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

Birding in the Wyre forest area!

8/03/14

The good thing about having some free time on a weekend is you can guarantee that a good thrash of the patch is in order!

And it was with the intention of early migrants I headed out in the hope of some early migrants. Sadly however, it was more of the 'old' than the new. A good number of  winter visitors were still hanging on, with a good party of 18 Lapwing, and both Redwing and Fieldfare still in evidence on the riverside fields. Additionally to these, 2 Goosander and 4 Mandarin remained on the river.

It was however, fairly quiet, so later in the morning i headed over to Stanklyn Lane, where the wintering flock of Corn Bunting was still in evidence! With some patience and some cover behind an oak tree along the road, i was eventually treated to stunning views as they were flushed down the field by dog walkers. At a few points, I was surrounded by the whole flock, a number of which were singing constantly!

After a little while, a number of the birds started dropping down and started feeding among the plowed soils of the field, giving brilliant, and prolonged views!

Many people may look at these birds and think 'yet another LBJ- Or little brown job to the folks that don't have the grasp on the birding lingo'.

To me however, the sound of singing Corn Bunting, and its family relative, the Yellowhammer are two sounds that are synonymous with a picture of British farmland, and it really is such a shame to witness numbers dropping so quickly!

9/03/14

Following some survey work at a variety of undisclosed sites, I decided to drop into Postemplain, and i soon heard at least 2 TWO-BARRED CROSSBILL calling, but rather than investigating further decided to head off and do some more survey work!

MB

Goosanders on Patch

25/01/13
A early morning visit onto the patch was fairly rewarding with awesome views of a flock of 10 Goosander (7 drake) on the river. Despite being bitterly cold, i was able to sit on the bank opposite them for about 30 minuites as they went about their buisness. They are stunning looking ducks, and one of my most anticipated winter visitors on patch.

As expected, the birds were flushed by a dog walker, and flew off low north.

A stomp around the dryer parts of the patch gave me very good numbers of winter thrushes, c30 Redwing and 100c Fieldfare were showing in a single flock on the riverside fields.

However, this little gem gave superb views on the ground. As regular readers will know, Goldcrest is only off my all time favorite birds, no matter how many i see, i always still have to stop and have a quick look. Gladly, this bird was showing well, and even posed for a Digi-binned shot.

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 

Patch Birding

8/12/11
Patch Birding can be immensly annoying.
Why i hear you ask?
Lack of Birds?
Missed a rare bird?

No!
Generaly people is what annoys me!
With my patch being on the Riverside footpath, i get lots of walkers, most of which are respectful to the nature surrounding them!
However, you sometimes have one of those days where all those agrovating c**ts all come out at once, and that day just happened to be today!

Every single decent bird i saw was flushed over and over by a multitude of people!

A flock of 30c Redpoll at the Wigeon lake was continually flushed over a period of a hour while i was trying to wait untill they dropped down into the weeds infront of me, they started dropping down only to be followed seconds later by a rampaging dog running through the middle of the flock! I'm not Anti-Dog or anything, but when out in these places is it not better to keep Dogs on leads? To protect Wildlife and for the generaly health of the dog, especially on a riverbank! There are many more better places to let your dog roam in Stourport, Ive witnessed what happens when a careless dog owner lets their dog jump into the river, and let me assure you its a harrowing sight watching a dog drown! And sadly, the dog was never seen again!

Regular readers will know i have a particular problem with ignorant Dog walkers on my patch and im not just like this for the sake of a wintering Finch flock!

People who keep their dogs on leads, well done you! I salute you for your generosity!

Anyway, this is a bird blog!

A large increse in Finch numbers, with influxes of Redpoll, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Bullfinch and to a lesser extent Greenfinch!

A walk between Lickhill and Blackstone revealed 3 flocks of Redpoll sp numbering 100 birds in total! which smashes my overall record count! however this may include a degree of duplication, so therefore my record of 68 still stands as a single flock record count!

Unusually, a REDWING was showing well in a Hawthorn!

A female Kestrel was also showing well, eating its prey!

A Pied Wagtail was showing on a short cut grass field adjoining the river, one day there will be a Wheatear here!

A brutish looking Herring Gull was showing on the riverside fields harrasing BHG's

MB