3/05/09
wow another patch tick a COMMON SANDPIPER,wow,out of all the birds would expect,this is one that i didnt.the whole patch has no suitable habitat for them but one turned up on the river north of lickhill towards the next caravan park.not knowing it was there we were striding up the river when we haerd a call that we both recognised for the day before at the warren,we glanced at the river to see a small wader with pulsating wings flying downriver towards lickhill.after this the bird wasent seen again(proberbly due to the few ignorant dogwalkers that let their pets jump in the river while you are obviously watching something there,one time at lickhill i was watching a pair of escaped mandarins on the river some idiot dog walker lobs a stick near the ducks and flushed them after a rampaging dog jumps next to them,this was the last time i them saw them after a few months of residence)well over with that rant.even the blackcaps had disapeared and we only saw 2 i must admit there was little else and it was very quiet(a typicle lickhill day)4 skylark and 2 cormorant were noteworthy.now to the main focous of the day
wyre forest
this is the first time ive visited the brook for ages, we had 2 wood warblers(year tick)their hearts out but no photos as they were deep in leaves and just viewable.i must admit it was quieter than i thought it would be but we did note a lot of grey wags (counted 7 along the brook),just as we were getting out the car at dry mill lane we had 10+ swift over,near the meadow at knowles coppice we had a grey heron in the brook(the forst ive seen here)
at the other end of the meadow we had a male redstart in the bushes that boarder the main path,but the view was brief.
we walked all the way to the road north of lodge hill farm,and at the top of the hill we sat on a logged tree and watched garden warbler,chiffchaff,blackcap,willow warbler and goldcrest hopping about in bushesup to this point we had logged(highlights):
2 stock dove
10+ swift
3-5 kingfishers
7 grey wags
2 dipper that only my dad saw as they flew off upstream
2 redstart
1 garden warbler
2 blackcap
1 whitethroat
3 willow warbler
2 wood warbler
4 chiffchaffs
2 goldcrest in very tall pine trees(looks good for crossbill)
again we gave lodge hill farm a miss and walked along the brook but to little reward although 2 baby tree rats(squirrals-grey for normal people) at a nest site was cute:
at the very moment i said it was quiet my dad pointed down to a pair of mandarin below us2 meters away.they posed well but it was quite dark under the trees.i do know a lot of birders overlook them as being plastic but nobody can deny there amazing beauty.ill end the post with pics and videos of the manders.highlights(including things already mentioned)
2 mandarin
3 stock doves
10+ swift
3-5 kingfishers
7 grey wags
3 dipper and i saw one crap photo
3 redstart
1 garden warbler
2 blackcap
1 whitethroat
3 willow warbler
2 wood warbler
4 chiffchaff
2 goldcrest
i just love the way they can change the shape of the eye stripe(watch later in film)
and in a tree(30ft up)
MB
5 comments:
No luck with pied flycatchers? I'll be after them this weekend, all being well.
Escaped Mandarins you say, are you sure they are not wild down there.
(Mr Plastic)
pied fly was a top priority bird for me but non showed but just the day after 2 were found by andy shaw and co hope you get some,hoping to get there again soon,if my dad takes me
and as for the manders.im not sure wether this comment is sopposed to be sarky cause all manders are escapes(but have gone wild)all i know is that the birds on the river were very tame while the dowles birds arnt and are hard to get a decent look at
Yes I am afraid your right about the Mandarin's, great looking duck though.
"The Mandarin duck breeds in eastern Siberia, China, and Japan and winters in southern China and Japan".
"The Mandarin lives in the forests of China and Japan. They prefer wooded ponds and fast flowing rocky streams to swim, wade, and feed in".
It is suprising that a "plastic duck" not knowing where it's truely wild brothers live, sort out bits of typical habitat that must be similar in China and Japan, how do they kinow, must be still in there somewhere after years of UK breeding...interesting that, me thinks.
What really annoys me about plastic and re-introductions is that for all we know there have been true vagrant visitors, like Snow Goose, Ruddy Duck and the like and now the Osprey, Corncrake, Red Kite and Great Bustard, is the first Osprey you see in Worcestershire going to a wild one or a bird from the Rutland re-introduction scheme, interesting......
who knows?
i too belive its anoying that the plastic blur out the picture for real wild birds that travel considerable distances.
and yes i do know that manders come from china
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