Some Good Birds

18/03/11
Upton Warren
A 2nd summer Med gull had been on-off visiting upton for almost a month or so, and after missing it for something like 2-3 weeks in a row, i had high hopes when the bird was beginning to be seen more regularly at the Moors pool, So we dropped straight into there.
A quick check in the Log reported that the bird had not been seen, however a Drk GOLDENEYE was on the pool, It didnt take much finding diving around in the water between the islands and the Hide, Giving quite nice views, a little far off for photos etc, But when did that ever stop me :




(Drk Goldeneye)
However, there was little else around, a Gorgeous male Great-spotted woodpecker posed on a suet feeder,




(Male G-S Woodpecker)

i took a few snaps and videos then went back to scanning the assembled Gulls on the islands.

There.

A gorgeous Practically full summer plumaged, 2nd summer MEDITERRANEAN GULL standing on the edge of the island, The bird took a quick bath, then proceeded to chase the BHG in a typical Med fashion. after about 20 mins the bird took flight, did a couple of circled of the pool, then flew south.
A Bullfinch was glowing in the sun:




Then it was to the Flashes, where, after some scanning we found the Med had not relocated too as i had thought, However the flock of 9 Avocet and 4 Oyc kept me entertained untill the magic moment where the Med dropped in for the night, Showing closer than at the moors, But the light was shot, so this was all i could manage.

MB

Garden News again

12/03/11
13/03/11

Our regular Garden Birds were still attendence.
The 2 Brambling ( Ringed and non-Ringed Females) were still visiting On-Off throughout
5 Lesser Redpoll remained Over both days,as did the flock of 50c Siskin, But i only manadged decent Photos of this male bird..

(Male Lesser Redpoll)

(Our regular male Chaffinch 'Bigfoot', Note the fungus(?) growth on its right leg where it gets its nickname)

I also manadged to get some Video of the Bramblings and Redpoll's in the Garden.

(Lesser Redpoll)

(Non-Ringed Brambling)

(Ringed Brambling)

MB

Patch- Brambling Update...

6/03/11

With the Bramblings now being settled into their woodland setting, and after quite a few weeks i was still failing to get any decent pictures, so with careful consideration i positioned myself on a very dusty slope for around 3 hours overlooking the area of Hawthorns the birds frequent.

However, it quickly because evident that the birds were feeding in the middle of the bush and not on the top as i had hoped, but i waited, and i waited, and waited, untill finally a bird briefly popped up on top of the bush, then i couldnt get the scope on the bird because it was too close, eventually though, i found a stunning male BRAMBLING sitting on top of the bush behind a few tree branches, i snapped away and got a few, what i find as, Decent shots:

I had finally got a picture i was proud to put on the blog. This bird eventually dropped back down into the bush after its preen, and no other bird popped out long enough to get a photo,

A great spot kept me company while i was waiting though, and 3 Buzzard kept flying very low ( maybe about 10 ft) above my head unawares to where i was.

The Finch's remained:

8 Lesser Redpoll

60c Siskin

20 Goldfinch

10 Chaffinch

In the Garden we were given a supprise when a female Brambling dropped in, However i quickly noticed that the bird didnt have a ring, so this must be a new visiting female, the plumage gave no clue to any difference so another triunph for ringing..

The ringed Female also Dropped in later in the day to show she was still around.

MB

Upton Warren...

5/03/11
3 Avocet
2 OYC
2 Shelduck
2 Reed Bunting
1 1st win Drk Wigeon
2 Gadwall
1 Siskin
MB

Back to the patch!

5/03/11
I had to see if the Bramblings were still around, and luckilly they were.
A pair were still visiting the garden, however they were still being as flighty as ever, so here is a video of a siskin Instead..

So then it was for a walk into the Birchwood, which over the 2nd half of the winter has turned into my patch heaven!!

And what do you know

BRAMBLINGS.

8+ to be a little more spacific, and a very hard to observe flock as they were in the lower parts of the woodland in the hawthorn clumps and comuting to a nearby stream to drink and preen.I managed some videos at the stream.

The whole Finch flock was still in situ with:

10+ Brambling (8+ in Birchwood, 2 in Garden)

10c Lesser Redpoll

20c Chaffinch

70c Siskin

10c Goldfinch

6+ Greenfinch

10c LTT

5 Wren

and a single Green woodie on the adjacent moorhall meadow.

Still a Happy patcher

MB

Upton Warren...

26/02/11

We decided to work both sides of upton warren today, however, there wasnt exactly loads of birds about.

At the Moors pool, a shelduck was on show and a Reed Bunting shown very well from the hide.

At the Flashes, the 1st winter drk WIGEON remained, as did the Pink Footed Goose in the field to the north, 5 Oyc were piping from the back of the flash and 31 curlew roosted.Just as dusk was aproaching, a ringed BHG landed down in front of the hide with a leg ring reading 9F9 (white ring, right leg), i still await details on this bird, however i know the the bird has been seen twice at upton.

(Ringed BHG in centre of Pic)

MB

Garden.... Again

26/02/11

With the Gardens first Brambling being in the garden a few days previous, and after having a few days away, i was up early in the morning to see if she was still visiting.

And after about an hour, the ringed female BRAMBLING dropped down onto the floor below the feeders, the light was shocking, and the bird was only down for about 5 secs so i didnt get any video of the bird, however this bird was quickly followed by another, a full adult male!!!!

Not yet in summer plumage but a gorgeous bird, like the female it also dissapeared quickly and i didnt get any photos or videos.

Also there was 25c Siskin

1 Lesser Redpoll

10c Goldfinch

3 Chaffinch

MB

Officially Awsome!!!!!- Continued

25/02/11

Wyre Forest

with the morning with the waxwings having passed, we decided to head into the wyre again, to try and find a lesserpecker.

Unfortunatly we dipped on the pecker, But there was some decent birds around,

4+ HAWFINCH were in the Orchard, and being generally quite annoying sitting far away in trees, or flying out of sight very quickly. i did try to get some photos but they are terrible so i wont even put them on,

A party of 6 BRAMBLING was in the beech trees around the orchard, and show well, if briefly, further along the railway line we found a flock of 50c Lesser Redpoll, but they were very flighty due to a barking dog, and i couldnt really scan them, 20 mins waiting and we left.

following this we had a walk along dowles brook, where we quickly stumbled upon apair of DIPPER. we stood on the track next to the brook, and were treated to superb views of the pair ( one in particular) as then fed in the brook.

At the small frog pool's at the bototm of dry mill lane, there was a pair of Mandarin swimming, about, another check for lesserpecker failed and we left.

MB