Wollaton Hall

On arrival at Wollaton Hall the weather was dry and bright but a cold breeze was blowing, a very wintry feel.

Wollaton Hall

We set off for the avenue of limes leading to the golf course clubhouse. Jackdaws were seen to be nesting in several of the limes. We also saw blue tits, crow, magpie, robin, blackbird, great tit, Canada geese and wood pigeon. Before reaching the clubhouse we turned about and made our way back up the avenue and into the garden area adjacent to the hall. We could hear the the yaffling call of a green woodpecker but didn't see it.

Nesting jackdaw

Foraging jackdaw

We could hear the warning call of a nuthatch and did eventually see it. We also saw wren, mandarin duck, chaffinch, mistle thrush, jay, collared dove and goldfinch. We then left the garden area and set off towards the park lake. Again we could hear the yaffling call of another green woodpecker but, as before, it was not seen.

Mandarin duck

On the way to the lake we saw, in flight, cormorant and greylag geese. As we reached the lake we could see coot, mallard, heron, mute swan, tufted duck and great crested grebe. We then made our way around the bottom of the lake spotting, long tailed tit, kestrel, Egyptian geese and moorhen. We also saw a large number of herons and their young on the small island at the edge of the lake. We then headed to the first cafe for some warm refreshment, spotting a lone pied wagtail along the way to finish our tally.

Pied wagtail

Egyptian goose

The tally: 32 species

Crow, jackdaw, magpie, Canada goose, robin, blue tit, blackbird, great tit, wood pigeon, wren, nuthatch, mandarin duck, chaffinch, mistle thrush, jay, collared dove, goldfinch, cormorant, black-headed gull, greylag goose, starling, coot, mallard, heron, mute swan, great crested grebe, tufted duck, long tailed tit, kestrel, Egyptian goose, moorhen and pied wagtail.