Eakring Birds
The birds of Eakring and Kersall - a brief history
 
Through a lack of previous coverage in the area, old records are extremely few and I have been able to trace just nine historical from the library of the Trent Valley/Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers and in Keith Naylor's privately published The rare and scarce birds of Nottinghamshire (1996).

These are, two records of Waxwing from Eakring village, a Great Grey Shrike at Eakring (being recorded from the Kneesall area in 1972 and 1973) a Hen Harrier at Kersall, Short-eared Owl at Eakring, a Wryneck at Kersall, female Pied Flycatcher at Eakring and the two Common Crane at Kersall in 1996 and a male Ring Ouzel (trapped and rung at Leyfields farm by Andy Chick) in 1997.

Several local residents have reported to me of past occurrences of Harriers, and I have little reason to doubt credibility, as my own sightings confirm this. Certainly, many other, now annually occurring species, must have turned up with regularity here before. Two that spring immediately to mind are Wheatear and Whinchat.

 
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Former breeding species

Habitat loss and present day scarcity, has seen several species' become extinct as breeding birds. Corn Bunting and Snipe are two which used to breed reguarly. Luckily, these are potentially the most likely to return at some time in the future. Another former breeding bird at Eakring was the Curlew, with one pair nesting at the same Red Hill site for years, before the ploughing up of it's favoured area of meadowland. Older residents can remember Corncrake and Nightingale

 
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