Attingham Park NT

As I said at the end of the last post we managed to book a slot with the National Trust at Attingham Park in Shropshire for Monday just gone. It was pretty well organised when we got there, with a socially distanced check-in. Once in the park it was a one way system around the estate, with various route options, the house itself was of course closed, but we only ever do the house on our first visit to any estate, we go for the walks in the main part.

The first part of the walk past the house, with the bonus of our first House Martins of the year, then out onto the grounds was a bit busy for our liking with a few people not distancing properly, but we soon diverged from the main route and were out on our own. The first wildlife, although not truly wild were the resident Fallow Deer;

Just after these photos, the heavens opened and we took shelter under some Oak Trees, this happened to be a good move as from our shelter we saw, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tit and I think a Spotted Flycatcher.

Once the rain stopped we carried on, not seeing much else apart from Crows, Jackdaw and Woodpigeon, then as we turned a corner there was a bird sitting on the end of a bare branch about 80 yards away, a female Redstart, we were over the moon! We then found the male, near a convenient bench, so we settled down and watched. In the end we had two pairs of Redstart hunting and disappearing into the trees and back to the nests.

Just after this we were back in the woods, plenty of birds singing but with the dense foliage, much more difficult to find, although another Spotted Flycatcher did give us a view.

As we headed back towards the house and the car, we took a few opportunities to sit and watch (and rest!) and were rewarded with a nice male Blackcap:

So a lovely day and 3 new species for the year, so we crawl on to 117, way behind this time last year but we had been to Lesvos, so that boosted our 2019 total somewhat.

Who knows what's next!

Attingham Park, Shropshire

Our winter visit to Attingham for the Snowdrops and a lovely walk took place on Thursday, it was a bit of a dull and cold afternoon, but the Snowdrops still looked fantastic and there were plenty of birds about too. Hoever they were all pretty camera shy, or I was just to slow to get a shot.

At least the Snowdrops don't move, perhaps I should ditch birding for 'flowering' !

I did manage one bird photo!

The back of a Treecreeper!

We did see quite a few birds on our walk though...

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Goosander

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Tit

Grey Heron

House Sparrow

Jackdaw

Jay

Long-tailed Tit

Magpie

Mallard

Moorhen

Mute Swan

Nuthatch

Pheasant

Pied Wagtail

Redwing

Robin

Rook

Song Thrush

Starling

Treecreeper

Woodpigeon

So not bad at all!

Attingham Park NT - Shropshire

The other week we drove over to Attingham to have a look at the Snowdrops and have a walk around the estate. The Snowdrops were magnificent and my photos really don't do them justice:

Of course wandering around there were some birds about, the highlight probably being Treecreepers,

there were plent of Pheasant about too.

Up in the Deer Park we came across a flock of Redwing, that gave us good views, but wouldn't let me get close enough for a decent photo, although this one hung around for a few seconds longer than the rest,

of course there were Deer in the Deer Park as well,

So all in all a very enjoyable walk, that also included, Jay, Mute Swan, Wren, Mallard, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Great & Blue Tit, Nuthatch and plenty of Corvids. We heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker, but never saw it.

Attingham Park, Shropshire

Taking advantage of the fine weather again on Sunday, we went for a National Trust day and visited Attingham Park in Shropshire, where we know there are great woodland walks, river and a deer park.

Despite being an aviation 'enthusiast; the afternoon was somewhat marred by a low flying helicopter circling the park for I would guess nearly an hour, it nearly drove us berserk! As a result there was nothing to see in the wood, everything was keeping it's head down.

There were some interesting fungi in the woods to make up for it:

Finally after the helicopter departed and we had been walking a while we came across some pheasant both in the woodland and then out in the deer park:

In all we must have seen upwards of 30.
Otherwise it was just Corvids around the deer park. Nearing the house again there were a few Mute Swans on the river

and a large number of Pied Wagtail on the lawn in front of the house.

We then went to the courtyard tea room and indulged in a slice of treacle tart with a pot of tea. It was here we had our best birding encounter of the afternoon. Nothing exciting but a good show by, Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Chaffinch and a splendid Nuthatch:

Hoping for decent weather again next weekend, I feel an Upton Warren visit is called for! Although if we have good weather in the week a lunch time walk around Haden Hill or along the canal to Warrens Hall NR might be on the cards.