The swifts have arrived!  I saw the first ones over my husband’s allotment in Wollaton on 3^rd of the month, though had not seen any in West Bridgford.  But the next day, there they were and I can see them now soaring around way up in the sky catching flies, and occasionally, swooping down close to the rooftops screeching wildly.

  A couple of days ago, something caught my eye, and I was just in time to see a swift wriggling its way under the loose roof tiles of the empty house on the other side of the road.  I’ve read that they nest in colonies, so this is good news for the swifts who’ve found access to a lovely safe nesting site, but bad news for whoever eventually takes on the house which has been empty for some months now.

           A couple of weekends ago, I persuaded my computer obsessed family that we really should get out for a walk, and with the promise of ‘tea in the pub’ on the way home, we all piled into the car and drove into the wilds of Derbyshire.  The fields were full of new lambs, and we saw a number of swallows zooming about near farms and barns.  We had no real plan of where we were going, but ended up in the village of Tideswell, which is very pretty.  Driving through Tideswell towards Miller’s Dale (Multimap) there is a visitor’s car park with a picnic area, which is where we parked and started our walk.  The footpath is very easy going, and links with the Monsal trail. There’s a fast flowing stream that runs alongside for quite a way, and further on flows into a river where we saw several trout.  We didn’t see a lot of birds that day, but we did see a grey wagtail flitting about down near the water, and amazingly up near the car park, a pair of redstarts. I’d never seen a redstart before, but the male was quite unmistakable with his red, black, white and grey plumage, and we watched him for quite a while nipping in and out of the gaps in the dry stone wall.

        Last weekend, I made my first ever visit to Bunny Woods (this seems ridiculous, as they are so close to home), and have resolved to go more often.  We initially went to see the bluebells which are so lovely at the moment, but of course there were birds to be seen (and heard).  We saw numerous blackbirds, thrushes, chaffinches, blue tits, great tits, robins, wrens, and chiffchaff.  Also, possibly a willow warbler, but I find them so hard to distinguish, especially when they won’t keep still.  I also caught site of a nuthatch hopping up and down an oak tree trunk, but not for long.  There were a lot of noisy pheasants there as well, although we didn’t see them; only heard them honking in the woods like old fashioned car horns.

        Back home in the garden, we finally have residents in our nest box.  The box has been up on the hawthorn tree for three years now, and although a pair of blue tits were quite interested last year, they decided not to buy it in the end.  But now we’ve seen both male and female great tits going into the box, with beaks full of caterpillars, and yesterday I actually heard the chicks each time one of the parents arrived. Hopefully, they’ll raise their family successfully, and none of them will find their way into our fat cat!

 

Till the next time, The Rutland Road Bird Blogger.