Migration!

6/05/12

I manadged to get in a little bit of sneaky twitching to Upton Warren at 9:20 PM in almost darkness to see the LITTLE GULL, which has taken up tempory residence there, i did manadge to get some video footage, however, my SD Card corrupted and i lost all footage from the Gull (and the remainder of this post) and all the footage from a non-birding visit to London, A timely reminder to back up anything taken ASAP rather than having to wait because of revision.
Luckily, i manadged to recover most of the photos from the memory card!

7/05/12
A early walk along the patch was moderatly rewarding, Whitethroats are now back in huge numbers and birds seemed to be calling from every suitable bit of habitat along the walk. There seemingly more common this summer, (As are Swift and Willow Warbler, Sudgestions?). A Garden Warbler was showing form the Garden, and a further 3 were located around the patch.
A Pait of GOOSANDER were showing along the river.

I recieved news that the LITTLE GULL  was still at Upton Warren, and that a BLUE-HEADED (Type) WAGTAIL had been seen. Firstly, we looked for the Wagtail, which was still showing on the at the Moors Pool, however, it had now moved onto the Broadmeadow Pool, and was increasingly hard to see (And photograph), But i tried!
Im actually quite supprised how these came out considering the distance.

Also showing here was 2 additional male YELLOW WAGTAIL's.
I have to admit, Both the 'Flava' wagtail ssp were very good looking, and was worth the effort to see even if one of them can't be classed as a species, It all add's to our knowledge!

The Blue-headed type worryingly showed a pale(ish) head, which could possibly indicate a hybrid (Channel Wag) or possibly even a backcross bird, Flava x Flavissima x Flava, however, this ID is not clear cut as it showed a mix range of features between both Ssp. Despite this, a very good looking Hybrid!

As mentioned however, the main reason for the visit was to see the LITTLE GULL, and it was still showing. However, the Bird rarely landed, and was therefore a pain in the arse to photograph!
However, as is the typical MB mentality, I tried!

Yes, in an hour or so, thats the best i manadged! Laughable, but tbh, my main focus when out birding is birding. A recognisable photo is good enought for me!

At 4:03 pm, This brute of a Great-Black Backed Gull dropped in, however, after incessant mobbing for a few minuites, it had left by 4:06

MB

shenstone- blue-headed wagtail

12/04/09
doesent every birder get that happy feeling when a good bird turns up just down the road and not only that,but on your birthday as well.heres how the day goes:

after the dip with the redstart yesterday i was on a downer and not really expecting much from my stomp along the severn to blackstone.i must again admit that lickhill was dead again and with the 100's of people strolling around i was unlikly to find 3 male white wagtails that had been presant at the same time last year or a female redstart which i flushed while watching the wags at the same time.the only birds around lickhill was another red leg partridge in the fields at the farm adjoining the site,while i also got 4 house martins hawking over the lickhill area and a buzzard over burlish top.

only 6 skylarks were singing in the fields today but shown well if very distant.as usual when i got to the lake by blackstone i was transported into another world with warblers singing,kinfishers zitting about and sand martins jinking in the air.a bit further up the east side of the lake i caught site of a small bird perched in the top of a willow.it sounded familiar but i couldent put a name to it.then i remembered REED BUNTING, patch first. OMG.i watched it on the other side of the lake for a bit when it stopped singing and dissapeared not to be seen again. 2 blackcaps were singing but only gave brief views. i refound both the grey wags from a couple of weeks ago and they were both wearing summer clothes.2 nuthatchs were calling and singing from a nest site boardering the river.and you remember the loads of willow warblers i had last week,well now i only had one.not much else really apart from a couple of showy jays.

then it was back home and not 15 mins later i got a txt from brian stretch informing me of a blue-headed wagtail at shenstone but as my dad had started cooking dinner we had to wait till he had cooked it and we had eaten it.i must admit i havent eaten dinner in that little time for a long time. we all finished at 3:30pm and me and my dad left for butts lane.after inquiring about the exact location we were told to look for people standing on the side of a plowed field with giant telescopes and cameras.well we turned onto butts lane at stone and what did we find.4 birders standing on the side of the field.so i jumped out the car got my scope and hiked towards the twitch. on arrival i placed my scope down and asked if he was showing in a casual manor(not showing my exitedness) they said he was out in the field in front of the green barn.i must admit i had a bit of trouble finding him.so a kind man at the other end of the gathering let me look through his scope and get a few record shots.then back over at my scope i found him and watched him as he showed well in the company of 5, yes, 5 yellow wagtails(year tick).

other highlights were:

pied wag (a lot)

3 skylark

2 pheasants

2 r l partridge

the blue headed wagtail(lifer) showed well for the rest of the time we were there.and ill let my photos and videos show the rest of the way.but none of them show the beautiful, charismatic bird well

.

and with a possible white wag(just waiting for brian stretch to confirm it)

and heres the field that held the wags and skylarks

reg the birder has his magic field and heres mine

this surley mixed with the camera makes a great birthday presant

MB