Some people are really lucky and have places like Minsmere or Titchwell as a local patch. But the rest of us have to use what’s available and my patch is the Manvers Mounts behind the old Manvers School (now the Castle College) on Carlton Road not far from the city centre.

The Mounts, from the bottom field
(click for panorama movie)

It is really just two fields separated by a slope, used by the local trainee arsonists and car thieves. This latter problem has been addressed by fencing in most of the area with heavy gates and prison like fences.

It is not what you would call prime birding territory, in fact when I first took my binoculars up there several of the locals laughed saying "There's no birds here". But I go there every day with my dog Jake and started to note changes in the birds there. All through winter Gulls rest on the fields but then in spring they are gone, off to their breeding sites, what day did they go? My favourite summer migrant the Swift graces the area with its presence, what date did they first arrive and when do they leave? These questions puzzled me and I started to take notes and slowly over the 15 years I have had Jake, answers have come.

The bottom field was said to have been a land fill site and is prone to sinkage, what at first looked a nice flat field now has lots of dips in it. Jake loves to chase a ball and I started to throw it into these dips, dreaming that one day a Wheatear would pop out. Imagine my shock when one did. This seemed like a miracle at the time. A usual daily count for the area brings 12 to 13 species, so a Wheatear is like finding the Holy Grail and it has not stopped at just Wheatears, in the time I have watched I have found Redstarts, Lesser Whitethroats, (the Common Whitethroat is a summer visitor and breeds). One year 5 Ring Ouzels dropped in, a Rowan tree once had 72 Waxwings in it and another time 7 or 8 Spotted Flycatchers hunted from the bushes under the large block of flats.

Towards the Top Field

The top field used to be a sports field and there is an overgrown area where Shotputters and Javelin throwers plied their trade. Now Elderberry bushes, Hawthorn and Buddleia grow, this is my migrant trap, here I have found resting Skylark and Whinchat (well Jan found this really! And she only visits the place a couple of times a year). A Woodcock flew low over the field and nearly gave me a heart attack, I got so excited!

Just lately Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers have been seen, the Great Spots have been flying through, but the Greens tend to feed near the ramp between the fields. Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps are seen in spring and autumn. I even think Blackcaps breed in the gardens that border the patch and they have been known to overwinter. Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipit have wintered here in the past and Pink-footed Geese and Whooper Swans have flown over.

But the best is just beginning to happen, every now and then a Kestrel hunts the slope that separates the fields and sometimes a Sparrowhawk flashes by or circles lazily in the sky. Very welcome birds, but no longer the stars of the raptors, now on occasion we see Peregrine or even a Buzzard. After finding out about the Peregrines on the Newton Building in town I have expected them to fly over the Mounts, but a BUZZARD! In the centre of Nottingham. My son Rick has been with me when this bird has been seen, so I know I’m not hallucinating. We cannot really lay claim to finding this bird as other dog walkers a couple of days before we saw it told us about it. Of course I told them it could not possibly be a Buzzard and then it flew low over us, shows what I know!

The point I'm trying to make is if you can find somewhere and if you watch it long enough, you too will notice changes, see different birds and enjoy them, because they will be 'your birds'.