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March 2018
Attenborough Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire
The first day of the meteorological Spring does not normally look like this in England but this year a polar vortex dubbed "The Beast From The East" brought a period of unusually cold weather to Britain. When this mass of cold air collided with the warm front derived from remnants of Storm Emma that was working its way up from Portugal, it resulted in heavy snowfalls and blizzard conditions over most of the country for a couple of days.
A few days later, all the snow had gone but it continued to stay unseasonally chilly for the rest of the month.
Hazy morning at Clifton Pond, Attenborough Nature Reserve
Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)
Water Rails were unusually visible at Attenborough during the middle of the month with at least three, which showed exceptionally well, in the small reedbed at the visitor's centre and several others dotted around the reserve.
Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)
Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)
Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)
Water Rail (Rallus aquaticus)
male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
male Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula)
A combination of a large amount of snowmelt and several days of constant heavy rain led to some quite high water levels on the reserve and the western paths were all completely flooded.
This male Bullfinch showed well for about 30 minutes while it fed on some bramble seeds along the main path one morning.
male Eurasian Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
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Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) in full courtship plumage
Courtship plumage in Cormorants is quite transitory and is only kept for the short period of courtship and the early part of the breeding season. The white plumes on its flank are usually lost by June and the white feathers on the head have generally worn away by early summer. The degree of white on the head is age-related with older birds having, on average, more white. Therefore, the bird pictured above is presumably a quite mature adult.
Eurasian Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris)
Woodpigeon (Columba palumbus)
immature Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) on Delta Pond
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They may not be used or copied in any form without prior written permission.
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