Notts Melodious

Out last Wednesday evening with Mark and Darren, we went up to Wykeham Forest and got really good views of at least three Nightjars plus a few Woodcocks roding and Tawny Owls calling, then out with Mark on Sunday, the plan was to head down to Wells in Norfolk for a Rose Coloured Starling then work our way back picking up a Melodious Warbler at Tiln GP near Retford along the way, however as we approached Retford on the way down we received news that the Melodious was still present but it was negative on the Starling so we decided to start at Tiln GP. We could hear the bird singing as we approached with plenty of mimicry involved and were fortunate to get decent views of it through another birders scope when we got there but thereafter although it sang almost incessantly from a little area of small conifers, due to the cool, cloudy and fairly windy conditions it remained low down and out of sight a lot of the time, back at the car we had a Hobby chasing some Hirundines over a field across the road. With no more news on the Starling we were at a bit of a loss what to do next but as we were nearby we thought we’d try for the Honey Buzzards at Welbeck, the day had brightened up a touch and several common Buzzards were floating around plus we had another Hobby but no Honey's showed. We headed back North and spent the remainder of the afternoon at Old Moor Wetlands, it was fairly quiet and we spent most of the time trying to photograph the Hirundines and Swifts without much success.