Attenborough Nature Reserve

A bright but cold start to our visit to Attenborough Nature Reserve- a winters day for sure. We set off from the main car park heading towards the rear garden of the visitors centre. On our way we could see Canada goose, mallard, tufted duck, coot, Egyptian goose, black-headed gull, mute swans, cormorant, gadwall and a goosander. The visitor centre garden was very quiet, no tree sparrows, just a blue tit on the feeders.

Gadwall

We then made our way back through the visitors centre and towards the bridge leading to the River Trent.  Along the path, in the hedgerow, we spotted both redwing and fieldfare. We also spotted dunnock, robin, chaffinch and great tit. Further along we entered the kingfisher hide. We could see greylag geese, wigeon, teal, cormorant, lapwing and a little egret.

Fieldfare

Redwing

We then moved on down to the elevated hide. There were fieldfare and redwing in abundance around the hide, along with, greenfinch, goldfinch, blackbird, crow and jackdaw. On the lake we could see goldeneye, goosander and wigeon, amongst a large number of assorted wildfowl. 

We then proceeded back along the path towards the Trent, spotting magpie, wood pigeon wren and yet more fieldfare along the way.

Magpie

We reached the Trent and walked along the adjacent footpath. Along the path we spotted long tailed tits, goldcrest, a chiffchaff (yes a chiffchaff) and a perched kestrel.

 

Kestrel

We then turned and made our way back to the visitors centre for refreshment. Along the way we spotted, moorhen, little grebe, greenfinch, goldfinch and a stock dove. A good mornings spotting.

The tally: 39 species

Robin, chaffinch, redwing, crow, jackdaw, black-headed gull, tufted duck, mute swan, goosander, gadwall, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, great crested grebe, mallard, coot, cormorant, tree sparrow, great tit, blue tit, wigeon, fieldfare, dunnock, lapwing, herring gull, magpie, little egret, teal, wren, greylag goose, wood pigeon, chiffchaff, goldcrest, goldfinch, greenfinch, kestrel, little grebe, goldeneye, moorhen and a stock dove.