.King's Mill Birding

King's Mill Reservoir is a medium-sized reservoir sandwiched between the towns of Sutton in Ashfield & Mansfield in west Nottinghamshire. It covers approximately 70 acres (28 ha) and is maintained naturally by the River Maun. Most of the edge of the reservoir is vegetated with trees and scrub, predominantly willow but also ash, birch, popular, oak and sycamore. Patches of Phragmites and reedmace can also be found in several areas. In close proximity to the reservoir are a number of paddocks and areas of arable land, although these have been significantly reduced recently with the construction of the new (unwanted and waste of time) A617 bypass!

The total number of species recorded at KMR currently stands at an impressive 218! Notable species to have occurred here over the years include - Red-throated Diver, Great-northern Diver, all 3 scarce Grebes, Shag, Little Egret, Purple Heron, White Stork, Barnacle Geese, Dark-bellied Brent Geese, Ruddy Shelducks, Ferruginous Duck, Lesser Scaup, Eider, Long-tailed Duck, Velvet Scoter, Honey Buzzard, Red Kite, Rough-legged Buzzard, Red Grouse, Corncrake, Avocet, Temminck's Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper, Grey Phalarope, Arctic Skua, Great Skua, Sabine's Gull, Kittiwakes, Whiskered Tern, Wryneck, Dipper, Nightingale, Siberian Chiffchaff, Firecrests, Bearded Tit, Great Grey Shrike, Raven, Twite, Lapland Bunting & Snow Bunting.

The Reservoir is well-known locally for the significant visible migration watches that have taken place over the years and continue to this day, particularly between September and November. Large numbers of hirundines, Meadow Pipits, thrushes, finches and other migrants are regularly recorded; in total, well over 200,000 birds have been logged during these watches since 1990! Looking at those statistics, an outsider would assume that KMR lies within some well known migration fly-way like the Trent valley but this isn't the case. It's just that at KMR, the seasoned birders there spend 80% of their time just staring at the skies, looking, listening, counting and wishing!!