MEGA, MEGA, MEGA!

24/02/14

Monday nights i generally walk home from college. A route which takes me thought the Wrens nest NNR, past the reservoir and across the fields at the bottom of the road. This usually allow me to get a few Birdtrack records done as i walk along, usually just a few Great Tits, Nuthatches and Stock Doves. But, as i have recently mentioned on here, the reservoir has been holding Goosanders throughout the winter, so i make a habit to go out of my way to have a walk around this small pool.

Today it paid dividends, as as soon as i got a view of the water i saw a small duck feeding on the far side. A female POCHARD! Mega! 

Not a species i had expected on this pool, as in the years i have lived in the area i have never seen a diving duck (other than the Goosanders of this winter) on the pool. She gave great views from the shore, diving repeatedly, oblivious to the weed smokers, the fishermen and the dog-walkers.

With the light fading, it was time to move on, and it was while walking over the fields near my house that a small bird perched up on some bramble next to me! A male STONECHAT! A double mega night! With only a few minutes of daylight, a quick run home to collect my scope and i was soon back watching the male Stonechat as he moved between weeds.

For years i have watched this field, mainly in the hope of Chats as the habitat present seems perfect for them, however, a series of poor winters had meant that few birds have wintered in the area.

Happy with my two area megas, i returned home!

The next morning, i was back again, and i soon located the male Stonchat, but was immensely surprised when a female bird then flicked up onto an adjacent patch of weeds! TWO STONECHAT! Unbelievable! Somewhat like the local bus service, you wait ages and then 3 turn up at once!

Carrying on, it was a quick walk to the reservoir, where the female Pochard was still showing, and again, feeding well. A party of 6 Goosander had also joined the party, and 2 Grey Wagtail were flitting about the muddy shoreline.

Following a decent walk, i arrived to look for a famous local attraction, and i soon was looking in the top of a broken oak tree where a TAWNEY OWL roosts daily and has done so for many years. For once however, he chose to wake up in response to another nearby Tawney Owl, and started hooting at it before having a scratch.

Himley Hall lake is an area i very rarely visit, so i chose to walk even further to have a look at it, and soon after, a male Pochard was feeding close inshore, being followed by Black-headed Gulls in among the Coots and Mallards. 

26/02/14

The male Stonchat remained on the field at the bottom of the road, but despite searching, it would seem as if he company was only a one day wonder, and being the lonely fellow he was, he also departed the following night.

27/02/14

This night also saw me walk back from college, and it was quite a surprise to see that the female Pochard remined on the pool, feeding incessantly during the time i watched it. Again, this proved to be the last i saw of the bird, hopefully having migrated to somewhat more pleasant surroundings

MB

Upton Warren all dayer

4/05/13

Sleeping in a hide is  the most uncomfortable thing ever!

Not to mention those bloody Oystercatcher 'piping' all night right outside the hide. The BHG were loud, but it was the OYC's that were stupidly loud. Needless to say, little sleep was had.

Me and my hide sleeping companion, the now famous Biking Birder woke around 3 am in rather humorous fashion. And we decided to head out to see if any birds were singing. Very little was, however a calling Tawney Owl was the first highlight of the day in the morning gloom. It must however be said that at that time in the morning, it is an exceptionally beautiful time to be out, with very little background noise with nothing but Bats and the occasional snippet of birdsong for company.

Back in the hide we waited for sunrise, and to say it was slightly disappointing was an understatement. Very little bar the usual were present 2 Curlew probably being the 'pick of the lot' but those had been present all night calling, which proceeded to fly off south as the sun rose.

Moving onto the Moors proved to be the best decision of the day. Firstly, a male Cetti's Warbler was pulled out of the nets. This bird being particularly welcomed, as having become extinct at Upton for over a year, it seems like they have again reached the point of recolonization, a great story, and one showing that if the habitat is there, the birds will come, despite the very fragmented range of Cetti's Warbler in the Midlands.

2 Common Tern moved through the Moors very quickly, vis-mig in action, and a Common Sandpiper was showing. A stop in the car park for a quick natter proved to be the best 5 minutes of the day, as a 3rd Tern flew in, but immediately stuck as different. At that second news was passed via the phone that a RED KITE was flying over the Education reserve, everyone in the car park connected, but in doing so, most forgot about the Tern. Luckily, the Tern dropped down briefly, confirming my suspicions as to it being an ARCTIC TERN!

Within a few minutes the bird flew off north, directly over our heads!

From here onward the day petered out, as i slogged along to find common species such as Sparrowhawk and Jay, both of which eluded me until mid-afternoon. I managed to 'grip back' a Lesser Redpoll, which was widely 'twitched' by the day listers along the East shore of the Moors Pool.

By 5pm, to say i was completely exhausted was an understatement, so, moving away from the crowds, i moved to the north end of the North Moors to try to listen for a Grasshopper Warbler, and a Cuckoo had been heard calling here earlier in the afternoon. Lying on the floor i had a quick 30 minute relax, but needless to say, none were heard.

It was great to have summer migrants back in very good numbers, particularly warblers, Sedge Warblers really did seem to be in every suitable bit of habitat!

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

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 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

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

Night time Patch Working, Insane Patch first #2

9/03/12
I decided to do abit of after dark walking of the patch, and it came up trumps with another Patch first!
I was walking through a field at 7:50pm while wathcing Foxes scuttling around, and seeing their eyes glowing in the torchlight, i heard the distinctive call of a OYSTERCATCHER flying over! i heard it about 7 times as it passed over in a southerly direction, A bird would never had had on the patch otherwhys.
And a reason for more people to get out and hear migration at night!

5 Tawney Owl were calling around
MB

Patch.

16/09/11
As i hadent been on the patch for a few weeks now, i was anxious to get back, no matter what time, i was dropped off not long before sunset and headed downriver.
There was very few birds about due to the time of day, however, a KINGFISHER was darting back and forth along the river and 4 MANDARIN were at Blackstone, including the drake which was now back to show its pluamge in all its orange glory!




I took this opporotunity however, to see how many TAWNEY OWL'S i could hear, on the journey from Blackstone to Lickhill, i counted 7 Different calling birds, which included 3 males, all but one of which were on the Ribblesford wood side of the river.
After darkness had fell, a flock of 15 LAPWING appeared against the slightly paler sky as they landed and roosted on the riverside fields!
MB

LONG DAY

28/03/10

undisclosed site

spent 4 hours in a woodland today.

we casually walked around for an hour and a bit untill i picked up our target bird up my its call (drumming), we then moved slightly closer and then i picked up the LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER moveing among the tree tops. the bird was a female but was quite distant for my digiscopeing or my friends camera. we watched from this safe distance and soon after a second bird flew across in front of the first and landed on a nearby tree( a male), this bird called and then flew off followed by the female. we moved on, not wanting to desturb the woodpeckers too much(at all), we walked around the site picking up 2 little grebes on a small pool+ nest, multiple nuthatch and treecreeper and the other 2 common 'british' woodpeckers(green and GS).

we climbed up the hills and searched the summit but no wheatears or rouzels appeared. a few buzzards were soring above. a flock of 30-40 stock doves was noteworthy with 20c woodpigeons(feding in field), 3 goldcrest were located in the 'ivy' covered places in the wood.

on another track, this is what we stumbled upon(and by that i mean, we knew it was there):

A roosting TAWNEY OWL, my first sighting this year, we spent a lot of time photographing the bird, showing other people with my bins/scope etc. most of which were quite interested. on a few occasions the owl started to 'hoot' with its call penitrating throughout the woodland, a really unusual sound in the daytime.

and thats all folks, no passerine migrants, although this was not what i was after.

2 year ticks

LS woodpecker

Tawney owl

MB