the greatist birding day

so i guess your all wondering whats this is about.its about today. its starts around 11:30 this morning when i found a mediteranian gull perched on a rooftop in bewdley.great thats my first this year.then later at around midday i had a look again and had a pair of goosanders fly by great nice birds.now this is when it turns into turmoil.on birdguides it said waxies at brownhills and i already know theres a lot of waxies there.so(against blurred birders advice)away we went.then on the way there along the stourbridge road(a451) there were masses of thrushes. mostly fieldfares.but it contained all regular winter thrushes.then as we approched hagley i was getting ready to look in the supercar showroom on the kiddeminster road(a456)at cross keys junction when i saw a flock of starlings fly in front of us.i watched them land in a tree.christ, they have crests,they have crests.by now we had passed the little chef car park where the crested starlings were.i shouted to my dad telling him to stop because id just seen a flock of birds i thought were waxies.god,god,god, we couldent stop.we had to go all the way up to the island and come back.now my brain was arguing itself.were they just starlings with there crown fethers been flufed up by the wind.my dad kept asking me 'are you sure'.and every time i answered 95% sure. now we were on our way back and we got stopped by the trafic lights.'will they fly of'' 'oh no there going to fly off'. i was so releved to see the birds perched in the same silver birch tree as when we left.we drove closer towards the car park. christ they are waxwings(lifer 178) .(and i didnt get no good photos because i forgat my camera but i tried some with my phone) a stunning flock of 20 birds. as i was sitting in the front i couldent see them.so i scrambled into the back seats and watched them through my bins and then my scope.god there so beautiful. i could see the 'wax' and every thing.they then flew towards the car(which we was using as a hide) and landed on the hawthorn berries pritty much on the bonnet of the car.and gave stunning views.no other birders were around so i guessed that we had found these birds.i phoned brian stretch(worcester county recorder) and he said he would get in contact with a birder in hagley.he asked me if they were still there and i said yes.but just as i put the phone down they all flew to a popular tree quite a way away but were still visible.and now the birder and what i presumed was his wife.my dad told them the news and the birder quickly set up his scope and had a look.they showed in this tree for about 5 mins while another birder arrived.a few minuites later they took flight again but in the direction of us. they cascaded down into the hawthorns again and give stunning views at around 2 meters.a few other birders arrived and we all watched the birds as they edged closer.not at all desturbed by the human pressence.at one point i heard one birder i only know as 'andy' said that it was the closest hed ever seen them. after a few congrads i started taking notes.wait a minuite why there completly unmistakable.so i just watched them.then suddenly they all took flight and were gone in the direction of bromsgrove and they wernt seen again. this all happened from when we first saw them at 1:45pm till they left at 2:40pm. see why i call it my greatist birding day.if not you will when i went to upton warren straight after.but im saving that for another post(not because i cant, its because my arms are starting to ache)

guess the bird

a little quiz here what are these birds.only i clue available i took them in wales in the witson holloday last year at around 200m range through my scope and it was awfully blustery which is why the picture quality is so crap(no prizes avaliable)

this picture gives blurred birder a run for his money dont it

local patch

11th and 25th january

if anybody has ever looked at a map of stourport you would realy think that my local patch is tiny but i do venture further afield.further up the river towards bewdly is blackstone rock.near hear is a lake.(picture is below)this is where i saw that purple heron that very briefly landed and then took flight again

but on the 11th it wasent a meaga (but it is for lickhill) 2 goosanders flew downriver towards the site.but i couldent count them yet. when i got back to lickhill i met a local dogwalker who knows when he sees something different and he said to me he had just seen 2 goosanders flying towards stourport.what were they i asked.2 adult males.so i saw these birds further up river so i can count the as a site record cant i.it is the 2nd record for lickhill.

so on 25th i was there again. but i didnt go to blackstone(i call this the short walk) for today there was 2 bird of the days and both are year firsts a brief lessr spotted woodpecker at moorhall marsh(at the southernmost area of my local patch, just look for moorhall lane and the marsh is along there)where 2 treecreapers also gave good views on trees actually in the marsh. next is a marsh tit which gave prolonged views so i could sepperate it from willow(and the dry habitat of lickhill helped me to seperate them as well as im sure most of you know willow tits prefer wet areas,and anyway willow is rarer at lickhill anyway).both were in large flocks of birds.the moorhall flock comprised of the woody,the 2 treecreapers 15 redwings 1 goldcrest a lot of great,blue and long tailed tits,4 chaffinch,2 lesser redpoll a few goldfinch,greenfinch,siskin and 2 bullfinches

the marsh tit flock consisted of more common species.all the common tits mentioned above a few goldfinch,greenfinch,siskin,robin(at least 3)dunnock wren.all of which regulary visit my feaders now.

and one last thing, there was a nice post roost gathering of fieldfares(about 80),small numbers of other thrushes and a few woodpigeons+starlings. there was also a showy countryside jay which was in loose assosiation with this flock(the jay is usually very shy you could usually walk right pats him.thenhe flies of sqwarking so you follow it to get better views.then when you get to where you thought he had gone he reappears where you have just come from at the other side of the woodland).the flock was then scared by a flyover sparrowhalk and buzzard which put the whole flock up

right this post is all about u the readers of this blog.
firstly i would like anybody who reads this blog to give some sudgestions on how to make this blog better
secondly,would any other birding blogs leave a post saying the use adresses of your blog as i like them all.they can be from anywhere in the world i dont mind(it will be nice hearing about species we call exotic eg, the debaitable japinese waxwing in poland) while mentioning the waxie does anybody have any sudgestions wether its wild or not(this could be quite a nice debate considering my lack of comments made)

warning; the following section contains a lot of young teen ranting and contains some things some people might find offencive so this is for those people who dont want to read it(but read it anyway its only me overexentrisising)(thats the longest word ive even mentioned this year)

and lastly why the hell does nobody put midlands bird news on the services.like picture this,your waiting in a house on saturday for news of the 13 waxies in redditch and i start to check birdguides and worcestershire source(link comming soon) for 2 hours waiting for those magic words;waxwing redditch now. and then i would of had enougth evidence to persuade my dad to take me. gusss what they wernt reported on any website so i didnt go.and on the next night im on those websites again.then a brief mention of a mans privates beggining with b (i say no more) as i realise that they were still there!!!!! and now as i write this they havent been reported again(hopefully what ive being explaining in the past few lines has happenes) so i have 2 sudgestions please pritty please put your news on these websites as soon as possible or leave comments on this blog about whats about and has anybody got any news of these waxies.

sorry for puttin you all in a bad mood

sheepwash again

9/01/09
nice day out.kinda sunny. trying out my camera on the ducks and grebes and i got many waterbird first fot this year.the bird of the day was a teal(nice little male) on pumphouse pool not only my first for the year but my first for the wash.it didnt give very good views sitting on ice in the middle if the pool(which was almost covered apart from the southern bank,i think) and was occasionally watched to venture a little further towards us,only about 5 metres but its a little closer.the pochards(18 amazing thats more than i saw at upton warren,god how crazy this lake is,it like a smart car,god i hate them,beating a ferrari,god i love them,it really shouldent happen but it did,not the car part that can never happen)i dont want to write the whole list so heres the highlighs and my first for the year:
little grebe-4
g c grebe-1
teal-1
pochard-18
tufties-9
bloody duck-1 (thanks for the great name it makes my laugh and if your reading this martyn i do like them even if there plastic)
g b b gull-1
kingfisher-1(great views at about 2 metres on the tame)
greenfinch-2 first noted today so i soppose its my first,and 2 days later i find 24 at lickhill

didnt visit the albright pool no time i was getting phone calls every 5 mins from my mom to get ready to go to my dads before he comes

brown westhead park, wolverly

2/1/09
trying for the waxies again it should be my last for the holloday.ok so here goes. i was brousing whats about on birdguides.nothing so i looked at the pictures.flashed back to the news and saw 15 waxwings at this park in hawthorns(and a twite at lineholt which is just below stourport). great tell the news to my dad and away we went(its about 2 miles from where we was).we arrived about 5 mins after.ok search mode.no sighn.crap.we stuck around for an hour and a bit and it was getting dark so we went to get our weekly shoping and some heart southing gingerbread men and a nice bottle of iron bru(no advertising ment) god ive got to see some soon.

p.s. great a few days ago(11th) there was a report of waxies in bewdley(20 birds) it was a sunday and i could of easily seen them but i didnt check about whats about so my bad.god there so taunting me

local patch

01/01/09
my first birding this year.no highlights.
the list was:
cormorant-3 canadian geese-103 mallard kestrel-1 moorhen b h gull h gull l b b gull woodpigeon g s woodpecker-1 pied wagtail-2 wren-3 dunnock robin song thrush-2 redwing-5 blackbird goldcrest-4 great tit-2 coal tit blue tit l t tits magpie carrian crow starling h sparrow-8 chaffinch goldfinch bullfinch-6(bird of the day)

also while on the idea of my local patch there was an uncomfirmed report of 4 waxwings on january 4th(scipping time a bit) in the top of a tree with starlings by my dad.while i went up the shop to get credit and check out the rowen trees my dad saw these without bins at about 50m range and described them as orange starlins but when he rushed to get his bins they flew off never to be seen again . soon after i arrived back to hear this news. i had walked past the same tree a few minuites before. i did an extensive walk around this area this mourning and only saw a grey wag and 4 starlings(no waxies in there i tripple checked,just shows how much i want to see one)after hearing the news i rushed out again and checked the area top to bottom but no sighn not even a starling.more about my serches for waxies in my next post.

upton warren

31/12/08
i should have gone on the first day of the year to start my list off but i couldent wait. the highligh of the day was surly a possible woodcock that me and my dad saw in the field behind the east hide of the moors with 9 curlew i only saw it fly in but my dad saw it in the grass and said snipe so i carried on but only realised my massive blunder while driving home.next comes a shelduck(its my first inland)that was a female that stood half hidden behind the island. i was even more supprised to see the flashes frozen solid and no birds apart from a bullfinch(feeder hide)and an amusing duck fight ,a grey wag on hen brook ,another shelduck(juv)that flew over ,a snipe that crash landed on ice and a flyover buzzard and kestrel.i have got a camera finaly it isnt very good(its a film camera not digital)but ittle do.i got some photos of the ducks at the moors notably wigeon and took some wide shots of all the ducks that were crammed in front of the hide as 90% of the lake was frozen.the bittern is still there reachin a peak of 3.while in the hide some birders came in and said the bittern was showing on the north moors(where we had been 20 mins earlier) on the tops of the reeds so we gathered our stuff and walked to the causeway from where it had been seen.it had dissapeared but i couldent stand around much longer my hands were dropping off in sub zero temperatures.
the list for today is(only moors pool):
little grebe-3 g c grebe-20 cormorants-5 shelduck-1(dont forget the flashes flyover) mallard gadwall-3 widgeon-4 teal-50-100(hard to count these when there in such a small space) pochard-6 tufted duck-70c ruddy duck-1 water rail-1 moorhen-15 coot-150-200 lapwing-4 curlew-9 woodcock-1 snipe-2 jack snipe-1 b h gull-50c l b b gull-1 woodpigeon kingfisher-1 g s woodpecker-2 pied wag-3 wren-2 dunnock-1 robin song thrush-2 redwing-10 mistle thrush-1 fieldfare-2 blackbird cettis warbler-4 great tit blue tit l t tit-20 magpie jay-1 jackdaw-2 carrian crow goldfinch greenfinch-3 siskin-2 chaffinch-5 lesser redpoll-6
i was sifting through the redpoll flock for any mealys i dint see any but one was found in exacly the same place the next day

waxwing twitch upton warren

27/12/08
arrived late because my dad had to escorte my nan into bewdley. got there around 2pm. there were birders lining the sides of the road so it looked good that they were there(there had been 23 reported earlier in the day but only one at mid day).they wernt AGAIN. i found out that a photographer scared it off not long after midday and it wasent seen again. so he(he was wearing a red jacket)denied me and many others the chance of seeing my first waxie.so thanks.i did have a walk around the education reserve and saw 4 curlew fly over. nothin much else. we returned to the twitch till dusk but there was no sighn so we left feeling anoyed about some selfish people that only think about getting that perfect shot and not caring about the bird or the other observers