Pratincole steals the show!

26/07/14

Another day out east I hear you sigh!

Yes! It was time to head east again, and for good reason, with a number of reasonably unusual birds loitering around in Suffolk, and with an offer to visit one of the country's finest RSPB reserves it was hard to say no, so bright and early I met up with Mike, Rachael and Alana as we made our way towards the rising sun!

We first stopped off in the Suffolk breckland, where a family party of Black and white leggy birds had been wading about for the past few days. Only one pit was viewable from the viewpoint location, and the family party of Stilts weren't on it. A single Wood Sandpiper brightened up the visit, and infact was my first of the year! We hung around, but optimism soon faded knowing that the birds were more than content with feeding on the out of view pit, so we moved to a nearby site, where we managed to find 4 Stone Curlew, and a few Redstarts, both making great additions to the days ever increasing list.

Following a walk along a dusty track, we decided to head off again, towards Minsmere RSPB, and I was quite looking forward to it!

It was almost instantaneously we headed for the East hide, overlooking the freshwater scrape where a huge variety of birds were currently residing. A brief look at the Sand Martins, across the north wall and down the beach and soon the hide was in reach (in reality, the last stretch of the journey was a slow, painful trudge across shingle and sand, yuck!).

We had just reached the entrance track towards the hide when a birder coming out told us that the Pratincole was flying about, causing me to look up, and in doing so 3 Spoonbills, necks outstretched, glowing white in the burning East Anglian sun. The two adults and a juvenile circled briefly but there was no sign of any smaller brown and chestnut waders so we headed up to the hide.

Scanning around, we were told the COLLARED PRATINCOLE had again dropped back in, and soon after, really nice scope views were had as it roosted (and honestly, did very little else) on a baked dirt bund across the pool, infact blending in very well!

Despite the distance, the birds yellow throat bordered black could clearly be seen, as could the black and white forked tail. And may I say! What a stunning bird it was!

As I waited for the 'Prat' to fly, I was kept entertained by a plethora of stunning and desirable bird species. Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Gull and Common Tern all being present in really stunning numbers! A pair of Wood Sandpipers added to the wader list, as did virtually every common wader species, with Oystercatcher, Avocet, Little Ringed and Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Sanderling, Dunlin, Common Sand, Redshank, Curlew, Whimbrel, Snipe AND Ruff all making an appearance! 

From that rather bulky list however, I must highlight my two favourites. Of the 13 Spotted Redshank, one continued to sport fully black summer plumage, and looking gorgeous as it waded in the shallow water.It was the first time I have seen this plumage, but perhaps even better than that, a mixed flock of around 40! Yes, 40 Little Gulls! These diminutive gulls being a particular favourite of mine, it was absolutely mind-blowing to see most of them still in summer plumage but showing varying amounts of Primary moult.

The large number of Common Terns often preformed a 'dread' as the whole colony flew up together, and both Sandwich and Little Tern made dashing appearances, and as usual, the Avocets did their very best to make them feel most welcomed... By flushing them.

 A adult and a juvenile Kittiwake dropped in briefly, which surprised me until I learned they breed not far away on an offshore rig! Still! The adult dropped very close infront allowing us to admire its stunning plumage!

A Bittern flew across, which had me adding another yeartick for the day and gave a nice flight view until dropping into the extensive reedbed!

Honestly, that hide was perhaps one of the most 'busy' hides I have been in birdwise, with birds moving in and out constantly, making you feel like anything could drop in!

But no! That was not it! Another selection of winged beauties were to be found, so we headed over to the small pools by the visitor centre and to a clump of Buddleia which, rather glamorously, was positioned behind a toilet block to check out some butterflies and damselflies.

And they didn't take long to find, and soon we were enjoying ridiculous views of both Emerald Damselfly and Greyling butterflies, the latter being prone to landing on you!

Not a bad way to finish the visit!

Oh, and by the way! I did finally manage to see the Collared Pratincole flying, for a matter of a few seconds!

MB

June & July - The Upton Warren roundup

June & July 2014

With the grip of the summer doldrums in place, birding took a far more relaxing approach, and with that came a fair bit of local general wildlife watching, navigating across from our avian delights, to our inverts, and to our plantlife, and I rather enjoyed it.

Upton Warren I look as one of the most productive, and educational sites in Worcester, and what better to do during the quiet summer months than keep track of the breeding birds, and enthuse about them to locals and semi-interested day visitors!

The major news from this summer at Upton Warren has been the successful hatching, and subsequent raising of a massive 10 Shoveler chicks, the first time the species has bred at Upton Warren since 1947. A truly remarkable occurrence, and hopefully this years bumper success will promote breeding in future years.

It is still even possible to see these local superstars (which made local newspapers, radio shows and possibly even the local TV news) as I write this in the dying days of August. They may even stay around for the rest of the winter now?

As always, the first returning waders of the year are making an appearance, and Green Sandpipers were typically on time, with some spanking adults dropping in for extended stays on the flashes, often showing superbly from the hide. In the two 'J' months, I had a peak count of 10, but this increased further in August which will be covered in an upcoming post.

For the 3rd year running a ringed Common Sandpiper made an appearance for a few days, showing how site faithful some species can be, particularly waders!

And the first few Common Snipe started to appear in the channels adjacent to the hide at the flashes, typically showing well out in the open as migrant birds often do.

 A juvenile Ringed Plover dropped into the flashes in front of me one evening, which proved incredibly productive!

It could often be see within the same scope view as a number of Little Ringed Plover, but sadly all of these were raised elsewhere, with all the earlier chicks having been predated.

Wader wise my personal counts peaked at, Avocets- 45, Little Ringed Plovers-8 and Common Sands- 5 and up to 21 Curlew. Oystercatcher raised 4 chicks and Lapwing were also present, but Lapwing being quite scarce and hard to come by, but occasional counts of up to 30 were seen as the autumn flock built up.

Gulls have been high on the agenda, and there has been an almost continual presence of Mediterranean Gulls throughout the summer as a few 1st summer birds have been loitering around with the Black-headed Gulls. The Little Gull remained for some time also, but had disappeared by mid July.

Towards the end of July, I was lucky enough to locate the first juvenile 'Med' Gull of the year in the flashes roost, on the same evening as the Ringed Plover. The roost also held 2 2nd summer Common Gulls that night, so I certainly was kept entertained. 

Away from birds, it was a very poor year for Orchids around the site, with only 2/3 Bee Orchids flowering, and around 30c Common Spotted. Pyramidal was unfortunately not see this year, but it is quite normal for Orchids to flower in some years and not the next.

My undoubted butterfly highlight were 2 White-letter Hairstreaks that were present when I looked adjacent a small colony of them. A recent colonist to the reserve and a pleasure to see.

MB

Gull watching and wader chicks!

7/06/14

With both of the Gulls from the previous Gull watching session having lingered, I again took the opportunity to drop in and have a look. It didn't take long to stop the 1st winter LITTLE GULL feeding over the open water.  It steadfastly refused to land however, but that meant that the gorgeous black 'w' pattern was showing, which is always a treat!

It dip-fed constantly, but not wanting to hang around for too long, a scan across the islands, and a check on the Orchids and I moved to the flashes as news have came out of a couple of chicks that had hatched.

News had emerged that an LRP chick had hatched a single chick, and it was showing very nicely on the flooded grassland in front of the hide. These little bundle's of fluff always put a smile on my face, and it was great to watch it scurrying about in the short grass with parents in close attendance!

The parents were as vigilant as possibly can be, but it came as no surprise to hear that a few days later the chick was sadly predated by a large gull, a common fate to many of the LRP chicks in the county. Needless to say, productivity is generally low.

On the south shore of the flash, the 1st summer Mediterranean Gull was sleeping among the young and non-breeding flock of Black-headed Gulls, but it did eventually wake up, have a brief wing stretch, showing off its brilliant white underwing, and then fly off south.

5 Shelduck were dotted around the Flashes, and a male was escorting a single chick around, which is a very unusual occurrence on site, as they rarely breed. Despite protecting the chick in close attendance, he seemed to have sadly 'lost' the other chick which was swimming around on the 3rd flash being attacked by Black-headed Gulls. Both of the chicks were still alive and kicking by dark however and the Black-heads had calmed down. Interestingly, or sadly given your point of view, it was only the 1st summer Black-headed Gulls that were attacking the chicks, the adults being pre-occupied in 'other' activities. It suggests that the young bird's (which usually disperse through the summer) which have stayed on and around the reserve are more mischievous, and hence have been causing a fair amount of disturbance, which is quite sad.

It was good however to see the first returning flock of Teal to the site, with 6 being present. A singing male Garden Warbler was singing nearby, which is an unusual bird to have on site, and it looked very fond of an area of blackthorn.

MB

Gull watching in June!

1/06/14

So it is the first day of June, and I'm heading out to look at Gulls!

It was straight to the Moors Pool as immature Little and Mediterranean Gulls had been seen on and off for some time. 

And it didn't take long for the 1st summer LITTLE GULL to show itself, and as always, hawking for insects low over the north end of the pool in a similar fashion to Marsh Terns.

I always enjoy seeing the smallest of the worlds Gulls, and I was even happier when rather than being on the opposite side of the pool, the bird dropped in to rest on the islands. Interestingly, the bird had a rather 'full' hood, different to the majority of 1st summer Little Gulls I see.It was also interesting to see those very vivid orange/pink legs, which looked rather comical in comparison with the surrounding Black-headed Gulls.

And within that Black-headed Gull flock was also a similarly young aged Mediterranean Gull. Typically worn and grubby, it just slept on the edge of the island for almost the entire time in the hide.

When it did wake however, it revealed a very vivid and very heavy orange bill, standing out like a sore thumb.

At a couple of times, the bird could be seen snoozing in the same scope view as the Little Gull, which was a nice sight on an inland pool.

At least now I cane take solace in the fact that in only another 5 months I can go back to looking at Gulls properly!

MB

Post holiday birding

1/06/13

Well, it must be said that the birding started immediately upon our arrival back in Worcestershire. News came through of a GREAT-WHITE EGRET at Upton Warren, so, after a few hours rest, and with continued presence of the bird we decided to go for it, having dipped the last Upton GWE in spectacular fashion.

Arriving at the Sailing Pool, we were informed that the bird was still present, but could be elusive tucked up in the corner of the 3rd flash.

To cut a long story short, we eventually saw the bird as it emerged fully from the reeds, but was always obscured by the bank between the two flashes, but we had decent views of the bird.

The reason for the bird being so elusive? Every second it was in the open it was mobbed by breeding BHG, and it was harassed until it moved back into cover.

A 'Great' grip back!

7/06/13

Heading out onto patch was fairly rewarding. My own personal highlight being a family party of Willow Warbler, which were found being fed by its parent's, calling loudly. In total, the 2 parents were feeding 6 young, by the looks of it, very recently out of the nest!

With the ongoing northwards shift in Willow Warblers range, it makes occurrences like this more and more unusual.

A single Mandarin was found on the river, and the 2 Lapwings continued to frequent the quarry.

8/06/13

A quick drop into Upton Warren again.

The reason?

A stunning 1st winter LITTLE GULL had been found, and we enjoyed good flight views of this minute Gull from the West side, where it was hawking over the pool for insects. I have a particular fondness towards that black 'W' pattern on its upperwing, and i always find it a pleasure to have a study of this maritine Gulls plumage, always having ever so slight differences between individuals.

Later the same day, at the Gardening job in Earlswood, we heard a Cuckoo singing from the Garden, which proved a nice distraction from the somewhat tedious work, but it was only when leaving did i pick up the best bird. While driving near Earlswood train station, a stunning RED KITE flew over the road, and we stopped and watched the bird as it slowly circled higher and higher until eventually being lost to view.

I find it somewhat humorous, that every year for the last 5 years, i have seen a Red kite back in the midlands the weekend after returning from our Welsh holiday, maybe they just follow us back?

MB

Birthday Birding

12/04/13

For the weekend, me and my Girlfriend had chosen to spend my 18th birthday in Liverpool, and it was a very enjoyable weekend.

As you would expect, the Bins came with me, and luckilly, we had a room overlooking the River Mersey, and therefore i often had chance to scan to see what was about, and i ended up seeing some decent birds!

Within the first hour of being in the Hotel, i had clocked a adult LITTLE GULL flying around the River, also 10c Kittiwake (they followed the Isle of Man ferry into the River) and 2 Shelduck. Later than evening while walking back from a beautiful Birthday Steak in Albert Dock, a Redshank was showing on the mud.

13/04/13

Again, most birding was done from the Hotel window. The highlight being a stunning drake GREATER SCAUP which floated out on the outgoing tide past the Hotel, truly unexpected, and a great addition to the list. A Turnstone also flew through, as did a Kittiwake, 3 Shelduck and a Redshank.

14/04/13

After a brief shopping session in Liverpool, where i bought the stunning 'Birds of Cheshire and Wirrel' atlas it was time to head back home, which was livened up somewhat when just after Penkridge, a stunning CUCKOO flew low north over a field adjacent to the Train!

And that brought the weekend to and end, which was a shame, because Liverpool is a place i enjoy immensly. A Nice city, with a beautiful girl and a few decent birds to boot, whats to complain about?

MB

Staffordshire comes good!

7/04/13

Neil Duggan text me on Saturday asking if i wanted to venture into Staffordshire with him looking for a Little Gull that had been seen on one of the regions reserviors. Natrually, i replied with a yes, and soon plans were made for the day.

Starting off on the patch, we tried to get Neil Mandarin Duck. They shouldnt have been too hard so we had a short walk along the river. It was only on the walk back however that we picked up 2 Mandarin Duck, both drakes swimming into the near bank further downstream! I was fairly surprised with this, as these were obviously not the pair that had been knocking around. We paused briefly to watch them, when i heard a familiar call, and 2 more Mandarin Duck flew over our heads and landed around the small paddock, the regular pair!

We had a quick look at both 'sets' of birds, before heading onward to Gailey.

Upon hopping out of the car, i soon picked up the two Eurasian White-fronted Goose that had been around the pool for some time. A scan around the pool didn't reveal the Gull, so we moved to the raised area in between the two pools, and waited. 2 Gadwall were showing at the far end of the fishing pool. The highlight though was when suddenly we were surrounded by 4 Sand Martin which came from nowhere, and started hawking the water. Oh how i have missed you guys!

At 9:40, i picked up the LITTLE GULL flying in from the west, which then dropped onto the fishing pool, and we had decent, but not very close views. 

Heading off, it was next Cannock Chase, but, in par with each visit this year, it was pretty much dead up there, which was a shame.

The usual Roe Deer were showing very well from the car!

So we decided to move away for a spot of twitching. A Sandwich Tern had been seen at Blithfield, but our hopes were not high (they don't usually stay around long!), but decided to head anyway.

A series of road closures led us on the Blithbury- Abbots Bromley road. We picked up a Swan flock in a roadside field, and managed to stop briefly to have a scan, and in doing so, picked up a stunning adult WHOOPER SWAN!

Obviously we couldn't

 stay long parked where we were, so i put my camera to my bins and got some very bad, but confirmation photos showing the extent of yellow on the bill (If its size was not enough to go on).

Needless to say, we were very happy by now!

Arriving at Blithfield, to our immense surprise, we soon found the SANDWICH TERN as it sat on a boyd, before giving us superb views as it hunted along the Causeway!

Just to show how close it came, here it is taken at around 4x zoom!

3 Sand Martin were flying around, and 20c Wigeon were on the water. We counted a huge flock of 104 Great-crested Grebe, easily the most i've seen at one time.

Neil had to head back now, but we decided to drop into Sandwell valley to locate a few birds which are rare in Worcester. We found 3 Ring-necked Parakeet before moving to the old visitor centre, and immidiatly found 3 WILLOW TIT on the feeders. An incredibly rare bird in Worcester now!

It was only at this point i scanned towards the main lake, and i had one of those 'whaaaaat....' moments as two Egyptian Goose stood on the main island! Gypo Goose at Sandwell!, That has to be a bloody rare bird in West Midlands county! Camera to the scope!

Considering i had only seen my first Gypo a few weeks before, it came as a huge surprise to find a pair loitering on the island at Sandwell. Not a bad little addition to the day!

I was dropped off at Upton Warren, which had a reward of 2 Barnacle Goose, completing a nice little trio of 'plastics' for the day. In all seriousness though, Barnacle Goose is one seriously good looking goose, and yet another decent addition to the day list!

A couple of Snipe were also showing, which rounded off a decent day!

MB

WaderFest- Summer Plumaged Ruff

26/05/12
Upton Warren has been rather quiet on the Wader front this year. The complete decimation of the flashes during last years drought completly dried the flashes to salt plains, and this has had obvious detrimental effects on both the birds, and the food sources.
Breeding Waders at the start of the spring were very reluctant to settle down, due directly to this lack of food (Recent water tests reveal it may be around half the level it was last year food wise), and things took a very slow start. The usual range of common migrant waders passed through, small flocks of Dunlin etc, but (combined with the weather) tales of the legendary last spring were not going to be repeated, and if there was any waders, they wernt going to stay for long!

However, Upton Warren suddenly sprung into life when one of the Upton regulars found a stunning summer plumaged male Ruff on the flashes, along with a small selection of other wader species.
As ive never seen a sum plum Ruff, i was enthusiastic of going to see it.
And i was glad that when, on the Saturday, we finally got to the flashes at just after Mid-day, to the news that the bird was still present, although not showing!

An Oystercatcher kept me busy feeding below the hide:



And the marvelous 1st winter LITTLE GULL was still giving stunning views very close to the hide, being very vocal, and very vicious towards the BHG!

















However, the main attraction was Waders. 2 BLACK- TAILED GODWIT fed at the back of the flashes, but soon dissapeared (presumably to the moors), a Common Sandpiper, a single Dunlin, and also the usual cast of Upton Breeders.

It was great when the summer plumaged RUFF emerged from behind the island, and i was sble to get some great views of the bird, as it was quite close in. The pictures however, were odd, so we decided to return later in the evening when the sun was lower, and behind the hide.

As said, we returned later in the evening, to find the RUFF still present, and now the light was better, and i started snapping away untill by battery died!

(This is my favorite photo from the 'set')

The bird preformed brilliently on occasions, even coming into the 'Basin' area in front of the hide on the near shore. It was quite a nice bird to catch up with, having never seen this plumage before.

The BLACK-TAILED GODWITS had returned again when we came back, however, once again, remained too far away to even try for any photos.

As the RUFF's plumage isnt the commonest you get in the midlands, i got many photos and videos. Although, i didnt get one which had its 'ruff' open, which is what i had hoped for.

Never mind, still a great bird!

I spent most of the night just watching the Ruff, Godwits, Dunlin and the Wader chicks, which lead to a nice night wader watching.
MB

Upton Warren- Migration and Lingerers

12/05/12
An evening visit to both sides of the reserve led to a nice little array of migrants, and lingerers.

Firstly, we dropped into the Moors Pool where a quick scan here revealed a Common Sandpiper on the East Islands, Not wanting to spend too much time here, we departed to the Flashes.

A female White Wagtail was my first of the year of this Ssp, and it shown well occasionally switching between the channel below the hide and the transmitter field.

Also very quickly located, was the flock of 6 DUNLIN which was found earlier in the day, all adults in more or less summer plumage. It took them most of the night to work there was in close to the hide, bt i gladly got some photos when they did.

The 1st winter LITTLE GULL that had been frequenting the Moors was located here, sleeping blissfully close to the hide. the only challenge then was to try and get a photo of it awake, as it spent most of its time asleap!
However, in the brief moments it awoke, stunning views were had of this jewel of a bird.

It is only when you compare a Little Gull with an LRP that you realise just how small these highly pelagnic birds are. It really is tiny!
Hard to believe these things winter out in the north sea really. The only bird they are comparable to are the 'marsh terns' (to which it has a similar feeding technique), and the bird does seem as if it would be better suited to spend its non-breeding life (They breed on marshy pools, often among terns, BHG's and Grebes!) at inland lakes and marshes than out in the harsh sea. They just seem so out of place with there small body size seemingly dwarphed by the huge waves.
However, Little Gull does have an ace up its sleave, it has disproportionatly long wings for its size, and this helps them with their pelganic lifestyle.

Over the coarse of the night, the DUNLIN flock slowly edged it's way closer, probings there way through the soft mud. Eventually, they were showing on a spit near the hide that was being frequented by the Little Gull. It was nice to have both these species together at an inland scrape.

















4 birds aproached, the other 2 Dunlin seemingly content with staying on the far edge of the main island, however, with the warm evening light shining, the Dunlin's glowed, and the birds that aproached the hide gave great views!.


A nice little mix of birds there, and shows how the wet weather over April has dropped migration back a few weeks!
I think there is much more to come over the next few weeks, potentially even into june!
MB