Trip Reports - 2025

Clumber Park

7 members met up at Clumber for our first 2025 trip, delayed from last weekend when it was much too icy underfoot. The car park was almost full and the place extremely busy. After a short wander along the lakeside, we spent a while in the woods by the chapel hunting for the elusive Hawfinches. The woods were busy with tits, Siskins, Blackbirds, Stock Doves and Jackdaws and we also found Treecreeper and Nuthatch before finding at least 2 Hawfinches. They were quite high in the trees but all had good views through a telescope before we headed to the bird hide. We had a coffee there where the feeders were busy and we added Great Spotted Woodpecker to the list. Before reaching Hardwick village. where we had our lunch, we recorded a pair of Goosander and Shoveler on the edge of the frozen inlet there. The main lake was clear of ice and there was a very large number of Gulls there. There were hundreds of both Common and Black-headed Gulls with smaller numbers of Herring and Lesser Black-backed. After a short visit to the ford, we returned on the other side of the lake where a Little Egret and 2 Great Egrets were seen. Wildfowl recorded were Tufted Duck Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Shoveler, Pochard, Canada Goose, Mute Swan and Greylag Goose. The only raptor recorded was Kestrel and we only saw one Great Crested Grebe and no waders. We were back at the car park before 2:00 and had recorded a total 42 species.