Tuesday 23 June 2009

black tailed gets the party started......

20/06/09
upton warren moors pool.
got news early mouning of my friend andy about a black tailed godwit at upton moors so after the regular earlswood routine(absolutly dead only 1 goldcrest shown briefly) we got to the moors.again dropped into the north moors hide and again the common tern came but only stayed for a short amount of time but a drake shoveler was unexpected in the middle of summer



a few reed warblers were on show but none gave a good photo oprotunity.as well as a few sedge warblers.there was little else on the north moors.walked down to east hide again.i checked the log book to find that the godwit had not been reported since the mouning.i checked on the sitting oystercatcher and saw that she had a young baby underneath her.this video only shows her and the nest but you cant see the baby...




a curlew flew by going south and looked like it landed at the flashes.but the godwit still hadent shown.we were getting to the stage where we were thinking it had left.i sat down at the one end of the hide and my dad sat at the other end(i helps for noting more species and there was nobody in the hide so it doesent matter does it.sitting at the door end of the hide i noticed the godwit ever so briefly through a small gap in the reeds/scrub/weeds stuff on the back of the east islands near some gulls.i called my dad but when he got over the bird had moved back behind the reeds(the bird would be a lifer for him but the 2nd ive seen after 1 at sandwell valley about 4 years ago.yes i know a 4 year gap between black-tailed godwts but between that time i didnt do any birding at good wader sites).after a 15 min gap the godwit appeared in the gap once again and showed to my dad but i missed it this time and it dissapeared back behind the reeds.at this point i hadent got a video or a photo.but luckily it reappeared there again and stood in the gap preening giving me the oprotunity to film it(bad light at about 8:40pm)




and the moment the godwit was spooked:




at 8:47 the bird was flusshed by a moorhen and flew south reaching a very high height in only a few seconds and becoming a distant speck.just as i was txting brian stretch the bird had flew i got a shout from my dad that the bird had dived at a 90 degree angle and looked to land at the flashes.i txt this and not long after left for home without visiting the flashes.


can anybody tell me what happened next?



highlights here are:


2 little grebe


5 g c grebe


5 gadwall


1 shoveler


1 OYC+1 chick


3 lapwing


1 black-tailed godwit(year tick)


1 curlew


7 common tern


1 stock dove


2 garden warbler


4 sedge warbler


3 cettis


8 reed warbler


7 reed bunting(1 singing male showing very well in a bush along the causway and got to around 1 metre from the bird)


MB

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