Migration in Worcestershire! Black Terns and waders.

27/04/14

With the weather looking as superb as it did for dropping some passage migrants, (that being Waders and Terns) the fairly easy decision to get out and bird was taken, and it was down to Grimley pits, as being suitably underwatched there was always the potential to find something!

 

On arrival, we joined up with another local birder and went about scanning from the viewpoint.  Other than 2 Common Sandpiper, we failed to find any passage waders from here, but a nice number of Yellow Wagtails and 2 White Wagtails were showing on the Causeway and mud, so we walked down the track to get a better view.

 

We were just reaching the corner of the path when a dark wading bird took off from a hidden area behind the causeway.

 

WHIMBREL!

 

Luckily, the bird didn't want to go anywhere, and dropped straight onto the shoreline of the east bank, and spent the remainder of its time here feeding. It could often disappear among the long grass however, and combined with the distance this meant I didn't really attempt to get any better photos than when it first landed.

 

 

 

 

 

A large flock of Hirundines were hawking over the pools, and these were joined by two Swifts, my first of the year, which sped around the pools briefly before heading off north.

No doubt attracted by these, a small Falcon speeding low in from the north proved to be my 2nd HOBBY of the year, which gave a great view as it flew low directly over our heads before continuing on south.

 

 

I went down to check to south end of the pools, but while doing so received news that the bird I had predicted would turn up had, but at Upton Warren. So, following a 15 minute car journey I was pulling into the Moors Pool car park, and soon after enjoying the sight of 3 stunning summer plumaged BLACK TERNS!

I miss the summer plumaged birds most years as they seem to always show up when I am away, so I was very grateful to have these birds thoughtfully drop in while I was birding just down the road.

 

Even more thoughtfully of them, they chose to land a few times on the sticks and platform adjacent to the west track, giving great views, and allowing me to get a few snaps of this 'plumage tick' for me.

 

 

They flew around the pool regularly though, and spent much of the time calling to each other, no doubt still feeling a huge migratory and breeding urge. A couple of times they all flew up fairly high, but each time they dropped back down to again resume feeding over the pool.

 

I even managed to get all 3 Black Terns in a picture.

 

 

 

After a while the Terns were forced off their perched by a pair of Mallard, and at that point we chose to head off as a 'quick drop into Grimley' turned out to a whole afternoons birding.

 

MB

Waterbirds and a Chat

5/10/13

An evening drop into Upton Warren was fairly eventful. A stop at the Moors revealed a pair of PINTAIL which were the first i had seen here this year.

The flashes faired slightly better though, with a nice little array of waders. A single winter plumaged DUNLIN was feeding at the back of the flash before flying north towards the Moors Pool after only a few minutes. The other wader highlight was a flock of 5 RUFF which were very mobile around the flashes, feeding incessantly.

It has in fact been a very good year for this species at Upton Warren, with an almost continual presence throughout the entire autumn period, which contracts significantly to the last few years which has seen relatively few records of fairly short staying birds. Singles of both Green and Common Sandpiper were also present.

6/10/13

As i had still failed to connect with a Whinchat this year i became very tempted by news of the presence of 3 around Holt, so early the next morning i headed down there, and after a short walk, a single stunning juvenile WHINCHAT perched up close by, flycatching from an area of amazing looking habitat.

I find it incredible that i could manage 10 months into a year without seeing a Whinchat, considering the numbers of them i saw last year it came as somewhat of a shock. It has been clear that they have been either scarce or short stayers for most of the summer and i also haven't found any this year, so i was very grateful for this chance so late in the year to catch up with one.

As you would expect, a visit to this area couldn't be completed without the visit into the Camp lane Pits, where i was surprised to see the large number of 8 LITTLE EGRETS, the 2nd largest count in Grimleys history. They were well spread out across the pools but occasionally a number of them would join up briefly for a fly around.

5 were feeding in the small pool below the north end viewpoint.

It was also great to have the sight and sound of 100+ Wigeon around the pool, with also small numbers flying over. It is a sound i look forward to every winter and i'm very glad its back !

MB

Catching up (AGAIN!)

As i'm sure you have all come to expect of the blog over the last few months, it has become fairly inactive. Much of my time has been fairly full recently and a recent change in personal circumstance has left me with very little motivation to do anything, particularly blog orientated work. I appologise for the complete lack of posting, and i will try to create a regular routine again.

21/08/13
A day out around Cannock chase was rewarded with 5 Spotted Flycatcher around the car park.

We then moved onto Blithfield Reservior, where i luckily stumbled across a juvenile BLACK TERN as it hawked over the water to the north of the causeway. A further exploration of the area produced, Little Egret, 5 Ringed Plover, a juvenile Ruff, 5 Yellow Wagtail and a single Tree Sparrow. Aside from the Black Tern, my other personal highlight was seeing my first Clouded Yellow butterfly.

23/08/13
6 Willow warbler (4 juv) were nice to find on the patch.

Later that morning, i headed to Grimley Camp lane pits, where 3 Little Egret, 6 Ringed Plover and 4 Yellow Wagtail were showing.

Following a period of work, i then headed to Upton Warren for the Roost, where a single LRP was 'hanging on', Ringed Plover (Ad and Juv), Dunlin,7 Green Sand and 2 Ruff.

The only passerine of note was a Lesser Whitethroat.

24/08/13

The following night, i again dropped into Upton Warren for the roost, the LRP and the 2 Ringed PLover remained, as did the Dunlin but Green Sandpiper numbers had increased to 8. A GOLDEN PLOVER flew north over calling which was a nice addition to the list. 2 1st winter Common Gulls roosted with 1000c BHG. The Lesser Whitethroat also remained.

25/08/13

A early morning vismig session was very quiet, a single Common Gull was seen briefly and a Lesser Whitethroat was found.

For the last time of the weekend, we dropped into Upton Warren as they were having somewhat of a wader fest. The highlight goes to a flock of 6 RUFF, but vismig in action was shown by 2 juvenile Dunlin which dropped in.

MB

MIGRANTS!

19/04/13

Its been a slog, but by today it really felt as if summer was in the air! Birding in a T-shirt, and with many summer migrants, it was just so great to be out!

With it being a Friday we were somewhat limited time wise, but as we were heading past Shenstone on our way to the Grimley Pits we decided to drop in for a quick look at the Redstart hedge.

And guess what!

REDSTART!

And nothing less than a stunning adult male Redstart!

Stunner!

Moving onwards we next dropped into the 'flash' floods at holt, which proved to be quite eventful!

We had dropped in looking for Yellow Wagtail, and i was incredibly happy to pick up 4 of these stunning bright yellow characters, 3 of which were males!

One of my favorite summer migrants, i love to catch up with them, and it is always a happy moment when you do finally catch up with them for the first time in the year. However, i was also shocked by the sheer number of 'alba' type Wagtails that were present, with around 30, of which most seemed to be of the continental 'White' Wagtail variety.

A single Ringed Plover also happened to be my first of the year as it fed on the flooded ground.

Moving on ward to Camp lane, we stopped at the north end so we could scan the edges well. The earlier reported flock of 10 Ringed Plover, yes 10! was still present, and at one point i had all 10 in the scope at the same time. As you would expect, the muddy edges at Grimley was looking superb for waders, and it continues to prove good!

3 Common Sandpiper were also very mobile around the north end, and 2 Redshank were feeding on the 'middle section'.

My first Common Whitethroat of the year, a male, was showing in the hedge between the road and the pool.

It was only when i scanned the far fields did i start to think we were in the middle of something special! A flock of 100+ Wagtails was feeding in the fields on east side, of which around half were of the White Wagtail variety! 50 White Wagtails!!

Obviously Wagtail movement had been very strong today, and it just so happened large numbers had dropped into the fields to feed. 9 Yellow Wagtail were feeding within the flock, and the rest were made of Pied Wagtails, but a flock of 100+ wagtails moving its way along the field is something!

All in all, a nice couple of hours!

MB

Another Big Worcs day.

2/02/13
An early morning visit onto the patch revealed that the drake Goosander was still roosting on floods, sleeping on one of the small islands.
Moving onwards, we moved to Eyemore Wood, looking for a certain species, and they didn't prove too hard to see. I was quite surprised however to find the entire flock of CROSSBILL completely silently feeding on larch seeds adjacent to the road. Usually, you can hear the 'Glip' call while trying to locate them. A few local birders appeared soon after. Of the 12 Crossbill that were present, there was at least 3 stunning red males.
The males birds in particular are absolutely gorgeous birds, i mean just look at them!

Saying that however, the bright green females are great aswell!

Not wanting to spend to long here we then headed to Grimley Pits, to have another look at the female Smew, which had been joined by a 1st winter drake!

We arrived at the north end to be greeted with largely silhouetted views of the hundreds of waterbirds. I scanned the middle section, and after some scanning i picked up the female SMEW, only briefly however, and after getting my dad a look at it through my scope, it duly disappeared! In the time being though, we were treated to views of a female Goldeneye. There was also small flocks of Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler, with larger numbers of both Pochard and Tufted Duck.

Following this, we then moved to the south end of Camp lane pits, in the hope of picking out the Smew's in better light, and after a while scanning, i picked out the female bird as it swam and dived further to the north. Very soon after, the bird was joined by the 1st winter drake SMEW. Both birds then sailed around the pool, and we were treated to decent, if fairly distant views! From this new viewpoint, i also clocked onto 3 Goldeneye (2 adult fem, 1 juv).

Infact, the birds were so distant i couldn't even be bothered to get any video footage, combined with the fact that the wind was buffeting my scope like crazy! It really was windy!

So we moved onward.
I haven't had Jack snipe this year, so we headed to Upton Warren Moors pool in search of the long staying, occasionally 'showing well' bird. The lake itself was fairly quiet, so much concentration went onto scanning the edges of Amy's marsh and the track to the left of the hide. This was rewarded fairly quickly when a Water Rail strode into view.
 

A second bird joined soon after, and they had a brief fight before moving away from each other. With the light now rapidly dropping, and having only seen 20c Common Snipe, i went back into Snipe mode, and on my final scan of the evening, there it was! A JACK SNIPE perched in the shallow water on the 'boat peninsular' opposite the hide. I quickly got my scope onto the bird, and pulled out the camera. While doing so, the bird began to bathe in the shallows, and i was able to get footage of the interesting behavior!




Once the Jack had moved back into the Reeds, it wasn't long until we decided to end the day and head home.

All in all a good days birding, Crossbills, Smews, Goldeneyes and Jack Snipe, as well as fairly decent views of Water rail! Not a bad way to spend a early February day in Worcestershire!
MB

At the forefront of a 'Purple' patch!

20/01/13
I am a dumb-ass!
After trying (and ultimately failing) to photograph Marsh Tits with my bridge camera the day before, i forgot to switch the SD card back into my compact Nikon. That i hear you yell is not a problem..
The problem emerged when i arrived at Grimley to twitch the GREY PLOVER that had been found in the morning. Turing on my camera i saw the disastrous message 'Internal memory' and i found out that i hadn't got the memory card in, and it only got worse.
With only 8 pictures to play about with i kept having to go back to delete photos to take new ones, and with the weather being nothing better than shite, with sleet, snow and heavy rain, the prospects never looked good. Anyone (and as it seems, most sensible birders within Worc's) would avoid this weather, but, for the reasons set out in the last post, i love this weather, despite it being very hard to bird in.

They GREY PLOVER gave decent views feeding on the flooded Causeway.
Sadly, that's about all i'm going to write about it, i really lack any inspiration to try and make a Grey Plover in winter plumage sound exiting. Yes, its a good county bird, and I've only ever seen a few, but it is a bit dreary and the only thing to say about it is that it does show what cold weather can do to displace birds.

 As you can see from the photo's, the snow was getting fairly thick, preventing anything decent. Similarly showing around the Causeway was a pair of Goldeneye. The cold weather had brought a huge flock of Wigeon (252+) which is easily the largest  i have seen in Worcs, and among the grazers were a similarly good number of Dabbling ducks, 50c Gadwall, 20+ Shoveler, 30+ Teal among many hundreds of Mallard and Coot. Scanning along the few un-frozen edges revealed 2 winter plumaged Dunlin and at least 7 Common Snipe.

After everyone bar me and SMW had left, the snow eased slightly, allowing us to scan the distant ducks on the flooded middle section in the hope of finding the Pintail. And it was only a couple of minutes into this that Steve called out that a Smew had just popped up among the Coots. Soon after, i was onto a superb looking female SMEW as it dived almost incessantly. I had infact only a day previous said that this weather was bound to 'dump' some of these gorgeous small ducks in the country, and then hopefully the county. The views were far from great to say the least, but they were good enough to secure an early year tick!
Again (in my 8 photo memory space) i tried for some distant, snowy crapographs.

(Hey, you can see what it is!)

It was around this point that i picked up a 'pale' wader feeding on the ice on the far edge of the pools. Was that what i thought it was?
The Grey Plover came slightly closer (see, i did my best to mention it again!),

However, it was again quickly forgotten when my 'pale' wader dropped in closer, showing prominent wingbars similar to Common sand, very pale white underparts and pale grey upperparts ! A SANDERLING! We were treated to great views as it fed along the near shore, showing through tall weeds, a wire fence, falling snow, and fogged and wet optics!

So there we go, 3 for the price of one, and testament that when bad weather hits you should be out there birding! If you don't come back with drenched optics, soaked hair, a snifly nose and a bright red nose, your not doing it right. Get out there birding when its like this, you don't know what your missing!
MB

Some short ones.

17/11/12
An early morning visit to the patch was very quiet, and the only bird of note was a single female Goosander whcih flew north upriver.
Following this i headed down to the Birders Store, and picked up my new pair of bins. And following this we then popped to Grimley, and the first bird i locked onto with the new bins was a Little Egret- Not a bad way to start my 'Bin list'. A small flock of 20c Meadow Pipits were flying around. Ducks were represented by 10c Shovler, 10c Pochard and more Tufted's.
Later in the Evening, we dropped into Earlswood Lakes, where 2 Shoveler, a Grey Wagtail and 2 Goldcrest were the highlights.
18/11/12
The next day, i went for a walk out in Wirehill Woods, Redditch with 'The Girlfriend', and proberbly produced the bird of the weekend when a CROSSBILL flew east over the wood 'glipping' as it went.

19/11/12
The day following that, me and the 'Gornal Birder' went to Sheepwash, and the highlight was by far the building up of the regular Goosander flock, of which there were 16 Today, 3 of which were drakes, 5 Teal (2m) were also on show, as were 11 Pochard. A adult Great Black Backed Gull landed in the centre of the pool for some time.

24/11/12
A visit to the patch early morning revealed a build up of a Chaffinch flock, of which there was 30+ feeding in a small area of flooded woodland, giving me hope that it may attract a Brambling onto the patch at some point! 5 Lesser Redpoll were feeding on a birch tree, with an additional one (a male) on my garden feeders.
At 10pm, we were driving past a flooded field on the patch, and we could see a flock of ducks in the headlights, and i was quite suprised to see a drake Mandarin feeding with them!

24/11/12
A late evening visit to Upton Warren Moors Pool in dire conditions was rewarded with a calling female Brambling, which we watched along the west track, before moving off around the north moors. While watching the Brambling, we had the Cetti's Warbler in subsong near the gate. On the water, 12 Shoveler and 3 Pochard were swimming.
MB

GREAT-WHITE EGRET!

4/08/12
Grimley is one of those locations that i dont usually go to. I cant explain why, i just always seem to choose somewhere else. However, recent landscaping work in the area has resulted in some great birds! The last time i had visited here was when the Grey Plover and Red Crested Pochards were here, and i was left suitably impressed by the work undertaken!

Grimley now, seemingly, has became one of the 'big boy' sites in worcestershire, and is seriously contending with other 'up there' locations.

And it pulled yet another great bird out of the bag when a birder located a stunning GREAT-WHITE EGRET at the Camp lane pits. Unfortunatly, i was unable to go straight over, as i was staying at my girlfriends at the time, but, luckily, the bird remained in the area, and on 4th, i was able to go there after the gardening job to visit this awsome looking habitat.
We parked at the north end, and i hadent even crossed the road when i saw our target, as a huge, 'Big white bird' was standing sentinal over a small area of shore at the north end.
Over the next hour, we were treated to absolutly stunning views of this county rarity as it hunted small fish in the shallow water. Poor light and drizzle didnt help when trying to get photos and videos, but anyway: You know me, i tried!

My only previous bird was a extremly distant bird on an estury in Pembrokeshire, which, after calculating the distance on maps, was shown to be a mile away! So it was great to be able to see one of these birds up close was a great treat. However, for a bird as distinctive in every way as a Great Egret, it didnt help any ID lessons, however, it was great to watch this bird up close.

Eventually however, the GREAT EGRET was flushed by a Mallard (Of all things!!) and flew to the infamous 'Flooded middle section' which has help so many of Grimleys recent rarities, and i manadged to get some pics in flight, and distant 'with habitat' pics.

Something gives me the idea, that Grimley could be visited alot more regularly in the future. And a message to all readers, watch the news for this site, because this place is going to strike BIG!
MB

Grimley

11/02/12
A Grey Plover had now been residing at Grimley for some time, and as it is one of my big bogey birds, i needed to see it!
So when news came out in the morning that it was still showing, and that there was also a pair of Red-Crested Pochard it looked like it might be a nice visit!
We parked at the north end of the newly landscaped Camp Lane Pits and walked down to greet Mark from Boorstep Birding, who was already on the bird.

On the way i noticed this sign, which i thought was quite funny, its just one of those 'No Shit' sarcastic type jokes.

(Deep COLD water sign in a frozen pool)

We got a small look at the GREY PLOVER before it ran off behind some willows into the sun.
After abit, we walked up the track adjacent to the road, where we had more distant, but better lighted views, and i got a few long range videos.







Moving back to our original position on the way back to the car, the Grey Plover was closer, but against the light.




We then moved down to the Main Camp Lane Pit, where i quickly got onto the RED-CRESTED POCHARD's, easy peesy, just look for the flaming red/Orange head!





The pair generally followed each other around constantly on the open area of water which hadent frozen.
Everytime i have seen them mating, and this time was no exeption, just 30 seconds after ariving, they were 'at it'.



Amazingly, when the birds took flight with a couple of Pochard, they circled for a couple of minuites, and in that time, i was able to lock onto them throught the scope and camera, and take a video of them.



All in all a nice visit to a habitat that looks stunning for the spring! I can expect another visit here soon! A bogey bird and a year tick!


MB

Grimley

16/10/11
I dont want to talk about this day, so i wont, and local's may suss why!
Here are some Gadwall's:




MB

Grimley new workings

23/08/10

After picking up a new tripod after nearly 2 months without one, i had to do a field test and with a few nice birds at grimley, guess where we headed????

We hadent even reached the 1st pool when i had already ticked a GREENSHANK as it flew onto the bigger pool, we followed the track along picking up LITTLE EGRETS on the way, Green and Common Sandpiper were both represented by singles as was a single snipe and 2 common tern and LRP.

A YELLOW WAGTAIL flew over east (ish)

We scanned from the causeway and BINGO................

2 juv KNOT feeding behind the BHG's with the 2 sandpipers and another greenshank. it was quite amusing to watch the knots reflecting the others movements, say if one turned right, the other would to (note the similar poses on the photo)

a greenshank fed on a spit not far from the causeway...

MB

COUNTY FIRST!

6/12/09

holt then grimley

last night i asked brian to keep me updated on the glossy ibis as i had heard on saturday it was very mobile, after recieving news the previous night saying it had flushed from a gunshot,my hopes wernt high.

but early mouning i recieved news it was again,below the castle on floodwater,so soon after we left for it,we parked in the warth inn car park and met a couple from shropshire(i think) who were also looking for the bird,we walked downriver,a cormorant was on a riverside tree and i stood in slightly rotting cow pat,nice.i wiped it off and checked my phone,another txt from brian saying it had relocated to wagon wheel lane,followed by a quick,its moved from here to the others and we all headed back for our cars,as the couple didnt know the area we agreed to guide them to the site,after about 15 mins we had parked in grimley and started walking down.

the twitch was easy to spot, i set up my scope and the few people that were there(3 people,i knew 2,one was brian stretch and the other was andy shaw),they said hi and said the bird was still out there,well what can i say it was mega easy to spot, a medium sized black bird. the light was superb,it was coming in from behind us and iluminated the GLOSSY IBIS(LIFER 199) perfectly.the green sheen in the wings stood out but as it was a first winter it was a very dull sheen,but still an amazing bird,the shropshire couple then arrived and i pointed it out and the bloke pulled out a monster of a camera lens.

here are my distant record shots:

so now with the ibis secured i scanned the rest of the flood,2 greylag geese flew over,69 wigeon were on the water as well as a few shoveler,and in with these ducks were 3 pintail(all female),a few l b b gulls were on the water and 6 mute swans were about.unfortunalty i didnt get many other pics/films of other birds.

after brian and richard harbid and the shopshire couple left it was andy shaw,my dad,me and an unknown photographer.and we were about to witness an almost murder,the GLOSSY IBIS suddenly flew up and looked as if it was flying away,my dad shouted peregrine,i was still watching the ibis and suddenly the ibis went spaz and dived head first into the water,but just before the ibis hit the water the peregrine swooped down and came within inches of taking this county first.we shouted out wjat had just happened and the peregrine landed in a nearby tree,it shown for about 10 secs in the tree(showing it was a male,including its small size) then bolted off east.

the ibis then lande in a few willow trees,after a bit longer it again took flight and this time flew high.i just about managed an in flight film of it,then it again landed in the willows but wasent again seen by us.

the scope views were quite good but the films just dont show it,although i an particualrly proud of the in flight film,

then in grimley village had a goldcrest.we then headed home,and another sesion with the kingfishers

MB