May 2015- Hudwit!

May 2015

One good  aspect of writing something in hindsight is the fact that it takes somewhat of a greater context. And within the context of the entire year, one of the most stressful birds for me turned out to be the Hudsonian Godwit.  Having turned down a lift on the birds first day (at the end of April), it looked like I had missed my chance when it then disappeared.

I don't usually get annoyed about missing birds, and stress isn't something I usually feel when thinking about them, but with something as striking (and incredibly rare as a Hudsonian Godwit!) something was different about this one.

Fast forward a couple of days.... It was back!!

However with impending university deadlines it would have been stupid for me to 'Just go for it', and another lift was turned down.

It disappears again... Then reappears.. Another lift offer... Again, circumstances stopped the journey south..

But then, with the weekend approaching, and me having pulled metaphorical chunks out of my hair, it was finally time to head down. As we sped south on the early morning of the 2nd, news emerged it was still there! Joy!

However, one of the better things about this bird was the fact of where it was. Present within the Avalon Marshes at the superb Shapwick Heath, you know you are in for some good birding, and that proved incredibly true, with just stepping from the car revealing flypasts of both Great Egret and Bittern. Standard fare here nowadays!

The 'Hudwit' hadn't shown since the original sighting, but a stirring among the Godwit flock below the near bank (out of view) sent the flock into the air, to shouts of 'there it is'.

A second or two later, the flock alighted at the very back of the flash, and among it, the yank Godwit that had caused me so much pain, anguish and stress over the course of the last 7 days. It stayed on view for the remainder of the visit, allowing for close study of this superb looking bird.

However, it was clear that it was all about those underwings, and after tantalising for what seemed like an age, it finally raised its wings, to an audible gasp for the large crowd of onlookers.

A great supporting cast was noted, Great Egrets, Bitterns, Garganey, Hobbys, Marsh Harriers and a singing Grasshopper Warbler. Superb

A rather ambitious plan to twitch a trip of Dotterel fell through while driving back north, so we decided to drop into Slimbridge, where a Little Gull was flitting around the pools and a couple of GCP Cranes were giving stonking views.

Mid month (15th) a plan was hatched to spend the day in Norfolk, always a superb way to spend any time in May, and our usual route was followed. Making our way up from the Brecks up onto the North coast. Our first stop proved good with the expected Stone Curlew and Spotted Flycatcher, but also 3 Firecrests, which gave great views. Not a bird I had seen at this site before so rather unexpected!

The previous year, we stumbled upon a small quarry which held a pair of Turtle Doves, and while driving past again we decided to drop in. And to my amazement, within a few minutes a Turtle Dove started purring! Great, but brief views followed as the birds moved in and out of the gorse. And to think we only stopped to look for Grey Partridge!

Choesley Barns is a regular site for Dotterel in spring, and a large flock had developed and refused to carry on with their migration. With the heat building it made for hard scanning, but with a bit of perseverance, at least 19 were counted in the distance. Certainly not the best views I have had of the species, but a welcomed bird to see at any time.

We had planned to meet up with Gary P, the Biking Birder to have a catch up and we spent the rest of the day birding the site.

Finding the 2 Temminck's Stints were the main priority, and these were located fairly quickly once in the Parrinder hide. Distant, heat haze, not good. 

Luckily, they were showing significantly better later in the day!

Some great birding was had working our way through the masses of expected birds, and it was particularly satisfying to find this ringed Sanderling on the Beach. Apparently ringed in Ghana, Africa!!

A wide array of wader species were present, and a magical encounter with a pair of cooperatively hunting Peregrines culminated in a Redshank using us as a screen to prevent it being caught. The Peregrines weren't too happy and spent a while circling around us at very close range. It was great to watch a variety of Tern species over the sea and the pools, with a number of Littles looking stunning in the sun. Joining them were 4 Little Gulls. The flock of Red-crested Pochard were also giving good views.

Essay hand in date on the 18th and news emerges of a Great Reed Warbler present in Sandwell Valley. A huge shock and another 'I need to get there moment'. Arrived later in the afternoon to hear the bird loudly signing away on the island. I spent a good while trying to get decent views of the bird, with it mostly being fleeting glimpses, however a few rather nice views were had in the end. A 1st for West Midlands county.

The last week of the month 23rd-30th was spent on a family holiday in Pembrokeshire. Little bits of birding here and there revealed a variety of Coastal species, however the highlight of the trip was making it over to Skomer Island again, and admiring the large number of seabirds present, as well as some amazingly confiding Chough!

Back on the mainland, visits were made to Marloes Mere (which was fairly quiet) and the Gann. The tide was at the right stage and a good wader flock was present, with an array of Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Turnstone and Dunlin all giving great views as they fed only a matter of 20ft away.

The last day of month saw me again chasing a Black Tern. Another bird had been found at Upton Warren that morning so, having dipped the last couple, a rush was made to get over there, and very glad we did. A stonking summer plumaged bird giving superb views as it lapped the sailing pool!

MB

Marsh Sandpiper- A 1st for Gloucestershire

29/08/14

 

With news having emerged that a bird very high on my wish list had been found the night before, hasty plans were made to head down the next morning to see it if it had stuck around.

 

The bird in question, a rather stunning looking juvenile Marsh Sandpiper had been found the previous morning, feeding on a flash that had developed in the corner of a flooded field adjacent to the Severn Estuary just outside Frampton on Severn!

Needless to say, I was rather pleased the bird had turned up so close to home, being just over an hours drive away, and when news came up about the birds continued presence the next morning, we were soon on our way.

 

An hour and a half later and the flash was in view and a quick scan across the flood revealed a rather distant diminutive looking wader. The MARSH SANDPIPER!

It was actually everything I had hoped, a very pleasing and good looking bird. It's delicate bill and legs matching to well to its dainty posture and gaint, completely unlike that of the adjacent Greenshanks and Ruffs around it!

Infact I would compare it to be more like a Lesser Yellowlegs then any of the other more common European wader species! Unmistakable.

 

Juvenile Marsh Sandpiper flanked by 2 Ruff

 

Marsh Sandpiper and Ruff (On the deck) with Greenshank and Ruff (Flying)

 Marsh Sandpiper, showing slightly more detail to it's plumage

 

With the target bird having been seen, we were also entertained by a good variety of other birds. The rare Tringa was associating with a very good sized flock of waders, with 9 each of Greenshank (My largest every flock size) and Ruff alongside a Green Sandpiper. 3 Pintail joined the Teals in dabbling the shallow water.

Scanning of the estuary led me to pick up a juvenile Mediterranean Gull, sitting out on one of the exposing sandbanks as the tide dropped.

 

While we were watching the waderfest, news came through that a Black Tern had been found at Upton Warren, and as one of our group needed it for the year we decided to head back up there.

 

To cut a long story short, we broke down, we were left by Jarad who went on to successfully see the Black Tern as we were luckily being followed by Rob (who we had met at Frampton) who ferried him the last mile to the Moors Pool as we awaited a car fix.

 

A few hours frolicking about the Motorway, and later the Mcdonalds and we were on our way.

 

Guess what.

 

We saw the Black Tern in the end!

 

MB

Migration in Worcestershire! Black Terns and waders.

27/04/14

With the weather looking as superb as it did for dropping some passage migrants, (that being Waders and Terns) the fairly easy decision to get out and bird was taken, and it was down to Grimley pits, as being suitably underwatched there was always the potential to find something!

 

On arrival, we joined up with another local birder and went about scanning from the viewpoint.  Other than 2 Common Sandpiper, we failed to find any passage waders from here, but a nice number of Yellow Wagtails and 2 White Wagtails were showing on the Causeway and mud, so we walked down the track to get a better view.

 

We were just reaching the corner of the path when a dark wading bird took off from a hidden area behind the causeway.

 

WHIMBREL!

 

Luckily, the bird didn't want to go anywhere, and dropped straight onto the shoreline of the east bank, and spent the remainder of its time here feeding. It could often disappear among the long grass however, and combined with the distance this meant I didn't really attempt to get any better photos than when it first landed.

 

 

 

 

 

A large flock of Hirundines were hawking over the pools, and these were joined by two Swifts, my first of the year, which sped around the pools briefly before heading off north.

No doubt attracted by these, a small Falcon speeding low in from the north proved to be my 2nd HOBBY of the year, which gave a great view as it flew low directly over our heads before continuing on south.

 

 

I went down to check to south end of the pools, but while doing so received news that the bird I had predicted would turn up had, but at Upton Warren. So, following a 15 minute car journey I was pulling into the Moors Pool car park, and soon after enjoying the sight of 3 stunning summer plumaged BLACK TERNS!

I miss the summer plumaged birds most years as they seem to always show up when I am away, so I was very grateful to have these birds thoughtfully drop in while I was birding just down the road.

 

Even more thoughtfully of them, they chose to land a few times on the sticks and platform adjacent to the west track, giving great views, and allowing me to get a few snaps of this 'plumage tick' for me.

 

 

They flew around the pool regularly though, and spent much of the time calling to each other, no doubt still feeling a huge migratory and breeding urge. A couple of times they all flew up fairly high, but each time they dropped back down to again resume feeding over the pool.

 

I even managed to get all 3 Black Terns in a picture.

 

 

 

After a while the Terns were forced off their perched by a pair of Mallard, and at that point we chose to head off as a 'quick drop into Grimley' turned out to a whole afternoons birding.

 

MB

Migration!

31/08/13

 

Migration, don't you just love it!

That twinge of excitement as you wake in the morning to see if that clear spell overnight has brought anything with it. You anxiously await the text to confirm the presence of a rarity down the road while thrashing the patch in attempts to find your own 'mega'.

 

Sadly, mega's were lacking. In other words there were non, however, a nice scattering of migrants fresh in is enough to keep this midlands birder satisfied.

 

Following my work at Earlswood, I headed down the road to the lakes where a stunning juvenile BLACK TERN was showing. Within a few minutes I had picked up the bird feeding along the south shore of Engine pool, however repeatedly dropped onto pipes adjacent to the 'island' to perch, which, from the shore, gave stunning views!

 

 

I watched the bird for some time, being much closer than the bird I found at Blithfield Reserviour, both in flight and 'on the deck' before moving onwards to the Causeway between Engine and Windmill pool. From here I has stunning views of the Tern, at times down to a mere 10ft as very strong headwinds pushed it closer to the bank, directly passed where I was standing.

A Grey Wagtail was the only other 'Of note' bird, just because it strolled past me at around the same range as the Tern flew.

 

From here it was the roost at Upton Warren, complete with a nice array of Waders. The juvenile Little Ringed Plover and Ringed Plover remained (The adult had departed mid-week). Beside the residents, 4 Green Sand, 4 Common Sand and 2 migrant Snipe were also found probing the soft mud around the edges of the flashes. As we sat, a party of 3 Yellow Wagtails flew over south calling, as did a Common Tern.

 

The next morning (1/09) that feeling arose again, and it was straight to my phone to see a local 'grapevine' text. LITTLE STINT at the flashes.

As you would expect, patch birding was delayed slightly so I could catch up with this scarce inland arctic wader. As with most autumn LITTLE STINTS it was a juvenile bird and initially was feeding exclusively at the back of the flash among the base of the reeds, with the occasional Green Sand of Teal walking past, revealing just how miniscule of a bird it was.

Some time later, after having not very satisfying views the bird started to wade along the shoreline, before flying onto the near side of the 'channel', slowly working its way closer and closer until eventually it creeped out from beside the 'main island'

 

 

Completely worth the wait, Juvenile Little Stint is a stunner of a bird, but sadly one that is not guaranteed on a county yearlist this far inland. Needless to say, I left a happy birder.

Overnight, a single Green and Common Sand had left, leaving 3 of both, and the 2 Snipe remained, but new in was a Redshank, the first I had seen at this particular site all year!

 

3/09/13

Another grapevine text, however this time in West midlands county revealed the presence of a juvenile Shelduck at Sheepwash Urban park, which, being the site rarity it is warranted a fairly impromptu visit, within minutes, the Shelduck was located, feeding on the only suitable section of habitat on site, (note the litter also present). Also recently arrived was the first Pochard of the winter, a drake which was asleep in the favoured wintering area.

 

4/09/13

Yes I know, I'm ashamed, I twitched a Shelduck, but the real laughing point was that I dropped in again the next day with the scope to get some photos, with the objective to give a digi-scoping demonstration to another birder. While walking along the raised track, a familiar call had me looking to the sky to see a superb RING-NECKED PARAKEET circling above me, calling constantly, before after a short time flying off north. Another new site bird for me! As luck would have it, my digi-scoping companion was just around the corner at the time, and also heard it calling as it flew around.

Amazingly, the Shelduck remained, as did the Pochard, but a surprise was given when an adult HOBBY flew over the pool and proceeded to hawk dragonflies over johns lane pool. All in all, one of the better days I've had at Sheepwash recently!

MB

Catching up (AGAIN!)

As i'm sure you have all come to expect of the blog over the last few months, it has become fairly inactive. Much of my time has been fairly full recently and a recent change in personal circumstance has left me with very little motivation to do anything, particularly blog orientated work. I appologise for the complete lack of posting, and i will try to create a regular routine again.

21/08/13
A day out around Cannock chase was rewarded with 5 Spotted Flycatcher around the car park.

We then moved onto Blithfield Reservior, where i luckily stumbled across a juvenile BLACK TERN as it hawked over the water to the north of the causeway. A further exploration of the area produced, Little Egret, 5 Ringed Plover, a juvenile Ruff, 5 Yellow Wagtail and a single Tree Sparrow. Aside from the Black Tern, my other personal highlight was seeing my first Clouded Yellow butterfly.

23/08/13
6 Willow warbler (4 juv) were nice to find on the patch.

Later that morning, i headed to Grimley Camp lane pits, where 3 Little Egret, 6 Ringed Plover and 4 Yellow Wagtail were showing.

Following a period of work, i then headed to Upton Warren for the Roost, where a single LRP was 'hanging on', Ringed Plover (Ad and Juv), Dunlin,7 Green Sand and 2 Ruff.

The only passerine of note was a Lesser Whitethroat.

24/08/13

The following night, i again dropped into Upton Warren for the roost, the LRP and the 2 Ringed PLover remained, as did the Dunlin but Green Sandpiper numbers had increased to 8. A GOLDEN PLOVER flew north over calling which was a nice addition to the list. 2 1st winter Common Gulls roosted with 1000c BHG. The Lesser Whitethroat also remained.

25/08/13

A early morning vismig session was very quiet, a single Common Gull was seen briefly and a Lesser Whitethroat was found.

For the last time of the weekend, we dropped into Upton Warren as they were having somewhat of a wader fest. The highlight goes to a flock of 6 RUFF, but vismig in action was shown by 2 juvenile Dunlin which dropped in.

MB

BIG Surprise- OSPREY!

30/08/12

We had just left Grimley, having had a decent session there, with the Great Egret, Little Egrets and Godwits, when i recieved a text from the local news source, Birding Today, stating that an Osprey was showing on the Sailing Pool right now!

 

Knowing migrant raptors, i 'knew' this bird wouldnt stay around for long, expecting it to fly off about 5 minuites later, so we decided to just head back to my Nans, so i could have a shower, and get some work done!

 

What i didnt not expect however, was the almost constant stream of texts being recieved, "OSPREY still on SP". "OSPREY STILL!"

Once i'd gotten out of the shower, there were even more texts on the same subject on my phone! Its been two hours, how is it still there!?

 

Eventually however, enough was enough, and my dad offered a quick run out to the Sailing pool in the vain hope it'd still be there!

It was a nervous drive, almost fully expecting the bird to have gone by the time we arrived, however, it was very relieved to recieve text's from 'Gertatron' of it's continued presence, He'd seen it finshing!

 

We had just gotten to the A38 'island', and i got another one "Still here".

Pulling into the car park, there was a very decent gathering of locals who had came to admire the bird. I jumped out of the car before it stopped moving, grabbed my scope and bins, and walked the mammoth 10 metres to the twitch, and within seconds, i was onto the adult OSPREY, perched up in the Education Reserve. I've only ever seen a couple of Ospreys, both flyovers, and both very brief, so it was great to be able to admire this bird as it preched, preened etc untill dark.

 

The light was already dropping as we arrived, but i got some recognisable footage/Photos.



Osprey is a great county bird, and to have one stay (even for as long as it did up to this point) is mind blowing, and not a very common occurance.
Another example of how unpredictable nature is. And thats why we love it right?

While watching the Osprey, the entire crowd had lost sight of the juvenile BLACK TERN that was on the pool earlier in the day, and it was only a very brief cricle of the pool at about 7:30pm that saw me seeing this bird.

Two great birds, and one i'd have never expected to stay around long enough to be 'twitchable'. How wrong i was.....
MB

'small' Twitching

18/08/12
A Black Tern had been around at Upper Bittel res. for a few days now, and as i missed a couple of previous birds this year, it was one i decided to claw back, as Bittel is only just off our usual route back from the Gardening job.
It didnt take long to walk to the causeway from the parking spot, walking past the small fishing pools and the 'Goose Field', which contained a few Greylag amongst the Canada's.
Getting onto the Causeway, it didnt take long to locate the juvenile BLACK TERN as it hawked low over the water. Taking occasional breaks on a boyd.
Unfortunatly though, it had decided to perch on the most distant boyd at the back of the reservior, shunning the small boat quite close in where the rest of the Terns had gathered.

 

The bird also had company with 10 Common Tern.

 

4 Grey Wagtails (a family party) was a very nice addition, showing quite well in the 'sailing compound'

MB

Terns

3/09/11

As the all dayer was taking place, i was allowed to drop into the reserve early while my dad went off to the saturday job while i plodded around the moors.
On entering the west hide at the moors, i quickly (within 10 secs) spotted a HOBBY bolting through towards the eddy.
It also wasnt long before the BLACK TERN seen in the morning re-appeared, often dip feeding with a Common Tern, both of which were Juv birds, after abit of time watching the tern as i hadent seen one the previous year i headed up to the north moors hide, as a Cetti's warbler had been seen, But while exiting the hide and past the concrete hide, i saw the black tern Landed, and jumped into the hide to get some photo's:






however, after 2 1/2 hours of nothing but a single Dunnock, i gave up and walked across the C'way, were a Goldcrest was heard.
before reaching the hide i was told that some food was being offered in the concrete hide, so with the temptation of free food, i headed over there, and spent the next 30 mins watching Black Tern, Barnacle Goose, and 2 Common Sandpiper around the pool while eating a Bacon Sarnie! Nice way to do birding!
It was now, a buzz, a Bleep of a viberate went through the hide, as one by one we recieved news on a Black Redstart that had been found at shenstone near Kiddie,
So we said our fairwells and shot across there, however, after spending lots of time looking at nothing but Robins, we gave up, however, a Juv Buzzard was showing very well on the fence posts.



I didnt really expect the bird to stop around, so i was abit gutted considering we had already driven through shenstone/stone earlier in the day without stopping.
Little did i know
MB

1st time love

29/08/09

upton warren

no this post isnt about love for all those soppy people out there.this is about my friend andys first visit to upton warren,and god did it leave him well impressed.he now knows wy i love the place so much,showed him every hide over the visit being in each hide from 30 mins-3 hours depending on what was happening.went for the east hide at the moors first as he is always gloping over the fact he never see's large flocks of lapwing.it took him a bit to adapt to these new surroundings(at first he found it difficult to pick out anything).nothing but 2 buzzard,a whitethroat and a jay on the north moors at the east hide i asked whether the black tern was still around. they said it was on the railing infront of the concrete hide.he found it hard to pick up on the railings on the far side of the lake but seen it through my scope.after noting a common sandpiper we headed to the concrete hide.from here we had a few flypasts from the black tern but couldent pick up much else.the west hide had more to offer,with the feeders now back in use my andy started clicking away at the birds,a kingfisher briefly landed on the water gage:

but flew off soon after,it was then followed by 2 other kingfishers,so there were 3,nice.at the bottom of the reeds near the muddy area i saw the arse end of a water rail running for cover.i quickly called it and that was then a lifer for andy,one which for a long time i have said to him,if you don't see or hear a water rail your unlucky.loads of willow warblers were around the feeders too with a total of 7 along the west path and from the feeder hide and 2 chiffchaff,the feeder birds were momentarilly sent into blind panic as a male sparrowhalk swooped through but missed everything.highlight here were:

- shoveler

10c teal

1 peregrine(viewed through scope on masts from east hide)

1 water rail

1 common sand

1 black tern

3 kingfisher

7 willow warbler

2 bullfinch

2 reed bunting.

but all the exitement came from the flashes. i was pointing out all the so called 'common' waders to andy whie he was reminding me a lot were lifers.take green sands now i have seen hundreds but for andy these were lifers.it just shows no matter how many times ive seen them someone else will need them..at 6:50 pm the flashes started to liven up a shout of a golden plover got me onto the arse end of a GP as it dived behind cover in the flash.a few birders went out to see if it was visible from the gap in the bush along the path(and to check it wasent either of the rarer species).one of the birders came back in and said 'nothin to get exited about' while again andy reminded me it was yet another lifer for him.now it was just for the sabine's gull.after yet another day of negative news the previous night i didnt want to get his hopes up.we spent a lot of time switching things.i used his camera while he used my scope etc.the GP posed beautifully for the camera.that was untill this b*****d tried to have him for his tea:(look out it's behind you)

luckily the golden plover got away and decided to land right in front of the hide,giving the best views of GP i have ever had,although it did look a bit wary,but eventually settled down and spent the night feeding.

a few pics for the flashes:

other birders came and left eventually leaving just andy warr,andy,my dad and me in the hide after all the others drained hope of the sabine's comming into roost.

at 7:55 a call from my dad of a gull with a black head,after a few schetchy details me and andy warr were onto the SABINE'S GULL yet again.andy(my friend andy) was a bit ferantic asking where it was as he couldent pick it up.i got up aimed my scope at it and said 'look through there'.he took a peak and grabbed for his camera and tried to take some shots now knowing where the bird was.all the images came out all grainy and horrible but yo can tell its of a sabine's.i txt the news out to brian stretch and recieved one on the golden plover asking if i'd seen it,i simply said 'yes'.andy warr called a few people saying the sabine's was back at the flashes.what a way for upton to show how good it is,a few scarce birds,some commons and a mega(well in my terms,not like the tufted puffin in kent) highlights here are:

3 LRP

1 GOLDEN PLOVER

7 green sand

2 common sand

28 curlew

3 snipe

1 SABINE'S GULL

1 BLACK TERN

20c stock dove

1 cetti's warbler

andy got 7 lifers today (i think) but it will be some time before he can catch up with me.wink,wink

MB

a rail a,tern and a gull

6/08/09
upton warren
heading for the west hide there was a large tt flock along the path,spent about 5 mins scanning the flock for anthing,only things in there was 1 willow warbler and 3 chiffchaff(yes you can tell them apart),went straight into the west hide and called a water rail.it disapeared but i wasent sure as i didnt get my bins on the bird (in reeds).2 black tern were here(both juv) and shown at the top end of the moors:

i scanned the assembled gulls for larus sabini,but they only consistesd of black heads :(

then turned my attention back too the feeder area and a water rail was there standing in the cut reeds and just spent 30 mins walking up and down the newly cut reeds,at one point directly in front of the hide on the waters edge giving a great oprotunity to film it:

a kingfisher landed on the stick in front of the hide briefly but flew off before i could get my scope,

it is good to see the bird tables/feeders coming back into life with 7 bullfinch(3 juv),3 reed bunting and numrous greenfinch with a lone young goldfinch,a woman in the hide said 2 sabine's gulls had been found at westwood pool and i must say i was tempted(but its permit holders only),but it was soon after that i recieved news of the bird at the flashes so after telling the 2 other people in the hide(one traveled quite far to see it,can't remember where though),they both left for the flashes but we stayed in the hide for a bit,nothing new came in so after 20 mins we headed down to the flashes.highlights here are:

1 shovler(not good for seeing them from the west hide)

1 water rail

3 common tern

2 BLACK TERN

1 kingfisher

1 cetti's warbler

1 willow warbler

3 chiffchaff

7 bullfinch

3 reed bunting,

again the hide was packed and i took to sitting at the back of the hide.i was pointed onto the bird on entering the hide,which for the first time was out the water(note the end of the video goes dark because someones head gets in the way:

(sorry no video here,uploading failed)

while in the hide i heard someone mention something about sheepwash but didnt hear anything else,the sabine's flew off showing off it's upperwing pattern,despite thinking it would land again,ti didnt it just kept going and going untill it was a distant speck,this gave me a chance to look for some other stuff,a juv LRP was here and 2 common tern landed on the posts,i then looked south and saw 2 terns commin in from the south,my dad asked what i had and i sai i had the 2 black tern from the moors,a few other birders looked at them but the rest of the hide was intently scanning the gull flock,the sabine's gull reappeared and landed with the gull flock at the back,it shown for the rest of the night.highlights here were:

1 LRP

10c green sand

30c curlew

1000c BHG's

5 l b b gull

1 SABINE'S GULL

2 common tern

2 BLACK TERN

4 stock dove

1 cetti's warbler(hen pool,heard from path)

MB

can it get any better

24/08/09

upton warren

the answer is yes it can

for some unknown reason we pulled in at the sailing club first,but i wanted to check the flashes out later for the roost,so after having a quick scan of the sailing pool resulted in 1 common tern but nothing more else apart from mallard.

at the moors we walked to the lapwing hide and there was quite a bit showing. a jay flushed from the bush behind the hide and flew into the educastioon reseve.a few minuites later i glanced over out the left side of the hide and there was a jay on the fence.i quickly grabbed my scope+camera and the bird was flying,then yet another jay came from the bush behind the hide and landed in a tree,it then flew to the bushes along the river and then all 3 birds popped out but were a little distant for dodgyscoping.we noted a bit of k-fisher activity on the broudmeadow and then suddely one zoomed towards us and landed on the stick giving stunning views,then the sun came out and of cause the sun was reflecting of the water behind the k-fisher but i till tried and got an acceptable video:

a few common terns were still hanging on and the cormorants were up to 6.then over to the west hide hoping for a water rail or even better a bittern but my luck had turned and none shown.a common sand flew from one of the tern boxes onto the islands.highlights here were

3 shoveler

2 teal

1 common sand

4 common tern

2 kingfisher

3 jay

a birder then entered the west hide and i told him what was about.his reply was shocking 'well theres 6 black tern on the sailing pool'.on this news i quickly gathered my stuff said thanks and rushed to the car.i had to get rid of another bogey bird.they werent there earlier so had to be recdntly arrived.i grabbed my bins and my scope and jogged to the bench.from here saw there indeed were 6 black tern(2 adult summer-winter,rest juv,family flock maybe)the views were good but we saw they were comming in much closer on the south shore,so we headed over there,i couldent expect a lifer to act the way these birds did the views were so close but so quick,one bird repetidly flew a metre or 2 away from us as it dip fed.i noticed how differant its flight was compared with 'sea terns' after watching these for some time(lost count how much time)

we headed towards the steps when a perigrine flew over carrying a white dove in its tallons which was still alive,featers were flying everywhere it flew towards the masts and was lost to view not to be seen again.we dropped into the hen pool where a 'showy cettis warbler shown well,a few reed warbler and a female gadwall.

walking to the avocet hide produced nothing.on entering the hide i asked if anyone had seen the black terns,they all seemed rather shocked.none of them had seen them,they all decided to stay put but not long after the black terns joined us anyway givving good but not as great views

one of the adult black terns landed giving me an op to try and get some pics.ok i admit there crap but you can tell its a black tern.then they flew back to the sailing pool they returned to the flashes at 7:40 pm then flew south at 7:42 pm.it wasne tlong before we were joined by more birders looking for the black terns,at around 8pm one birder came in,sat down and said 'ive got the sabine's',there was a mad rush to get on the bird then when we were all on it it gave great views of it doing its best to avoid the BHG's.mone of my videos show the amazing beauty of larus sabini. unfortunatly it only flapped its wings once revaling its upperwing patter which birders simply die for.but i was lucky enough to be filming the bird as it done just that so enjoy this as much as i have:

the rest of the night is pritty self explanitory,we watched the sabine's gull untill dark but kept an eye out for anything else,i never get tired of this bird.i got loads more films but a lot are dark and doesent show the bird doing much so i will leave them out

highlights are:

1 gadwall

3 shoveler

30c teal

1 perigrine

1 LRP(juv)

1 dunlin(juv)

10c green sand

3 common sand

10c curlew(came in when it was dark)

2 snipe

1000c BHG's

1 SABINE'S GULL

8 common tern

6 BLACK TERN (lifer)

5 stock dove

2 cetti's warbler

4 reed warbler

1 willow warbler

again i will end the post like this what a day and what a start to a week(well 9 days) over my dads 21/08-30/08/09

some more good stuff coming up soon,and a post just fr you martyn one about slimbridge,the home of ultimate plastics(with a load of wild birds thrown in)

MB