June and July- The Wyre Forest

My last June and July roundup mostly covered some of the avian delights I had seen at Upton Warren, but away from that I spent a long time down in the Wyre forest, looking for and photographing butterflies, but also keeping an eye and an ear out for any passing birds.

By far the rarest thing that I found was a stunning Dark-Green Fritilary, which despite originally identifying it as a female Silver washed, that later changed that evening, and it turned out that this species had gone practically extinct in the Wyre  a number of years ago, and my sighting was followed by a few more, which is great news.

Luckily, I had my Canon DSLR with me, and I was able to get up close and personal to a number of Fritilaries, including this stunningly fresh specimen which repeatedly returned and fed off a  thistle in one of the many flower meadows in the forest.

I also managed to find a Marbled White, which perched really nicely on ferns adjacent to one of the tracks. Although a fairly common butterfly, these still remain up there on my 'favorites' list.

The number of Silver-washed Fritilaries was superb, and they could literally be found throughout the forest. As is in their nature though, they were more content gliding around up in the treetops and tantalisingly dropping down low over the ground to flit around you before flying back up to the canopy.

Needless to say, this proved fairly aggravating, but eventually, a rather dapper female dropped down and perched really well and proceeded to show very nicely, sadly lacking the males gorgeous markings, but rather nice in itself.

Also showing off its silvery green underwing.

A few males chose to perch up distantly though, and I managed a few Digi-binned shots as they perched on nettles, which I'm sure got a  few 'phwarr' notes from me, Look at that!

Red admirals were common throughout the forest, and I eventually managed to track down a very photogenic black and red gem as it perched and warmed up in the sun.

The White Admirals were less than showy unfortunately, and tended to only perch up briefly once I had found them. One did perch up on trackside vegetation, but it was rather tatty, with large chunks taken out of the wings and bright sunshine glowing off its upperwing.

A few very stunning freshly emerged Comma's were also showing, with one choosing to warm up on my bad which proved a nice radiator for it!

I also managed much that I saw but didn't managed to photograph, such as Small Pearl-boardered Fritilaries and most Common butterflies. Dragonflys were represented by Four spotted Chasers, a single Golden-ringed Dragonfly as the highlights, with most of the common 'Dragons' of the forest also seen.

MB

HANG ON!

You didn't think i was going to do a post without mentioning birds right!!

Despite most birds been fairly quiet at this time of year, i still managed to 'connect' with all the forest specialities, such a Pied Flycatcher, and a large family party of Spotted Flycatchers. Tree Pipits also made an appearance, and i finally managed to connect with a Redstart, with a male showing in the vicinity of Lodge Hill Orchard. A number of Dippers were located, including a few juveniles, which were great to watch. A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was a nice surprise as it called loudly while I was watching White Admirals!

All in all a very enjoyable way to spend a number of days!

MB

Summer in the Wyre Forest! Woodland birds and butterflies

18/05/14

The Wyre forest in spring is one of my favourite birding destinations. Despite the hoards of ramblers, 'extreme' cyclists and marauding dogs, I always find that a walk in the Wyre is a great way to 'get away' from everything, just looking for birds and butterflies.

Today was no exception, and I went in hopeful to snag the entire plethora of our regular summer migrants.

First on the list, although I had seen two already was a singing male SPOTTED FLYCATCHER, already a good start, as a few years ago I truthfully struggled to find any throughout the summer. Luckily, the last couple of years has been more productive for them, and they seem to have also had much better breeding success! I found another singing male in another area of the Wyre also.

 

As always, WOOD WARBLERS were easy to pick up, with their very distinctive, and rather appealing 'spinning coin' song, and this could be heard almost constantly throughout the walk! Although many remained as 'heard only' I did eventually track down a few birds, including a pair which gave stunning views, showing off the rather beautiful mix of moss greens, bright yellows and dazzling whites on their plumage!

A total of 4 Tree Pipits were singing at various points in our circular walk, including a few which were showing nicely and parachuting from the tops of tree. Weirdly, one of the located singing birds was well away from one of the usual areas, and rather than being in a clearing as usual, had instead chosen to hold territory in the middle of a deep woodland, below the forest canopy, obviously resulting in an inability to 'parachute' display flight, rather choosing to sing from a perch.

 

 

 

As the more acutely trained of you may hear in the previous video, there was also a stunning male PIED FLYCATCER singing close to where the Pipit was, which was actively defending a nest box adjacent to the track. 

 

 

In previous years I have seen male Pied Flycatchers with small amounts of grey on the back and upperwings, however this bird really was a very extreme 'grey' bird, which at times resembled a Shrike from behind! I can't say that I have ever seen a Pied Fly like this before!

 

(Sorry about the Dog panting all over the camera in this video, as previously stated, the number of marauding dogs was extremely high on this fine summers day!)

 

 

I managed to find 3 male Pied Flys, and reports from others seem to suggest they have had a much greater presence in the forest this year, which is great news, as for the last few years, numbers have been dwindling!

 

A single juvenile DIPPER, in fact my first of the year, was located along the brook, and a pair of Mandarin did their best to try to avoid being detected!

 

As well as its birdlife, the Wyre is famed for it's Butterflies, but being fairly early in the season, other than decent numbers of Pearl-Bordered Fritilary it was rather quiet!

 

 

All in all a very successful visit, and one that would be repeated throughout the summer!

MB

Wyre Forest birding

29/03/13
Each of my previous visits into the Wyre this year i have failed to drop down to walk along the brook, and therefore i was lacking species such as Dipper and Mandarin, so i vowed to head down there to get them!
We first walked the railway line, stopping off at Lodge Hill, quickly picking up 6+ Brambling, 2 Lesser Redpoll and 4 Bullfinch in trees surrounding the Orchard.

Dropping down onto the brook, we picked up a few Grey Wagtail, until eventually, i heard the distinctive flight call of a Dipper as one sped past me going downstream. We quickly found the bird sitting on rocks in the middle of the brook, and we were treated to decent views.

The bird flew slightly, but now gave a clearer view for a brief time before being flushed by a walker, sending the bird further upstream again, upon which time we decided to leave it alone. We had had a few minutes decent viewing, which is more than can be said for some times.

We found another Dipper in another park of the brook, but this bird quickly disappeared.

Just as we were walking back to the car, i scanned the small pool at the base of the hill, to be greeted with the view of a pair of Mandarin Ducks, my first of the year!

Following this we were driving past Callow Hill, and i picked up a raptor being mobbed by 2 Carrian Crows. As we neared i became aware of the birds flight action, confirming the bird to be a Red Kite, and not one of those dodgy reintroduced birds, this was a bird from the welsh populations. It so happens that late March is a very good time to pick up Red Kites within north Worcs, and in general the Severn Valley, as the Welsh birds often use it as a migration pathway. We stopped the car, and i fired off a few shots as the bird got further and further away.

MB

Officially Awsome!!!!!- Continued

25/02/11

Wyre Forest

with the morning with the waxwings having passed, we decided to head into the wyre again, to try and find a lesserpecker.

Unfortunatly we dipped on the pecker, But there was some decent birds around,

4+ HAWFINCH were in the Orchard, and being generally quite annoying sitting far away in trees, or flying out of sight very quickly. i did try to get some photos but they are terrible so i wont even put them on,

A party of 6 BRAMBLING was in the beech trees around the orchard, and show well, if briefly, further along the railway line we found a flock of 50c Lesser Redpoll, but they were very flighty due to a barking dog, and i couldnt really scan them, 20 mins waiting and we left.

following this we had a walk along dowles brook, where we quickly stumbled upon apair of DIPPER. we stood on the track next to the brook, and were treated to superb views of the pair ( one in particular) as then fed in the brook.

At the small frog pool's at the bototm of dry mill lane, there was a pair of Mandarin swimming, about, another check for lesserpecker failed and we left.

MB

2nd showing

27/12/10
Blackstone- Bewdley
i couldnt resist another peak at the smew, a bird this good on the patch and im willing to make the most of it!!!
well what can i say, a gorgeous bird posed gorgeously, at times down to about 5 metres, what a bloody great bird!!!



(A 2nd Win SMEW)


i spent a couple of hours here in the end, because the was some amazing birds that i may never see on the patch again.
there were 5 Drk GOLDENEYE moving up and down the river, and between bewdley town and blackstone there was 14 TUFTED DUCK ( a record count), another record count of 7 LITTLE GREBE also, a grey wagtail perched on roofs in bewdley town and an Ad COMMON GULL was sitting on the ice in bewdley town but flew around abit then flew north.

(Common Gull)
20c GOOSANDER were either on the unfrozen parts of the river or flying over, after checking the town centre for any anthya ducks (only tufties) we walked back downriver to blackstone as i had already pusshed time as i had to go out, but before we left we finally cought up with the 2 DIPPER on the river on the frozen ice at blackstone, and we had greay views, sitting out on the ice, diving into the fast flowing river, but eventually they flew off south below the road bridge.

what can i say, the patch has got me in its hold once again!!!!!!!
I LOVE MY PATCH!!!!!
GREAT BIRDS- GREAT PATCH- GREAT COMPANY!!!!
MB

woods in the wyre

in the entire 5 years i have been birding lickhill(with nearly 500 hours spent there) i was not alone.as a few of you may know i usually bird around lickhill on my own but today i was joined by my dad.

3/05/09

wow another patch tick a COMMON SANDPIPER,wow,out of all the birds would expect,this is one that i didnt.the whole patch has no suitable habitat for them but one turned up on the river north of lickhill towards the next caravan park.not knowing it was there we were striding up the river when we haerd a call that we both recognised for the day before at the warren,we glanced at the river to see a small wader with pulsating wings flying downriver towards lickhill.after this the bird wasent seen again(proberbly due to the few ignorant dogwalkers that let their pets jump in the river while you are obviously watching something there,one time at lickhill i was watching a pair of escaped mandarins on the river some idiot dog walker lobs a stick near the ducks and flushed them after a rampaging dog jumps next to them,this was the last time i them saw them after a few months of residence)well over with that rant.even the blackcaps had disapeared and we only saw 2 i must admit there was little else and it was very quiet(a typicle lickhill day)4 skylark and 2 cormorant were noteworthy.now to the main focous of the day

wyre forest

this is the first time ive visited the brook for ages, we had 2 wood warblers(year tick)their hearts out but no photos as they were deep in leaves and just viewable.i must admit it was quieter than i thought it would be but we did note a lot of grey wags (counted 7 along the brook),just as we were getting out the car at dry mill lane we had 10+ swift over,near the meadow at knowles coppice we had a grey heron in the brook(the forst ive seen here)

at the other end of the meadow we had a male redstart in the bushes that boarder the main path,but the view was brief.

we walked all the way to the road north of lodge hill farm,and at the top of the hill we sat on a logged tree and watched garden warbler,chiffchaff,blackcap,willow warbler and goldcrest hopping about in bushesup to this point we had logged(highlights):

2 stock dove

10+ swift

3-5 kingfishers

7 grey wags

2 dipper that only my dad saw as they flew off upstream

2 redstart

1 garden warbler

2 blackcap

1 whitethroat

3 willow warbler

2 wood warbler

4 chiffchaffs

2 goldcrest in very tall pine trees(looks good for crossbill)

again we gave lodge hill farm a miss and walked along the brook but to little reward although 2 baby tree rats(squirrals-grey for normal people) at a nest site was cute:

at the very moment i said it was quiet my dad pointed down to a pair of mandarin below us2 meters away.they posed well but it was quite dark under the trees.i do know a lot of birders overlook them as being plastic but nobody can deny there amazing beauty.ill end the post with pics and videos of the manders.highlights(including things already mentioned)

2 mandarin

3 stock doves

10+ swift

3-5 kingfishers

7 grey wags

3 dipper and i saw one crap photo

3 redstart

1 garden warbler

2 blackcap

1 whitethroat

3 willow warbler

2 wood warbler

4 chiffchaff

2 goldcrest

i just love the way they can change the shape of the eye stripe(watch later in film)

and in a tree(30ft up)

MB