The return- April 2015

It was a somewhat depressing return to the UK on the 12th, the lack of birds of prey and general birdlife drained a fair bit of my usual 'spring optimism'. However, I soon tried to get back into the swing of inland UK birding.

Daily visits of Sedgley Beacon occurred, with optimism raised slightly by a couple of passage Wheatear on the 14th, followed by a decent day (in Beacon terms), with a Wheatear, 4 Tree Pipits and best of all a singing Grasshopper Warbler on 15th. Infact, the Gropper gave fairly good views, popping up on top of its temporary bramble home briefly on a couple of occasions!

A visit out to the University survey site on 16th revealed a pair of Little Egret was still present within the Heronry present there, however there was unfortunately no further breeding evidence over the summer.

This year a new joint BTO/ Natural England/ Forestry Commission survey has been set up within the Wyre forest to monitor effects on breeding birds within the Wyre over the coming years in which management work is being carried out to restore the original broadleaved deciduous forest. My Survey area is deep within the center of the forest and my first visit was very promising, despite the Douglas fir plantation (which is my survey area), the surrounding land is promising, and featured good numbers of Tree Pipits and Willow Warbler. A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a nice early Wood Warbler singing away next to 'my' woodland were very gratefully received.

Later the same day, the second summer Mediterranean Gull was still present at Upton Warren, together with the usual cast of breeding waders.

The patch has been fairly exiting this summer, and things kicked off early, with LRPs and Peregrines both being seen. A late Goosander still present on the river is usually a good sign that breeding could have been on the cards but unfortunately no chicks were found. A couple of Red-legged Partirdge scurried away along one of the dirt tracks while a Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail were both the first on patch this year.

A day trip to near Reading with a University Society on 21st led to me seeing lots of Red Kites however it was on the 22nd that a real panic moment hit. While midway through writing up one of my essays (about flightlessness in the Galapagos Cormorant no less) I received news from a fellow Upton Warren warden. "Red necked Grebe at the Moors!!

Many rushed phone calls until a friend agreed to drive up from my hometown in Worcester up to my house on the other side of West Midlands country to pick me up! (massive shoutout to Rob, Legend!) And we were on our way. 

A couple of hours running up and down the west shore until superb views were had just before the sun started to set with the bird swimming about just in front of the hide, a crippling bird for Upton Warren, a reserve first no less and in stunning summer plumage!

Huge thanks to both Rob and Hughie for their help!

My first Swifts of the year, a party of 3 moved over the university site again the follow day.

A fair quiet visit to the patch followed other than breeding birds but the Upton Warren all dayer was on the Saturday (25th). I arrived fairly early, before I heard news of an absolute 'mega' in Somerset. Despite the offer being given and many others abandoning the birdrace to go see the rare yank wader I refused as I was meeting a friend on site. As always, by the end of the day, my only contribution to the day list (with others already having found everything else by the time I arrived) was a single Ringed Plover, a species that I often seen to find on these All dayers, and infact it was probably the my best bird of the day, so I wasn't going to complain!

MB

June and July- The Wyre Forest

My last June and July roundup mostly covered some of the avian delights I had seen at Upton Warren, but away from that I spent a long time down in the Wyre forest, looking for and photographing butterflies, but also keeping an eye and an ear out for any passing birds.

By far the rarest thing that I found was a stunning Dark-Green Fritilary, which despite originally identifying it as a female Silver washed, that later changed that evening, and it turned out that this species had gone practically extinct in the Wyre  a number of years ago, and my sighting was followed by a few more, which is great news.

Luckily, I had my Canon DSLR with me, and I was able to get up close and personal to a number of Fritilaries, including this stunningly fresh specimen which repeatedly returned and fed off a  thistle in one of the many flower meadows in the forest.

I also managed to find a Marbled White, which perched really nicely on ferns adjacent to one of the tracks. Although a fairly common butterfly, these still remain up there on my 'favorites' list.

The number of Silver-washed Fritilaries was superb, and they could literally be found throughout the forest. As is in their nature though, they were more content gliding around up in the treetops and tantalisingly dropping down low over the ground to flit around you before flying back up to the canopy.

Needless to say, this proved fairly aggravating, but eventually, a rather dapper female dropped down and perched really well and proceeded to show very nicely, sadly lacking the males gorgeous markings, but rather nice in itself.

Also showing off its silvery green underwing.

A few males chose to perch up distantly though, and I managed a few Digi-binned shots as they perched on nettles, which I'm sure got a  few 'phwarr' notes from me, Look at that!

Red admirals were common throughout the forest, and I eventually managed to track down a very photogenic black and red gem as it perched and warmed up in the sun.

The White Admirals were less than showy unfortunately, and tended to only perch up briefly once I had found them. One did perch up on trackside vegetation, but it was rather tatty, with large chunks taken out of the wings and bright sunshine glowing off its upperwing.

A few very stunning freshly emerged Comma's were also showing, with one choosing to warm up on my bad which proved a nice radiator for it!

I also managed much that I saw but didn't managed to photograph, such as Small Pearl-boardered Fritilaries and most Common butterflies. Dragonflys were represented by Four spotted Chasers, a single Golden-ringed Dragonfly as the highlights, with most of the common 'Dragons' of the forest also seen.

MB

HANG ON!

You didn't think i was going to do a post without mentioning birds right!!

Despite most birds been fairly quiet at this time of year, i still managed to 'connect' with all the forest specialities, such a Pied Flycatcher, and a large family party of Spotted Flycatchers. Tree Pipits also made an appearance, and i finally managed to connect with a Redstart, with a male showing in the vicinity of Lodge Hill Orchard. A number of Dippers were located, including a few juveniles, which were great to watch. A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was a nice surprise as it called loudly while I was watching White Admirals!

All in all a very enjoyable way to spend a number of days!

MB

Patching comes up trumps!

2/08/13

Another patch visit, and another Mandarin count. I wanted to get out fairly early, and i did, so i was out scouring those hedges and tree's looking for some migrants. The first bird i came across was while standing adjacent to the old Sand Martin colony on the riverbank (now sadly unused) and i saw the distinctive flight shape of a Falcon approaching from the north. With its barrel chested-ness and heavy flight it was obvious a PEREGRINE was flying towards me, easily the rarest of the 'common' Falcons here on patch. Soon after i was treated to great views of this 1st summer male bird as it flew low over my head, across the river, dropping down low over the fields opposite, to suddenly rise up over the hedge to spook a flock of Woodpigeon before giving a pot-shot, and to be honest, half soaked lazy attempt at that, towards one of the Woodpigeons. Soon after the bird was lost to view, but a nice addition to the list.

Just a little further upriver, adjacent to the riverside field infact, and, for the 2nd time in 8 days, i heard a familiar 'glipping' sound above me, Looking up to see a party of 3 CROSSBILL flying along the river SW. I wont repeat from what i said a couple of posts ago, but this is still a very decent patch bird with very few records!

Moving onto Blackstone, i quickly found a variety of good birds, a LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER was seen briefly making its way through the dense tree's, the first patch record this year! And it was while trying to relocate the Woodpecker i heard the distinctive song and 'Pitchoo' call of MARSH TIT'S, a welcomed sighting as i had not seen any at this location  since the spring!

The expected flock of Mandarins had dropped significantly, with now only 7 birds remaining, 4 of which were drakes. The party of young that were first hatched have now disbanded and are now practically independent. 

The final highlight of the day was the confirmation that a pair of Lapwings had successfully raised 2 chicks at a site on patch! As far as i know, the first confirmed breeding for a few years, despite a semi-regular presence during the summer in previous years. The two adults and 2 fledged youngsters sitting together on an area of bare ground.

In the garden, both male and female Siskin have been present all summer, so it was fully expected when 3 newly fledged juveniles visited the feeders for around a month, however, more recently we have been visited by something larger...

A family party of Great-Spots!

But one of the most unexpected sights was to happen on the 3/08/13, when a WHITE-LETTER HAIRSTREAK visited the garden briefly, a butterfly lifer!

MB

Birding in my 'secret' woodland spot.

1/05/13

Ahh, the first day of may, and a nice day it was too! So an afternoon visit to my 'secret site' following my lesson was in order. Following the usual route i walked past the Tawney Tree, to find that as usual, he was perched up on top, giving nice views in the sunshine. Moving on, i quickly found my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year on the hill tops, getting brief views of it as it moved along the gorse. Dropping back down to the LSW area i then spent the next 2 hours stood in one spot as the LesserPecker was calling, but refusing to show. A brief bout of drumming confirmed that the bird was the male, and after a considerable amount of time, i got a brief flight view as it flew from the dense trees to the other area of dense trees on the opposite side of the track.

The male Pied Flycatcher was still singing in his spot, and showing nicely!

2/05/13

Visiting the woodland again failed to produce any new birds, however, had stunning views of the Pied Flycatcher, much less mobile than usual!

MB

Highlights from late April

20/04/13
Patch
A early morning stomp around the patch was rewarded in the form of stunning views of the pair of Mandarin Duck (The long staying pair) which were feeding in paddocks on the riverbank. At least 2 Willow Warbler were singing, as were 4 Skylark. 2 Lapwing continued to show. A few Starlings were also showing very well in the sunlight.

Later that same day, i received news that the male Ring Ouzel was still showing near the lakes at Earlswood, and being just down the road, i't be a shame not to drop in. So once i had finished my jobs for the day i decided to have a short walk down the road, across the Causeway, down the side of Windmill pool to the paddock along the Gypsy lane, to be greeted almost instantly with a view of a stunning male RING OUZEL. couple of birders appeared, and i had a quick look though one of their scopes (Thankyou) and get a couple of pictures.

A stunning adult male, a jet black bird, with possibly the largest white blaze you can get slapped on the front! Stunning!

24/04/13

A trip into my 'Undisclosed' woodland was incredibly rewarding. A male PIED FLYCATCHER was singing in the same spot as last year, and was giving great, but brief views. Personally however, my highlight goes to, after a total of nearly 30 hours searching, i finally caught up with 2 LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER as while listening to the males high pitched Green Woodpecker like song, i managed to pick up the female in my bins as she fed on a dying/dead silver birch tree, her pecking could be heard. A true moment of elation! All that time finally come good!

The Tawney Owl as usual was sitting on his tree.

But i was surprised when a Water Rail emerged in front of me adjacent to one of the pools, in late April!

25/04/13
An afternoon visit to Sheepwash was rewarded greatly! A little rain before the end of my lesson certainly helped Sheepwash, and there were actually some decent birds around! I was again surprised when scanning through the Gull flocks on the rocks, the 2nd summer YELLOW-LEGGED GULL re-appeared after a week of not being seen. As a matter of fact, it was almost a week to the hour!

I grabbed a few Digi-binned shots before the bird was flushed by a dog jumping into the water, the joys of urban birding. 2 Common Sandpiper were around the pool, one sharing the rocks with the Gull, the other on the other side of the pool.

 Moving on to the other side of the canal, i imminently picked up a stunning male Wheatear on the lower slops of the mound, which i gladly took a few pictures of! My first at Sheepwash! Walking up to the 'top' i was amazed when as i walked around, Wheatear after Wheatear appeared in front of me, and after around 30 Minutes, i was certain i had at least 8 birds scurrying around the mound! Awesome!
At least 3 of the birds seemed to be of the Leucorhoa race, better known as 'Greenland' Wheatear!

With a backdrop of Dudley Castle

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

Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker nest, From Chicks to fledging (Prt 2)

Breeding LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER summary (Part 2)-

Undisclosed site

(May-June 2012)

Part 1- http://midlandsbirder.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/lesser-spotted-woodpecker-nest-from.html

A week at 6th form passed, getting occasional messages confirming that the male Lesser Pecker was still feeding the chicks. And that relieved me an awful lot.

I returned to check briefly late one evening, and could hear the chicks within the nest, however the male bird didnt appear, apparently already roosting in the nest hole (the time was about 9:30pm).

When i next visited the site, it was great to see the male bird immidiatly upon arrival at the nest, and i placed myself back into the position i had the previous weekend allowing the bird to visit the newst freely.

It was great to finally see the chicks within the nest, where i confirmed that there was at least 3 chicks within the nest at that point as they came to the nest enterence to recieve food. (One male with red crown, one female with white crown, and a slightly downy bird, which was worrlyingly less advanced as the other 2 birds)

The male was still bringing food extremly regularly, and still seemed to be following the same routine it was before, Many Mayflies and Craneflys were brought back to the nest, which seemed to be the staple diet the bird was bringing back for its chicks.

On a couple of occasions, the bird appeared with its bill entangled within a spiders web, which shows the birds were also eating spiders, but could also have shown that it could have been using the spiders to find its own food, and catch it?

As its chicks were now quite grown, i started wondering at the dates to try and work out the time the young may fledge. I had read into breeding times of LSW, and was quoted that the chicks usually fledge 14-17 days after hatching! As the previous week the birds seemed very small, and 8 days having already passed since i had found the nest (with chicks already hatched), that would put the fledging dates in the next week, when (unfortunatly in a way) i would be on holiday in wales.

However, another locla birder said they would have a check early the next week, to have a check up, and to have a scout around for anything else.

Unlike the previous week, no doubt because of the chicks increased maturity, the adult bird was increasingly ferantic with its food gathering. The previous week, the male bird would spend a long period (Up to a minuite) at the nest enterance feeding the chicks, however now, it was down to a few seconds. the bird would land at the nest hole, the young would appear, a quick food pass and he'd be gone, off to find more food,

This became frustrating trying to get video footage as the bird would only be present for a few seconds ( Scroll down/Read down for Montage)

In this montage of small clips, you can see 2 of the 3 chicks appear out the nest to grab food from their father.

                            

I was cursing the person that ran past at the opening of the film, as i had got the video quite well focoused, and it was the first documentation i had got of one of the juveniles (That particualar bird being the female)

Also, unlike the previous visits, the bird very rarely entered the nest now, only going in once while i watched, presumably because the young could now 'deal with' their own droppings.

The bird was as showy as ever, and again, was a huge pleasure to watch.

I left the nest site, knowing that i proberbly wouldnt see the birds again.

(Looking at an overflying Buzzard)

(peering into its nest hole having fed its chicks)

As already stated, the nest was checked during the week while i was away. And on the Monday, the chicks were still in the nest being fed.

This was the last i heard of the birds untill i dropped in an hour or so after returning from my holiday, to find a vacated nest, with no sign of any damage (ruling out a chance of predation). I checked the adjacent row of trees and came a blank.

However, when walking though a nearby thick wood on the bank off a hill, i heard the incessant tone of fledgling LSW's (At least 2),

GREAT!

A succesful fledging!

The wood where they have chosen to reside now though is almost imposisble to 'work' in the summertime, so therefore, i'd be suprised if i get any futher sightings of the birds, although i should be able to hear them.

Now the chicks are out of the nest, they face an even bigger challenge, trying to survive out there in the wild, lets hope everything goes ok for them!

We could do with a few more LSW around, and hopefully this will symbolise a regular breeding presence at this particular site, on which i was privialidged to find, and be able to watch the coming and goings of the nest of the Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker, an increasingly declining species within our country, and one which always gets the highlight within  days list.

A truily charismatic species, which would be a huge shame to lose from the area!

MB

Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker nest, From Chicks to fledging (Prt 1)

Breeding LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER summary (Part 1)-

Undisclosed site

(May-June 2012)

In late May, i was fortunate enought to stumble on a rare thing.

I was privialidged enought ot find a nest of a LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER, which was still in use with the male still feeding chicks. The birds have in the last week fledged the nest, so therefore, i thought now would be a good time to write up about them, although i still refrain from publishing site details.

Late one evening i was walking when i found what i thought was a Lesser-Spotted Woodpecker fly from a tree in front of me across a field into a deep wood to my left. I didnt see it very well, but i was certain this is what i had just seen. About another 100m and i stopped at a tree as i could see movement among the upper branches, and when raising my bins i was amazed to see a gorgeous male LesserPecker staring at me, and not only that, it was carrying food. Thoughts of an active nest whet my appitite, and slowly and surely, this dinky Woodpecker, hardly larger than a House Sparrow made its way down through the foliage.

Unfortunatly, on this first night i was unable to see the bird enter a hole, so was left unsure as to where it was nesting, although i could tell it was nearby.

The next morning, i visited the site again, to confirm that nesting was taking place, so i could approach the bayliff of the area to keep an eye out on the nest and try and steer people away to avoid desturbance. The nest was duly found, and i was quite worried by a number of factors relating to the nest. The birds had chosen to nest only a few feet from a very well used footpath, but as time went by, this worry diminished, as it became obvious that the bird's were oblivious, and didnt seem to mind the walkers etc very much, which was a great relief!

Worry 2 was that at the time i was at the site in the early morning, the sun shone directly onto the surface of the nest, great for photography, but worried me as if in the sun too long, the chicks could overheat in the nest, agian, viewing over time removed this worry, as it became obvious that after about 10am, the foliage around the nest covered it up, therefore shading the nest during the hottest period of the day.

The 3rd and final worry was one that couldnt be resolved, the birds had chosen to nest a mere 8ft above ground level, however, despite the constant squeeking from the chicks, the nest wouldnt have been noticed unless pointed out, and that only left predation as a threat.

Great-Spotted Woodpecker had chosen to nest a few trees further along, so therefore this was again a worry, as GSW are prone to 'picking' on their smaller cousins and raid nests to eat their chicks! But luckily, it seemed as if they were too busy with their own nest to bother with the LSW.

Observations at this time showed that the chicks in the nest were still very young, as incessant helpless call were heard, and the male often entered the nest to remove fecial sacks.

It also became obvious that this was basicly a one parent family, as ONLY the male ever came to feed the chicks and the female (which had been seen in the area) never ventured near the nest, although reports from other locals who checked on the nest indicates that the female may have been busy with an earlier brood as she was seen briefly with a LSW in tow, which could have been a Juv! (Although this is speculation)

Despite the obvious dissadvantages of having only one parent, the male Lesser-spotted Woodpecker got along fine, and brought plentiful amounts of food back to the nest, no doubt helped by the large emergence of Mayflies around the time.

Viewing from a resonable distance through a scope, allowed for the bird to access its nest without disturbance, and the only disturbance was when other walkers walked past the nest.

The bird visited the nest very often, and seemed to work on a feeding loop, 'working' a small section of tree's before moving back to the nest, then flying off to work another loop in the dense woodland, in doing so flying only feet above your head!

And now here is some footage of the bird:

(If anyone knows how to centre allign videos embedded from Youtube please comment, i have tried everything, including adding in the relevent html coding, but it just doest want to work!)

(Please note, the people's voice in the video is that of the assistant bayliff and his wife, they live very close nearby so i chose to inform them also on the nest to help with the potential desturbance)

Part 2 to this entry will come soon!
MB

When we go down to the wood's today?

19/03/12

Me and the 'Gornal Birder' had decided a trip to a woodland was in order. S we went to secret site in Staffordshire.

We knew about the roosting Tawney Owl, and he was quickly seen, photographed, admired, then left alone.

We then moved onto another section of the wood, where a pair of LITTLE OWL's have recently taken up residence, the views were decent, but into the sun. GB manadged to get this shot of the pair together, lucky B#**&*d

However, despite the Owly destractions, we had more elusive things to locate!

We quickly got 2 species of Woodpecker, Green and GSW. and unusually, a female Green Woodpecker decided to stay perched on a branch while we got some photo's.

We moved to another area our target had been seen in, and as luck would have it, a hour or so after, we had a drumming male LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER, however, only very briefly, and within 10 seconds, it had gone, just as quick as it arrived!

After waiting for longer, the LSW wasnt seen or heard again, so we moved to Penn common, to see if the Firecrest (s) were still around, we didnt see them, but a calling Tawney owl was the 2nd for the day, and then something caught my eye out in the horse paddocks.

A stunning male WHEATEAR!

My earliest bird BY FAR! A whole month earlier infact!, the bird strutted around, flashing its 'White Arse' (where the birds name originates from) shamelessly, a nice find, that just topped off the day!

All in all a good day, a few year ticks, including one that is getting harder to get!

MB