Wild Tamworth : Staffordshire Moorlands. Another Lifer.

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Staffordshire Moorlands. Another Lifer.

Builders in the house, so left Mrs Moocher to the chaos, took my birding equipment and my dog, and disappeared in the direction of the Staffordshire Moorlands. A Lesser Scaup that had been reported on Tittesworth Reservoir in Leek for the last 5 weeks was the object of my desire.I arrived and headed straight to the visitors centre to see if the bird had been reported today and to get an idea of what direction to head in. One of the staff in the visitor centre said they knew who could help me and they put a call out for "John" on the radio. John arrived and informed me that not only was it about, he knew where it was. He went out of his way to put me on the bird, and I was very grateful.

The Lesser Scaup started moving down towards the causeway, so I drove down to the first car park to get some better views. It didn't come close enough for good pictures, but I managed some poor record shots through the scope using my phone.

Poor record shot. Lesser Scaup.

We spent an enjoyable few hours at Tittesworth, and I managed to photograph a Lesser Redpoll near the feeding station. I was told the feeding station had been seeing regular visits from Brambling, but not while I was there unfortunately.

Twtch on!

Lesser Redpoll

While at Tittesworth I met a gentleman called Graham. During our chat, he mentioned that he enjoys wildlife photography and is lucky enough to also have Badgers visiting his garden. He has a website that he displays his pictures on, and it's well worth a look. Click here to visit.

From here, Taz and I headed across the Staffordshire Moorlands into the Derbyshire Dales. Ending up at Carsington Water. A good wander around for a couple of you're ended an enjoyable days birding. Saw a flock of about 25 Barnacle Geese, and near the visitor centre, the largest flock of Tree Sparrows I have ever seen. About 70 birds in total, in the trees near a bird table, taking turns to visit it.