Burton Mere RSPB- The rare Trio! (10/09/14)

September often brings up a a good number of passage waders, so it wasn't a surprise to hear of a good build up of birds at Burton Mere RSPB, a place I have been only once before when I twitched the Buff-bellied Pipit earlier in the year.

A nice trio of scarce birds had been hanging around for some time, and so plans were arranged to head up there.

We had only walked to the visitor centre before our first target was seen, and the Cattle Egret was found as it sat on the islands among the Canada and Greylag Geese! I have only seen this species once in the UK (a flock of 4 near Slimbridge), so it was good to catch up with another!

Cattle Egret

There were a lot of people in the visitor centre though, so it didn't take much of a decision to head over to the IMF hide at the opposite end of the reserve to try to locate both of our next targets.

It is the flash here that has seen a large build up of wading birds, and it is fair to say I was impressed very quickly.

It didn't take long for the rather stunning juvenile Red-necked Phalarope to appear, and given some time, but bird swam closer, eventually feeding just the other side of the small reedbed! With the sun moving in the sky, the light got continually better, and the bird just looked even better!

Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope

Red-necked Phalarope

This also allowed for us to scan around as the birds were no longer in silhouette. By far the most common wader on the flash was Lapwing, with around 200, but it was more quality than quantity, and small numbers of desirable wader species kept appearing.

3 Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Little Stint, 5 Spotted Redshank, 7 Greenshank and 15 Ruff among the more common Redshanks and Black-tailed Godwits! A great mixed flock.

The 3rd and final target was soon picked out, and we were watching the Pectoral Sandpiper, and following a slight wait, the bird flew and landed on the island in front of the hide, giving superb views.

With the light now shining onto the birds, you really could see every plumage detail on each of the wader species, which made it all the more enjoyable!

Pectoral Sandpiper

Pectoral Sandpiper

The wider reserve also held a Whinchat, a Cetti's Warbler, as well as good numbers of Pintail, Shoveler and Teal among the other common wildfowl. A single Peregrine flew over, doing its very best to flush as many birds as possible!

All in all a very good visit to this reserve, and one I look forward to visiting again in the future!

MB

Dirty,rotton, nasty ass twitching ;-D

20/06/10

a year since the upton red necked phalarope ( the fathers day bird)
a late get up, saw a text on my phone reading 'red necked phalarope, flashes. and i was out the house in 20 mins.
the female RED NECKED PHALAROPE shown better than last year feeding around the islands but as always in the AM the sun was shining into the hide so the images are backlit and not very good, but still a little improvement on last year, but ohwell, theres always next year.


12 avocet were feeding around the flash as was 5 LRP.

a stunning bird, in summer clothes of the best type, what a bird.




MB

...but phalarope stops the show

21/06/09
upton warren flashes

got up a around 9:10ate my breakfast then brusshed my teeth.then i started to do a few sit-ups as usual for my mounings then suddanly had an urge to check my phone.i had a txt.it was from brian stretch.i thought it was just saying thks for the txts i sent him the night before.i open the message and almost died.RED NECKED PHALEROPE,UPTON WARREN FLASHES.right lets move.run to my dad who was lying in bed and just said 'halerope at upton can we go please' after a bit he agreed to take me and at about 9:40 we were on our way.i must say that i delt with the twitching pressure quite well(for all non birders-the fear that the bird will fly away during the time for you to get there therefore 'dippping the bird').

the first 'real' bird i encountered was acouple of spotted flycatchers on overhead wires at chaddsley corbert opposite the hotel on the a448(now know the hotel is called brockencote house).we pulled into the outdoor centre and imidiatly noted the carpark was chock full.we found a space and i jumped out.i pulled on my lucky anorack(dark blue with a rip under the left arm,a good way to tell me in a twitch,more on the coat later).3 birders were chatting near the small pool,i didnt recognise any but later found out one was brain stretch.i might be good at id ing birds but when it comes to peope im hopeless,unless your a friend i know well.

decided to skip all the other hides and jumped in the last hide.the door was open and i walked in and was squeezed back out.there was more people in the hide than in a chinesse express train at rush hour.i squezed in near the door and asked where the bird was in a polite manor to the birder next to me.he told me it was behind the sticks.after a few minuites he asked if i had it and i said no.he let me look thorough his scope and i saw the bird swimming around in a casual manor.it was a RED-NECKED PHALEROPE(lifer 186).i said thanks and then went back to my scope and got it straight away(funny how that always happens isnt it).i went straight for photos but all my efforts were laughable.the bird was at a long range at means as it is smaller than a starling it was had for all the people trying to get photos and the weather wasent acting well for photos either but even though all my images are bad i will put my best one in to show i have seen it:

this video shows just how far the bird was even with a scope(i really feel sorry for all those birders with only bins)

better images were got by other photographers as the bird came closer later in the day and a few can be seen here at worcester birding(and dont forget the one on birdguides)

andy shaw was in the hide and we had a quick chat about how it is a lifer for me and a worcs tick for him having missed 3 others(a lot of bad luck then).i must admit i did stop talking to him very suddenly because i wanted to get a decent pic of the bird(at very least a recognisable one).so i will say now i am sorry for that.i paid little attention to the other birds presant but saw 2 green sands including one which in the photo shows a very bold eyestripe(but it is a green sand)

soz not the cropped version

and the usual avocet pic:

highlight i know from here are:

10 greylag on sailing

2 gadwall

13 avocet

7 lrp

2 green sand(although 3 were seen)

1 redshank

1 RED NECKED PHALEROPE(amazing county bird,possibly best bird of year,but waxies wtill my favorite)

1 common tern on sailing

2 sedge warbler

1 cettis

2 reed warbler

2 reed bunts

MB