Temminck's Stint in the home county!

8/09/14

Having dipped Temminck's Stint back in May I was very keen to catch up with the species. Over the past few years it has become a bird that repeatedly eludes me, or arrives on days that I cannot make it. It was great to hear though that a juvenile bird had turned up at Clifton Pits just south of Worcester and continued to grace the site with its presence for some time. Temminck's are particularly unusual in Autumn in the midlands, so it was well received by many and I'm sure most county birders made the pilgrimage to catch up with the Stint.

Luckily, it was still around on the day I had free, so following a thrash of the patch which was relatively quiet other that a fly-through adult Hobby, I headed down to this new location for me.

Just off the A38 the spot was found with ease, and I was soon overlooking the relatively small 'Southern Pit'. Scanning through the wader assembly, consisting of Lapwing, Snipe, Green and Common Sandpipers eventually paid off as a small wader flew out from behind a small spit and landed among the roosting Lapwings. It was the tiny TEMMINCK'S STINT.

Good views were had as it fed along the shoreline. Mike was on an 'dinner break' twitch, but unluckily for him, the bird was flushed by a Sparrowhawk just before he arrived, and following some circling, and some calling (Sounding rather like a Finch!) it flew off NW.

After having met up with Mike, I took him back down to the Southern Pit, but the bird had not returned, and following a brief talk with the site managers, we headed off over towards the main pit on a 'we might not see you' basis, Again though we couldn't relocate it, and Mike had to head off, but as he walked the path I picked up the bird again, feeding in channels unviewable from our previous location, and we got great views from here.

Temminck's Stint

Temminck's Stint

The route back to Stourport went straight past Grimley, and it would have been rude to not drop in. Both Camp Lane and Wagon Wheel pits where checked. 9 Little Egret, singles of Green and Common Sandpiper and a flock of Yellow Wagtails was about the pick of the bunch.

Always a good day when you get a bogey bird in the home county!

MB

Birding the Beacon- Autumn 2014

As I'm sure many local birders would now be aware, I have attained somewhat of a bug for birding Sedgley Beacon.

There are many reasons for it, but the main one being that it has became clearly obvious that the Beacon is a regular stopover for migrating thrushes, and during the correct winds, can result in some rather spectacular vismig.

Perhaps the most significant 'discovery' has been the string of Ring Ouzels I managed to find. Through the autumn, I managed to connect with 4 of these scarce migrant Thrushes,  3 adults and a juvenile as they paused (however briefly) on the hill. The first day of October brought the first two, combined with a fair bit of vismig, as both a male and a female stopped briefly within the Hawthorn valley on the NW side of the hill. Both of the birds were picked up in flight as they dropped down calling, their harsh chacking call being very distinctive. It was by call that both the birds on the 15/10 were also picked out, but the SW winds on this day revealed a significant movement of Thrushes, with about 2500 (of various species) noted by me flying over in the morning. Further watching by another observer later in the day added another 1500 birds, so the passage was certainty sustained throughout the day (and the night by the sounds of hundreds of migrating Redwings flying over my house). The first bird dropped into the NW valley to feed, as did many of the Thrushes it was migrating with, but the juvenile flew very low along the entire length of the hill (just above head height!) before dropping into bushes below the masts.

I'm sure more regular watching over the coming years could lead to more records as I'm pretty sure it must be a regular stop over site for the species!

Female Ring Ouzel- Despite being a poor photo, note the very pale wings and if zoomed in, the pale edging to the belly feathers.

As already mentioned, I also logged all the regular thrush species, and often in good numbers, with the 15th proving to be by far the best day!

Vismig was regular, and included my first Golden Plover for the site (15/10) and regular movements of Meadow Pipit and Wagtails. This included 2 Tree Pipit (3/09),11 Grey Wagtail (1/10) and the first real 'finch push' of the year, with 70c Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, 40 Linnet, 2 Redpoll sp and 5 Siskin going over on a 9 'finch species day' (15/10). A single Hobby gave stunning views on 1/10 as it migrated at eye height over the plateau of the hill at about 30ft range. As you can imagine, leading to some rather stunning views as it glanced at me as it barreled past.

Tree Pipit (Trust me!)

Away from vismig, there was also a good number of Passerines, with Redstarts present on 3/09 (x2) and 15/09 (1) with a Spotted Flycatcher also present on the latter date (And another nearby but off the Hill) 

Redstarts

A pair of Stonechat appeared on the 15/10, giving great views from my vismig point.

Male Stonechat

Combined with decent movements of regular species, it often led to some very enjoyable birding, so rest assured, I will continue birding the site!

MB

Amazing patch birding. Non stop migrants!

 August 2014 must surely go down as one of the best birding months I have ever had on patch. Despite there being no rare birds, I left each visit feeling happy with a superb variety of species, both migrants and residents, and a fair number of surprises.

 

Foremost what must be mentioned was the superb showing of REDSTARTS throughout the month. As regulars will know, they in previous years have been hard to come by, so I was overjoyed with a single female on the 9th, but the next couple of weeks proved to be extremely productive, and on 16th I found 2 more Redstarts, including a stonking male but then it went crazy!

 

17th saw a mass arrival of these stunning blue and red jewels as I found an unprecedented 5 Redstarts in various points around the Lickhill meadows section of the patch (3m, 2 fem/juv). This included 2 birds which were feeding on fence posts adjacent to one of the permissive roads that runs through the fields. Luckily I have access, and was treated to stonking views!

 

 

 

 

As well as the pair of Redstart, the same section of fenceline was often also the perch of a migrant Lesser Whitethroat, enjoying the suns rays.

 

 

 

 

The arrival of these birds coincidentally coincided with a planned week thrashing the patch and I spent nearly all of the daylight hours out thrashing the bushes and vismigging. The 18th had 4 Redstarts and the 19th 3. Both the 20th and 21st then had one each and then they were gone!

 

No doubt this week will end up being known as Redstart week for me in future years!

 

It seems crazy to think I mentioned Redstarts before a patch first, but their sustained presence was wholly unexpected, but the arrival of my first patch WHEATEAR (A female) which was present in some horse paddocks early on 21st was gratefully received non the less. However it could not be relocated later in the day. A Wheatear has been long coming, so I wasn't hugely surprised to pan onto this bird!

This was followed by a male bird on the 25th and 3 present on the last day of the month (31st). So much for a patch mega!

 

 

But wait!! I have another patch mega!

 

And another first for patch infact, as a LITTLE EGRET flew over south during drizzle on the 25th! No doubt the bird I had seen earlier in the month feeding on the river at Bewdley, but it was certainly very welcomed to have seen it within the patch boundaries!

 

Semi- regular Yellow Wagtails were also found, with birds being found on 6 dates, with a maximum of 3, but most of the records related to multiple birds. A female and a juvenile perched on a fenceline in the Meadows, and despite having a broken camera (broken screen) and not being able to see what I was photographing, I got lucky and got this one pic which showed one of the Yellow Wagtails.

 

 

 

2 Tree Pipits flew over, one on both the 16th and the 24th, and numbers of general vismig species, such as Pied and Grey Wagtails, and the first few Meadow Pipits of the autumn increased as the month passed.

This increase was also juxtaposed with an increase in Hirundine numbers, and triple figure counts of all 3 common species were regular! And with the large concentrations of these brought very regular interest from at least 3 HOBBY, which were present most days!

All the 'regular' warbler species were present, with the only real disappointment being a real lack of Willow Warblers, but a few sulphur yellow juveniles added a massive dose of colour! Particularly impressive though was a sustained presence of Lesser Whitethroats, with 4 present for most of the month, and often showing very nicely! Certainly one of my favourite warblers, and they never fail to give me a thrill as one flicks onto the edge of their favoured hedgerows!

 

Not to shabby for an area of meadows, paddocks and hedgerows tucked up in NW Worcestershire!

 

MB

 

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

Dorset and Hampshire! Yellowlegs steals the show!

15/04/14

It was while preparing to head home to Dudley that I received a message from Mike W, saying that he was going down south tomorrow, and wondered if I wanted to join him in a long haul trawl across multiple sites!

Needless to say, it didn't take much convincing, and my plans about going home were quickly changed and I stayed over in Stourport for another night.

After an early pickup, it was an uneventful drive down to our first port of call, that 8 mile long peninsular that is Portland. 

As we drove through Chesil Cove, we quickly spied a Sandwich Tern as it flew across the 'Fleet' right next to the road! Certainly a good omen considering we hadn't even reached our destination yet!

Once we had reached the famous red and white striped lighthouse, we were informed that we had missed a 'fall' day, and there was little about landbird wise, so we headed over to the sea to look for moving seabirds!

I was quickly struck by how easy the seawatchers have it at Portland, as everything was passing close offshore, rather that the distant flapping dots I am used to! Needless to say, it made looking far easier, and many times it was much easier to just use my bins. A few small parties of Sandwich Tern passed, as did larger numbers of Common Scoter and Kittiwake. However, there were many more birds to look at, a couple of Puffin's were flying around, and one sat on the water briefly just off the bill among large numbers of both the two common Auks. 2 Red Throated Diver were moving close inshore to the  west of the bill also and a single Shelduck moved east. 2 early Whimbrel flew past, giving great views as they moved low east.

Large numbers of Hirundines were moving 'in off', which was stunning to see, some coming very low over our heads as they rose over the cliff.

What was more surprising however, was the 2 raptors which flew 'in off'. While watching Sandwich Terns passing, I picked up a small raptor low over the water flying directly towards us, and it was motoring it!

Very quickly, it was adjacent to us over the sea to the west, and that small brown raptor revealed itself to be a stunning female MERLIN!

Who could believe that! A female Merlin 'in off' the English channel!

Migration is amazing!

But that was not all!

Soon after I picked up another small raptor, just one more distant, and higher up in the sky, but still slowly making its way 'in off' from the south. With the sun shining, I could see glowing red 'trousers' on the bird, it was a HOBBY!

How amazing is that! Two migrant raptors, both arriving off the sea following a flight across the channel! 

Seeing so many bird arriving on our shores for the first time this year was simply stunning, and it is really one of the reasons why I know birding is such an amazing hobby (excuse the pun), what an awesome experience!

We then had a quick wonder around some suitable looking habitat on the Bill, but, as we had been told earlier, failed to find anything spectacular, a couple of Wheatear, a Stonechat and one each of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

With half the morning gone, it was time to move onwards to Arne RSPB. We duly asked one of the volunteers about where to go to find Dartford Warbler, and she was very obliging and told us where we had a decent chance.

Sadly, following a couple of hours slog around the site, I was left very underwhelmed. The area we had been guided to seemed completely the wrong habitat for Dartfords, with very little gorse, and there was very little birdwise to keep us occupied. Obviously the cold and severe winter had had a profound impact on the Dartford population at the site, seemingly to the point where there are non!

It wasn't a hard decision to start heading back to the car, and it was while doing so that a male Stonechat perched on an area of Gorse. Knowing of a habitual trait of Dartford Warbler to follow Stonechats, we moved our position in a last ditch attempt to look for our target. A short while after, and a small, dark bird flitted up in the shadows of the lower branches of a bare Gorse bush. A little bit distant, I pointed my scope, and that dark shape morphed into a stunning long tailed female DARTFORD WARBLER!

How about that for luck!

As quickly as it appeared however, it dropped back down into the low gorse, but we both left happy.

Now we were moving further east still, crossing the county boundary to do some twitching. A Lesser Yellowlegs  has wintered at a small country park right on the coast at Lepe country park.

With the satnav plugged in, we got to our location easily, and having parked at the end of the car park, we quickly dodged our way down the path to the marshy pools, avoiding the numerous beach go'ers, dog walkers and French students!

We scanned the first pool, which looked an awesome bit of habitat, and soon after, the bright yellow legs of a  LESSER YELLOWLEGS could be seen through an area of Tussocks! Slowly, the bird made its way from its roosting area out into open water, where we had great views of this stunning transatlantic wader!

Coming into summer plumage, the mix of pale silvery grey head, neck and upperparts contrasted with white and black flecking, much better than some streaky juvenile! A real stunner!

  

As well as 'The Yank', this pool, held a single Ringed Plover, 6 Turnstone and many Redshanks.

Having had our fix of this stunning yellow legged 'beaut', it was time to move onwards to our last location of the day, Keyhaven Marshes, where another Yank wader had been wintering, but had been a lot more elusive.

A few (Islandica) Black-tailed Godwits were feeding and showing well in the small harbour, as were numerous Redshank, Turnstone and 3 Dark Bellied Brent Goose, a good start considering we had only walked a short distance from the car!

The pools were much more lively, the first of which we were treated to a stunning partial summer plumaged SPOTTED REDSHANK fly in and start feeding towards the back of the pool. Having birded past many Redshank, we failed to find much else of interested on this pool, but upon reaching the 2nd lagoon it was obvious more birds were on here. Nothing was immediately obvious on the pool, so while scanning the estuary, a small Tern appeared distantly, and on getting the scope onto the bird, it revealed itself to be a rather smart Little Tern!
A few small parties of Mediterranean Gull flew over east, all of them rather stonking adults, all glowing in the evening sunshine and their obvious white wingtips standing out a mile, making them look akin to an Egret in flight.
A single Little Ringed Plover was running around on the island, and it was while looking over this, a small wader scurried out from behind some tussocks of grass. Obviously much smaller than the LRP, it was obvious we were watching a Stint, and a scope view revealed my 3rd LITTLE STINT of the year

The wind had picked up a huge amount by this time (hence the wind noise), and with the sun starting to drop, it was time to head back to the car,but a scan across the saltmarsh revealed a few Ringed Plover among larger numbers of Dunlin.

 While walking past the 1st lagoon again, the Spotted Redshank had moved much closer, and we had great views of it as it fed fairly close into the track!

With 110 species logged for the day between us, we both left very happy having had a great days birding.

However, one last surprise came as a Woodcock flew over the car in semi-darkness as we neared Oxford! A bird I was not expecting to find for the day!
How about that, 111 for the day!
MB

Migration!

31/08/13

 

Migration, don't you just love it!

That twinge of excitement as you wake in the morning to see if that clear spell overnight has brought anything with it. You anxiously await the text to confirm the presence of a rarity down the road while thrashing the patch in attempts to find your own 'mega'.

 

Sadly, mega's were lacking. In other words there were non, however, a nice scattering of migrants fresh in is enough to keep this midlands birder satisfied.

 

Following my work at Earlswood, I headed down the road to the lakes where a stunning juvenile BLACK TERN was showing. Within a few minutes I had picked up the bird feeding along the south shore of Engine pool, however repeatedly dropped onto pipes adjacent to the 'island' to perch, which, from the shore, gave stunning views!

 

 

I watched the bird for some time, being much closer than the bird I found at Blithfield Reserviour, both in flight and 'on the deck' before moving onwards to the Causeway between Engine and Windmill pool. From here I has stunning views of the Tern, at times down to a mere 10ft as very strong headwinds pushed it closer to the bank, directly passed where I was standing.

A Grey Wagtail was the only other 'Of note' bird, just because it strolled past me at around the same range as the Tern flew.

 

From here it was the roost at Upton Warren, complete with a nice array of Waders. The juvenile Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover remained (The adult had departed mid-week). Beside the residents, 4 Green Sand, 4 Common Sand and 2 migrant Snipe were also found probing the soft mud around the edges of the flashes. As we sat, a party of 3 Yellow Wagtails flew over south calling, as did a Common Tern.

 

The next morning (1/09) that feeling arose again, and it was straight to my phone to see a local 'grapevine' text. LITTLE STINT at the flashes.

As you would expect, patch birding was delayed slightly so I could catch up with this scarce inland arctic wader. As with most autumn LITTLE STINTS it was a juvenile bird and initially was feeding exclusively at the back of the flash among the base of the reeds, with the occasional Green Sand of Teal walking past, revealing just how miniscule of a bird it was.

Some time later, after having not very satisfying views the bird started to wade along the shoreline, before flying onto the near side of the 'channel', slowly working its way closer and closer until eventually it creeped out from beside the 'main island'

 

 

Completely worth the wait, Juvenile Little Stint is a stunner of a bird, but sadly one that is not guaranteed on a county yearlist this far inland. Needless to say, I left a happy birder.

Overnight, a single Green and Common Sand had left, leaving 3 of both, and the 2 Snipe remained, but new in was a Redshank, the first I had seen at this particular site all year!

 

3/09/13

Another grapevine text, however this time in West midlands county revealed the presence of a juvenile Shelduck at Sheepwash Urban park, which, being the site rarity it is warranted a fairly impromptu visit, within minutes, the Shelduck was located, feeding on the only suitable section of habitat on site, (note the litter also present). Also recently arrived was the first Pochard of the winter, a drake which was asleep in the favoured wintering area.

 

4/09/13

Yes I know, I'm ashamed, I twitched a Shelduck, but the real laughing point was that I dropped in again the next day with the scope to get some photos, with the objective to give a digi-scoping demonstration to another birder. While walking along the raised track, a familiar call had me looking to the sky to see a superb RING-NECKED PARAKEET circling above me, calling constantly, before after a short time flying off north. Another new site bird for me! As luck would have it, my digi-scoping companion was just around the corner at the time, and also heard it calling as it flew around.

Amazingly, the Shelduck remained, as did the Pochard, but a surprise was given when an adult HOBBY flew over the pool and proceeded to hawk dragonflies over johns lane pool. All in all, one of the better days I've had at Sheepwash recently!

MB

Catch Ups

11/08/13

A drop into Upton Warren was rewarded with a juvenile ARCTIC TERN, a juvenile RUFF, 5 Curlew, 2 Common Sand and 7 Green Sand, a nice array!

20/0813

Back to patch, and it was equally rewarding as the last visit, with 2 Lesser Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler, Blackcap and 3 Whitethroat found. Warblers were certainly moving! A adult HOBBY was found hawking over Lickhill farm briefly following migrating Swallows.

Later the same day i dropped into Eyemore Wood, which, aside from 5 Marsh Tit and 30 Goldcrest there was little of note birdwise. However, my first Painted Lady butterfly was found feeding on Buddlia.

Moving onto Shenstone, i saw my 2nd HOBBY of the day, this time a Juvenile while looking (and failing may i add) to find Clouded Yellow butterfly.

MB

Some fill in's

18/06/13

A trip down to the Capital to the London Natural History Museum had a spot of birding as we headed down the motorway. 30 Red Kite were counted as we drove through the Chilterns, with the first 3 being found hunting Oxford services, including one bird which was perched up on a Motorway-side lampost. On the return journey, a single Hobby was also seen at the very same services, with another about 15 minuites further up the motorway.

19/06./13

While visiting my 'secret woodland site' i recieved news of two 'mega' birds at Sheepwash. Wanting to get over there, we quickly left the site, catching a series of busses and lots of walking. The main highlight was this stunning wader which was perched on the rocks within the pumphouse pool, showing very well.

Oystercatcher is always a stunning bird!

The other two birds were a pair of BARNACLE GOOSE, which were associating with the Canada Geese. Always a nice bird to see, the fact they were present within June is simply irrelevent.

 

26/06/13

Again, for the protection of potential breeding birds i have to hold back the site location for the following day.

After meeting someone on site i was told the news that a BARN OWL had been showing the previous night, and so therefore, i stuck around untill dusk to try to locate it. Without much effort, at 9pm out flew a BARN OWL, which continued to show for an hour or so following, including once dropping into tree's to perch.

 

Superb flight views were had as it flew around the field.

27/06/13

A nice patch visit was highlighted by the two drake Mandarin Duck which are currently moulting along a stretch of the river, they often give stunning views as usual with the patch Mandarins.

 

 

In other bird news, the first returning Common Sandpiper of the year was showing, as was a single Grey Wagtail and Kingfisher. An escappe Zebra Finch was also found feeding adjacent to the quarry with the  Greenfinches.

28/06/13

3 Mandarin, the two eclipse drake and a female were showing on the river.

MB

MB

Day listing at Upton Warren

27/04/13

Well OK  not a full day, but as we had gotten away from the gardening job early, we arrived at Upton around 3, and stayed until dark, in total picking up 69 species.

Walking around the North Moors Pool i was rewarded when i heard a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER singing from within the reeds adjacent to the track. Needless to say, after some time the bird didnt show, but i had a nice time sitting watching/Listening to Cetti's, Sedge and Reed Warbler, Not a bad start!

A Garden Warbler was showing on the Causeway.

Moving down to the East hide, i was immidiatly greeted by a stunning ARCTIC TERN, a nice pale bird, which flew around low over the pool briefly while we were battered by heavy rain before flying off south and dropping onto the Sailing Pool. A Water Rail was showing to the right of the hide, as was 2 Common Snipe.

I picked up two Falcons flying towards me, and as they sped past the hide i saw red under-tail coverts and shouted HOBBY!

We had great views of the birds as they gained height on a thermal just to the north of the Pool, and they flew around for a few minutes before flying off in the direction of Upton Warren Village, My first Hobbies of the year! 2 Green Sandpiper were showing in the 'Seasonal pool'.

Moving down to the flashes, i paused briefly at the Sailing Pool and had views of the Arctic Tern as it hawked the pool with the Swallows and Martins. I even tried for some photos.

May i just say, Digi-scoping a flying Tern is hard!

On the Flashes itself, 5 BLACK-TAILED GODWIT'S graced the shallow waters, all showing varying signs of summer plumage. All seemingly of the 'islandica' race due to their very vivid orange tones. The two birds in the center of the photo are simply stunning!

Despite having been around for a protracted period of time, the birds were actively feeding, and therefore it didn't come as a surprise to hear that they flew off the same night

A few Common Sandpipers were also showing, including one down in front of the hide.

To end the day, the 3rd Hobby for the day flew through the flashes late in the evening, before ending up circling over the Sailing Pool, visible from the platform on the back of the hide.

MB

Patch

6/07/12
A friday evening walk produced the exact same birds as the last visit, firstly i refound the female MANDARIN with chicks in tow. As observent readers will have noticed it said 'chicks'. And thats right. Last time i had been watching the female, she only had the one chick, however, somehow, another chick was now in attendence, and she was now escorting two birds.
How that happened i have no idea?

While walking past the riverside fields again, i noticed a falcon swooping on a Swallow. A stunning adult HOBBY hawked over the fields for a few minuites before flying off towards burlish top and being lost to view.

MB

Highlights, Patch Birding and Upton Warren

22/06/12
An evening walk on the patch revealed little, however, it was great to see that the female MANDARIN still had one chick in attencence, sadly having lost 3 chicks in the 20 days since i last saw her. The bird is incredibally elusive this year, and can be very hard to pin down.

23/06/12
Upton Warren revealed my first returning GREEN SANDPIPER'S and indeed my first of the year! A flock of 3 birds were feeding close to the hide throughout the evening. A poor passage at the start of the year and no winterers ment i hadent caught up with one, but it was nice to have these back again, hopefully for a few months yet.
Also 'new in' was a drake TEAL, a failed breeder or one thats left the partner to do all the work?
The Avocet had now well grown young, 10 adults and 7 young were around the flashes.

24/06/12
Again patch birding, a rare opporotunity of sun led me to venture south on the patch, walking to the 'gadwall' lake from Lickhill,  Butterflys had yet to emerge on Moorhall field and similarly, Moorhall Marsh was completly dead for dragonflies, only a few Banded aned Beautiful Demoiselles.

The Gadwall lake was completly dead, and very overgrown, a few Reed Warblers chattering away. While walking back north, on approaching the Baisins, 2 COMMON TERN circled above me for a good few minuites before flying off towards Wilden pool.
I had gotten into the habit of checking the baisins now, and today it had a reward, and on the riverside basin, the drake MANDARIN was moulting, and showing very welll, down to a few feet!

Continuing north, while again reaching Moorhall Marsh, i saw a raptor circling and drop behind a tree. Waiting for it to re-appear, fully expecting it to be a Kestrel, i was supprised when a stunning adult HOBBY re-emmerged. My 4th sighting this year of this normally rare patch falcon. I was allowed some great views in good sunlight, allowing me to savour such a wonderful falcon, One of my favorite summer visitors.

Club-tailed Dragonfly

26/05/12
With the patch having produced those mesmorising Hobbies the night before, i was keen to get out early morning and work to the patch agian. And after only a couple of hundred metres up the river at the riverside fields, i was again treated to views of a HOBBY, however, this time, it was only very brief, and the bird was, unfortunatly, not seen again.
After walking to Blackstone and back, i noticed a small emergence of Demoiselles, so it took some time to watch and photograph them, 10+ Banded and 5+ Beautiful were on show.
But the non avian highlight came again, while walking adjacent to the riverside fields, when i noticed a small Black and Yellow Dragonfly perched on nettles.
A CLUB-TAILED DRAGONFLY!
My first on the patch this year, and only the 2nd one iver ever seen as i completly missed them last year! So it was great to be reaquainted with this species, one which is locally scarce!



































MB