Out birding in Cambridgeshire with the Worcester crew

5/04/14

 

Road trip!

 

It was another day out with the Worcester crew, and with Mike, Jarad and Neil, it was going to be a good trip!

 

Having seen last years 'proven' wild Baikal Teal I wasn't in much of a fuss to see the bird that had chosen to appear at Fen Drayton RSPB in Cambridge, but when I was offered a lift, and with a rather mouth-watering array of 'rares', I just couldn't say no!

 

So, our first destination was Fen Drayton, and sadly, the day soon reached its low. The Teal had gone, and hardly any ducks remained whatsoever! We were joined by another foreigner to this 'distant land' when Hughie appeared along the path.

Infact, it was a struggle to be too exited by anything that was present, a single female Marsh Harrier made a brief fly through visit and decent numbers of Goldeneye were present on the many pools. Infact, it was the hybrids that were the best birds of the trip. A Tufted x Pochard was present on one of the pools, but the most interesting bird came in the form of a rather odd looking Wigeon, which showed characteristics of both Eurasian and American Wigeon. However, the crew had practically fallen asleep at the lack of birds by this point, and we chose to head on.

 

We moved to Pymoor, where a drake American Wigeon was being reported, but in our searching of the masses of ducks we failed to locate it. Later in the day it also became obvious we had also not picked up another duck......

 

Stunning females of both Marsh Harrier and Peregrine flew through, flushing everything in the process.

 

Despite the lack of yanks, I was amazed by  the huge numbers of ducks still present, Pintail, Wigeon and Teal all being represented by very large numbers, and a flock of 40 Whooper Swan remained, which I thought was quite late, and indeed proved that this trip would work out to be worthwhile.

 

It was while scanning we received news of a female RING NECKED DUCK just up the road, so a quick car journey and we were soon pulling up, and within a few moments an obvious female 'Ring Neck' could be seen distantly from the river banks. It really was very distant, but very good light meant that it was perfectly identifiable. Even on shape alone it stood out a mile!

 

From this viewpoint, it was also clear of the huge volumes of ducks that remained on the Ouse Washes! Literally thousands!

With the weather feeling so 'springish', it was also great to see, and hear a Yellow Wagtail as it bounced over our heads! Always a great bird to have so early in the year!

 

With limited time remaining before having to head back, news of a Spoonbill at Ouse washes RSPB had us making a detour, and soon upon arrival at the hides, we were greeted by stunning views of a rather beautiful looking summer plumaged SPOONBILL!

 

What was even more outstanding though, was the fact that the bird was awake THROUGHOUT our visit, and was constantly feeding, which made a rather refreshing change to most Spoonbill records!

 

Again, it was somewhat of a "Midlander meetup" as again Hughie was present, and we all enjoyed this rather scarce visitor to our home counties.

 

 

 

 

Perhaps more  impressive though, were the sheer numbers of waders that were present, mostly consisting of two species. Hundreds upon hundreds of 'islandica' Black-Tailed Godwit were roosting on a couple of the spits, creating carpets of red, and many Ruff were strutting around in fine summer garb! What could be better! We had 60+ of these rather gaudy waders as they waded their way through the shallow waters outside the hides

 

 

Our time here was as I said, limited, and therefore we had to leave, but my first taste of the Ouse washes certainly 'whet my appetite', and I can see a return visit coming on soon!

 

MB

Birding run through- Mid October- Mid November

11/10/13

News of a winter plumaged RED-NECKED GREBE at Westwood pool just outside of Droitwich had me heading down there after college as access was quickly arranged by the permit holders and finder (Cheers Wayne!) Arriving on site the bird was immediately viewable, but it stayed on the far side of the pool. However all the main plumage details could be seen, as it floated around the roosting flock of around 70 Great-Crests.

With the pre-roost building, a good count of 10 Common Gulls had arrived before we left, and this increased further one we left.

From Westwood, we decided to shoot the extra few miles down the road so we could also see the pair of WHOOPER SWANS that were currently present at Grimley Camp lane pits. Immediately upon pulling into the cutout adjacent to the gate we could see the Swans, but it was as i took my Optics off the swans i noticed a large bird flying in form the south. Instant recognition and i was soon calling my dad and the other birder who had also just arrived to get onto a juvenile plumaged GANNET! We were treated to great views as it circled the north end of the pools in front of the Wood on the west side of the pits. A few minutes later we watched it climb slightly higher, then flew off SW over said wood. 

In a way i was somewhat relieved to see it fly away, it was good to know that it stood a decent chance of re orientating and heading back towards the coast. At least it proved it was a healthy bird as most that turn up in the midlands are either found moribund or dead!

According to the Patch workers of Grimley, this was the first in its history! So well chuffed with that one!

We stayed on site until just before duck, but the Gannet didn't re-appear. The WHOOPER SWANS however were still showing. 6 Little Egret were showing and a Green Sandpiper flew past us.

12/10/13

The next day and another seabird. A female COMMON SCOTER had been found on the Moors Pool at Upton warren and i was soon enjoying good views as it swam around with the Coots and Tufted Ducks out in the middle of the pool. In fact, it was my first inland Scoter sighting, so it made for a very nice productive weekend for birds!

19/10/13

Another drop into Upton Warren was rewarded with superb views of a JACK SNIPE directly below the hide. Rather stupidly, i had not charged the camera up and it had no battery so i missed the opportunity to get some photos of this species. The bird remained here for the entire visit. The Goose flock was in eveidence, and among the Canadians were 31 Greylags and a Barnacle Goose. 9 Wigeon on the islands was also a good count for the site.

26/10/13

A drop into the Hungry Horse field at Earlswood was rewarded with great views of 489 GOLDEN PLOVER.

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From here we headed to Upton Warren (Again!). Tonight 2 JACK SNIPE were showing well, but not quite as well as the previous weekend. Here is both of them:

A adult YELLOW-LEGGED GULL was showing with the Gull flock, but refused to come any closer than the opposite side of the pool.

8/11/13

A 1st winter drake SCAUP was showing at Bartley very late on the friday afternoon close in to the Dam but we arrived too late to be able to 'do' the Gull roost.

9/11/13

This eclipse drake GOOSANDER has been showing stunningly well in Bewdley Town center for a few weeks, often giving stupidly close views (Down to around 10ft). I even took the opportunity to take a selfie with it.

After a short time with the Goosander, i heard news of a Wheatear at Barnett Brook. Hoping it may be one of the rarer Wheatears i headed straight over there, but sadly i couldn't string the bird into anything more than a NORTHERN WHEATEAR. Still, a very good record of a very late Wheatear!

From the Gardening jobs at Earlswood i saw 150 GOLDEN PLOVER circle over the garden before eventually heading back towards the Hungry Horse.

Just to finish off what was a great days birding in the Midlands i dropped into Upper Bittel, and i had soon located 2 of the 3 SHAG that were present. Sadly, very distant as is often the case at bittel but a new bird for the region for me!

An interesting Gull attracted my attention for some time, but the light was quickly dropping. The bird seemed to show a mix of YELLOW-LEGGED/CASPIAN features, but again, the distance and the falling light meant i couldn't nail it. Here it is anyway.

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

Patch 1st!!!!

18/12/10

local patch

for some sycotic reason i had decided to head out onto the patch in the morning in a blizzard, i held it off untill about midday when i headed out, and perhaps more sycoticly me dad followed, we truddged down the track towards the river checking out the feeders on the way, but nothing was showing so onto the river. at the sand martin colony, there was an adult swan feeding on the opposite side of the river, i ignored it.....

but then a MEADOW PIPIT flushed from the long grass beside me but quickly dissapeared under a tussok. so means as well i had already raised my bins, i might as well have a look at the swan....

there was something that wasent right with the bird, i cant explain what but in that first 3 seconds while its head was underwater i just had a feeling. but just as i took my bins from my eyes, the bird lifted its neck and i glimsed a yellow and black bill...

ok that was dodgy, did i just see that, it couldve been the snow... but no...

it really did have a yellow bill with the yellow going under the nostril and it looked pointy faced and snouty so....

WHOOPER SWAN.

ON THE PATCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i couldnt believe after neglecting the patch all summer it brings me back with a bird like this!!!!

i know it is only a scarce bird, but come on, i get exited over a wigeon on the patch, but a bloody WHOOPER SWAN. not even in my dreams did i think that i would get a wild swan on the patch.

i made sure this wasent one of those hydrid whooper x mute birds but as you can see, it is just a totally classic whooper..

(1st vid)

(it calls)

MB