Birding the Beacon- Autumn 2014

As I'm sure many local birders would now be aware, I have attained somewhat of a bug for birding Sedgley Beacon.

There are many reasons for it, but the main one being that it has became clearly obvious that the Beacon is a regular stopover for migrating thrushes, and during the correct winds, can result in some rather spectacular vismig.

Perhaps the most significant 'discovery' has been the string of Ring Ouzels I managed to find. Through the autumn, I managed to connect with 4 of these scarce migrant Thrushes,  3 adults and a juvenile as they paused (however briefly) on the hill. The first day of October brought the first two, combined with a fair bit of vismig, as both a male and a female stopped briefly within the Hawthorn valley on the NW side of the hill. Both of the birds were picked up in flight as they dropped down calling, their harsh chacking call being very distinctive. It was by call that both the birds on the 15/10 were also picked out, but the SW winds on this day revealed a significant movement of Thrushes, with about 2500 (of various species) noted by me flying over in the morning. Further watching by another observer later in the day added another 1500 birds, so the passage was certainty sustained throughout the day (and the night by the sounds of hundreds of migrating Redwings flying over my house). The first bird dropped into the NW valley to feed, as did many of the Thrushes it was migrating with, but the juvenile flew very low along the entire length of the hill (just above head height!) before dropping into bushes below the masts.

I'm sure more regular watching over the coming years could lead to more records as I'm pretty sure it must be a regular stop over site for the species!

Female Ring Ouzel- Despite being a poor photo, note the very pale wings and if zoomed in, the pale edging to the belly feathers.

As already mentioned, I also logged all the regular thrush species, and often in good numbers, with the 15th proving to be by far the best day!

Vismig was regular, and included my first Golden Plover for the site (15/10) and regular movements of Meadow Pipit and Wagtails. This included 2 Tree Pipit (3/09),11 Grey Wagtail (1/10) and the first real 'finch push' of the year, with 70c Chaffinch, 2 Brambling, 40 Linnet, 2 Redpoll sp and 5 Siskin going over on a 9 'finch species day' (15/10). A single Hobby gave stunning views on 1/10 as it migrated at eye height over the plateau of the hill at about 30ft range. As you can imagine, leading to some rather stunning views as it glanced at me as it barreled past.

Tree Pipit (Trust me!)

Away from vismig, there was also a good number of Passerines, with Redstarts present on 3/09 (x2) and 15/09 (1) with a Spotted Flycatcher also present on the latter date (And another nearby but off the Hill) 

Redstarts

A pair of Stonechat appeared on the 15/10, giving great views from my vismig point.

Male Stonechat

Combined with decent movements of regular species, it often led to some very enjoyable birding, so rest assured, I will continue birding the site!

MB

Northerners, Yanks and Sibes

10/11/13

With news of a Penduline Tit in south wales, plans were arranged with Neil Duggan to head down there and see this stunning example of a male bird.

For those who would be interested, Neil has recently joined the local Blogsphere and can be found here, so therefore, if you want to read about my birding exploits a month before i get around to posting it, or want to follow the birding exploits of a fellow local birder, head over there!

As if by coincidence, Martyn Y (Formally of 'Adult Plumage', 'Regional Birding' and 'Blurred Birder' fame- So many in fact that i'm not even sure which ones which anymore!), Kay D (The Lover of Black Redstarts (Ochruros) ) and Richard P (Local Birding) were also heading down to Newport Wetlands.

While on the M5 though, we heard news of Great Grey Shrike in the Forest of Dean, and with Two-bar Crossbills reported the day before it was worth the effort! Being only a few miles off the M50 it was worth the effort, so with no news having come out from Newport, we took a diversion.

Arriving at Woorgreens was greeted with confusion.

Where do we go?

As we walked up to the somewhat picturesque Woorgreens Lake, i heard the familiar 'glipping' of Crossbills as a flock of 15 flew over. Sadly that proved the be the only view we had of Crossbills, and no-one else found any rarer ones either! 2 Wigeon were the only birds 'of note' on the pool. 

But anyway. To cut a long story short. We saw nothing. The Shrike did a bunk and didn't reappear for the rest of the day. We plodded around the Woorgreens/ Crabtree Hill area for a good couple of hours, but other than calling Brambling and Marsh Tit it was very quiet species wise.

Having contacted the other 'midland crew' down at Newport, it seemed as if the Penduline had done an overnight flit!

Not going to plan!

Right, what now? How about we cross the Estuary to Slimbridge WWT? Some nice birds around there, AND, if the Penduline was to be refound, we would be in a decent position to head down there via the Severn Bridge and the extortionate £6,20 toll charge!

As a lover of all things weird and wacky, my main priority was to get to the Rushy Pen to see the Purple Sandpiper. Within minutes of being on site we entered the Peng Observatory, and upon inquiring about the Sandpiper i was guided onto a wader at the back that looked suspiciously like a Redshank.........

So i then set about scanning the shorelines. Within a few minutes i came to the conclusion that it wasn't there!

At this point, i remembered reading on the site wardens Twitter that the bird was showing down to a few feet from the office buildings. Moving to the opposite side of the 'hide' i poked my head around the corner, and there is was! A mere 10ft away! Insane! A 1st winter PURPLE SANDPIPER!

Not being able to get my scope on the bird due to the somewhat awkward angle, i lifted my camera to my bins and took a few shots.

And its a good job i did! Very soon after, a brief chase form a coot pushed it out, further into the middle and it was then relentlessly hounded by Jackdaws until eventually, it just gave up and flew out towards the Estuary.

And that was it, gone. A far to brief sighting.

So then we walked to the Zeiss Hide, via the 'decoy' area. No Chiffchaffs were showing, so we moved on. A completely packed Zeiss hide were all looking out across the Teal flock. Of which there were a few.....

Yeah, a few in the 2000-3000 range!

And why was everyone looking? Its close new world cousin, a yank interloper was present among the ranks.

After some scanning, i eventually picked up the drake GREEN WINGED TEAL, its vertical white stripe making it stand out quite easily once you knew the basic area it was in. Sadly though, it was very inactive, no doubt well and truly knackered after its long haul across the Atlantic.

The birding from here was actually very good, as thousands of birds were present. Two GCP Common Cranes were wading in the shallows, which, as always, was an awe inspiring sight! However, the more interesting 'stuff' were the smaller birds, most particularly the waders!

Among the small flock of Dunlin we were informed a Little Stint was present, and after some time, a winter plumaged LITTLE STINT emerged from the flock and fed along the shallow waterline.

 Soon after, a winter plumaged SPOTTED REDSHANK was found, wading in deep water at the back of the flash, and, on occasions, swimming quite actively! A flock of Golden Plover flew over, with a small number of Black-tailed Godwit and 6 Ruff.

In the Reedbed, a Cetti's Warbler was showing superbly!

With news of a Great-nothern Diver just down the road, we started to leave, moving again via the 'decoy' area to look for Chiffchaffs. We met up with a searching birder and walked the boardwalk. At the end i became aware of a gathering of birder/photographers on the opposite side of the hedgeline looking towards us.

And it soon became apparent why, as a striking Chiffchaff popped out of the ivy at close range. And by striking i mean a smack in the face obvious SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF. Very white underparts with an almost pale grey/light brown back. Actually a very attractive bird!

If i needed any more convincing, the bird spent some time calling, sounding almost like a Bullfinch, and it was joined by a Common Chiffchaff, just further emphasizing how different it was!

Having bagged a good 'cast', we took the last minuite decision to check the Holden tower, where we quickly locacted the Dark-Bellied Brent Goose out on the Saltmarsh, and 23 Eurasian White-Fronted Goose.

So, with the light now fading fast, we decided to hot foot it down to Sharpness Docks, after a while of moving around, we eventually found ourselves at the SARA building, watching a stunnning GREAT-NORTHERN DIVER showing very well on the tiny pool adjacent to the old lifeboat station.

What a way to end the day!

MB

The patch does it again!

5/04/13

Yes folks, patch birding again! My spare time in the holiday meaning i have lots of spare time to thrash the patch, and i again pulled out some decent birds!

The pair of Mandarin were still showing in their usual spot, and i also found 2 drake Goosanders on the river. A drake TEAL could be heard calling near Blackstone but could not be located. Away from the river however, it was passerines that really stole the show! While walking around the wigeon lake, i saw a white rump flush from the hawthorn beside me, flying a few meters and landed upon another hawthorn. A female BRAMBLING! Over the next few minutes i kept adding more birds to the tally, until i came to the conclusion of at least 6 birds, and an even split of 3 of each sex.

I managed a photo of a male bird.

Keen to move on, i did the Blackstone 'round' circuit, picking up a pair of Treecreeper, before moving back south, and taking a diversion across an area i had never ventured to before on patch, and i was so glad i did! A huge area of paddocks and hawthorn hedges, patch migrant heaven!

Now i hear you ask, how have you been birding a patch for around 11 years and not found this area?

Well two reasons, to get there, i have to walk through a private holiday home site, and that put me off greatly, and secondly, i never thought the habitat was as extensive as it is, therefore i never even  bothered! But now i know whats there, and trust me, the area is going to be thrashed this year!

Another Brambling flew south while i was walking the paddocks, and a stream of around 20 Meadow Pipit moved over, with equal numbers of 'Alba' Wagtails. I found a pair of Lapwing, but my highlight goes to a stunning 200+ Winter thrush/ Starling flock showing in one of the fields.

A few of the 100c Fieldfare were showing well.

100c Starling were also present here, but only 20c Redwing!

MB

Wyre Forest birding

29/03/13
Each of my previous visits into the Wyre this year i have failed to drop down to walk along the brook, and therefore i was lacking species such as Dipper and Mandarin, so i vowed to head down there to get them!
We first walked the railway line, stopping off at Lodge Hill, quickly picking up 6+ Brambling, 2 Lesser Redpoll and 4 Bullfinch in trees surrounding the Orchard.

Dropping down onto the brook, we picked up a few Grey Wagtail, until eventually, i heard the distinctive flight call of a Dipper as one sped past me going downstream. We quickly found the bird sitting on rocks in the middle of the brook, and we were treated to decent views.

The bird flew slightly, but now gave a clearer view for a brief time before being flushed by a walker, sending the bird further upstream again, upon which time we decided to leave it alone. We had had a few minutes decent viewing, which is more than can be said for some times.

We found another Dipper in another park of the brook, but this bird quickly disappeared.

Just as we were walking back to the car, i scanned the small pool at the base of the hill, to be greeted with the view of a pair of Mandarin Ducks, my first of the year!

Following this we were driving past Callow Hill, and i picked up a raptor being mobbed by 2 Carrian Crows. As we neared i became aware of the birds flight action, confirming the bird to be a Red Kite, and not one of those dodgy reintroduced birds, this was a bird from the welsh populations. It so happens that late March is a very good time to pick up Red Kites within north Worcs, and in general the Severn Valley, as the Welsh birds often use it as a migration pathway. We stopped the car, and i fired off a few shots as the bird got further and further away.

MB

Its been a long time!

It really has been such a long time since my last post, and am just dropping by to say that posting will again commence from now onwards as i am now mostly done towards my coursework, which has been one of my biggest inhibiting factors. Having just returned from a birthday weekend away with 'The Girlfriend' it seems like a good time to fill in the gaps of the last month!

21/02/12

Talking about the Girlfriend, all the way back in February we went for a walk at Arrow Valley Lake as i knew that Goosanders had been seen there recently, and we quickly located 13 of these stunning ducks, including 7 drakes. 15 Tufted Duck were also around the lake, and a Reed Bunting was seen near the visitor center. We were also able to get some great close up views of BHG's, including a few nicely marked 1w birds!

A couple of Tufties were showing very closely nearby!

27/02/13

I again went for a walk to look for LSW in a woodland to no reward, i'm really struggling to catch up with them this year! A stunning male BRAMBLING was still showing, starting too acquire some aspects of summer plumage.

2 Green Woodpecker were showing well on some short cut grass.

 And i was happy to see that both of the resident pair of Tawney Owl were out on top of their stump.

28/02/13

A visit to sheepwash was fairly productive, 37 Goosanders was a very good count, one of my highest of the winter infact, as was 47 Pochard. 8 Shoveler were still present, and the Tuftie flock numbered 20. 30 Linnet were still up on the 'mound' proving as flighty as always. 5 Lesser Redpoll were showing well in the wooded bits.

1/03/13

Roost birding at Bartley revealed a Yellow-legged Gull, but i manadged to miss the Caspian that was being watched from the dam.

2/03/13

A quick twitchy stop into Bittel reveled that the stunning adult drake SMEW was still present, choosing to reside in the furthest corner possible from the viewpoint on the Bittel farm Causeway. The Smew was keeping company with a single female Goldeneye, while a flock of 10 Goosanders were also present.

3/03/13

A patch visit was fairly uneventful bar 2 Snipe which flew over my head at Blackstone.

6/03/13

Another visit for LesserPecker and again drew a blank. I have been spending regular 3-4 hours in this woodland frequently and still am failing to see them. 4 BRAMBLING were still around, as was a Peregrine and the Tawney Owl was perched up on the top of the tree in beautiful sunlight, highlighting those gorgeous rufous tones.

A Nuthatch was showing down to 6ft on some food that had been put out.

13/03/13

Another failure to find LSW. A male and a female BRAMBLING were still near to the feeders. The Tawney was still out, and the Peregrine was still in residence. A small flock of 10 Siskin were flighty.

14/03/13

Sheepwash was doing well at retaining the Shoveler flock, as there was now 9 birds, including 3 birds showing very well adjacent to the path. 13 Goosanders were widely spread across the pool, but the Pochard flock had halved to 20 birds. A Kingfisher did a flypast along the river.

15/03/13

I do love my roosts. Again i visited Bartley as a Med Gull had been roosting regularly  Neil Duggan was also in the area and dropped in also. It was like a big birders meet up as 8 birders were present, the most i have ever seen at the location. Eventually the stunner of an adult MEDITERRANEAN GULL was located while suffering the freezing wind. For me however, the highlight goes to a pair of Peregrine which shown very well off the dam, apparently a very rare bird at Bartley, as they hunted the roosting Gulls. A Curlew flew off as the Peregrines entered.

16/03/13

I have a fondness for Grimely due to its superb looking habitat, and with waders starting on the move it seemed like a logical choice. We first dropped into the Holt flashes, where a flock of 75+ Wigeon were feeding, along with a fair few Lapwing and two Oystercatchers. I picked up two GREEN SANDPIPERS which were either migrants or some of the wintering birds. Moving onto the Camp lane pits we added a drake Pintail and a small flock of 6 Curlew, 2 Redshank were on the flooded middle section as were 2 Oystercatcher.

Following this we dropped into Upton Warren where i quickly got the 14 Avocet. 3 OYC flew north and 1 Curlew was showing. 3 Chiffchaffs were my first 'spring' birds and 2 Water Rail shown. A single 1w Common Gull dropped in among the roosting Gulls.

17/03/13

I struck lucky on patch with 2 Greylag Goose, an insane patch rarity. I have only previously had fly overs but these two birds were 'decked' and were showing on the Lickhill pool.

  (You can see both birds in this photo, even if only a tiny portion of the 2nd birds head)

And now i can get into the more 'juicy' recent birds in my posts following this,

MB

A little bit of Wyre birding

9/02/13
A trip into the Wyre was needed as so far this year i had not bothered looking for the Hawfinch's. But today that would be rectified.

The walk out to Lodge Hill was extremely quiet, such is the way that birding in the Wyre goes. Some days your surrounded by a hive of activity, others nada.
While just heading up the track i raised my bins to see a female HAWFINCH sitting on the bottom edge of a hawthorn bush, before dropping down a few seconds after not to be seen again. While waiting for the bird to fly up again (which it did not), one of the residents of the farm walked past, and upon entering the garden flushed a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER off the feeders, another hoped for year tick! The bird flew directly over our heads and flew into the tree's to the north of the orchard, and sadly disappeared  While looking for it again, we had many Nuthatch. A Marsh Tit  made its way through the bushes in  the orchard before quickly moving on. 3 Finches landed upon one of the taller trees in the area, and a look at them revealed them to be 3 BRAMBLING (2 Male).
Moving back alone the railway line, we were treated to stunning views of a female Goldcrest (1 of a pair) down to about 6 feet!
MB

A bit of Woodland watching- A few year ticks!

6/02/13

A walk in a local woodland was fairly rewarding, however my true target species failed to appear, but they are fairly elusive at this site, but with spare time every Wednesday, i've been making regular visits to this woodland.
At one of the most famous locations withing the woodland, i was treated to awesome views of this Robin, as it decided to perch on a tree a mere 5 foot away! At one point, the bird even tried to walk over my boots it was that confiding!

Why is the site famous i hear you say? Well the tree above where i was standing is often frequented by a roosting TAWNEY OWL. This bird often just sits on one of the broken tree trunks in the wood, giving close intimate views of this usually elusive resident.

After a few hours searching likely spots for the resident pair of LesserPeckers drew a blank, i headed towards the feeding area, and i soon picked up a female BRAMBLING perched on the edge of the adjacent hawthorn, quickly followed by a stunning male!

I sat down on the bench adjacent to the feeders, and after some time, i witnessed 4 BRAMBLING (3 males) perched in the tree next to me at the same time.

I was hoping the birds would join the flock of Chaffinch and 2 Reed Bunting, but the birds didn't.

However, one of the male birds perched on a close Hawthorn bush not far away, and i was able to take some digi-binned pictures of it as it perched there.

A stunning Scandinavian finch, and one that i don't see enough of, so it was great to get a small flock at a local site, and being able to get decent views of them!

MB

Some short ones.

17/11/12
An early morning visit to the patch was very quiet, and the only bird of note was a single female Goosander whcih flew north upriver.
Following this i headed down to the Birders Store, and picked up my new pair of bins. And following this we then popped to Grimley, and the first bird i locked onto with the new bins was a Little Egret- Not a bad way to start my 'Bin list'. A small flock of 20c Meadow Pipits were flying around. Ducks were represented by 10c Shovler, 10c Pochard and more Tufted's.
Later in the Evening, we dropped into Earlswood Lakes, where 2 Shoveler, a Grey Wagtail and 2 Goldcrest were the highlights.
18/11/12
The next day, i went for a walk out in Wirehill Woods, Redditch with 'The Girlfriend', and proberbly produced the bird of the weekend when a CROSSBILL flew east over the wood 'glipping' as it went.

19/11/12
The day following that, me and the 'Gornal Birder' went to Sheepwash, and the highlight was by far the building up of the regular Goosander flock, of which there were 16 Today, 3 of which were drakes, 5 Teal (2m) were also on show, as were 11 Pochard. A adult Great Black Backed Gull landed in the centre of the pool for some time.

24/11/12
A visit to the patch early morning revealed a build up of a Chaffinch flock, of which there was 30+ feeding in a small area of flooded woodland, giving me hope that it may attract a Brambling onto the patch at some point! 5 Lesser Redpoll were feeding on a birch tree, with an additional one (a male) on my garden feeders.
At 10pm, we were driving past a flooded field on the patch, and we could see a flock of ducks in the headlights, and i was quite suprised to see a drake Mandarin feeding with them!

24/11/12
A late evening visit to Upton Warren Moors Pool in dire conditions was rewarded with a calling female Brambling, which we watched along the west track, before moving off around the north moors. While watching the Brambling, we had the Cetti's Warbler in subsong near the gate. On the water, 12 Shoveler and 3 Pochard were swimming.
MB

The BIG one (2011)

2011,

Although not exactly an amazing year for rare birds (for me anyway) i did have some amazing times, and this post is here to summarise it all!

January:

My year started on the 1st (obviously) with a trip into the Wyre, to see the HAWFINCH'S that were showing, in a few hours i counted 5 birds! The 3rd was a trip to Slimbridge where the year list took a BIG bump Upwards, Many highlights from the day,LESSER SCAUP,2 GREATER SCAUP, SMEW, and nearly 600 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE! amongst hundreds of Waterbirds! 8th was at Upton Warren, where we saw 3 WAXWING's, 13th i found a flock of 42 WAXWING's while on my dinner break at school in Gornal! 14th we visited Stubbers Green and Chasewater, a Cracking Drake SMEW and 7 Goldeneye being the highlights! 22nd- Trimpley Res, 2 WAXWING's were feeding in the car park and 56 Mandarin and 13 Goosander were on the river!

February:

Stubbers Green on 4th got me an ICELAND GULL and a few other gull year ticks, 5th saw me seeing a flock of 10 Goosander at Upton warren (the reserve record!) and 12th i had a Pink-Footed Goose at the same locality. On 15th Sheepwash had 40 Goosander!, Back to Upton on 18th, for better views of the Pink-Footed Goose, as well as the first returning Oystercatcher and Avocet! Upton again for 19th for a Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet and Pink-foot goose again. Also on 19th, we had 4 WAXWINGS in Kidderminster, and a flock of 30 at Finstall near Bromsgrove.

20th Revealed a patch revelation, 3 BRAMBLINGS were in the lickhill birchwood!, A Crossbill and 2 Mealy Redpoll were also on Patch!

21st saw a female Brambling still in the wood, and an increase in Siskin Numbers! Also that day, we paid homage to the Drake RED-BRESTED MERGANSER at Bittell, on 22nd a Brambling came into the Garden, as well as 15 Lesserpoll, 50 Siskin and 20 Goldfinch. 3 BRAMBLINGS were still in the nearby birchwood, as well as a early BLACKCAP.

25th revealed a flock of 48 WAXWINGS in the birchwood for about an hour feeding on mistletoe berries, sometimes in the same scope view as 2 BRAMBLING!

Later that day, we headed into the Wyre for 4+ HAWFINCH, 6 BRAMBLING and 2 DIPPER.

26th there was 2 BRAMBLING in the Garden with a single Lesser Redpoll.

March:

By 5th 10 BRAMBLING were in the Birchwood, as well as quite a large accompanying Finch flock, on 6th there was 14 BRAMBLING, on 12th there was our first multiple sighting of BRAMBLING in the garden.

18th saw a 2nd Summer MEDDITTERANEAN GULL at Upton, and also a stunning drake GOLDENEYE. 19, The Med gull remained and i also saw a Jack snipe. 27th saw the largest recorded flock of Brambling on the patch, with a staggering 24+ birds!

April:

2nd saw my first SWALLOW of the year! 2 Bramblings remained in Garden.

Also on 2nd, the pink-footed goose was still at Upton, the Avocet flock had shot up to 17, there was 8 LRP, a Blackwit, the Med Gull and my first Common Tern of the year.

3rd saw 14 Brambling still on the patch.

On 9th, a flock of 6 Brambling were in the Garden!

Again on 9th, we saw the Med Gull at upton, but joining it was also 2 near summer plumaged adult LITTLE GULLS! 19 Avocet was a huge number!

10th Was the 'Bloggers day out in Staff's' with any highlights, Great Grey Shrike, Red kite, Tree Pipit, Redstart, Wheatear and Stonechat amongst others!

My first Lesser and Common Whitethroat came on 19th and on 22nd we wandered into the Wyre, 5+ Redstarts, 8+ WOOD WARBLER and a male PIED FLYCATHER being the highlights among many Warblers. By 23rd Nesting was underway at upton, But passage had only just started (again) and a Dunlin was on show. the 29th and 30th at Upton was potentially the weekend this year, a WOOD SANDPIPER, a Greenhank and a WHIMBREL were showing on 29th, on 30th while at the Moors pool, i saw a flock of 27 fly over BAR-TAILED GODWITS!!! combined with the single that was still at the flashes that made 28 for the day, a reserve and county (?) record, the WOOD SANDPIPER and WHIMBREL remained, and 2 ARCTIC TERN were on the moors!

30th at Earswood saw 2 ARCTIC TERN aswell as a showy Mandarin.

May:

1st: My first Swift.

6th, i found 9 Mandarin on the patch at blackstone! and 3 Goosander, also the next day 5 Mandarin and 3 Goosander.

7th at Earlswood i found 2 summer plumaged adult LITTLE GULLSand an ARCTIC TERN!

on 14th I twitched the BLACK-NECKED GREBE at Bittell.

An amazing find for Matt G (the Earlswood Blog) saw me seeing a NIGHT HERON at Earlswood on 21st after a very long wait. Cheers Matt

27th: A female Mandarin with 11 chicks on the patch!

(The next bit is over the 2 months but i will put it all in june)

June: on 31st May, At Stackpole head in wales we saw 3 WHIMBREL fly in off the sea! as well as getting out usual wales birds such as the iconic Chough!

On 2nd we visited Strumble head, and saw 400+ Manx Shearwaters offshore, 3 Puffin flew past as well as large numbers of Many Seabird species (no odd species though)

Now came my Highlight of the year, on 12th, i found 3 LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER and i was able to get some superb views over the next few weeks of them on feeders or in Tree's, and the fact they bred at the site made my year! Great Birding!

On 26th I found another female Mandarin on the patch with 3 Chicks, these went on to fledge while the 11 chicks were all predated!

July

2nd: 2 Redstart were showing at Upton, and an amazing flock of 12 Blackwits! On 12th I found a stunning male WHINCHAT at Sheepwash, which i also have down as one of my better birds of the year. on an Urban patch!!

On 23rd a Little Egret roosted at Upton. On 30th there was 2 Little Egrets at Upton, and an adult MED GULL roosted with the leg ring 5P5.

August:

5th Female Mandain with 2 fledged young on the patch, on 6th the female LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER re-appears at the site briefly! and at Earlswood later in the day, a juv Dunlin shows amazingly well! The roost at Upton that evening had a 1st winter MED GULL.

on 14th a RUFF was at Upton.

On 19th i had amazing views of a Hobby on the patch. 22nd saw another Sheepwash Mega, a juv Greenshank! on 26th i twicthed the Chelmarsh ARCTIC SKUA and was left with good impressions of this location!

on 30th I returned to Chelmarsh, and had MUCH better views of the ARCTIC SKUA closer in, aswell as 63+ Goosander! 30th we also went to Upton, where we saw 2 Spotted Flycatcher. Slimbridge on 31st saw me seeing a juv CURLEW SANDPIPER amongst the Esturine Waders.

September:

Started well on 3rd, when i had great perched views of a juv BLACK TERN at upton. On 4th, i caught up with the shenstone BLACK REDSTART on my 2nd try (Good find JK!) which shown quite well! 10th i was back at upton to see a Juv ARCTIC TERN with the company of my Girlfriend, on 12th we struck lucky againat Sheepwash, when I found 2 ARCTIC TERN and a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER! on 17th, i again saw 2 ARCTIC TERN at upton on Amys Marsh.

18th i again popped into Shenstone for another look at the BLACK REDSTART, which again showed well!

October:

A juv RUFF was briefly on the patch on 1st, my only patch first of the year! before flying off North upriver, Another Sheepwash Mega on 3rd with a Wigeon! Upton on 15th had a Pintail and 3 Common Gull (thats a good number at upton!) On 26th, we headed back down to Slimbridge, where we saw the first returning winter visitors, 3 Bewick Swans, 31 White fronted geese, An AVOCET and a CURLEW SANDPIPER were welcomed additions to the day! Our visit coencided with a rare Wheatear being found, so we went down for a look.

The PIED WHEATEAR shown superbly throughout the time i was there! An obliging rarity!, a northern Wheatear and a Merlin were also noted here!

on 30th i saw a very late SWALLOW on the patch, as well as 2 Goosander, Mandarin and Little Grebe.

A visit to the site revealed a brief look at the male LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER after a long absense!

November:

11th saw me seeing 2 1st winter drake RED BRESTED MERGANSERS at Fen's Pool's in the very late evening, i saw a Yellow legged gull ast Bittell on 12th.

On 21st, was overjoyed to see a stunning adult RED-THROATED DIVER on the patch! One of my highlights of the year! What a bird to see so close! (Thanks JK!)

On 27th, i made the trip up to Titterstone Clee for the DESERT WHEATEAR (Thanks again JK!), which shown amazingly!, we dropped into another Shrop's site on the way home, Chelmarsh and saw the RED-THROATED DIVER (same bird as the patch), A LITTLE GULL and 2 Yellow-legged gulls!

December:

3 CORN BUNTINGS were showing at Shenstone. on 7th i Found a first winter LITTLE GULL at Earlswood whcih stayed just long enough for MG to see it!

From now on the birding cooled down, clocking Goosander at Sheepwash and on the patch, although my last sheepwash mega of the year, a Female SHOVELER and 9 goosander.

On 28th 2 Yellow-legged gulls were at Chelmarsh in the Gull roost.

Now i will post a Video showing my favorite Birds/Photos/Videos from 2011, hope you like it!

I know this has been a long post, But thankyou for reading my blog over this last year, it has kept me going, and i can say, if it wasnt you lot, i would'nt be Blogging now, so thankyou guys for your support, and i hope you drop in throughout the next year too!

Thankyou all!

I know its late but i hope everyone has an amazing bird filled new year!

Cheers

MB

Today i went fishing

28/10/11
Many of you will not know, that i am both a birder and a fisherman, despite having fishing taking a back seat for some time.
Me and my dad got out today to a place called wellfield Pools in shropshire, this has always been one of my favorite places to go fishing!

Well thats all good i hear you say? But what does it have to do with a birding blog?

Well, as well as being very good for fish, it is also very good for farmland birds!

Over the coarse of the day i watched Vismig of many species, and the day total of Skylark must be 100+, with them constantly 'rippling over' and i do mean constantly, 50+ redpoll sp were also flying about, but consisted more of a feeding flock than migrating birds.
A single BRAMBLING (my first of the autumn) flew over, but at 3:47 the highlight of the day flew over, i Heard the distinctive 'chipping' of CROSSBILLS and i imidiatly looked up and around in circles, where were they, i cant count a heard only bird!!
But i was releaved when 2 large 'green' female finches with crossed bills flew over my head, only my 3rd crossbill's of the year!
5+ Raven were flying around,a nd Nuthatch, Goldcrest, Coal tit, Redwing, fieldfare and Chaffinch were in the surrounding conifers, In the plowed field that is overlooked from where the car was parked, there was a Convoy of 20 Red legged Partridge

And i also caught quite a few fish :)
MB

Garden Summary 2/04- 9/04

2/04/11


The pair of BRAMBLINGS remained, but the April Barrier hit, and there was a huge drop in Finch Numbers in both the wood and the Garden, Only 10c Siskin remained in the Garden, 5 Goldfinch and a single Lesser Redpoll.
3/04/11



A flock of 6 BRAMBLING were in a tree adjacent to the garden, a new record count, add to this the 8+ that was still in the birchwood and that makes 14+ over the site still.
A single Lesser Redpoll was still visiting the garden, and Siskin numbers had jumped to 20c again.
A gorgeous Chiffchaff sang and showed well in the garden.



9/04/11
Despite having douts over whether the bramblings would still be here i was proved wrong when a superb flock of 6 Birds were all together on the seed below the feeder and on the patio, a gorgeous sight, including some stunning looking males.
A flock of 15 Goldfinch remained although all our siskin had gone.











MB

Patch

27/03/11

A walk all the way to larford was rewarded by a very confiding Great-Crested Grebe which was showing just a few metres from the bank, i spent some time watching and photographing the Grebe, its not a bird i see at close range on the patch ( distant views can be obtained over larford lakes) and i believe that these are the best photos of GCG i have got on the patch.










While i was watching the grebe a LBBG landed on a nearby Boyd and i snapped away at this 4th winter bird,


There was also a apir of Adults near the abandoned toy factory in the town centre.

It was also great to see the ressurgence of the Finch flock in the birch woodland, the Brambling total had boomed to a patch record of 24+ ( 16+ in birchwood, 5+ in Moorhall wood and 3 in garden), the birds showed superbly as well, albiet through quite dense nettles/ Hawthorn.

The siskin flock had rapidly dropped and now only 20c Birds remained, the Lesser Redpoll flock had remained constant at 20 Birds and it was a huge supprise that a huge count of 30 Chiffchaff was achieved over the whole site, the floodgates had well and truily opened!!

MB