Virjinxity! Wryneck, YBW and Spoonbills! (21/09/14)

I have never been on one of the RSPB Stourbridge field trips, however, following some encouragement, in late September I joined them as they went to Portland Bill and Lodmoor RSPB.

Following some banter on the coach, we arrived in the bill car park, and as we had picked up some news from twitter we headed straight up the hill to the area where a Wryneck had been found!

Masses upon masses of Hirundines were everywhere, Yellow Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and a single Grey Wagtail flew over south, so there was certainly plenty of vismig! But, having dipped on Wryneck many times in the past, I was keen to get there as soon as possible. I was in so much of a rush that even a Whinchat perched on a fenceline was almost ignored as the crowd appeared on the track opposite us!

It felt like an age to cover the fields to them, but as soon as we did I saw what looked like a Wryneck as it flicked past me and behind a hedge, yet no-one was looking. Surely that wasn't it! 

A quick question later, and having learnt that they hadn't seen it for a while I went to check out the bird I saw. A short walk later, and there, perched atop a hedge, with a backdrop of the English channel was a stunning WRYNECK! I had lost my "Virjinxity"!

Over the next 30 minutes, the views slowly got better and better, and as people left, the bird became more confiding, and eventually, with only a small group of people, the bird landed on the fenceline adjacent to us and started feeding from the track! Although invisible when on the deck, the bird often flew up onto the adjacent fenceline and hedge, giving absolutely amazing views to all present!

Wryneck

Wryneck

Wryneck

I have dipped so many Wryneck in the past, and so to finally catch up with one put a huge smile on my face, and it was with regret I left the bird to look for another scarcity.

It was clear that overnight there had been a 'significant' (at least by my standards) fall of Chiffchaffs around Portland, and in the Observatory garden alone there were at least 80. Counts from the Ob's staff suggested the actual total was closer to 200! In this fall of 'Phyloscs' a Yellow-Browed Warbler had been located, but it was being very elusive in the dense vegetation, which was literally dripping in birds! Chiffchaffs were flycatching everywhere, and these were joined by two birds that are more akin to the behaviour, as two Spotted Flycatcher perched sentinel over the 'alive' garden.

Most people had given up with the YBW when it hadn't shown for a good hour and a half. However I soldiered on, and just as a group of birder rounded the corner from the Ob's car park, an absolutely stunning bright Yellow-Browed Warbler flitted up above the fenceline!

Calling over the crowd, only 1 got onto the bird, before it disappeared back into the bushes, but despite only being on view for around 15 seconds, as always with these delightful leaf warblers, it was well worth the wait!

With the time now running out, I decided on a quick look out to sea, where 3 Mediterranean Gulls were flying about and a Kittiwake flew past. A Yellow-legged Gull landed on a post outside the cafe, but had flew off by the time I had gotten my camera out.

In the old quarry, the Little Owl was showing nicely to the assembled crowd!

Little Owl

Moving onto Lodmoor RSPB, our first notable sighting was when this stunning little thing flicked up next to us:

Clouded Yellow

A Clouded Yellow!

Again, this had become another of my bogeys, and despite having seen them before, they had steadfastly refused to land. But this one was different, and gave us stunningly intimate views as it perched on roadside vegetation! 

Moving onto the pool, 2 Spoonbills were very quickly located (how could you miss them?!) and gave a great performance as they fed constantly in the shallow water! Not something you expect a Spoonbill to be doing.

Spoonbill

Spoonbill

A small selection of Waders were present, with Lapwing, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe and Ruff all being present. Walking to the opposite end of the flashes (so I could view the gull flock of course!) I found an early Pintail roosting on the edge of the water. But my mind soon wondered and my reason for walking here was obvious, and I was soon seeing countless Mediterranean Gulls flying into the increasing Gull flock!

All ages were present, and great views were had of all!

Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Bliss!

MB

Some fill in's

Sheepwash

15/03/13

A single Common Tern was showing, and that was the only real bird of note.

17/05/13

The patch was slightly more interesting, with a singing male Garden Warbler around one of the usual territories at the north end of the patch and also 2 drake Mandarin on the river.

Unseen by me, it seems like both Mandarin and Goosander have bred on, or very near patch this year, with both having been seen with very young chicks, however still to this day i have not had a sniff of any of them!

18/05/13

Very glad to finally year tick Little owl at a local site, and we had decent views of one of the birds sitting out on the tree. A Red-legged Partridge was also seen in the nearby fields.

MB

Some short ones.

29/09/12
An evening visit to Upton Warren was rather quiet, 3 Gadwall (2m) were the only birds of note at the Moors Pool, so we headed down to the flashes where it did liven up some more. A further 5 Gadwall (3m) were here. A little Owl was showing on the barn roof, and 3 Green Sandpipers were still in attendence. An eclipe drake Wigeon was feeding on the peninsular in front of the hide. 9+ Snipe were also feeding out in the open in the shallow water.

 

30/09/12

Further vismig on the patch reaped rewards today, with my first FIELDFARE of the autumn, which flew over south calling, following the river. Im not sure of how many September Fieldfares ive had!

24 Meadow Pipit also flew over, 23 flying south, and one oddball which decided it wanted to fly north!

A crazy single flock of 8 Grey Wagtail flew over, agian in a southerly direction.

2 Linnet flew north, But the highlight was a Snipe, which i picked up while viewing a distant Buzzard. It circled distantly for around a minuite, before flying off to the north.

MB

Upton Warren- Waders

21/07/12
Upton Warren usually has some good birds about, not nessesarilly rare birds, but decent migrant birds, and that is exactly how this evening turned out, and we manadged to squeeze in a few hours to check on the 'new in' waders.

The Green Sandpiper's had now returned in decent numbers, with 8 counted dotted around the flashes. One of which was showing very well in the channel closest the hide, giving great views, as Green Sand's usualy do at this site!

With the very calm water, i decided to try some reflection shots on the Sandpipers.

 

And i took a little footage.

A single Common Sandpiper was also showing quite well, but as always with this species, was often very mobile around the flashes, so you had to be quick to anticipate where it would go. This species is less 'numerous' at Upton than Green Sand, and you dont usually get more than a few at once, which is a shame, because i love watching their 'bobbing' behaviour as they scuttle along the waters edge.

 

Unusually though, i was suprised when i heard the high pitched call of a Kingfisher, as i sped low over the water and landed on a perch below us! So unusual is this at Upton that it is the first i have ever seen actually on the flashes in about 4 years of visitng the place! Im guessing that the salinity of the pools are a cause for this absense, despite them being a regular sighting at the Moors Pool, the Sailing Pool, and along the Brook's and River. However, i took advantage of these amazing views:

 

Although being a fairly common bird at my 'local patches', Kingfisher is always a 'highlight species' when seen. You just have to look at it to see why. A stunning bird!

People are often suprised when i show them a Kingfisher as it sits in a riverside bush about how dull it looks in the shade, however, this one was in full sunlight! Check out those colours on this gorgeous male bird!

The Avocets were lingering around, and 6 birds were seen, again, dotted at various points in the flashes. A Little Ringed Plover was nice to see, after fleeing the site completly after the recent floods. A flock of 19 Curlew were showi

ng on the peninsular in front of the hide.

A pair of Little Owls were perched up on their usual farnhouse chimney.

 

A nice evening, one without rarities, but a nice selection of migrants, which if you ask me, are just as exiting!

MB

 

More Pied Flycatcher's

23/05/12

Me and the 'Gornal birder once agian decided to check out our 'secret' South Staffs site in the vain hope of finding LesserPeckers, however, in 4 hours within the wood, we failed to even come close to finding one, despite checking all the 'regular' area's.
However, we quickly located a Great-Spotted Woodpecker nest, and one of the young was showing well at the nest enterance, constantly calling to its parents.
The advantages of having a scope truily reveal themselves when watching a nest, as it allows you to get good views and photos from a sensible distance away!






















A check at the Owly roosts gave us a single Little Owl, however, the Tawney Owl was off its perch, so therefore (as expected) in a nest somewhere.

However, we were suprised when i heard a familiar song from one of the area's we dont usually 'work', and soon after, i had found the source of the singing.
A stunning male PIED FLYCATCHER!
I have never seen one (nor heard of one) at this location before, so it was a great suprise, in what is, and area i do with semi-regularity!

The bird was initially singing from the canopy, but soon dropped down into head height bushes, giving great views, it even stayed still long enough for me to get some Footage and photos.

























As said, the bird spent alot of its time in the canopy, where it would sit motionless, untill suddenly taking flight in a short loop to catch a fly in standard Flycatcher behaviour



At the points it was high in the tree it was quite awkward to view from the track, and sometimes the bird became elusive as it moved between the leaves which are now emerging thickly in trees, but occasionally it would appear on a perch in view, and we were able to see this stunnning pied summer visitor.



While on our journey through the wood, we also found many Nuthatch nest, a few of which had chicks calling inside.
MB

When we go down to the wood's today?

19/03/12

Me and the 'Gornal Birder' had decided a trip to a woodland was in order. S we went to secret site in Staffordshire.

We knew about the roosting Tawney Owl, and he was quickly seen, photographed, admired, then left alone.

We then moved onto another section of the wood, where a pair of LITTLE OWL's have recently taken up residence, the views were decent, but into the sun. GB manadged to get this shot of the pair together, lucky B#**&*d

However, despite the Owly destractions, we had more elusive things to locate!

We quickly got 2 species of Woodpecker, Green and GSW. and unusually, a female Green Woodpecker decided to stay perched on a branch while we got some photo's.

We moved to another area our target had been seen in, and as luck would have it, a hour or so after, we had a drumming male LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER, however, only very briefly, and within 10 seconds, it had gone, just as quick as it arrived!

After waiting for longer, the LSW wasnt seen or heard again, so we moved to Penn common, to see if the Firecrest (s) were still around, we didnt see them, but a calling Tawney owl was the 2nd for the day, and then something caught my eye out in the horse paddocks.

A stunning male WHEATEAR!

My earliest bird BY FAR! A whole month earlier infact!, the bird strutted around, flashing its 'White Arse' (where the birds name originates from) shamelessly, a nice find, that just topped off the day!

All in all a good day, a few year ticks, including one that is getting harder to get!

MB

Chelmarsh res suprise!

17/02/12


Having heard that an Iceland Gull had rosted here a few nights previously, and with Glauc been seen at other Shropshire sites, i decided a roost watch may be in order!
Having walked around to the hide, i met another birder, who told me that the TUNDRA BEAN GOOSE was still on the reservour! a month had passed with no news, and it was still there!
I took this oporotunity, and walked to the north end, and finding the BEAN GOOSE swimming on the water with the Greylag flock! however after about a minuite, it flew out with the Greylags to feed in fields that are unviewable!
Also at the north end was 2 drake Wigeon, a flcok of Tufted Duck and a very large flock of GOOSANDER (Around 60 on Res)
Despite this suprise, having seen Bean Goose for the 2nd time, the roost failed to produce anything other than a couple of GBBG.

(Bean Goose on 17/02/12)




While driving out, a Little owl was near some barns

MB

Roost Birding

30/07/11

At Earlswood i found both Holly Blue, and Purple Hairstreak Butterfly in the Garden.

As we were quite early, we decided to drop into the Moors pool, as a pair of Little Egret had been seen there, it didnt take long to spot one as if flew from the broadmeadow pool to Amys marsh, but we had wondering if the other had flow, untill the 2nd bird flew in from the south and landed in a tree on the east side of the pool, 2 Water rail were calling and 15 Greylag geese were on the island but otherwhys it was quiet.

We had just gotton back into the car, when a text came through, Adult Med Gull in flashes roost.

Within 10 Mins we had walked down to the hide, to be told that the bird had again flown off,

however, less than a minuite later i picked the bird up flying back in, and we watched it throughout the evening, taking occasional short flights. It was obvious that the ird was ringed, and after a long time, i finally read it to say 5P5, early indications show that this bird may have come from Poland!!

The 2 Egrets flew over and circled then flew back to the moors.

A single Juv LRP was on the flashes, as was 60c Lapwing, 10+ Green sand

2 Common Sand, 31 Curlew, 5 Common Tern were amongs the Gulls, and the Little owl was showing on the chimney

MB

Waders

2/07/11

Upton Warren was superb!!

The usual early Autumn waders were on the move again, Black-tailed Godwits, Green Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers, and Less noticable movements of both LRP and Lapwing.

We stopped near the bench, as a Pair of REDSTART has been seen for a couple of weeks, but we had failed to connect.

However today was different and both male and female Redstart shown well as they used the hedge and the fence as a launching post for catching insects in the Transmitter Field. A great bird to catch up with and a nice Upton Tick having failed on so many redstarts before.

However as mentioned, the waders were here!!

A stunning flock of 12 Summer plumaged Black-Tailed Godwits had taken up residence for the day, and showing well in the gorgeous evening light, iluminating the Orange tones in the plumage.

Interestingly, the flock of 12 was seperated into 2 flocks, and at no point did a bird from one flock

move over to the other flock,

5 birds were feeding just out from the hide amongst the islands and the remaining 7 were feeding together on the south shore

Here is the 7 from the south shore.

A particular bird ( the one which is on its own in the photo's) shown particuarly well, and i took many images and videos.

However there was also many other birds around, 6 teal were new in.

The Wader numbers consisted of 1 OYC, 15 Avocet, 18!! LRP (not including the 2 unfledged chicks), 13 Lapwing, 12 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 12 BT Godwit, 3 Curlew.

A little owl was peched on a telegraph pole at the top of the hill, and the Redstarts shown occasionally.

MB

Patch Gold- Again

1/07/11

With the patch having some birds, i have got into a routine of visiting the patch on friday evenings.

Starting by walking down from Blackstone to Lickhill.

There was lots of Activity around 'the Willows' at Blackstone with the family party of Garden warbler still, and 3 Treecreeper, However having spent over an hour in one spot i failed to find anything more.

But while walking down the river i found an eclipse Drk Mandarin, an a female Mandarin swimming about on the river, i just thought it could be the pair that bred at Blackstone with them staying in the area after their failed breeding attempt.

A Little owl flushed from a riverside tree, at the riverside fields, and it was a great relief to see that the female Mandarin with the 3 Chicks still had all 3 Chicks

MB

Owl (In the daytime??)

11/06/11

All was quiet, it was the middle of the year, and the birding doldrums had started,

However to Birghten up the birding front at Upton Warren, was a gorgeous little owl, which obligingly perched on a post in a field for ages.

(Sorry, it doesnt do much)

A cuckoo was seen to fly into a tree with a proccesion of Magpies.

On the Flashes was 3 Green Sandpiper's, heralding the start of return wader passage.

MB

Pink foot again!

12/02/11
A drop into the moors was quiet, so i decided to walk to the sailing pool via the education reserve...
all was quiet, but then i got to the corner of the sailing pool that overlooks the fields where the geese are. and after a bit of scanning, i had the PINK FOOTED GOOSE again with 20c greylag... it was getting dark now, so i turned back and as i turned around spotted a LITTLE OWL flying of the farm building, i had it in the bins for about 10 secs before it dissaperared behind the 'eddy'
and that was about it tbh...
MB

Nice evening at the Warren

4/09/10

Matt from the earlswood blog had offered to pick me up from the gardening job to head down to upton a bit earlier and it gave some very good birds.......

We first dropped into the Moors pool where very quickly we latched onto the BITTERN perched up in the reedbed at the north end, showing quite well in the sunlight too...

a Drake Gadwall was here but nothing out of the unusual tbh,

so we Headed down to the flashes where there was quite a few good birds, quite quickly the juv RUFF quickly popped up right below the hide giving absolutly amazing views.

We spotted a juv DUNLIN among the usual 4 Green sandpipers, LRP, Common sand and 8 snipe, a water rail walked along the edge of the reedbed, and this basicly explains the night, i watched the ruff etc untill when news of a little egret on the moors came through, i decided to stay in the hide and sure enough an hour and a bit later, there was the bird coming in to land with the BHG, on the flash, and showing very well..

a little owl was on the farm chimeny....

MB