Fens Pools- Looking for white wingers.

30/01/13
A Glaucous Gull had been seen at Fens Pools the previous week, and the bird did a re-appearing act at nearby Stallings Lane Tip, so, with the Gornal Birder, we decided to head down to the Pools in the hope that this white beast would drop in. So there we were, standing on the Causeway between Middle and Grove Pools scanning the fairly small amount of Gulls. And that proved very uneventuful, with nothing more than a few Herring and LBBG.
However, our luck changed at 2:20 when i heard the distinctive high pitched trilling of WAXWINGS heading towards us, and to my delight, a decent sized flock of WAXWINGS flew in from a northish direction, heading directly over the pool at resonably close quarters against a southerly wind, meaning we were treated to long views as they slowly made their way along. The wind proved too much for the birds, and they dropped down on the ariels of Fens Pool Avenue, just giving me enough time to count a number of 32 before they again flew off south into the estate.
Occasionally we saw the birds duck down behind the houses, and then would fly up, so i would expect that the birds would have landed somewhere nearby!

Later in the evening, we were treated to views of a Peregrine with a feral pigeon in its tallons, before dropping down onto the grass bank to briefly pluck the bird before being flushed. A steady stream of walkers ment that the Peg could no longer drop onto its catch, and after about 30 mins, the bird had enough, and flew off SW.

MB

The BIG Worcs day

With the year drawing to a close, we decided to do some 'mopping up' of the missing species from our lists in a tour around some north Worcester sites.
23/12/12

Starting with an early morning walk around a very flooded patch revealed a surprising drake Goosander present on one of the floods, despite it only being a couple of feet deep! A walk further revealed a nice female Blackcap and 3+ Redpoll (With an extra 2 on our feeders).

After a period of watching our feeders, we got onto the car, stopping off near the floods so i could show my dad the Drake Goosander. However, while just driving along, i saw a smaller bird perched up adjacent to a Starling on their regular tree, and the smaller bird was attacked and flew down onto a hedge next to the car. I shouted WAXWING!

And before the car had stopped i had gotten my bins and jumped out, and i was able to confirm the presence of a superb WAXWING! Just about scraping onto the patch, as the tree it was perched in is on the patch side of the road. We were able to watch the bird for a short period, in which i took a couple of Digi-binned shots. As i was setting my scope up, the bird took flight, and flew to another nearby tree, before flying off into Lickhill Estate, and despite having a drive around the estate, the bird wasn't seen again! A good bit of luck there as the bird was only present for a couple of minutes. A little bit later and we wouldn't have seen it!

Next stop was Hartlebury trading estate, and a drive around didn't reveal the hoped for Waxwing flock, as the rowen had been completely raided. However, a Fieldfare was feeding on the Connaster.

So, we went for the short journey down the road to Shenstone, which turned out to be very productive. As soon as i stepped out of the car, i could hear the song of many Corn Buntings, and quickly scanning around revealed a good flock of 30c perched in a tree. We walked the footpath to the 'usual' hedge, and this is where we spent over an hour stood watching, as we were treated to a marvelous overall total of 64 Corn Buntings! While mixed in with the flcok was 3 Yellowhammer, 30c Linnet, 50c Chaffinch and a single Reed Bunting. Not a bad list of farmland passerines there. The ivy covered tree's along the path help 5+ Goldcrest, including some which gave superb views!

While just walking back to the car, a small falcon flushed for within the ivy covered ground/Bushes next to us, and on getting on it with my bins, we were treated to superb views of a female MERLIN as it hurtled back towards the road, before briefly alighting in a tree, and then flying out of sight.

At this time the Shenstone Birder arrived, and it was while he was walking along the track that i again spotted the MERLIN as it flew very low across the ground in the short cut field behind us. We decided to follow Jason up the path in the hope of refinding the bird, however it drew a blank.

We parted ways, as we headed towards Upton Warren in the hope of a big brown heron.

We had failed to see the bird the previous evening, so it was back with vengeance tonight, and we stuck in the hide for a good 2 1/2 hours. While in the hours of daylight, we were treated to views of Water Rail, and the usual array of feeder species. A male Bullfinch shown very well!

Hope was dwindling by 4pm, however, at 4:05pm, i picked up a brown shape in the reeds, hardly recognizable in the gloom, and on getting my scope onto it, i confirmed that i had the BITTERN! It was somewhat a relief as since they stopped visiting UW regularly, they have became a bogey bird for me, and i haven't managed to connect with one for over two years! We then spent the remaining 15 minutes watching the bird until it was too dark to see. What a way to end the day!

Who says midlands birding is rubbish?

MB

How to self find WAXWINGS!

Finding WAXWINGS requires no skill at all!

Thats it, ive said it! And because of this, i am a skill-less birder! Because over the last month, i have found, not one, not two, but an incredible 60 WAXWINGS! And thats without really trying, You do not find Waxwings. Waxwings find you! And this is the case of me rcently, wherever i go i have been lucky enough to be graced by the presence of these gorgeous Bohemian wonders!

The tale started all the way back at the start of Novemeber, when i found a flock of 17 while of a 6th form trip! After a little bit of Dirty twitching of the flock at Chaddersly, i then went on a rampage, with them joining me almost everywhere i went!
27/11/12
I had just finished my lessons for the morning and was just walking home, having checked a Rowen on the main road in Upper Gornal, and it was just as i was opening the gate to the garden when i heard the distinctive trill, i immidiatly stared upwards, to be greated by the sight of a single WAXWING as it powered its way northish towards High Arcle school, never to be seen again.


8/12/12
Now in december, i was checking the patch for the Chaffinch flock (30c) and i was beng entertained by a Buzzard, which had decided to perch long enough for me to get some photos when once again, the destinctive trilling of WAXWINGS rung out, and again i stared upwards, this time to be greeted by a stunning flock of 32! Which briefly tried to land in one of the tall poplars, but sadly carried on northwards and again, wasnt seen again. This record is a particual highlight of mine, as it is only the 2nd record of Waxwing ive ever had on the patch!

12/12/12
And i was back in Gornal, to be more precise infact, on a dinner break, and i had visited 'Mrs B's' for a beautiful Hot pork sandwich, and it was just while walking past the chip show that i again heard that distinctive trilling, again, looking skywards, a flock of 9 WAXWINGS flew north over the library, past the rowen tree, and started circling around Lower Gornal for a few minuites before eventually dissapearing

My most recent self found bird was yesterday, but that will come in another blog post!

So there you go, if you want to find this gorgeous scandinavian visitor, just have a walk through the most urban place you can find, preferably on a lunch break or heading home, and enjoy these Bohemian wonders as they stream over your head!
MB

Local Waxwings!

25/11/12
After a very uneventful visit to a flooded patch, i recieved news of a small flock of Waxwings that had been found in the next village across. At Chaddersly Corbett.
It didnt take much convincing, and soon after, we were heading over to Rowberrys Nursery.
Without even pulling up it was evident that at least one of the birds was still here, as it was perched up in a small tree adjoining the road. A local 'twitch' had evolved, and the crowd featured the local blogging 'face' of the Doorstep Birder, who quickly informed us that the reported 3 birds had now increased to 8!
And this was justified when the flock of 3 was boosted by a further 5 which flew in from the village direction. The WAXWINGS landed upon an oak, and we were given nice views as they spyed on the small crowd from above. As you would expect, i spent a long time watching my favorite species, and this was followed by much photo taking.

 

And it was while scanning through the flock that i noticed a bird with the stunning primary pattern of an Adult male! Just look at it! A stunning bird!

  

 

 

 

The rest of the flock was made up of a mixture of 1st winters and Females, all stunning, but lacking that stunning pattern on the primarys.

The sun occasionally was hidden by clouds.

 But when it came out agian it illuminated the birds very well!

 

A nice start to the winter of Waxwings that no doubt is about to come! (And as you regular readers will find out) there are alot more to come!
MB

The BIG one (2011)

2011,

Although not exactly an amazing year for rare birds (for me anyway) i did have some amazing times, and this post is here to summarise it all!

January:

My year started on the 1st (obviously) with a trip into the Wyre, to see the HAWFINCH'S that were showing, in a few hours i counted 5 birds! The 3rd was a trip to Slimbridge where the year list took a BIG bump Upwards, Many highlights from the day,LESSER SCAUP,2 GREATER SCAUP, SMEW, and nearly 600 WHITE-FRONTED GEESE! amongst hundreds of Waterbirds! 8th was at Upton Warren, where we saw 3 WAXWING's, 13th i found a flock of 42 WAXWING's while on my dinner break at school in Gornal! 14th we visited Stubbers Green and Chasewater, a Cracking Drake SMEW and 7 Goldeneye being the highlights! 22nd- Trimpley Res, 2 WAXWING's were feeding in the car park and 56 Mandarin and 13 Goosander were on the river!

February:

Stubbers Green on 4th got me an ICELAND GULL and a few other gull year ticks, 5th saw me seeing a flock of 10 Goosander at Upton warren (the reserve record!) and 12th i had a Pink-Footed Goose at the same locality. On 15th Sheepwash had 40 Goosander!, Back to Upton on 18th, for better views of the Pink-Footed Goose, as well as the first returning Oystercatcher and Avocet! Upton again for 19th for a Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet and Pink-foot goose again. Also on 19th, we had 4 WAXWINGS in Kidderminster, and a flock of 30 at Finstall near Bromsgrove.

20th Revealed a patch revelation, 3 BRAMBLINGS were in the lickhill birchwood!, A Crossbill and 2 Mealy Redpoll were also on Patch!

21st saw a female Brambling still in the wood, and an increase in Siskin Numbers! Also that day, we paid homage to the Drake RED-BRESTED MERGANSER at Bittell, on 22nd a Brambling came into the Garden, as well as 15 Lesserpoll, 50 Siskin and 20 Goldfinch. 3 BRAMBLINGS were still in the nearby birchwood, as well as a early BLACKCAP.

25th revealed a flock of 48 WAXWINGS in the birchwood for about an hour feeding on mistletoe berries, sometimes in the same scope view as 2 BRAMBLING!

Later that day, we headed into the Wyre for 4+ HAWFINCH, 6 BRAMBLING and 2 DIPPER.

26th there was 2 BRAMBLING in the Garden with a single Lesser Redpoll.

March:

By 5th 10 BRAMBLING were in the Birchwood, as well as quite a large accompanying Finch flock, on 6th there was 14 BRAMBLING, on 12th there was our first multiple sighting of BRAMBLING in the garden.

18th saw a 2nd Summer MEDDITTERANEAN GULL at Upton, and also a stunning drake GOLDENEYE. 19, The Med gull remained and i also saw a Jack snipe. 27th saw the largest recorded flock of Brambling on the patch, with a staggering 24+ birds!

April:

2nd saw my first SWALLOW of the year! 2 Bramblings remained in Garden.

Also on 2nd, the pink-footed goose was still at Upton, the Avocet flock had shot up to 17, there was 8 LRP, a Blackwit, the Med Gull and my first Common Tern of the year.

3rd saw 14 Brambling still on the patch.

On 9th, a flock of 6 Brambling were in the Garden!

Again on 9th, we saw the Med Gull at upton, but joining it was also 2 near summer plumaged adult LITTLE GULLS! 19 Avocet was a huge number!

10th Was the 'Bloggers day out in Staff's' with any highlights, Great Grey Shrike, Red kite, Tree Pipit, Redstart, Wheatear and Stonechat amongst others!

My first Lesser and Common Whitethroat came on 19th and on 22nd we wandered into the Wyre, 5+ Redstarts, 8+ WOOD WARBLER and a male PIED FLYCATHER being the highlights among many Warblers. By 23rd Nesting was underway at upton, But passage had only just started (again) and a Dunlin was on show. the 29th and 30th at Upton was potentially the weekend this year, a WOOD SANDPIPER, a Greenhank and a WHIMBREL were showing on 29th, on 30th while at the Moors pool, i saw a flock of 27 fly over BAR-TAILED GODWITS!!! combined with the single that was still at the flashes that made 28 for the day, a reserve and county (?) record, the WOOD SANDPIPER and WHIMBREL remained, and 2 ARCTIC TERN were on the moors!

30th at Earswood saw 2 ARCTIC TERN aswell as a showy Mandarin.

May:

1st: My first Swift.

6th, i found 9 Mandarin on the patch at blackstone! and 3 Goosander, also the next day 5 Mandarin and 3 Goosander.

7th at Earlswood i found 2 summer plumaged adult LITTLE GULLSand an ARCTIC TERN!

on 14th I twitched the BLACK-NECKED GREBE at Bittell.

An amazing find for Matt G (the Earlswood Blog) saw me seeing a NIGHT HERON at Earlswood on 21st after a very long wait. Cheers Matt

27th: A female Mandarin with 11 chicks on the patch!

(The next bit is over the 2 months but i will put it all in june)

June: on 31st May, At Stackpole head in wales we saw 3 WHIMBREL fly in off the sea! as well as getting out usual wales birds such as the iconic Chough!

On 2nd we visited Strumble head, and saw 400+ Manx Shearwaters offshore, 3 Puffin flew past as well as large numbers of Many Seabird species (no odd species though)

Now came my Highlight of the year, on 12th, i found 3 LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER and i was able to get some superb views over the next few weeks of them on feeders or in Tree's, and the fact they bred at the site made my year! Great Birding!

On 26th I found another female Mandarin on the patch with 3 Chicks, these went on to fledge while the 11 chicks were all predated!

July

2nd: 2 Redstart were showing at Upton, and an amazing flock of 12 Blackwits! On 12th I found a stunning male WHINCHAT at Sheepwash, which i also have down as one of my better birds of the year. on an Urban patch!!

On 23rd a Little Egret roosted at Upton. On 30th there was 2 Little Egrets at Upton, and an adult MED GULL roosted with the leg ring 5P5.

August:

5th Female Mandain with 2 fledged young on the patch, on 6th the female LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER re-appears at the site briefly! and at Earlswood later in the day, a juv Dunlin shows amazingly well! The roost at Upton that evening had a 1st winter MED GULL.

on 14th a RUFF was at Upton.

On 19th i had amazing views of a Hobby on the patch. 22nd saw another Sheepwash Mega, a juv Greenshank! on 26th i twicthed the Chelmarsh ARCTIC SKUA and was left with good impressions of this location!

on 30th I returned to Chelmarsh, and had MUCH better views of the ARCTIC SKUA closer in, aswell as 63+ Goosander! 30th we also went to Upton, where we saw 2 Spotted Flycatcher. Slimbridge on 31st saw me seeing a juv CURLEW SANDPIPER amongst the Esturine Waders.

September:

Started well on 3rd, when i had great perched views of a juv BLACK TERN at upton. On 4th, i caught up with the shenstone BLACK REDSTART on my 2nd try (Good find JK!) which shown quite well! 10th i was back at upton to see a Juv ARCTIC TERN with the company of my Girlfriend, on 12th we struck lucky againat Sheepwash, when I found 2 ARCTIC TERN and a SPOTTED FLYCATCHER! on 17th, i again saw 2 ARCTIC TERN at upton on Amys Marsh.

18th i again popped into Shenstone for another look at the BLACK REDSTART, which again showed well!

October:

A juv RUFF was briefly on the patch on 1st, my only patch first of the year! before flying off North upriver, Another Sheepwash Mega on 3rd with a Wigeon! Upton on 15th had a Pintail and 3 Common Gull (thats a good number at upton!) On 26th, we headed back down to Slimbridge, where we saw the first returning winter visitors, 3 Bewick Swans, 31 White fronted geese, An AVOCET and a CURLEW SANDPIPER were welcomed additions to the day! Our visit coencided with a rare Wheatear being found, so we went down for a look.

The PIED WHEATEAR shown superbly throughout the time i was there! An obliging rarity!, a northern Wheatear and a Merlin were also noted here!

on 30th i saw a very late SWALLOW on the patch, as well as 2 Goosander, Mandarin and Little Grebe.

A visit to the site revealed a brief look at the male LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER after a long absense!

November:

11th saw me seeing 2 1st winter drake RED BRESTED MERGANSERS at Fen's Pool's in the very late evening, i saw a Yellow legged gull ast Bittell on 12th.

On 21st, was overjoyed to see a stunning adult RED-THROATED DIVER on the patch! One of my highlights of the year! What a bird to see so close! (Thanks JK!)

On 27th, i made the trip up to Titterstone Clee for the DESERT WHEATEAR (Thanks again JK!), which shown amazingly!, we dropped into another Shrop's site on the way home, Chelmarsh and saw the RED-THROATED DIVER (same bird as the patch), A LITTLE GULL and 2 Yellow-legged gulls!

December:

3 CORN BUNTINGS were showing at Shenstone. on 7th i Found a first winter LITTLE GULL at Earlswood whcih stayed just long enough for MG to see it!

From now on the birding cooled down, clocking Goosander at Sheepwash and on the patch, although my last sheepwash mega of the year, a Female SHOVELER and 9 goosander.

On 28th 2 Yellow-legged gulls were at Chelmarsh in the Gull roost.

Now i will post a Video showing my favorite Birds/Photos/Videos from 2011, hope you like it!

I know this has been a long post, But thankyou for reading my blog over this last year, it has kept me going, and i can say, if it wasnt you lot, i would'nt be Blogging now, so thankyou guys for your support, and i hope you drop in throughout the next year too!

Thankyou all!

I know its late but i hope everyone has an amazing bird filled new year!

Cheers

MB

Officially Awsome!!!!!

25/02/11
With the patch being so good as of the last week, i had decided that after a few days of non birding things i would get to the patch early, but i was shattered so, i awoke at a respectable 10:30....
Straight out the door and into the Lickhill Birch wood.......
Through the front main enterance i started looking around. ( the way i usually bird this wood, is to walk through first, walk to the top and of the wood which adjoines moorhall meadow, have a look at the edges of the wood there, then take as much time as i want walking back through depending on the activity(it is easier to view down the slope than up it!!!), and today was no exeption)
The first walk through revelaed the flock of 60c Siskin from the garden but with about 30 added on, as the total was around 90c Birds, However i was struggling to see any Bramblings or redpolls, I reached the back of the wood, with siskins plastered in every tree, so this was a good place to be..
It was at this point that i heard a familiar call, no chance!!

Back to scanning finches, Ahhh, here is the Redpoll's, as a flock of 20c birds were perched high in one of the populars, Inlcuding a stunning male bird..

And then i heard it again, it cant be!!

It was at this point that i started getting adgitated, i was hearing the call every 10 secs or so now, it seemed to be coming from the pond, so walk back through the wood, and then there is was....

Trilling, and lots of it......

Looked up

WAXWINGS!!!!!!!!!!!

as most of the birds were abscured i ran the remaining 50 metres to the front edge of the wood, look back and there they were, a gorgeous, stunning, amazing flock of a mindnuming 48 WAXWING!!


I rang my dad, and he came down to admire this patch 1st, feeding on a single mistletoe in the centre of a popular 50ft up the tree, They simply perched and dropped down onto the mistletow constantly for about an hour, giving their amazing trill call, with their beautiful crests and amazing charm..

What birds...

They did at one point fly to a tree in someones garden on lickhill estate but soon returned and we watched them for a further 10 minuites before a pair of buzzard flew low over the wood, and the waxwings flew off calling deep into the estate, and they wernt located after that







A short live period of amazingness on the patch.

Funnily enough, it was only 2 or 3 days before that i was mentioning reports of flocks in stourport and was saying it wont be long untill i see one on the patch, How short lived that turned out to be, and not just one, but 48!!!!!!

At a few points at least 2 Brambling were perching in the same scopeview as the waxwings, 2 major oatch bird, sitting right next to each other, it cant get much better than that.....
What a start to the day....
MB

Wader movement!!!

19/02/11
with the Avocet and OYC been year ticked the day before news filtered through early morning that a black tailed godwit had been seen on the flashes we decided to head down there via a couple of flocks of waxwings..
1st stop ws Broadwaters in kidderminster where a large flock had been seen early morning, but by the time we got there only 4 birds remained, But still, its still 4 of my favorite birds.....
we watched them for 15 mins from the car park opposite the chip shop, when they flew further up sion hill and we left for finstall....
However while we were driving along i sudgested we dropped into HURCOTT POOL, as a bittern had been present there a few weeks previous, Needless to say 20 minuites later, we returned to the car, bitternless with only 2 Marsh tit.

so onto Finstall and the flock of 30 WAXWINGS, all of which shown superbly on a rowen tree there, but the birds were quickly flushed (accidently may i add) by a homeowner and after 20 minuites they did not return so to upton warren.
ON ariving at the flashses i was told that the bird had not been seen, But after about an hour the bird gave up its position, and jogged along the east shore of the flashses before flying to the field to the south of the flashses where it remained out of view behind the reeds for some time, But did pop out a few times with its accompanying curlew....
The pink footed goose flew over with the greylags going south, and the 1st winter Drk WIGEON was still grazing the shore and the AVOCET was still asleap


MB

Record!!!!

5/02/11
A large flock of waxwing had been reported on the opposite side of kidderminster and within 15 mins we were there walking the area...
we had just seen 5 Birds just around the corner on the way to twitch these birds...
Needless yto say an hour later, the unhappy face was back, another large scale dip on waxwing, however 5 birds was nice compensation....

So with about an hour or 2 left of daylight we headed to upton warren moors pool..
the evening was all quiet really. but a nice chat was had with the biking birder, Gary prescott, about his travels over the country last year.....
It was nice to meet garry again...
But at around 5:10pm just as it was getting dark, a superb flock of 10 GOOSANDER dropped onto the moors pool.....
Yes, so i hear you say, but this birds is usually only in its one's and two's at upton, and this transpired to be THE LARGEST FLOCK OF GOOSANDER EVER OBSERVED ON UPTON SOIL, flyover flocks included, there was 2 drakes in the flock and the rest were female..
Highlights:
Shelduck
10 GOOSANDER
1 Sprawk
13 Curlew...
MB

Trimpley does it again!!!

22/01/11
Trimpley Res, Eyemore wood and surrounding area's.

I must say this was a twitch, but as it was not very far away it wasent too bad..
A large flock of waxwings had been reported at the car park t trimpley, but when we arrived there wasent any sign of any birds, never mind waxwings. a smaller flock had been seen at a farm in eyemore wood, so natrually we walked there, but again no sign, but we did ge onto a flock of 15 Lesser Redpoll, which didnt contain many mealys, a MARSH TIT was seen here as well, as was a very confiding GOLDCREST, and a treecreeper was seen towards the river clinging to the side of a tree, A ravern flew over and a bullfinch called, weeping in the background...
we continued, down to the river and back to trimpley, then climb back to the car park. Small flocks of GOOSANDER shown very well on the side of the river (13 bird total), containing 3 Drakes, but the numbers dropped as we approaced the RES.
The Upper Res was birdless as there was sailing taking place, and to say it was devoid is an understatement, so we dropped down onto the river counting the Mandarins as we walked up, We ended up counting 56 MANDARINS but the albino bird again failed to show.




I walked up to the Lower Res. where 8 Tufted Duck greeted us, as did a G C grebe.

The walk back to the car park didnt show any birds, and when we got to the car park 2 Birders were there looking into a tree, but we continued past, and i opened the door, then at this point i heard trilling!!!!!!

WAXWING!!!!!

I spun around, and saw a bird perched in the tree just to the left of me.....

Bins up: WAXWING...
Then another, 2 WAXWINGs.

I moved away from the birds and moved to a position which although further away was with the light and the birds were lit very well. Both were 1st winter birds, they dropped down onto the bushes with very few berries on a few times, giving stunning views, but i was unable to capture the moment. The crowd of 4 watched the birds for about 20 mins before they took off and flew off into Eyemore wood.
we again had another look in eyemore but only goldcrests were seen..

MB

Yet more waxwings!!!!!!!!!

13/01/11
It was while on my dinner break at school, that i heard a flock of my favorite birds flying over, and it was quite a big flock, they circled over the Holoway road for a minuite before flying off along stickly lane, as i was walking back to school as lunch had only 10 mins left i relocated the flock ontop of a birch(???, not very good at tree id) only 50 metres from where i found a flock of 3 in early 2009, as you would expect i had a count through, and i was amazed that there was infact 42 birds!!!!
Doubleing my previous largest flock and adding 2, the birds then flew off west towards Baggeridge Cp and despite having a look after school there was no sign.

14/0/11
A Planned trip to stubbers green after school on the friday ( i break up at 12:45 on fridays as we do just under an hour longer at school than other schools every day) looking for a couple of gulls.
well the word fail comes very much into mind here, there was only 50-100 gulls down, and non were white or even hinted at caspian, so after an hour of watching common gulls and a flock of 16 goosander we headed over to highfields tip, where again the word fail springs to mind, not because there was no gulls (there was 1000+ here), they were all circling above the tip because the workers were working there, and as a last ditch Chasewater was calling......
via brownhills that was, but there was no sign of any waxwings on the many berryless tree's, we were on the south shore, and i (yes note the word i) picked up the Adult Drk SMEW diving at the back of the large centre pool, no more than a mere dot, but you could still see it was a gorgoues bird, it did eventually move closer with the 7 GOLDENEYE (3 m) that were present, lots of meadow pipit flew over, but all focous was on the lake, and despite leaving at dark, no birds other than the usual LBBG, HG,BHG,GBBG and common gull were seen. and it turned out that a few yellow legged gulls had roooted that night, it wouldnt have harmed them other gullers just to say they had one instead of keeping stump!!!!!
MB

Waxwing, take 2

8/01/11
Upton warren
A planned visit to the warren for the bittern, but as no news had came out about any birds at upton we decided to drop into webbs to check the berry bushes there.
we saw a few photographers and birders lineing the street next to the bushes and usually only means one thing.
and my hunch had been right!!!!!

3 WAXWING feeding on the sorbus trees adjoining the entrence.

i wont turn this post into a photographers slagging post but lets just say, a couple of them tried to shove their lenses up their arse, litterally getting within a metre of the tree the waxwings were in.

as the light was starting to drop, i didnt take many photos and just watched, but after 30-40 mins the birds flew into nearby trees and i took a video of a stunning adult bird, check out those primarys!!!!!

after seeing the birds being chased around across the field (ish thing) (more like a lawn) i left for the moors, where it was rather quiet, a GOOSANDER ( female) flew off as we was walking up the path, and a flock of 12 Curlew were on the islands

A 1st winter COMMON GULL dropped in briefly:

after checking the moors we decided to have another look in webbs, but parked in the SP car paark this time, and the 3 waxwings immidiatly flew over our heads trilling and into the villiage.

a monster of a PEREGRINE flew over, and this landed on the mast, and was joined by a 2nd bird.

the Bittern didnt show in the end

MB

Waxwings!!!

12/12/10

upton warren

after many tries at waxwings around the county and many dips ( tales of 08-09 winter) i was told about a flock of 5 birds that had been seen at webbs, opposite the sailing club at the warren, natrually we headed down there but was more than supprised when there actually was the 5 birds still there, feeding on the ornimental rowens by the neterance to webbs, and as you can guess they shown better than well, superb almost, within a few metres...

we stayed for about 40 mins photographing them and then left knowing that the whole reserve was frozen..

(im sorry about the video but you will need to tilt your head to the right because i cant find a way to rotate the video. sorry)

what amazing birds!!!!

MB

DUCKING & DIVING

06/03/10

OK you all confortable, cause this is gonna be a big one............

martyn from blurred birder had kindly offered my a day out and about, i agreed and this is how the day pans out.........

Out of the house by 7:15 and on our way for our first tick....

we arrived at the top barn actvity lake at around 7:40, we scanned from the road, SLAVONIAN GREBE (lifer 204), we moved closer to the bird and it came at us, the bird came closer still untill i could no longer focous my scope propperly on it.

and this is why:

a frame filler of a 'slav', and what a bird, and what a way for a lifer to act,

come on,

this was outragelously close

martyn with his new spangle dangle camera, produced some out of the world shots, a few of which are reproduced on his blog..

we watched the bird as it ever so slowly followed its prey

along the bank in front of us, diving every 5 secs or so, and producing many fish(i didnt catch any shots though)....

even martyn was amazed how close it was, and he commented on how you proderbly would never see one so close again

but anyways

onwards and upwards

DRAYCOTE WATER being our target, in the centre of a town while stopped at some trafic lights a peregrine flew low over the car, stunning bird whenever you see them..

just as we entered the car park a YELLOWHAMMER aligted on a hedge, a bird i dont see regularly so well chuffed.

we parked at the hensborough bank car park which over looks the reserviour,

oh my bloody hell, THATS HUGE

but anyway, down the hill we went onto the side of the water, scanning as we went, 3 shoveler were picked out in the middle, and small flock of goldeneye and tufted duck were dotted everywhere.

a bit along draycote bank we picked up the 2 GREAT NORTHER DIVERS (lifer 205), apparently showing well but allas, well to far out for a decent photo, we stopped and watched these for a bit while scanning the res. nothing new was picked up so onwards we went....

in a small wooded area a bullfinch called. we continued towards the outlet and i saw a 'white' bird dive, was this him, we waited for a seemingly long time for the bird to resurface, then BANG

DRAKE SMEW(lifer 206) ohhhhh, what a stunner of a bird, it was quite close to the bank, but like the slav grebe, was diving rapidly(but you cant predict where it will come up like the slav).

i managed some photos:

but the red necked grebe was obviously not on this side, so we headed of to farnbourgh bank, we walked around to the opposite side of the res' and stopped half way up with picking up a load of GC grebes on the way up,

a male sparrowhawk was in a hunting mood and chased a feral pigeon acrosss a field but the pigeon got away, boooooooooo
a curlew called, but wasent seen
a few goldeneye were close in and wigeon, teal and yet more GC grebe were in toft bay, then i picked up the diver swimming towards us away from the boats, it got closer and closer, and closer, and closer untill it run out of water and swam past us at no more the 20-30 range, but it failed to raise its head:





the crowd quickly built as more and more birders piled in to get stunning views of the diver.

a good wait followed, we all wanted that 'head up' shot, and then it awoke, i didnt take advantage and only got a couple of 'keepers'.


after it moved from the crowd and back towards me where it did a swim past and duly fell asleap.

and just to prove a point, this is how close the diver was on 0x zoom:


hows about that then, how close is that !!!!!!!!!!!!!

out of hundreds and hunderes of millions of gallons of water in the res, it chose to go right next to the very busy path.

god bless you GND

we were near the boat club centre when the drake SMEW flew past into toft bay.

next loaction TAMWORTH:

and these beautys:



WAXWING x3

as always, the birds shown superbly atop the trees in the centre of an island, my first chance to get a decent photo of one, but the 'milky' white sky was horrible.


and all 3:


to be honest, i didnt think i was going to catch up with any this winter, so to see just a few is well worth it, and a great time watching and photographing these,

the birds started to decend on the berrys and we all poised to get the shot not agains the sky when

'ZR'rrrrrrrrrrrrrr' in comes the pair of mistle thrush to force the waxwing onto wires near the school, where they all posed beautifully:

and nice of them was they lined up from left to right: juv/1st winter, ad female, ad male, zoom in on the pics and see if you can tell how i aged them........

so its looks as if the flock of waxwings in tamworth is a family, cool........

now we didnt stop too long here as people with camera's and scopes in a public road next to a school, not the best idea.....

so onwards,

CROXALL

a pair of oystercatcer were here and a flock of 9 REDSHANK, a bit of scanning along the bank with my scope got me onto my first RINGED PLOVER of the year, feeding in close company of 2 teal, a few goldeneye,tufted duck etc were here so we moved to another hide.

LITTLE EGRET

a little egret's head was pokeing up out of the tussuks

a pair of shelduck were floating about and a linnet flock was at the back of the pool in fields.

now to WHITEMORE HAYE

8 BARNICLE GOOSE were feeding away from the canada's and were quite wary, a coincidence they tured up at the same time of year as the 'wild' birds and were feeding in exacly the same spot..........

mind you i didnt even raise my camera to them

a couple of yellowhammers were heard.

but there was no sign of the pink footed geese,

we walked down the road to where tree sparrow ARE, not a single bird..........

we drove around the fields scanning the swans but nothing 'odd' came out.........

so now, a last bird to raise out spirits higher,

at a tip

only a GBBG was picked out so we quickly left for nearby stubbers green, and almost the 1st bird i dropped onto was this......

2nd winter ICELAND GULL, a very bleached bird feeding up by the sailing club side, scope views were good and i was able to savour the bird unlike last time:

a wing stretch:

another birder arived and the iceland duly dissapeared, LOL

and that just about concludes my day out with martyn

and a special thanks to martyn for inviting my on his birding day out, the day was immensly enjoyed and i will have to buy you a couple when i can go to the pub

cheers mart

MB