Fudge, Blyth's, Shorelark, Rosy Pastor, Black Red and the rest of the highlights

So, 3 months behind, I think it is time we got this show on the road right?!

I will start by saying this will not be a run down of every days birding I had in November, but simply the highlights, or anything I think of note.

18/11/14

A break from coursework and revision led me around to Parkes Hall Pool, which, despite being quiet, I managed superb views of a Grey Wagtail feeding on the track

22/11/14

With the quarry on patch having flood it is quickly becoming one of the highlights from a visit to the patch (spring is approaching, watch this space!) and it has been producing a steady trickle of decent birds (mostly at a patch level). On my first scan I picked up 3 dabbling ducks on the forever increasing size of the water body. 2 Wigeon and a Teal, all females but all unusual on a patch standing. The Wigeon were only the 2nd and 3rd I have ever seen on patch so to say I was chuffed was an understatement! 

23/11/14

Wanting to check for the presence of the dabblers again, I quickly headed up to the quarry, but the ducks had disappeared. However, a Gull flock had started to develop, and a little bit of scanning pulled out a patch mega!

A 1st winter Mediterranean Gull had joined the flock!!

No less than a patch first, ecstatic! 

25/11/14

Gulls have featured prominently this winter. Most of my birding exploits have revolved around visits to Chasewater for the roost, and I have managed a number of highlights. On an evening at Chasewater, I managed to locate 3 Willow Tits among a tit flock on the eastern shoreline of the reservoir, a much enjoyed record considering how rarely I see them! The roost didn't hold anything that make your hair stand on end, but an adult Mediterranean Gull and 4 Yellow-legged Gulls were worth getting cold for!

 

29/11/14

Following a session on patch, I heard news that the adult male Black Redstart was still showing at the Birders Store in St Johns, Worcester, and it would have been rude to have not made the pilgrimage to see my first 'Black Red' of the drake variety! Great views were had as it flicked around St Johns church, never remaining still for more than a few seconds, making digi-scoping difficult! What a stonker of a bird though!

 

 

30/11/14

The next day was a dirty twitch down to Bristol where an adult Rose-coloured Starling had been residing. After a very unpromising start, being surrounded in dense fog for nearly 3 hours, eventually it cleared, and as soon as it did, low and behold, a striking black and 'white' Starling flew over our heads from some distance away. It dropped into the bushes next to us, where we had brief, obstructed, but good views in someones garden. Unfortunately, some t**t with a camera then thought the best option was to climb a fence on someones private property and flop their lens over the top, flushing the bird and it then not showing for a further 3 hours. Luckily he left a soon as he did honestly, I can imagine a few words having been traded if he had stayed more than 20 seconds after committing his offence. 

 

3/12/14

Nothing hugely of note, but there was a nice close female Goosander at Sheepwash.

 

7/12/14

A work party session at Upton Warren included some pre, and post work birding, where a Green Woodpecker showed insanely well from the hide. During our work, we undertook a Snipe count, in which 8 Jack Snipe were counted, among 20 or so Common.

8/12/14

A pair of Ring-necked Parakeets were showing 'rather well' at a local park.

9/12/14

A reconnaissance trip to Chasewater/ Stubbers Green for a forthcoming NGB day the following weekend turned out rather well! Stubbers had a good number of Gulls, including a fine adult Yellow-legged Gull, as well as a 2w bird.

But the main interest was witnessed from the south shore of Chasewater, where quite bizarrely, an adult Bewick's Swan was feeding/ roosting among the Mute Swan, dodgy domestic hybrid geese and ducks! My first for the WMBC region, and honestly something i really was not expecting to see on my visit that evening!

The roost was rather quiet, but of very large size, the highlight being the 4 Yellow-legged Gulls again.

13/12/14

The NGB Gulls day came, but Gull wise it was rather disappointing at the 'day sites'. A 'near adult' Yellow-legged Gull the pick of the bunch at Stubbers, but our day was to get much more interesting/complicated once we arrived at the south shore, Chasewater for the roost.

Pretty soon, James panned onto a rather strikingly obvious Gull, which seemed to show many characteristics of Ring-billed Gull! Significant discussion followed, and I don't think a true, and agreed answer was ever found. Was it 'the' hybrid. Was it a backcross? Was it a pure RBG? Who knows. You win some you lose some.

In my opinion, I believe it to have been A hybrid, but not 'THE' hybrid. But what do I know.

Our main aim for the day though was Caspian Gull, and we were obliged by a rather pretty and outstanding 2nd winter near the jetties, which we managed very good views of. For the 3rd visit running, we managed to pick up 4 YLG.

14/12/14

A rather 'spur of the moment' trip took place the following day as I decided to join 3 of my companions from the previous day (and another NGB) as we headed north. Spending the night at Zacs house, we made the quick journey to Rossall Point at dawn, where on our first walk down the beach managed to 'find' a female Snow Bunting, which was showing so closely from the concrete path the whole did didn't fit into the scope at minimum zoom!

An Eider was out on the mudflats when I got a call from the group who I had become separated with. They had found our target. A few seconds after, running across the dunes with 2 scope/tripod combos on my shoulders I lay it down on the bowling green/ picnic area to be treated to stunning views of the Shorelark that has been wintering there! What a way to start the day!

Moving east, we drove to Pugneys C/P where we waited for our target to come out of the grass. With some coercing from the local patchworker and finder of the bird, up came the bird with a loud and very obvious call from the tall grass. A couple of further flight views were had, but to say I was impressed would be a lie. I would have much preferred to have studied it on the ground. However, there was no doubting what it was, it called like a Blyth's Pipit, was smaller and lest robust than a Richards, and had the 'dodgy' tail that made the bird so distinctive among the Meadow Pipits

 

16/12/14

Me and Matt met up to try to refind the hybrid Gull from a few days previous, starting at Stubbers and finishing at Chasewater. In between these two sites, we dropped into Ryders Mere, where an immature Great-Northern Diver had been found earlier in the day. A first visit for me to the site and I left impressed.

The roost at Chasewater was decent, we managed to locate the 'known' RBG hybrid quickly, which destroyed any optimism over our find a few days before, but the roost held a 2w Caspian Gull (not the same as we had seen), an adult Mediterranean Gull and 3 Yellow-legged Gulls. Not too shabby!

 

20/12/14

I had not visited Chelmarsh reservoir for some time, so with a free evening I headed over. The Gull roost was very impressive, being the largest I have ever seen it, with the flock extending almost 3/4 of the length of the reservoir on the opposite shoreline. A little bit of scanning paid of with 3 Yellow-legged Gulls. It was while scanning I heard the rather bizarre sound of a Ring-necked Parakeet calling in the woodland behind us, and as we left, the corvids flushed out of the woodland, and so did the Parakeet!

See the below photo, the left hand bird out of the top 2 is the Parakeet, trust me!

 

 

21/12/14

I was scanning the quarry on the patch when some commotion behind me had me noticing a small brown falcon motoring across the paddocks behind me. On getting my bins onto the bird, it quickly showed itself to be a stunning fem/juv Merlin! A first for patch for me. A flock of mixed winter flushed was feeding in the paddocks, and once they re-settled gave really great views in the sun.

 

30/12/14

The last 'day out' of the year. A female Ferruginous Duck had been found at Slimbridge the day before so I headed down with Mike in the hope of catching up with it. Catch up with it we did as it warily swam and circled on one of the captive pens after being relocated by one of the reserve wardens. It flushed off to the south lake later.

 

 

It however does seem to enjoy being among its close relatives on the captive pen as it associates with Baer's Pochard and its behaviour has changed somewhat since it first arrived. Many people are binning it as a plastic but I can't help but wonder if it is just a case of 'copycat'? Would you leave if someone was throwing you free food at regular intervals during the day?

A rather enjoyable bit of winter birding was had around the site, with all the regular species, including this rather menacing looking Buzzard!

 

 

My last birding  exploit followed on the way back, as we dropped into the somewhat of a rarity hotspot of Pitville Park, Chelthnam, where we managed stunning views of a male Dartford Warbler, which was showing uncharacteristically well! Much to both mine and Mikes delight, as our previous bird at Arne RSPB earlier in the year had been nothing more than a glimpse of a female in the dark shadow of a gorse bush! What a treat!

MB

Birding and Guitars

3/01/14

Finding myself in Edgbaston  to pick up my new guitar, it would have been rude not to drive the couple of miles up the road to admire the Great-Northern Diver that had (Somewhat ridiculously) taken up temporary residence on the Swan Pool in Sandwell valley!

So, with my Les Paul Studio sitting on the back seat, it was a short drive through the back streets of Edgbaston and Smethwick to our destination. A quick walk out to the lake edge and the GREAT-NORTHERN DIVER was showing on the far side of the pool.

Having seen around 40 the previous day, i chose not to walk around to the other side to get a closer look, and after a short time, decided to cross the road to Forge Mill Lake. Sadly, the amazingly close views of the previous day, and with them seeming almost 'common' i was left somewhat with a glazed look in my eyes. Around 20 Goosander were feeding there, as were very good numbers of Pochard. Moving around the the partially rebuilt RSPB center, i looked over the feeders, and soon found my main target. WILLOW TIT.

Sadly, this is a species that has all but disappeared from my home county, and it is hard to believe that i once had both Willow Tit and Tree Sparrow visiting my garden! Within a few seconds through, the bird had flicked onto the feeder, collected its seed and flew off to eat/stash it away somewhere, and i didn't see it again.

Somewhere nearby, i found myself watching a party of RING-NECKED PARAKEETS, as they flew around calling, and eventually settling on tree's in someones back garden, where i was able to scope them through a hedgeline, 2 metal fences and across a school playing field! Thankfully, being the school holidays, there were no issues with doing so!

4/01/14

Having such a great start to the year was made even better when Neil Duggan offered me a day out, collecting a local rarity and then heading down to Slimbridge for their spectacular wintering flocks!

The TWO-BARRED CROSSBILLS were being as elusive as ever, but were tracked down in a stand of pines as they called incessantly for a while before flying out and disappearing altogether! As i had hoped,the Two-Bars became my 100th species for the year. A good number of Common Crossbill were also showing, some landing in trees adjacent to the path!

With short winter days, time was limited, so we then started towards Slimbridge, but a spur of the moment trip had us dropping into Lineholt, were other than a distant flock of 10c Redpoll sp (Associating with Goldfinch on the Golf course) nothing was seen. Interestingly, one or two looked fairly pale, but with the light and distance they were hard to ID with certainty.

Our arrival at the car-park at Slimbridge was greeted by masses of circling Lapwing and Golden Plover over the tack piece, and it was here where we first headed. Bewick's Swan were dotted along the flooded fields, surrounded by thousands of Lapwing, Golden Plover, and hundreds of Black-Tailed Godwit!

It was clear though, that the most activity was from the Holden tower, as following a very high tide, a large layer of silt created ideal feeding opportunities for thousands of birds. And i mean THOUSANDS! Around 3000 each of Lapwing and Golden Plover, nearing 2000 Dunlin (The most i have ever personally seen here in winter) and similar numbers of both Wigeon and Teal, it was immense!

This is surely the meaning of birding in a British wintertime!

Despite these massive numbers of birds, numbers of White-Fronted Goose and Bewick Swan were seemingly well down, with only 170 White fronts and only 30 Bewicks! The reasons for this are clear though just by walking outside and looking at the sky. A very mild winter (and hence the almost no-stop rain) means our northern and eastern visitors have no need to venture so far west to find sufficient food, so they are currently feeding somewhere in Germany or the like. Certainly not in the UK!

While scanning Teal and the very far edge of the Dumbles however i was surprised to find a female GOOSANDER sitting in with them just off an area of floodwater, well back from the estuary edge! Certainly not a bird i exactly associate with flood water!The resident BRENT GOOSE was showing fairly well on the Dumbles edge.

The Zeiss hide was very quiet in comparison. But 4 Avocet made up for the lack of birds as they roosted on the somewhat flooded flash. A Cetti's warbler was showing stunningly well on the edge of the reeds, which was a real privilege!

With the light fading, and after a quick check of the 'south finger' we decided to look for Egrets at Court lake at Frampton. A Kingfisher, 6 Little Grebe, 10 Pochard and very good numbers of Tufted Duck were noted, but we failed to see any Egrets.

MB

The Big Boost

4/01/13
A dawn check of the patch revealed that the drake Goosander was still roosting on the floods, which was a nice surprise, as my dad had failed to see it over the last week.
Moving southwards towards our eventual destination, we stopped off at Stourport Marina, looking for the Grey Seal that had been seen there, however we drew a blank. In compensation, a nice Finch flock of 40c Siskin and 5c Lesser Redpoll were showing in the riverside birches. Again, onwards, and my next report is from the River Avon at Bredon, where the river had flooded its banks, and in the flooded field viewable from the motorway, i saw a LITTLE EGRET perched in the water!
And again, onward! To our final destination, Slimbridge.

Upon getting to the Center  it was straight to the Tack Piece, as in winter it is by far my favorite area at Slimbridge. You can sit in one of the hides (Robbie Garnett being my preference) and simply scan through the masses for hours, my hope though was to catch up with the Spotted Redshank which was present, as it was a bird i missed last year. Upon reaching the small bridge over the pond at the start to the Holden Walkway, i saw a wintering CHIFFCHAFF! I dont see many wintering Chiffies, so it was nice to see one so early on in the year!
The very decent sized Wigeon flock (of over 1300 birds) was grazing  at multiple locations over the flooded field. However it was the wader flocks that had the majority of my attention. However, a stunning Little Egret grabbed my attention. Always a great bird to see, and one that i am glad to say is regular over southern Britain, soon to be followed by a wide range of other heron species from the continent surely?

Waders were very well represented, most notable were the Lapwings (2000c), Golden Plover (1000+) and Dunlin (700c). This alone counts as amazing birding for a midlander like me, but combined with smaller flocks of other species 60c Redshank and 50 Black-tailed Godwit, and at least 5 Ruff all combine for some excellent birding. 

After a while scanning, i picked up a 'pale' Redshank feeding near the Golden Plover flock, and when getting my scope on the bird, i had confirmed that i did indeed have the SPOTTED REDSHANK, Mission done, time to leave.....

Not really

I got down to trying to get some long distance pictures as the bird waded in shallow water around the Lapwings. Subtly distinctive in winter plumage, Spotshank is always a nice bird to catch up with. I did end up getting one decent photo from the lot, and a little bit of footage

To compare, one of its Common cousins was showing fairly close to the hide!

Having had our fill, we decided to move on, getting into the Holden Tower for high tide....

And it wasnt worth it in the slightest, a count of 120c Curlew, and about 1000 Wigeon were on the estuary  which almost the entire wader flock was flushed off the Tack piece and landed on the far edge of the Dumbles, feeding in the long grass. Both of these sites also had huge numbers of Pintail, with around 500 plastered over both areas! Similarly, Bewick Swans and White-fronted Geese were also in both areas.

Me moved down the the Rushy Pen, where we first spotted a 2w Common Gull. Note the almost entirely black primarys and the bill pattern.

 The stars of the show here though were the Pintail's, of which a few were showing exceptionally close to the hide! Sadly, they spent most of their time asleep  however, when they woke up. Wow! Look at these stunning ducks!

The drakes in particular are stunning!

Wow, nothing more to say!

We briefly stopped at the South Lake, where a large flock of Black-tailed Godwit was present!

Following this, it was onwards to the Zeiss hide for our annual dip on the Bittern. 3 Hours and there was no sign. However, a nice adult Water Rail was nice compensation, which shown regularly at the edge of the reeds, and very close.

It made a change to see one with the sun on it!

As always, i also took some footage.




A small number of the 173 White-fronted Geese were feeding on the seawall, with the estuary as a background.

As always, large numbers of Teal, Wigeon, Shoveler and Pintail were also on the flash here. And this activity meant we were treated t a great fly through of a brute of a female Peregrine!

With the day drawing to a close, we briefly stopped near the rowing area to drink our tea. And this proved a good decision, as a Cetti's Warbler was flitting about the reeds!
MB

The BIG boost

2/01/12
Slimbridge
After a brief watch of my Garden feeders (Previous post) we headed down to slimbridge.

Upon Arrival, we headed to the Rushy Pen, as the Lesser scaup was seen here while we were driving down, however, it (and practically all the Ducks) had gone, There was only a few BEWICK SWAN'S and 100c PINTAIL here.

So then we headed up towards the Tack piece, where the majority of activity was, There was proberbly about 5000+ Birds on the flooded field, Thousands of Lapwing, Wigeon, Teal, But also the largest flock of GOLDEN PLOVER ive ever seen 1600+ Birds in a tight scrum. A pair of Buzzards often flew across the field and the sight of so many birds in the air at once was breathtaking!

With the ranks of Commoner birds, there was 800+ Dunlin Intermixed, 40c Redshank, 30c Black-Tailed Godwit, 200c Curlew (Including birds on Estury) and 8 RUFF, including some 'white' males.

We then headed up to the Holden tower, and viewed the Goose flock, 210 Eurasian WHITE-FRONTED GEESE were here, with hundreds of Shelduck, Greylag, Canada and Barnacle Geese, However the 'Gypo' Egyptian Geese seen the previous day were nowhere to be seen (still to see a Gypo Goose). an Adult Peregrine was out on the Mudflats.

I was going to scan the Long ground pool as i remembered last winter the lesser scaup spent alot of time on there, but the sun was bouncing off the waters surface and you couldnt see anything,

Anyway, i heard news the Bittern was showing from the Zeiss hide, so we headed over there. By the time we had got there, it had moved back into cover, and the next painfully cold 1 1/2 hours was Bitternless, 2500+ Lapwing, and loads of Teal and Wigeon were in the field to the left of the hide but otherwhys it was quite!

News then popped up that the Lesser Scaup had been refound, on the Long Ground Pool!!

So we gave up on the Bittern and headed over for the Scaup

A quick look in the small hide next to the 'In focus' Shop saw the PINTAIL's extremly close.

Once in the Holden tower, the sun was on the pool again, so i took a video of White-fronted Geese feeding on th dumbles.

Eventually, a small flock moved onto the small pool in front of the hide, giving great views.

The sun Died out, and in the brief spell i manadges to locate the 2nd winter female LESSER SCAUP asleap with Tufted and Pochards, It soon woke up however, and i saw the huge white base to its bill, I quickly got as many people onto the bird as i could before the sun came out again. When the sun came back out we realised we hadent been to the South lake, so we walked down there for a look, a few Dunlin, Redshank and a single Blackwit & Great crested Grebe. However, there was also an adult COMMON GULL will the BHG flock, and i speculated whether it was the adult bird i saw the last time i visited?!?!?

With the sun lower in the sky, we went up for another look at the LESSER SCAUP.

Via the Knott hide, where a Wigeon flcok was only a few metres from the hide! (video is 0x camera Zoom on a 27x Eyepiece)

We got back up the Holden tower, and were treated to OK views of the LESSER SCAUP as it swam around. However this time i spent much more time guiding people onto the bird, for people who didnt know where it was (or didnt know the stand out features of Lesesr Scaup) it took an awfully long time to get them onto it. But eventually everyone in the hide saw the bird, and was left happy about the bird that had crossed the Atlantic to winter for its 2nd winter at Slimbridge.

The bird was too far away to even bother trying to get a photo!

Interestingly, i saw 2 ringed birds, a BHG with the leg ring 2P33 and a White-fronted Goose with a neck ring (YUM). The BHG almost certainly came from Cotswald water park at is it very similar a number to one i had a Upton, and with it being the same colour aswell (White, Left leg), it looks likely.

Highlights:

120+ Bewick swan

210 White fronted Goose

200+ Pintail

3000+ Wigeon

2000+ Teal

1 LESSER SCAUP

1 OYC

1600 Golden plover

5000+ Lapwing!

8 Ruff

1 Common Gull

4 Ravern

All in all, a very good start to 2012!

MB

Slimbridge

26/10/11
As a long staying Spoonbill had taken up residence from the zeiss hide we decided to head down there to maybe catch my bogey bird, we planned the trip for the wednesday!
On the tuesday night i found out the spoonbill was still there, and also a Pied wheatear had been found not far away, mmmm.

While heading down there in the early morning, i noticed on the @Slimbridge_wild twitter site that the spoonbill was still there.

We went straight for the Zeiss hide, but after a single scan of the area, No spoonbill, 'I know where this is going!'

Yes, once again i dipped a spoonbill!

However, i cant compain because a Juv CURLEW SANDPIPER was showing from the hide with the Lapwing flock:

An AVOCET had also taken up residence, which was nice to see as it had been some times since the upton birds had departed! A single GREENSHANK was in the far corner with around 1000 TEAL!

A large flock of about 300-400 GOLDEN PLOVER flew over south.

After spending some time here hoping the bird white bird with a spoon as a bill would fly back in (it didnt) we decided to look around, Maybe it flew off to another part of the reserve?

Errr, No, so yeah!

Other than the flock of 87 BLACK-TAILED GODWIT on the south lake, it was quiet here.

The TEAL here were showing well!

We then had a quick look in the Rushy Pen, and saw the 3 BEWICKS SWAN that were fresh in after a couple of days, and as always, showing very well!

The usual winter flock of PINTAIL was also showing well, but not looking amazing, with most of the birds being in 85% 'normal' plumage, I guess i will wait untill the winter to get a video of a full plumaged drake.

Then heading up to the Holden tower we had a look on the feeders, and a female Great spot woodpecker was showing.

From the tower, a flock of 31 EURASIAN WHITE FRONTED GEESE were showing well! and it was the closest i have seen the flock here! They eventually flew off towards the Zeiss hide, where they landed!

Then, we decided to head back around the reserve for a 2nd check for the 'Big white bird with the spoon for a bill', A check of the South lake revealed a single adult COMMON GULL which was showing nicely!

And a look at the Zeiss revealed much the same as before!

So then, i was feeling twitchy!

Lets move south!

MB

Bewick's swans

last year i sent off some pics of some bewick swans i had observed at slimbirdge and a few days ago, i recieved a reply, and 2 of the swans were identified:

this bewick swan is RIDDLER, an adult male(yellow ring, right leg, YXU)

and the bird in this photo is TEAPOT(also male)

teapot is the same age as me at 14!!!!!!!!!!!

and riddler is a good old 19 year old( like my friend tim)

riddler, being the oldest is the most traveled with records from estonia, the netherlands, germany, denmark, and of cause the UK,

teapot, is less traveled with all but 1 of 27 records being in the uk( welney wwt ,norfolk or at slimbridge gloucs......)

bit amazing isnt it, how much you learn from a few rings or in this case, bill paterns, i know i will submit any more rings i see in the future, and you should too, its great

MB