The Draw of a Firecrest - on 28th January, 2019

I have recently been away from home for a week, visiting Speyside in Scotland. The following is a post I prepared before I departed, fully expecting to be overloaded with photo processing after my return.

It seemed that I had only been getting out birdwatching approximately once a week, and I was starting to get stir-crazy. On this day, prompted by the sighting of a Firecrest, I reckoned that it was time to go somewhere I'd not been for many years, and that was Attenborough Nature Reserve, near Nottingham (yes, the Nottingham of Robin Hood fame). This is only about half an hour from my home and, as I had things to do in the morning, I departed after an early lunch.

I expected it to be relatively quiet on a Monday, but arrived to find that the main car park was very tight for space and the overflow car park was full! I managed, however, to find a spot in an unofficial lay-by beside the access road.

My first job was to try and find the Firecrest. It had been reported as being in bushes by the approach road, just before the level crossing. I spent probably around 20 minutes looking, but there was no sign of it visually or, more importantly, audibly. I then went into the nature reserve.

Fortunately, the place was not as crowded as I thought it might be. I first made my way towards the Tower Hide, checking my camera settings by shooting a Dunnock beside the main path.

Dunnock (Prunella modularis) - Attenborough NR

Shortly after turning off the main path, towards Tower Hide, I stopped to photograph a couple of Egyptian Geese. Although these are now very common birds in these parts, it was here that I saw my first ever Egyptian Geese on 1st January, 2006, at the start of my birdwatching interest.

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) - Attenborough NR

Just before reaching the hide, three Robins were vying for my attention, perching on three consecutive fence posts. Here's one.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - Attenborough Nature Reserve

I spent around 20 minutes in the hide, with nothing showing close enough for photography, and not much of interest showing at all. I then set off with the intention of visiting as much of the reserve as possible, primarily to get a feel for the place for future visits, rather than taking time to observe the birds.

It was a brightly sunny day, with low winter sun by the time I left the hide at around 14h00. As much of the water that I passed was of small areas surrounded by trees, the light for photography was quite challenging at times, and the results are not my best.

A distant Shoveler was in open water.

Shoveler (Anas clypeata) (male) - Attenborough NR

Sadly, I burned out the white on this Great Crested Grebe, otherwise it might have made a reasonable shot. I include it, however, because of the eye, shining like a jewel.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Attenborough NR

The real stars for me, however, were the Goosander. I saw one at a great distance soon after leaving the hide, but then I found that I was seeing them on almost every bit of water I came to. The drake Goosander is often said to have a green sheen to its 'black' head plumage when seen in the right light. I have never seen a purple sheen like that on the first drake I photographed.

Goosander (Mergus merganser) (male) - Attenborough NR

There is no colour sheen visible on the heads of the drakes in these next three images. However, winter sun on rippling water gives some delightful effects.

Goosander (Mergus merganser) - Attenborough NR

The sheen is visible on these next images, as is (sadly) the burn-out on the whites!

Goosander (Mergus merganser) (male) - Attenborough NR

I suddenly realised that I was at the furthest point of the reserve, it was 15h30, and my car was parked on the wrong side of the gate which would be locked at 17h00. This might not sound too bad, but I was 2 km from my car as the crow flies, and twice that distance on the path I would take. I had to hurry!

Just before reaching my car I met a person coming in the opposite direction. He'd just seen the Firecrest in the area that I'd been scanning earlier. He warned me, however, that views were difficult as viewing was straight into the setting sun. I quickly moved my car to the overflow car park which is outside the gates and set off to try and find the Firecrest.

It didn't take long to find it, as it was calling continually but, to my great disappointment, my camera chose this to be the time to fail. It's a problem that hits me every two or three months, and it's an electrical disconnect between the camera body and the lens. The solution is to dismount the lens and work the connection pins (cleaning the contacts at the same time). In the circumstances, it was difficult enough to get a bead on the bird, but the difficulty was compounded by the fact that only about one in twenty presses of the shutter button actually did anything. Add that to shooting straight into the sun. and I was not expecting to have anything at all when I came to examine what I'd taken.

When I came to load my shots onto the computer, I found that around half the shutter actuations hadn't opened the iris, so the shots were virtually black, but I did have just one shot that, although awful, will just about pass as a record shot!

Firecrest (Regulus ignicapilla) - by Attenborough NR

After a quick call to Lindsay to say I was going to be later home than expected (again!), I set off homeward, happy in the knowledge that I had, at least, seen a Firecrest for the first time in several years, even if the photographic opportunites that afternoon were below par. 

For the past few months I've been wearing one of these wrist devices, akin to a 'fit bit'. I have been trying to raise my fitness by increasing the amount I walk. For example, if I have not got a lot of heavy shopping to carry, I tend to walk into town, rather than drive. On this day, I noted that I'd walked just over 10.4 km (approximately 6½ miles) at Attenborough NR - my longest walk since getting the device. My total for the day was just over 13.0 km (8 miles). I realise that, for many, this may sound like a trivial distance, but I'm pleased to have done it.

I am not sure what my next post will feature, but there could be some snow in there somewhere!

Thank you for dropping by.