentation on the evolution of birdlife on island that he was due to give us last season before an injury forced him to postpone.
NEW RECORDS ARE A SURPRISE AS WATER LEVELS PLUMMET
There’s a tendency to regard the summer as a relatively quiet period for birding, but that has not proven to be the case at Carsington this year, which saw a record equalling number of species in June (102), then a brand new record for July when 112 species were logged.
One probable reason for this mid-year boost has been the steadily reducing water levels which have resulted in increasingly large expanses of mud for visiting waders and other waterfowl. An outstanding 30 Little Egrets on 1 August reflected high numbers of this attractive species across the whole county. Interestingly, two colour-ringed Little Egrets that arrived recently were ringed at the same location in Merseyside, albeit a week apart.
Up to two Great White Egrets have also been seen on a number of occasions, while up to 12 Grey Herons have also appreciated the enhanced fishing conditions.
A larger-than-usual total of 15 waders were noted in July, including Sanderling, Knot, Greenshank, Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers, Whimbrel and Green and Common Sandpipers. So far in August, the total is already one higher still as Turnstone, Ruff and Grey and Golden Plovers have added themselves to the list.
While two Black-necked Grebes were seen on two dates in June and again in August, the numbers of both Great Crested and Little Grebes have also been healthy. One of the ever presents during the whole life of the reservoir is, of course, Mallard – and yet a new site record for this familiar duck was attained, with 468 counted on two separate dates including the August WeBS count that also saw Coot numbers up to 977.
Canada Geese are proliferating again, with 1,150 counted in mid-July, outnumbering the 344 Greylags in late June. Egyptian Geese pop up now and again, and it’s been interesting to see a family of five Barnacles including three young.
There was a surprise Garganey on 4 June, a female Red-crested Pochard has been mobile throughout much of the summer, up to four Common Scoter have appeared a couple of times and a juvenile Shelduck has been seen often during the first half of August.
Gull numbers have been fairly steady: Black-headeds have been a regular sight, including a fair number of young; up to 1,500 Lesser Black-backs were counted on 19 August; Mediterranean and Yellow-legged Gulls have made sporadic appearances, while an adult Caspian Gull has been seen with increasing regularity over the past month.
During June and July, the tern passage was limited to Common Terns, but in August, Sandwich, Arctic and an impressive group of six Black Terns boosted the tern roster.
Raptors had had a fairly quiet time, though things livened up in mid-August when first of all a Marsh Harrier was briefly seen on the 13th, then, two days later, a returning Osprey passed through the site. The following day two Ospreys graced the reservoir, one nimbly catching its supper, on the 20th another single bird swung through early morning, alarming the gulls Brown Ale Bay, but they got their revenge two days later, harrying two further Ospreys that showed up (one again catching a fish). Other than that, up to six Red Kites have been seen, and the summer-migrant Hobbies have occasionally been seen eating on the wing, feasting on dragonflies and other small prey.
Five Yellow Wagtails on 27 July and a Wheatear two days later signal that we are on the cusp of the return migration. Most of our regular migrant species have been present and correct but in the coming weeks we can expect some of them to begin to move south. It’s been good to hear and see Lesser Whitethroats and a few of their ‘Common’ cousins, which had been scarce in recent years.
Among other relatively scarce passerines, a Stonechat was spotted on 2 July, Crossbills were around in both June and July, the maximum count being 23, a satisfying eight Willow Tits were noted on 7 June and eight Spotted Flycatchers counted in August probably represented three family groups.
Also present and correct have been the various hirundines, though not seen in huge numbers – generally 25-50 Swallows, House and Sand Martins being the most seen, while up to 10 Swifts have regularly been counted. One of the most prolific small birds has been Linnet, 200 of which have often been recorded between Sheepwash and Lane End.
The haunting call of the Green Woodpecker is rarely heard at Carsington, but was noticed on two dates in June and then on two further dates in August, and an impressive group of 155 Rooks returned to roost on 19 August.
AFTER THE SUMMER’S LULL – RESUMING OUR CLUB ACTIVITIES
We kick off the 2025/2026 INDOOR SEASON with our first meeting in the Henmore Room on Tuesday 16 September. It will be a talk by Gary Hobson on the birds and wildlife of south-western Turkey; he will take us on a tour of the Dalaman, Fethiye and Oludeniz regions featuring a mixture of coastal, mountain and inland farming habitats, highlighting the rich range of birds and wildlife he saw and photographed there.
At our next meeting, on Tuesday 14 October, Jon Potts will describe to us the work of the British Trust for Ornithology. The BTO carries out invaluable scientific research to help secure the future of the UK’s birdlife, with many volunteer-led activities such as population and breeding bird surveys and ringing. Jon is the BTO’s Derbyshire North regional representative and will talk about projects at both a local and national level.
India is our next destination at the meeting on Tuesday 18 November. A country renowned for its rich diversity of birds and other wildlife, Tony Davison will describe his travels to India in 2024 and the birds and wildlife he encountered. Tony’s superb photographs are a given, and we will be treated to views of some amazing birds and animals – including the iconic Bengal Tiger.
Birds and islands is the theme for our final talk this year on Tuesday 16 December with David Parkin as our speaker. Many islands around the world have some very distinct and unusual birds. A few species have evolved as flightless, while the prolonged isolation of the more remote islands, such as Madagascar and the Galapagos, has resulted in a number of unique birds and other animals.
Moving OUTDOORS, our first trip in the Autumn is to an old favourite – the Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB Reserve on the Dee estuary in Cheshire on Sunday, 12 October. This location always gives us a good day’s birding and by this time of year many of our winter visitors will have returned. We aim to meet at 10.30am in the reserve car park. Toilet facilities and a café serving light refreshments are available in the Visitor Centre.
More information can be found on the RSPB website at:
https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/dee-estuary-burton-mere-wetlands
If you are intending to make this trip, please let Chris Lamb know by email at cflamb@yahoo.co.uk
FUND-RAISING GATHERS PACE
As well as being our club secretary, Louise Sykes together with husband John, does a remarkable job each year raising funds for us. So far in 2025, the total raised is £1,292 – with two events still to go! Here, Louise herself explains how they organise their presence at these local events:
“Most of our fund-raising takes place at Broomfield Hall’s Animal Unit at Morley, which is part of Derby College, and we are one of three charitable organisations invited to promote our work. The visitors are mainly young families, grandparents and prospective students.
“We usually run a tombola, a lucky dip and sell good quality second-hand books and challenging jigsaws. I am especially grateful to our fellow club and committee members, family and friends, as everything we sell is donated by them. We also have a very kind neighbour who makes us small knitted dogs for the lucky dip and these are very popular.
“There have been four events so far this year at the Animal Unit: a Valentine event in February, a Lambing themed show in March and Spring and Summer events in May and June. There are two more to go at Morley – Halloween and Christmas events, in October and December.
“We’ve attended two other large events this year: the Etwall Well Dressing, also in May, where we collected our highest total of the year by some margin, and the Mayfield Summer Show, which was a brand new event for us.
“Here we sold over 20 jigsaws and a variety of books. As well as show awards for best cake, photo, flowers and onions there was also the challenge of making a bird box, so we offered an extra prize in this category. The two brothers who won this prize (aged 9 and 13) came to our stall and each chose a book. It was also a chance for Chris Lamb to tell the family about the club and the monthly “beginners” bird walk at Carsington. One retired gentleman wanted to buy a jigsaw, but thanks to Dave Horsley’s sales technique he walked away with three!
“The funds we collect are, of course, useful, but John and I really do enjoy participating at these community events and getting to meet and talk to so many people.”
From the club’s point of view, the funds are welcome; we just need to work out how to spend them quickly enough! Apart from helping to run club events for members and covering expenditure, the beneficiaries preferably need to be focused on the wildlife and habitats around Carsington. We are always investigating ways we can help in this regard – so if any club members know of or have ideas for projects we can engage with, we’d be very pleased to hear them.
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KNOW YOUR COMMITTEE – Here are the club officials and their contact details…….. |
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Committee Post |
Name |
Telephone |
Email Address
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Chairman and Publicity |
Gary Atkins |
01335 370773 |
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Treasurer |
John Follett |
01332 834778 |
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Membership secretary |
Dave Horsley |
07900 597230 |
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Recorder |
Rob Chadwick |
07876 338912 |
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Events co-ordinator |
Chris Lamb |
07836 368037 |
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Secretary |
Louise Sykes |
01335 348544 |
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…..and the website address is: https://www.carsingtonbirdclub.co.uk |
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Webmaster |
Richard Pittam |
n/a |
Contact Richard via the website |
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