Back to patching!

21/09/13

After the week away in Pembrokeshire i was fully rejuvenated to get back into Patch birding, having not been able to 'work' it properly for around a month!

So early in the morning i headed out with the intention of vis-mig counts and just generally surveying the progression/build up of bird species around the 'North Circuit' of the patch.

From early on, it was clear that good, but not outstanding numbers of Mipit were moving, and over the coarse of the 4 hours on patch i counted at least 98 Meadow Pipit, with 80% of those flying over south as to be expected. The remaining 20% i will come to in a little while. The usual wildfowl counts were undertaken at Blackstone, where 6 Mandarin remained, two of which were drakes.

My highlight however was catching up with the locally bred GOOSANDERS, a flock of 15 (Adult female with 14 juvs) on the rocks below the bridge. It was great to catch up with them, as they are still a relatively rare breeder in Worcestershire and to my knowledge there have been no breeding records of this species along this stretch of river before!

Moving onto the paddocks, i quickly noticed a fairly decent flock of Meadow Pipit (The remaining 20%) and it was while walking past the first paddock, i heard the distinctive buzzing 'tziee' call of a TREE PIPIT! It took a good while, but 30 minutes after i locked onto a pale Pipit which upon getting my scope on the bird revealed it to be the bird! 

Unexpectedly, while watching this bird fly to the far right of the paddock i heard an identical call originate from my left! Scanning in that direction and there it was, a 2nd TREE PIPIT! Unbelievable, i have never had multiple Tripits away from breeding sites so i was very chuffed!

After seeing so many White Wagtails while away in Pembrokeshire i also grasped at an ounce of courage and started scanning the flock of 60 Wagtails. All 'Alba' type Wagtails, and started assigning them to species. A further hour and i was sufficiently happy to have found 5 White Wagtails among the flock, looking just as obvious as they did on the coast among the 'British' subspecies. To add to this, a further 20 'Alba' sp Wagtails flew over to the south.

Hirudine movement was limited, but 100 Swallow south was noticed, with smaller numbers of House Martin, but for the first time in a good few months, i was unable to pick up a Sand Martin. 2 Grey Wagtail went over south.

MB

MIGRANTS!

19/04/13

Its been a slog, but by today it really felt as if summer was in the air! Birding in a T-shirt, and with many summer migrants, it was just so great to be out!

With it being a Friday we were somewhat limited time wise, but as we were heading past Shenstone on our way to the Grimley Pits we decided to drop in for a quick look at the Redstart hedge.

And guess what!

REDSTART!

And nothing less than a stunning adult male Redstart!

Stunner!

Moving onwards we next dropped into the 'flash' floods at holt, which proved to be quite eventful!

We had dropped in looking for Yellow Wagtail, and i was incredibly happy to pick up 4 of these stunning bright yellow characters, 3 of which were males!

One of my favorite summer migrants, i love to catch up with them, and it is always a happy moment when you do finally catch up with them for the first time in the year. However, i was also shocked by the sheer number of 'alba' type Wagtails that were present, with around 30, of which most seemed to be of the continental 'White' Wagtail variety.

A single Ringed Plover also happened to be my first of the year as it fed on the flooded ground.

Moving on ward to Camp lane, we stopped at the north end so we could scan the edges well. The earlier reported flock of 10 Ringed Plover, yes 10! was still present, and at one point i had all 10 in the scope at the same time. As you would expect, the muddy edges at Grimley was looking superb for waders, and it continues to prove good!

3 Common Sandpiper were also very mobile around the north end, and 2 Redshank were feeding on the 'middle section'.

My first Common Whitethroat of the year, a male, was showing in the hedge between the road and the pool.

It was only when i scanned the far fields did i start to think we were in the middle of something special! A flock of 100+ Wagtails was feeding in the fields on east side, of which around half were of the White Wagtail variety! 50 White Wagtails!!

Obviously Wagtail movement had been very strong today, and it just so happened large numbers had dropped into the fields to feed. 9 Yellow Wagtail were feeding within the flock, and the rest were made of Pied Wagtails, but a flock of 100+ wagtails moving its way along the field is something!

All in all, a nice couple of hours!

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