Tuesday 7 April 2009

the comings of summer

04/04/09
for me the day started with a house martin over bewdley.i then txted my friend andy to brag about it cause he aint seen one so far this year.(he's staying at mine and sittin right next 2 me and this is y im bringin it up)
then on the motor way to the gardening job(oh great) got at least 9 buzzards(got 5 sourning together at stone).at the garden at earlswood there is a pine tree that held 2 goldcrest,3 greenfinch and a flypast sparrowhalk.2 skylarks were singing in the fields adjoining norton lane.
now the best part of the day.
upton warren
again to the flashes as the only thing was reported at the moors was a mealy redpoll and (as explained in last post)i didnt get the urge to see it and thought the flashes would be more promising.and it was.
my first intentions was to scan the sailing pool for the martins that are presant there.and there were.we got onto at least 20 sand martins and in these were 4 house martins and a swallow.but they kept their distance with only a few coming quite close.then to the flashes.we stopped outside the feeder hide to watch 2 reed bunting a female bullfinch a few goldfinch and a greenfinch and chaffinch.we again heard a cettis warbler on the streams.we stopped to read the sign at the feeder hide saying that it was closed for some reason.
then we got in the tower hide.and again nobody was there again so we got a side of the hide to ourselves. of cause i took the side with the snipe on and after getting some news off brian stretch earlier i was onto 2 jack snipe with 7 'common' snipe.i then went onto avocet mode and counted all 9. and as usual i got another video:

highlights were:

4 shelduck

1 wigeon(drake)(1st for flashes)

13 teal

13 tufties(2 on sailing)

2 OYC (watch the next video)

9 avocets

5 LRP

3 redshank

18 curlew

7 snipe

2 jacks

1 stock dove

quite a long list.i was amazed to count 4 shelduck.first i only counted 2 on the 3rd flash then around 7:30 i noticed 2 more on the second flash.i took these to be the ones from the 3rd flash but looked and realised there were 4.great.now for the amazing video that shows:well ill let you guess what they all are:

then on the way back to the car we heard a calling tawny owl.and guess what it didnt show.havent got it on my year list yet.ill have to find out where that one in the wyre forest is.

MB

3 comments:

Matt Griffiths said...

Hello,
I notice you've been to Earlswood on 2 occasions recently. I'm a regular there, and keep records for the area for my blog and a book/report I'm hoping to produce in the future. However, I don't have many records for gardens there. Where is the garden you go to roughly? Do you do the gardening at just one garden? Well done with the Skylarks - I've only seen them on 2 occasions this year. Were they near the Hungry Horse?

Matt

midlands birder said...

hi matthew
i only do one garden on norton lane in between rumbush lane and the garden centre.the skylarks are in the fields opposite this house.if you want me to give you records of the birds i see just tell me and ill send them through to you.im there every saturday and have amassed some good species.one of these is a honey buzzard in 2007 which i was amazed to see after been reported earlier in the day.
MB

Matt Griffiths said...

Hi MB,
Thanks for the info. Yes please send me your bird records. My email address is matt_avesmaster@hotmail.com
The Earlswood blog is http://earlswood.blogspot.com/, and includes links to a species list and 2 maps, if you're interested.
Nice one with the Honey Buzzard :-)
Was that along Norton Lane?

Matt