Joyce and I stayed with friends for a week in Chesterfield, Derbyshire and although not at all a bird or photographic week I, as usual managed to get away once or twice or find something while out and about. ( or cunningly suggesting somewhere to go that I thought might be good for seeing some wildlife).
One very early morning was spent with our friends son Mark, who spends a lot of time being an ‘outdoorsman’, wild camping and cooking out in the middle of nowhere, he knows all the best spots on the moors for deer and we spent some time watching a few while eating bacon baps, a pretty good way to start the day.
I have an invite to go back in the autumn for the rutting season, and maybe even camping out for the night ( or am I getting to old for that?) No. dont think so.
A visit on a very busy bank holiday Sunday to Cromford canal produced the expected approachable Little Grebes and then on to Bakewell where on the river a family of Mallards looked very cute in the beautiful light.
The best was a surprise though, a family day out and picnic at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire whereupon on parking up and getting out of the car I immediately heard the call of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which I soon found and realised it was excavating a nest hole in the tree which we had parked under, obviously that was me engaged for much of the time, but nobody seemed to mind, they know what I’m like!.
Another site I visited was Carr Vale owned by the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, a great site with a mixture of habitats, here I heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling and managed to locate it and get a couple of photos.
Adrian Davey
Adrian Davey has had a passion for birds from an early age when he would spend his pocket money on packets of 'Swoop' wild bird food to get close to the birds in the garden. His love of birds and the wildlife found in the world around him has inspired him to try to capture them in photographs as they go about their everyday lives.Living near Launceston on the (Devon side now) Cornwall/Devon border allows plenty of opportunities to visit many beautiful locations, favorites being the North Cornwall coast, the Lands End area and the Exe estuary,as well as traveling further afield both in Britain and overseas.
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