Spoonbill at Nosterfield!

Spoonbill

 

Yesterday afternoon me and my Dad headed of to Nosterfield in hope of seeing the Spoonbill, the Curlew Sandpipers and the Black Necked Grebes. It took about half an hour to get to Nosterfield. On the way we had a few Kestrels pass over. 

 

As soon as we arrived we were onto the cracking Spoonbill right at the back of the main lake although it was quite distant it showed well for the majority of the time we were there. It was a very nice bird to see, their bill is amazing. We asked a couple of people to see if they had seen the Black Necked Grebes or the Curlew Sandpipers and they said "yes but the Black Necked Grebes are a bit elusive". A few mins later we were enjoying nice scope views of one of the Curlew Sandpipers on a island in the middle of the lake, sadly it was to far away for decent photos but it still great to see it up close through the scope. After about 10mins one of the stunning Black Necked Grebes came into view, it showed quite well just beyond the hide, what a day so far! It swam to the other side of the lake where it then became really distant. A little while later quite a few Swifts passed over. After that a man then picked out the other Curlew Sandpiper on another island even further away from the other one, it was fantastic to see a second one.

 

Spoonbill

Black Necked Grebe

 

After we decided to leave Nosterfield to head of to Redhouse Wood to check some nests we had found in there. We had found a Blackcap, a Wren, 2 Bullfinches and a Song Thrush. Sadly 2 out of the 5 nests had been predated, one of the Bullfinch and the Song Thrush were predated. But we did find another Blackcap nest! Quite a few Tawny Owls were also heard in the wood.