I left home once the rush hour traffic had subsided and reached Parkend by 10am. There were a number of places I wanted to visit, all in close proximity and Parkend church was my first stop. I'd not been there before but there have been reports all winter of good sightings of crossbills which come to drink from the puddles in the turning/parking circle by the church gates. The church is reached by what seems like a forest track which opens out at the top. I parked and immediately noticed someone had put out some bird seed, which was being taken by great tits, blue tits, robins, nuthatches and chaffinches... but disappointingly no crossbills or hawfinches. So after a wait of half an hour, I left for my next stop, the RSPB reserve Nagshead.
It was still cold enough to keep my coat on although the sun was shining and the sky was clear. Visits to the two hides and a walk around part of the reserve, found me plenty of blue tits, great tits and coal tits, four or five jays, and my highlight of the morning.. a lesser spotted woodpecker! Other people I spoke to were also searching for this small woodpecker, but had not heard or seen it. I decided to take a path leading off to the longer trail and shortly afterwards heard a intermittent tapping noise, after looking around I eventually found that it was coming from a tree close by, and I could make out the small size and black and white barring of a lesser spotted woodpecker.Iit did not come into full view long enough to take a record shot, but I felt very smug, especially when others said they had not managed to find it! I also recorded my first Comma butterfly of the year here.
After a return visit to Parkend church to eat my lunch ( still no crossbills!) I drove over to New Fancy View where there is a short steep climb from the carpark to a view point, where goshawks and other birds of prey can often be seen. It was getting warm now, and after a wait, a shout 'goshawk!' went up and indeed a bird came into view flying at first into the distance then returning slightly closer as it flew past. I enjoyed viewing it through my binoculars as I knew I wouldn't be close enough for a photo. Three buzzards were also circling around and 'mewing'.
My final call was at Cannop ponds, where I was pretty well guaranteed to find mandarin ducks and indeed there were half a dozen or so, the males looking fabulous in their colourful plumage. Someone had put out some food so they were initially out on the bank before returning to the water.
Parkend church
puddles for crossbills
nuthatch
view from hide at Nagshead RSPB
Nagshead woodland
comma
jay
Cannop ponds...
...and mandarins
View across Cannop ponds
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