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

BIG Staff's day out

6/04/12 A Planned trip to Cannock Chase on the Friday turned out to be a very good decision!
A Common Crane was found nearby in Stafford, and the temptation was quickly forfilled.

We chose to visit the COMMON CRANE first as they have abit of a habit of flying off in the early morning, so we got there, walked the Canel towpath down to the crowd, and there it was, a magnificent, stunning Common Crane!
The bird was showing well, although abit far away for photos (for me anyway), but Scope views were amazing!
The bird fed unpreturbed at the back of the Field for the entire visit.

Unfortunatly, i did have a minuite long video of the Crane, however, it seems i have deleted it, and after many attempts to try and refind/Regain it, everything has failed, so you'll have to do with the 11 Second video (However, a Hare runs across at the end)

My attention then turned onto the pair of garganey that had been seen. Amazingly, they had chosen a small water filled ditch that ran through the field, hardly 'prime' Garganey habitat. And viewing was proving difficult as there was ony a couple of area's where the bank dropped low enough to be able to see into the ditch.
After abit however, the birds appeared at the edge of the Reeds, coming to the near edge, giving stunning views!
A stunning pair of GARGANEY, the best views ive ever had!

Then we moved to Cannock Chase, prime targets looking for Deer.
In one of the Valleys it was immensly quiet, as the weather by now had turned pritty shite, clouds rolled in and you could feel rain in the air, however, a pair of STONECHAT were giving decent views, and i was able to get some Photo's

We did end up seeing 16 Fallow Deer on exiting the car park!

As it was still quite early, we then decided to have a quick check of the south end of Chasewater, which produced a year tick in the form of a flock of 30c SAND MARTIN, However, highlight by far was seeing a gathering of 6 RED DEER feeding out on the exposed shore at the north end through thr scope, magnificent creatures!

As it was 'on the way home' we dropped into Stubbers Green, where there was still a fair few large gull's perched up on thr shoreline (400c!), this even supprised me, within the flock, there was 10 GBBG. A single Oystercather stood asleap on the bank throughout, leaving me with my last tick of the day.

Mb

Fill In

4/02/12

Called in at a frozen Stubbers Green lake.

No interesting gulls in the 30 mins we had before the weather got too bad to withstand!

MB

Bartley again. (White-winger Heaven)

3/02/12
After having only brief views of the Iceland Gull the previous friday i wasnt really happy, sure i'd ticked the bird for the year, but there was something not quite right, I fancied another Look.

We accidently arrived at the dam end of the reservior, but quickly found this to be to our advantage, with many of the small gulls alot closer in, however, the large gulls again seemed in the middle of the water. However i was soon scanning 70% of the thousands of gulls (the remaining 30% were into the setting sun),

and after about 20 mins, at 4:55, just as i was saying to a visiting birder that Iceland Gulls had been seen, i panned onto a white winger.

A 2nd winter ICELAND GULL

I quickly get the rest of the 'crowd' onto the bird, of which for one of them it was a lifer!

The light was still Ok, with it being perfect for a gull roost, and i was able to take a long range, shakey video of our white winged beauty!

This bird was quite easy to point out, as it spent the whole time near to the yellow boyd in the water.

However, as time went by, it became more and more obvious the there seemed to be two different birds in two areas of the flock, however it took untill 5:12 for me to confirm this, when both birds appeared within my scope, and i was able to get this image containing both of them!

My first double 'white-winger' day!

Now wheres my Glauc?

MB