September 2026: It was wonderful to return to Straws Bridge, affectionately known as ‘Swan Lake’ in Ilkeston, for our first bird-watching event following the long summer break. We even started the morning with another visit to The Bottle Kiln, well worth a visit.  Though our gathering was quite small—consisting of Jean Taylor, Paul Martinez, John Kennedy, Robert Downing and Sally Lord—the intimate size of the group in no way reflected the sheer abundance of feathered wildlife waiting for us. The nature reserve felt beautifully alive as we set out along the waterside paths to both spot and listen. Over the… Read More

June 2026: As most of our members weren’t available for our June meeting it was cancelled. We will be meeting up again the second Friday of September. So this will be my last posting til then. I thought I’d raise a concern with you all re feeding garden birds May to October. Apologies if you already know this! The RSPB advise not to feed birds during this time unless it’s a few mealworms suet or fat balls that would be eaten quickly. This is to encourage the birds to forage They also advise to not use flat feeders and to… Read More

May 2026: What a lovely day for our walk round the Rivendell Field and the Netherfield Lagoons. Certainly was a big difference to our last outing there when the weather was dreadful. The only downside was that the hedges bushes and trees were all in extensive leaf cover, but we soldiered on using the wonderful Merlin App to help us identify birds by their song and calls. We all got to be experts in identifying Wrens and Cetti’s Warblers as their calls are so distinctive. Sedge and Reed Warbler's were also around the area too. This year I noticed that… Read More

April 2026: What a fantastic day out at Rutland Water. The sun shone, the birds were in fine voice and the Ospreys could be seen soaring above us in the clear blue sky. Magic!!  Not too many water birds but after some of the awful days where we couldn’t venture out it counted as one of our better birding outings! Mind you I’ve only to see some long tail tits and I’m made up - we had the additional pleasure of spotting Coal Tits which are far from common.  Paul and John took some great snaps of the birdies -… Read More

March 2026: Yes! A successful days birding at Attenborough Nature Reserve! The weather was a bit breezy and chilly but sunny and fine - ideal birding weather! We were hopeful that we’d at least see something and we were not disappointed. The highlight of the day was seeing the Great Crested Grebes eyeing one another up with a bit of a courtship display and some nest building. They went off and a little Coot popped over to give their nest a close inspection and looked like he or she thought it was a des res and was going to pop… Read More

February 2026: Well Friday the 13 was a rainy drizzly horrible day. The birders left McDonald’s more driven by hope than being convinced we’d see anything. So setting off to the lagoons via the field near the new estate we were most chuffed to see a group of Long Tail Tits in the trees just as we walked onto the path by the dyke. A few other small birds were out n about but we were nearly all defeated by the grim weather. Paul having his full kit of waterproofs on trudged onto the lagoons n the rest of us… Read More