Night-heron

I haven't blogged for a few days, so a quick re-cap on some recent birding; a patch visit on Wednesday produced 8 Ruff (including a ruffed male) on Ferry Lane Lake at Collingham; I took this as a good sign that Mons Pool may also have some interesting waders on it, but it wasn't to be.

An early finish on Friday saw me dip Wood Sand at Holme Pierrepont (it had gone...), but add Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler, Common Tern and Hobby to my Notts yearlist. A first look of the season for Grizzled Skippers at Saxondale was also fruitless, but did get me Lesser Whitethroat. On to Collingham, where waders were lacking, but further Lesser Whitethroat and Common Tern were obviously new for the year. 

Saturday's patch visit was not especially noteworthy, although the drake Scaup was back on Ferry Lane Lake, with 2 Swifts overhead. A wedding in the afternoon meant there was no chance of twitching the Hudsonian Godwit down in Somerset...

And so today; news of a Night-heron at Attenborough eventually spurred me into action in the early afternoon. This bird showed very well, and I'm glad I made the effort for it. 

A Bittern showing briefly from the tower hide was a bonus, and a Gropper took me to 151 for my Notts yearlist. A final patch visit of the week tonight produced a single Ringed Plover - the first for quite a while - on Mons Pool, whilst a Little Egret made it a four heron day.