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

Migrant hunting.

10/04/13

I decided to head back up onto Sedgley Beacon early morning to see if the Ring Ouzels were still around. After 1 1/2 hours it was clear there was no sign after lapping the top of the hill about 3 times, so i decided to head back, but while walking i saw a bird pop up on the scrub in front of me and perch on top of one of the dead stems.

A female STONECHAT!

Another decent bird for this urban site, 2 Ouzels and a Stonechat in 2 days. Pretty decent for a location where no reports come from!

The bird was on show for some time before being flushed by a dog walker at which point i decided t leave aswell.

3 Sand Martin flew over north also, as did 10 Meadow Pipit

MB

Vis-mig!

6/04/13
Patch birding and vis-mig. What could be better?

A nice early morning thrash of the newly found riverside fields and Paddocks area got me some decent birds.
2 Mandarin Duck were still showing on the river, but the main focus was on the Passerines on and over the fields. It was quickly obvious that Meadow Pipit's were moving en-mass following a short period of fog, and they were now streaming over constantly, with 100+ going over in the 2 hours i was out. Additionally, 13 birds were grounded, and i had great views of then for a good few minutes  before they joined a flock of 10c overflying birds, and carried on their migration northwards!

I took a video of the exact moment the last bird of the flock took flight.

9 Skylark were also showing in the 3 paddocks surrounding me, and i had great views of both singing, and of the birds chasing each other.

2 Lapwing still holding territory nearby also.

As well as Pipits, Wagtails were also moving, with 50c 'Alba' Wagtail Sp going over in the time i was out, however non decided to land. The previous days Winter Thrush flock had dropped in size greatly, with only 10 Fieldfare remaining. The biggest surprise however was the obvious Starling movement, of which around 200 flew over, including a single 100 strong flock, all heading purposefully north!

Later that evening i returned to the patch, but it wasn't rewarded greatly. 2 drake Goosanders were on the river, and showing well.

MB

The patch does it again!

5/04/13

Yes folks, patch birding again! My spare time in the holiday meaning i have lots of spare time to thrash the patch, and i again pulled out some decent birds!

The pair of Mandarin were still showing in their usual spot, and i also found 2 drake Goosanders on the river. A drake TEAL could be heard calling near Blackstone but could not be located. Away from the river however, it was passerines that really stole the show! While walking around the wigeon lake, i saw a white rump flush from the hawthorn beside me, flying a few meters and landed upon another hawthorn. A female BRAMBLING! Over the next few minutes i kept adding more birds to the tally, until i came to the conclusion of at least 6 birds, and an even split of 3 of each sex.

I managed a photo of a male bird.

Keen to move on, i did the Blackstone 'round' circuit, picking up a pair of Treecreeper, before moving back south, and taking a diversion across an area i had never ventured to before on patch, and i was so glad i did! A huge area of paddocks and hawthorn hedges, patch migrant heaven!

Now i hear you ask, how have you been birding a patch for around 11 years and not found this area?

Well two reasons, to get there, i have to walk through a private holiday home site, and that put me off greatly, and secondly, i never thought the habitat was as extensive as it is, therefore i never even  bothered! But now i know whats there, and trust me, the area is going to be thrashed this year!

Another Brambling flew south while i was walking the paddocks, and a stream of around 20 Meadow Pipit moved over, with equal numbers of 'Alba' Wagtails. I found a pair of Lapwing, but my highlight goes to a stunning 200+ Winter thrush/ Starling flock showing in one of the fields.

A few of the 100c Fieldfare were showing well.

100c Starling were also present here, but only 20c Redwing!

MB

Migration

31/03/13
I am fascinated by migration!
And i hugely look forwards to migrants on the patch. It breaths new air into the lungs of birding, which can get fairly repetitive during winter, particularly in a county without large diving duck flocks and big Gull roosts.
Today looked an ideal day for a spot of vismig, and i was fairly right, and i ended up spending around 5 hours on patch almost immobile sitting in the middle of the field counting vismig.
It was clear that Meadow Pipit were moving en mass, and i had around 100 birds fly over, all heading to the north. From these birds being funneled up the valley, a fair few were regularly dropping into the weedy field at Blackstone i was sitting in, sometimes giving fairly decent views as they flew around, at times down to a few meters, or perching up on young trees.

On a patch scale, i was also immensely happy when a pair of Greylag Goose flew south along the river, as said in a previous post, an incredibly rare bird on patch, and following so closely to the last record, which could indicate that they are still present nearby!

7+ Chiffchaff were also 'new in' for me, being my first patch birds of the year! 5c Redpoll sp were flying around, but seemed more to be remnants of the wintering flock than migrants. 1 Grey Wagtail flew north, as did 2 'alba' Wagtail and 30c Linnet. Raptors were also represented with 8 Buzzard going over (including some obviously migrating birds!), 3 Sparrowhawk and 1 Kestrel!

Away from vismig, a pair of Mandarin and a single drake Goosander were on the river.

MB

Catch Up time!

Im getting there folks, only a month behind now, and most of the next load are quite short posts, so i should be able to catch up fairly shortly for a good start to the new year!
Patch
20/10/12
Fairly quiet vismig wise, winter thrushes were just starting to move, with 8 Redwing and 9 Fieldfare, 12 Skylark and 8 Meadow Pipit. In complete contrast however was the extremly large numbers of Goldcrests in the Lickhill conifer wood, with around 30 birds been seen within a short period. This included a single flock of 15 birds!!
A pair of Raven were showing in the fog at the riverside fields

 27/10/12
Again, fairly quiet, 24 Meadow Pipit over, 7 Pied Wagtail, 5 Skylark, 5 Redwing and 3 Linnet.

Later in the day, while at the gardening job, my dad alerted me to 'odd' wader like calls he was hearing from the field opposite the house. A quick scan and i'd picked up 2 GOLDEN PLOVER! They continued to show untill they took flight, and flew off towards Wythall.

 

 

 

After this, we checked the lakes, which held a single drake Goosander, a Little Grebe and a Kingfisher.

 

3/11/12

A rather annoying morning on the patch, when i picked up a bird i am certain was a FIRECREST! I heard the bird calling for a very long time before finally seeing a crest sp emerge from the ivy covered tree the sound was originating from. In the incredibly brief view i wasnt able to note any feature other than the bird was a crest sp, as the bird was facing away from me. I couldnt even see anything on the head pattern. Annoyingly, after about an hour with only this one miniscule sighting, and the bird having now either gone silent or moved on i had to leave, and the bird wasnt seen again, despite searching by a local birder on consecutive days! One that 'got away' i guess.

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

Patch Birding- Highlights

17/09/12
Early morning watches of the patch has been revealing large numbers of Hirudines moving, and today was no exeption, with about 500 Swallow and H Martin moving south along the river in just over an hours 'vis-migging.
Migrant wise. the only birds were a Garden Warbler (Getting late) and 2 Blackcap, as well as multiple Chiffchaff.

22/09/12
Early morning agian for more vismig!
The highlight was by far my first GOLDEN PLOVER of the autumn which flew over south calling.
Hirudines were now moving in much smaller numbers, with only about 100 Swallows going through. However, this was eclipsed by 150+ Meadow Pipits that flew over, all heading in a SW direction. This compared to a measly 5 Skylark, however, they tend to 'move' a little later in the year.
Away from vismigging, the patch was quiet, exept for a flock of 5 Mandarin (3 drk) which flew north upriver. A male kestrel was showing well.

MB

Stackpole Head- PUFFIN'S!

6/06/12

Stackpole head has always been a favorite area in Pembrokeshire, a nice mix of birds, nice beaches and stunning sea cliffs. It always makes for a decent couple of hours, even if theres not many birds about!
Over the last few years, there has been a seeming decline in numbers of everything here, so my hopes wernt exactly too high. However, all the 'usual' suspects are still around, just in less numbers!

The weather everyday since the Sunday had been rather atrocious, and therefore all birding time was pritty much canceled! We did witness the Lifeboat docking at it's station on the Wednesday, and a quick walk along the beach in Tenby during howling wind and driving rain lead to a suspected sighting on a Skua sp. However, the views were ever so brief as it ducked in behind a wave, with no bins, and when using one of the telescopes on the seafront (which were terrible btw!) i couldnt relocate it. Which is a shame, because ive only ever seen one skua previously!

On the thursday morning however, there was a gap in the weather, and i had a PAINTED LADY buttefly on the plants outside the window.

Later in the day, moving to Stackpole head, it was similarly sunny, but with a very gusty wind. It didnt takes long before we started picking up the birds, Skylarks were (as usual) everywhere! And Meadow Pipit were 'seeping' all around us.

A couple of WHEATEAR also joined us on the cliff top, and after abit of time, a female approached us, and gave stunning views!

Soon after, we were also joined by the male bird. Presumably a 1st summer because of the brown tinged wing feathers.

What a stunner!

However, the main reason for visiting these cliffs was to try and see one of the Icons of coastal birding in Wales. The CHOUGH.

We soon picked up a flock of these birds calling from the other side of the head, and we soon located then on the cliff edge.

We were treated to views of an immature bird. A plumage which previously i have never seen, which was now fully indipendant from its parents.

And talk of the devil, Here are the two stunning corvids! Glossy black with blood red bills and legs.

And just flying out to mob one of the ever present Herring Gulls.

The birding here is not just confined to the cliff tops. Clinging on to the vertical rock face below is a bustling colony of seabirds, with both the 'common' Auks well represented. And, as we were a week later than most years, most of the colony were in attendance, and we were treated to large numbers on hte cliff faces, and forming rafts below us on the swell.

And it was while scanning these rafts that i picked out a few white faces. Even at the extreme range we were from the bird (1/2- 1 mile) i could easilly tell that i was watching a PUFFIN on the water! Great stuff!
I knew they were here from previous sightings, however, i had never seen one actually perched/swimming, so it was great to get views of them in the water.
We moved along the cliff, closer to where the birds were, and soon realised that there was infact more than one bird here. And i soon counted 6 birds swimming about, including these two birds, which swam on the sea not too far away.

A SHAG was near the top of the cliffs at its nest.

However, i was soon distracted by the numbers of ROCK PIPIT which had decided they wanted to show well, and i was soon in the presence of a showy male bird, which casually stroled around about 30ft away, often pausing to sing or preen.

A couple of times. the bird was knocked off ballence by the strong winds, which made for some odd poses!

We were also treated to amazing views of this bird, whch showed a very ragged tail.

All in all, a very good visit, and it was nice to see Stackpole 'back on form'.Decent birds, ok weather, what more could you ask for?

MB