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

Happy Christmas

Just a quick post to wish all 89 Followers and viewers of my blog Happy christmas and thankyou for your support this year, I wouldve packed blogging in long ago if i didnt have an audience to read about my often bird-less days too. so thankyou for that.

My posting this year have sometimes been few and far between, but im glad you have stuck with it and kept checking in.

I wont be back untill the new year now, when i will get up to date with my postings and then post my BIG year ender post, so i also wish all viewers of my blog a Happy bird filled new year.

Have a good un' everybody!

(Just a shame its not like last year, i want another patch Smew, Whooper Swan etc :P )

Cheers

MB

Earlswood

7/12/11
After the Gardening job had finished, we had about 30 Mins to spare before dark, so we thought a visit to Earlswood lakes would be in order.

I looked onto Windmill Pool first, where i saw a Female GOOSANDER and 7 TEAL. There was 31+ Pied Wagtails on the Engine Pool Island and then i went back to check the increasing number of BHG on Windmill pool, i Quickly caught sight of a very small bird, sitting on its own, well away from the Flock.

LITTLE GULL!

A 1st Winter Bird.

We walked around to the other side of the pool while i phoned Matt from the Earlswood Blog, who, as luck would have it, was on site at the time.

I manadged to get to the bird and take a quick, dark, record video of the bird before it took flight with the Gull flock.

We watched it Circle the Pool for about a minuite before switching over to Engine pool, where Matt saw it, i just about managed to get back to the causeway before it flew off in a south (ish) direction, and was lost behind trees.

I do love Little Gulls :)

MB

Shenstone

3/12/11
News tht the 'Shenstone Birder' had located a winter flock of Buntings/Finches was welcomed and we dropped into Stanklyn lane on the way to the Gardening job!

Quickly, a FIELDFARE was on show, picking off hawthorn berries with Blackbirds (Among them, a few black billed 'Scandinavian birds).

Anyhow, the flock of birds was here including a healthy amount of 7+ YELLOWHAMMER, including a few stunning males.

However, the Main target was the flock of Corn Buntings that have been seen, and we were lucky enough to see 3 birds sat on the far edge of the hedge near an overhanging tree, so therefore they wernt in the best position to photograph, but i tried:

MB

Sheepwash- Duck Influx

30/11/11

A visit to the Urban Mecca produced an influx in duck numbers, at the forefront, a Very large flock of 52 POCHARD. The flock contained more females than before so i am presuming that the influx is due to females arriving?

11 TEAL were seen from the raised path where they show very well (there starting to get used to walking people now!)

16 Tufted duck were on the main Pumphouse pool and johns lane pool,

Also on Johns lane pool, was a flock of 3 female GOOSANDERS.

A Grey Wagtail was showing on the river.

MB

Chelmarsh

27/11/11
After having my fill off the Desert Wheatear on the windy hillside, i decided to head to another Shropshire site.
Chelmarsh Res
Having a quick scan from the Sailing club revealed a very brief look at the adult RED-THROATED DIVER which had moved up here from the patch well up at the north end of the lake. There was about 2000+ Gulls on the water, and were just on the edge of scoping distance, Panning across the flock i picked up a small Gull. tiny infact, hawking around away from the main gull flock, Instant recognition kicked in:
Adult LITTLE GULL!
I watched for a brief moment, then handed the scope over to my dadwhile i text the news out, but when i got the scope back, it had dissapeared, i guess it just landed on the water with the gulls.

We there had a walk to the other side, near the hide, and here we were much closer to the Gulls, and i was able to pick of 2 Adult YELLOW-LEGGED GULL's among the flocks, but the Little Gull had literally dissapeared!
We were treated to more views of the RED-THROATED DIVER at the north end and my dad saw it for the first time.
It was around this time that Sailing activities started taking place, and the Gulls were soon flushed to the north end, too far for the scope to see:



MB