Third time lucky...

Today saw the end of the Easter break and a return to work, for some! After I had dropped Lynda at work I headed off, once again, to Allestree Park in search of the elusive Mandarin. This time it proved to be third time lucky and I managed to find a solitary bird hiding amongst some branches that dipped down into the lake. Species number 82 was now on my “10-Mile List”!

The two lakes at Allestree Park.

The only other highlight amongst the 28 species seen at Allestree was a group of three Goldcrests that were displaying to each other less than 10 feet from where I stood. The orange crown feathers of one male bird were by far the brightest I’ve ever seen.

My favourite part of the reserve at Elvaston.

After Allestree I had a short visit to Elvaston Castle Country Park, a visit made all the shorter due to the amount of kids and dogs running about! I had planned on having a walk around the whole of the grounds but, because of all the noise, I went straight into the small nature reserve that is tucked away in a quiet corner of the park. I didn’t manage to add any extra birds to my year list but did get some good views of Buzzard, Goldcrest (again), Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Siskin, Bullfinch and Jay.

A recently felled tree on the reserve.