Year List Update

 In the last two weeks, I've added a couple of new species to this year's Year List.

The first new species, Stock Dove (108) was added last week at The Avenue Washlands. The next species, Alexandrine Parakeet, was seen today in Graves Park, Sheffield. Obviously, this species is still not on the British List, so it won't count towards this year's total, but it's still nice to see!

Alexandrine Parakeet

Also seen here were: Mistle Thrush, Great-spotted Woodpecker , Woodpigeon, Stock Dove and, of course, the Ring-necked Parakeets.

Ring-necked Parakeet

Alexandrine Parakeets

Back in May, I saw a piece on Springwatch, about parakeets in Graves Park, Sheffield. I knew that Ring-necked were present in decent numbers, but I wasn't aware that another species, Alexandrine Parakeet, was also present.

Jayne and I had a couple of visits during the summer and autumn months, but, because of the leaves, we didn't manage to see them. We're pretty sure we heard them, but, for a new species, I really need a definitive sighting (and hopefully a picture). Anyway, we went back today, and, as you see, we managed to get both good sightings and some photos!

Alexandrine and Ring-necked Parakeets

It was difficult to say how many were present, but, I'm pretty sure the above photo shows a pair, along with a pair of Ring-necked. Both species were busy exploring potential nest sites. I'll try and get back again in the new year to get more evidence of breeding.

This species doesn't appear to be on the British List yet, so I can't officially count it, but I'll make note of it, so that if (or when) it's added, I'll know when I first saw it!

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Checking back in my records, the last time I saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was at Linacre in January 2012 (see here). Therefore, news of  birds drumming in Graves Park, Sheffield got me interested, and on Sunday morning, I drove across to see if I could catch up with this species.

I arrived at 7am, and within 5 minutes I'd spotted, and heard, a female bird drumming on a dead branch. She hung around for about 2 minutes, before flying off. She returned again 5 minutes later, and drummed again for another couple of minutes, before flying off again. An excellent record! I didn't manage any photos, so here's one from  Linacre back in 2012.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Year List update:

113 – Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

114 – Wigeon (seen at Linacre on 12/3)