birdpix
birds are good for you
Vicar Water Country Park
Vicar Water Country Park ,is signposted from Clipstone village,off Mansfield road on the B6030.There is ample ,free car parking and a visitor centre.The skyline is dominated by the pit head stocks from Clipstone Colliery.From the car park and visitor centre ,walks take you through a variety of habitat,you can see Sherwood pines which you can walk to from Vicar water.The pit opened in the 1920s,the main pond was put in around 1870,by building dams,originally for fishing.There are good paths for walking and cycling,some of the paths are quite steep though.
On the last day in May ,we attended a photographic workshop arranged by the East Midlands branch of Butterfly Conservation and run by Simon Jenkins .Simon has some excellent photographs of butterflys and caterpillers.After the workshop ,we walked around the site,led by Simon,who pointed out the following butterfly species:Dingy Skipper,Brimstone,Large White,Orange Tip,Small Copper,Brown Argus,Common Blue,Peacock,Speckled Wood,and Small Heath as well as variety of micro moths and some caterpillers ,for example drinker moth caterpiller.My wifes butterfly pictures are going to appear on her website soon.....See links page for Captain Chaos & Butterfly conservation sites.
All three woodpecker species have been seen on the site, we only managed to see Green Woodpecker on this particular day.The former pit land ,reminds me of the former Pleasley pit ,similar habitat ,indeed the birds are similar too ,we saw plenty of Skylarks ,Meadow pipits,Linnet ,Yellowhammers ,Kestrel ,Green wood pecker ,all Pleasley regulars!
Mandarin ducks and Eqyptian geese are resident at Vicar Water.Pictures below:Skylark,Grey wagtail ,yellowhammer,mallards (on the frozen pond) Look at those Coot feet!
.
