Fudge, Blyth's, Shorelark, Rosy Pastor, Black Red and the rest of the highlights

So, 3 months behind, I think it is time we got this show on the road right?!

I will start by saying this will not be a run down of every days birding I had in November, but simply the highlights, or anything I think of note.

18/11/14

A break from coursework and revision led me around to Parkes Hall Pool, which, despite being quiet, I managed superb views of a Grey Wagtail feeding on the track

22/11/14

With the quarry on patch having flood it is quickly becoming one of the highlights from a visit to the patch (spring is approaching, watch this space!) and it has been producing a steady trickle of decent birds (mostly at a patch level). On my first scan I picked up 3 dabbling ducks on the forever increasing size of the water body. 2 Wigeon and a Teal, all females but all unusual on a patch standing. The Wigeon were only the 2nd and 3rd I have ever seen on patch so to say I was chuffed was an understatement! 

23/11/14

Wanting to check for the presence of the dabblers again, I quickly headed up to the quarry, but the ducks had disappeared. However, a Gull flock had started to develop, and a little bit of scanning pulled out a patch mega!

A 1st winter Mediterranean Gull had joined the flock!!

No less than a patch first, ecstatic! 

25/11/14

Gulls have featured prominently this winter. Most of my birding exploits have revolved around visits to Chasewater for the roost, and I have managed a number of highlights. On an evening at Chasewater, I managed to locate 3 Willow Tits among a tit flock on the eastern shoreline of the reservoir, a much enjoyed record considering how rarely I see them! The roost didn't hold anything that make your hair stand on end, but an adult Mediterranean Gull and 4 Yellow-legged Gulls were worth getting cold for!

 

29/11/14

Following a session on patch, I heard news that the adult male Black Redstart was still showing at the Birders Store in St Johns, Worcester, and it would have been rude to have not made the pilgrimage to see my first 'Black Red' of the drake variety! Great views were had as it flicked around St Johns church, never remaining still for more than a few seconds, making digi-scoping difficult! What a stonker of a bird though!

 

 

30/11/14

The next day was a dirty twitch down to Bristol where an adult Rose-coloured Starling had been residing. After a very unpromising start, being surrounded in dense fog for nearly 3 hours, eventually it cleared, and as soon as it did, low and behold, a striking black and 'white' Starling flew over our heads from some distance away. It dropped into the bushes next to us, where we had brief, obstructed, but good views in someones garden. Unfortunately, some t**t with a camera then thought the best option was to climb a fence on someones private property and flop their lens over the top, flushing the bird and it then not showing for a further 3 hours. Luckily he left a soon as he did honestly, I can imagine a few words having been traded if he had stayed more than 20 seconds after committing his offence. 

 

3/12/14

Nothing hugely of note, but there was a nice close female Goosander at Sheepwash.

 

7/12/14

A work party session at Upton Warren included some pre, and post work birding, where a Green Woodpecker showed insanely well from the hide. During our work, we undertook a Snipe count, in which 8 Jack Snipe were counted, among 20 or so Common.

8/12/14

A pair of Ring-necked Parakeets were showing 'rather well' at a local park.

9/12/14

A reconnaissance trip to Chasewater/ Stubbers Green for a forthcoming NGB day the following weekend turned out rather well! Stubbers had a good number of Gulls, including a fine adult Yellow-legged Gull, as well as a 2w bird.

But the main interest was witnessed from the south shore of Chasewater, where quite bizarrely, an adult Bewick's Swan was feeding/ roosting among the Mute Swan, dodgy domestic hybrid geese and ducks! My first for the WMBC region, and honestly something i really was not expecting to see on my visit that evening!

The roost was rather quiet, but of very large size, the highlight being the 4 Yellow-legged Gulls again.

13/12/14

The NGB Gulls day came, but Gull wise it was rather disappointing at the 'day sites'. A 'near adult' Yellow-legged Gull the pick of the bunch at Stubbers, but our day was to get much more interesting/complicated once we arrived at the south shore, Chasewater for the roost.

Pretty soon, James panned onto a rather strikingly obvious Gull, which seemed to show many characteristics of Ring-billed Gull! Significant discussion followed, and I don't think a true, and agreed answer was ever found. Was it 'the' hybrid. Was it a backcross? Was it a pure RBG? Who knows. You win some you lose some.

In my opinion, I believe it to have been A hybrid, but not 'THE' hybrid. But what do I know.

Our main aim for the day though was Caspian Gull, and we were obliged by a rather pretty and outstanding 2nd winter near the jetties, which we managed very good views of. For the 3rd visit running, we managed to pick up 4 YLG.

14/12/14

A rather 'spur of the moment' trip took place the following day as I decided to join 3 of my companions from the previous day (and another NGB) as we headed north. Spending the night at Zacs house, we made the quick journey to Rossall Point at dawn, where on our first walk down the beach managed to 'find' a female Snow Bunting, which was showing so closely from the concrete path the whole did didn't fit into the scope at minimum zoom!

An Eider was out on the mudflats when I got a call from the group who I had become separated with. They had found our target. A few seconds after, running across the dunes with 2 scope/tripod combos on my shoulders I lay it down on the bowling green/ picnic area to be treated to stunning views of the Shorelark that has been wintering there! What a way to start the day!

Moving east, we drove to Pugneys C/P where we waited for our target to come out of the grass. With some coercing from the local patchworker and finder of the bird, up came the bird with a loud and very obvious call from the tall grass. A couple of further flight views were had, but to say I was impressed would be a lie. I would have much preferred to have studied it on the ground. However, there was no doubting what it was, it called like a Blyth's Pipit, was smaller and lest robust than a Richards, and had the 'dodgy' tail that made the bird so distinctive among the Meadow Pipits

 

16/12/14

Me and Matt met up to try to refind the hybrid Gull from a few days previous, starting at Stubbers and finishing at Chasewater. In between these two sites, we dropped into Ryders Mere, where an immature Great-Northern Diver had been found earlier in the day. A first visit for me to the site and I left impressed.

The roost at Chasewater was decent, we managed to locate the 'known' RBG hybrid quickly, which destroyed any optimism over our find a few days before, but the roost held a 2w Caspian Gull (not the same as we had seen), an adult Mediterranean Gull and 3 Yellow-legged Gulls. Not too shabby!

 

20/12/14

I had not visited Chelmarsh reservoir for some time, so with a free evening I headed over. The Gull roost was very impressive, being the largest I have ever seen it, with the flock extending almost 3/4 of the length of the reservoir on the opposite shoreline. A little bit of scanning paid of with 3 Yellow-legged Gulls. It was while scanning I heard the rather bizarre sound of a Ring-necked Parakeet calling in the woodland behind us, and as we left, the corvids flushed out of the woodland, and so did the Parakeet!

See the below photo, the left hand bird out of the top 2 is the Parakeet, trust me!

 

 

21/12/14

I was scanning the quarry on the patch when some commotion behind me had me noticing a small brown falcon motoring across the paddocks behind me. On getting my bins onto the bird, it quickly showed itself to be a stunning fem/juv Merlin! A first for patch for me. A flock of mixed winter flushed was feeding in the paddocks, and once they re-settled gave really great views in the sun.

 

30/12/14

The last 'day out' of the year. A female Ferruginous Duck had been found at Slimbridge the day before so I headed down with Mike in the hope of catching up with it. Catch up with it we did as it warily swam and circled on one of the captive pens after being relocated by one of the reserve wardens. It flushed off to the south lake later.

 

 

It however does seem to enjoy being among its close relatives on the captive pen as it associates with Baer's Pochard and its behaviour has changed somewhat since it first arrived. Many people are binning it as a plastic but I can't help but wonder if it is just a case of 'copycat'? Would you leave if someone was throwing you free food at regular intervals during the day?

A rather enjoyable bit of winter birding was had around the site, with all the regular species, including this rather menacing looking Buzzard!

 

 

My last birding  exploit followed on the way back, as we dropped into the somewhat of a rarity hotspot of Pitville Park, Chelthnam, where we managed stunning views of a male Dartford Warbler, which was showing uncharacteristically well! Much to both mine and Mikes delight, as our previous bird at Arne RSPB earlier in the year had been nothing more than a glimpse of a female in the dark shadow of a gorse bush! What a treat!

MB

The long awaited catch up!

So, with my coursework having been completed within the last hour, and with only the two exams worth of revision to go, I think it is about time I should start writing again...

Right.

 

So, back to October we go.

 

26/10/14

Having had such a good time on the last RSPB fieldtrip, it perhaps wasn't too hard of a decision to join them again for their trip over to Titchwell RSPB. Who would complain at that.

 

On the way over as we drove past Guyhirn, I managed to pick up 2 of the Cranes that had been resident in the area for some time. Another birder beside me saw a further 8 standing in the field, however they were distant and the views weren't great from the moving coach.

 

Arriving at Titchwell I did exactly as I was hoping to do, and walked straight out to the beach to do some seawatching, and I was greeted with the rather joyous sight of a large numbers of others with the same idea. If a Skua went past today I was going to see it!

 

Immediately obvious was the large number of Gulls, and among them were a single adult Mediterranean and 8 Kittiwakes. A flock of Common Scoter were bobbing about on the troughs but the first highlight came as I saw a lone Scoter flying in from the east. Head on initially, it moved parallel to the beach revealing bring white secondarys. I was soon shouting a drake Velvet Scoter was going past! Luckily, there were a number of boats of varying colours offshore, so getting the crowd (particularly the ones sitting adjacent to me!) onto the bird was straightforward.

 

Next up was another self find. A small Grebe popped up in the breakers close inshore to the beach further west than the viewpoint, but being strikingly black and white It was obviously one of the 'rarer' small Grebes. Considering I have little field experience with 'Slav', it was immediately obvious as a winter plumaged Slavonian Grebe due to structure. The entire crowd got onto the bird and it continued to show for much of the afternoon and made for the best bird of the day.

Among the regulars (Gannet, Red-Throated Diver, GC Grebe, and both Guillemot and Razorbill) we also picked out a female Red-breasted Merganser on the water fairly close in, and a further 4 flew past, going west.

 

With no Skuas I moved back onto the reserve for the Gull roost. The usual assembley of waders was present, and 6 Marsh Harriers were buzzing the reedbed. It was here I also caught up with an old friend, as the same female Stonechat that got me onto the Penduline Tit on my last visit was feeding in the same area of reedmace. Sadly, no Penduline today though. Scrutiny of the increasing gull flock produced 2 Yellow-legged Gulls before I had to head back to the coach.

 

 

 

1/11/14

 

I had visited Steart Marshes WWT just a week previously in the hope of catching up with the juvenile Pallid Harrier, having dipped, we returned on the first day of November, but again our luck was out. A good showing of Raptors (Buzzard, 1 Sprawk, 7 Kestrel, 3 Peregrine) was highlighted by 2 Merlin, including a great view of a female as we arrived, which barrelled fairly low over our heads.

 

 

With the bird having not shown again, we moved around the Huntspill Sluice. As we neared Bridgewater we heard the unthinkable.. The Pallid had just shown again (Insert relevant word of choice). Being stuck in traffic we couldn't go anywhere and carried on in the hope it would be viewable from the opposite side of the Parrett River. It wasn't, and we dipped it again. At least 1 female Red-breasted Merganser was feeding in the shallows, which gave slight compensation for the dip. It was from here while scanning for a ochre coloured bird of prey a superb sight of 3 Merlin chasing each other took place low over the saltmarsh. A good count of Avocets were also viewable form here, with 296 being visible among the huge swirling flocks of other estuarine waders.

 

 

Any other day without having dipped a Pallid Harrier and this would have been a good day!

 

2/11/14

 

That annoyance from dipping was relieved somewhat where a standard patch thrash led to the chance discovery of a female BLACK REDSTART! Standing scanning the Lapwings and Gulls within the now flooded quarry, I neglected to look on the small patch of ground adjacent to the hedgeline behind me. Having counted the Lapwing (32) and scanned through the Gulls to little avail, I turned around to see a bird flick up onto the top of a hawthorn in the hedgeline.

 

Getting my bins onto the bird which was only around 50ft away I was slightly perplexed to begin. It was head on, and just a slightly silhouetted greyish brown thing. There just wasn't any marks in this view, but it soon moved slightly, and I saw the quivering red tail!

 

I span to get my scope on it, aimed it at the bird, and just as I got it into focus it flew up, across the quarry, hesitantly at first, but it kept going.... And going..... And going. I kept on it until it was nothing more than a speck, when it suddenly dived down in the vicinity of Burlish Top. I spent the next 3 hours plodding around Burlish, Burlish Top, Moult Plesent etc, but I failed to refind this incredibly brief first for the patch.

 

Presumably this was the bird which then was found on the other side of the golf course a week or so after on the WFC Building.

 

6/11/14

A Uni fieldtrip led us across Wales to Aberystwyth, and we stopped at a number of sites on the way over. One of these was the Bwlch Nant yr Arian Red Kite feeding Centre, where we had excellent views of around 200 Kites. A female Goosander on the pool was also a nice surprise.

 

 

 

Moving onto Aberystwyth for the Starling roost, we stood near the pier and watched the aggregation grow, which despite not being the biggest Starling roost I have ever seen was still fairly spectacular.

 

 

As you would expect though, as we stood, I began to notice large numbers of Gulls roosting offshore, and being the fanatic I am, I just had to go through them. My efforts were rewarded when I picked up an adult Mediterranean Gull fly in from the south and drop onto the water in front of us. Nice!

 

The weather the next day was little short of vile, heavy rain and strong winds. A Rock Pipit pottered along the beach, and I had a flight view of what was probably one of the 5 Black Redstarts in the area as it flicked off the old college building and onto the castle.

 

MB

That amazing weekend (Part 1)- Penduline Tit!

18/10/14

With the weather again looking rather decent for a trip across to the east coast, it wasn't hard to see why we filled the car with 5 birders very quickly!

With the presence of an Isabelline Shrike lingering on the north coast of Norfolk, and copious numbers of other mouthwatering scarcities lingering around it wasn't particularly hard to find where we would be heading either. And for 4 of us in the car it would our 4th day in Norfolk in 2 weeks!

So, wanting to make the most of our time out east, a stupidly early get up time, and 3 hours later, and as the sun started to rise ahead of us, we were only a short distance from our first location. 2 Barn Owls flitted over the car as we drove, which as always, was a great start to the day.

Walking out to the whirligig at Warham Greens, the seeps of migrating Passerines could be heard, with winter Thrushes and Meadow Pipits on the move. As it grew lighter, the vismig grew stronger, and good numbers of Brambling were moving over west with Chaffinches. Singles of both Redpoll and Siskin also went over, but it was quite clear that people were quickly losing hope for the Shrike. We searched though. Small flocks of waders and ducks gave us flypasts, with Common Snipe and Golden Plover going over and large numbers of Little Egret moved out of their roosts. A single Spoonbill flew past distantly before ditching into the Blakeney saltmarsh but it wasn't exactly the dreamed for start of the day.

As I wandered around, the rest of the group saw the first Yellow-Browed Warbler of the day, but I personally missed it.

Cutting our losses, we chose to move over to Cley Beach, where a Grey Phalarope had been residing for a few days. Luckily this one wasn't hard to see, spinning about on a tiny puddle adjacent to the shingle ridge. Needless to say, scope filling views were had, and we all had a large grin on our faces!

Phalaropes are great birds whenever you see them, but there is always quite special when you see one up close. No doubt a result of the birds innocence, the crowd possibly being the first humans it has encountered in its life. The arrival of a party of Brent Goose flushed the bird, giving us great flight views as it flew across to the road, and then back again! What a smart bird!

Further up the shingle ridge, another hoped for target of the day was showing, and we were all treated to superb views of a rather stunning sandy 1st winter male Snow Bunting. Again, another confiding bird, which happily fed down to about 30ft range. Scope views were again first rate, and it added another highlight to our ever increasing day list.

The Bunting gave us a brief flight view down the ridge, where it was joined by a Wheatear, and both fed happily as we chose to move on to Holkham to look for the Rough-legged Buzzard.

Over the course of the last couple of years, this has quickly became one the most aggravating birds I have spent time trying to find. Multiple trips spent looking for them and still they manage to avoid me! As we pulled into Lady Ann's Drive, a quick phone call from Espen (Who was also birding in Norfolk that bad) said he had just seen the Buzzard flying out towards East Hills! As with my luck though, we drew a blank, and we also dipped the Pallas's Warbler, which we walked the wrong direction for. 2 Red Kite,a Peregrine and 10 Common Scoter were little reward, but this was to prove the only low point of the whole weekend...

As with our last day of the Norfolk weekend, we chose to head back west to finish the day, being slightly closer to home, and it became easily the most productive site of the day. We made our way around the Meadow trail behind the visitor centre, and it didn't take long for a Yellow-browed Warbler to start calling as a Tit flock moved through the Willows. At one point it was calling in the tree right above our heads, when another started to call further away, so there was at least 2 birds present. 

As we walked out of the trail, a female type Merlin sped across over our heads as it barreled east.

Huge numbers of dabbling duck were present, with Teal, Shoveler and Wigeon being the most numerous, and among these were smaller numbers Pintail and Gadwall.

Also present across the extensive areas of mud were good numbers of waders, with all the expected species being present, the highlight of which was a Spotted Redshank which dropped into the lagoon. Among the pre-roosting gulls, a rather dapper Mediterranean Gull was swimming around among the Black-heads, but the sea was calling.

But it was rather quiet! Until the long staying Black-throated Diver surfaced in front of us, which proved to be one of very few birds on the sea. Seeing that our time here could well be wasted we started walking back down the track.

A female Stonechat was feeding from some bulrush on the edge of the path, so it aimed the scope at it, and immediately a smaller bird flicked up and instantly started ripping apart a bulrush head. Smaller than the Stonechat, with a rufous back and pale grey head!!

"PENDULINE TIT!"

There was a Penduline tit feeding no more than 20 feet away from us!

My initial response I cannot post here due to its rather explicit content, but within seconds, the crew was on the bird, Liz had snapped a couple of record shots as I faffed around and called over a number of people standing on the track around us! 

It was hard to believe we had just found a Penduline Tit, and at one of the most 'populated' and well visited reserves in the UK, my first 'BB' self find, ecstatic! Soon the crowd started to develop, and we all enjoyed crippling views of the star of the show as it continued to rip apart the bulrush heads.

Everyone was on it and news went out about its presence, and soon more birders started to appear. Apparently, it was the first Penduline Tit seen at Titchwell in 13 years, so I was incredibly chuffed to find it!

The bird started to move away as the crowd grew larger, and once it moved along the Parrinder bank towards the hide we headed back to the car as more than anything I needed a reality check! 

We returned to find the crowd we had caused...

But the bird didn't show again (Although it was seen again very briefly the next day), so we spent time scanning the Gulls (A single adult Yellow-legged Gull being the highlight) and talking to a variety of NGB's and other birders who had made the rush to get here. Sadly few of them had seen it, with the bird only having been on view 40 minutes but it was a great way to take in that we had just ended the day by finding a BBRC description species!

Get in!

MB

Virjinxity! Wryneck, YBW and Spoonbills! (21/09/14)

I have never been on one of the RSPB Stourbridge field trips, however, following some encouragement, in late September I joined them as they went to Portland Bill and Lodmoor RSPB.

Following some banter on the coach, we arrived in the bill car park, and as we had picked up some news from twitter we headed straight up the hill to the area where a Wryneck had been found!

Masses upon masses of Hirundines were everywhere, Yellow Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and a single Grey Wagtail flew over south, so there was certainly plenty of vismig! But, having dipped on Wryneck many times in the past, I was keen to get there as soon as possible. I was in so much of a rush that even a Whinchat perched on a fenceline was almost ignored as the crowd appeared on the track opposite us!

It felt like an age to cover the fields to them, but as soon as we did I saw what looked like a Wryneck as it flicked past me and behind a hedge, yet no-one was looking. Surely that wasn't it! 

A quick question later, and having learnt that they hadn't seen it for a while I went to check out the bird I saw. A short walk later, and there, perched atop a hedge, with a backdrop of the English channel was a stunning WRYNECK! I had lost my "Virjinxity"!

Over the next 30 minutes, the views slowly got better and better, and as people left, the bird became more confiding, and eventually, with only a small group of people, the bird landed on the fenceline adjacent to us and started feeding from the track! Although invisible when on the deck, the bird often flew up onto the adjacent fenceline and hedge, giving absolutely amazing views to all present!

Wryneck

Wryneck

Wryneck

I have dipped so many Wryneck in the past, and so to finally catch up with one put a huge smile on my face, and it was with regret I left the bird to look for another scarcity.

It was clear that overnight there had been a 'significant' (at least by my standards) fall of Chiffchaffs around Portland, and in the Observatory garden alone there were at least 80. Counts from the Ob's staff suggested the actual total was closer to 200! In this fall of 'Phyloscs' a Yellow-Browed Warbler had been located, but it was being very elusive in the dense vegetation, which was literally dripping in birds! Chiffchaffs were flycatching everywhere, and these were joined by two birds that are more akin to the behaviour, as two Spotted Flycatcher perched sentinel over the 'alive' garden.

Most people had given up with the YBW when it hadn't shown for a good hour and a half. However I soldiered on, and just as a group of birder rounded the corner from the Ob's car park, an absolutely stunning bright Yellow-Browed Warbler flitted up above the fenceline!

Calling over the crowd, only 1 got onto the bird, before it disappeared back into the bushes, but despite only being on view for around 15 seconds, as always with these delightful leaf warblers, it was well worth the wait!

With the time now running out, I decided on a quick look out to sea, where 3 Mediterranean Gulls were flying about and a Kittiwake flew past. A Yellow-legged Gull landed on a post outside the cafe, but had flew off by the time I had gotten my camera out.

In the old quarry, the Little Owl was showing nicely to the assembled crowd!

Little Owl

Moving onto Lodmoor RSPB, our first notable sighting was when this stunning little thing flicked up next to us:

Clouded Yellow

A Clouded Yellow!

Again, this had become another of my bogeys, and despite having seen them before, they had steadfastly refused to land. But this one was different, and gave us stunningly intimate views as it perched on roadside vegetation! 

Moving onto the pool, 2 Spoonbills were very quickly located (how could you miss them?!) and gave a great performance as they fed constantly in the shallow water! Not something you expect a Spoonbill to be doing.

Spoonbill

Spoonbill

A small selection of Waders were present, with Lapwing, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe and Ruff all being present. Walking to the opposite end of the flashes (so I could view the gull flock of course!) I found an early Pintail roosting on the edge of the water. But my mind soon wondered and my reason for walking here was obvious, and I was soon seeing countless Mediterranean Gulls flying into the increasing Gull flock!

All ages were present, and great views were had of all!

Mediterranean Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Bliss!

MB

Tri-county Birding- Seabirds and Gulls

17/01/14

With the days slowly getting longer, the opportunity for some late night gull watching in the roost at Bartley comes into play, and after suffering the horrendous traffic from Dudley to Bartley Green we arrived with about 15 minutes before darkness.

Luckily, a selection of locals were already present, and after getting out of the car i was quickly ushered by Terry onto a stunning 1st winter CASPIAN GULL, which really was a looker of a bird.

 

Even in the low light, it stood out like a sore thumb, so much so that after leaving Terrys scope and setting up my own, i was on it within a few seconds! Luckily, it was in with the closest mass of Gulls, with most having landed near the dam end.

Unfortunately, i failed to pick out the Iceland, but the light had all but gone by that time.

 

18/01/14

Having dipped the Velvet Scoter earlier in the week, i was somewhat relieved to hear that it had been refound! This time in adjacent Shropshire! So with the morning tasks done, we took the relatively short journey up to Telford.

Luckily, again, a few familiar faces were present and on site at the time, and they relieved me by saying the bird was still showing.

Pulling into the layby at Priorslee Lake revealed a nice group of mostly local birders, all of whom had come to admire this seaduck!

Soon after, i was watching the female VELVET SCOTER as it swam around with the flock of Tufted Duck, Pochard and Coot really close in to the dam! It was great to be able to study this unusual seaduck so closely, as most Scoter are usually miles away sitting on the sea. It was quite surreal to see a duck, so closely tied to the sea swimming around and happily feeding with a flock of Tufted Duck just about as far from the sea as you can get! 

What made the visit even better though was the presence of 3 GREATER SCAUP (1w drake and 2 females) which were similarly swimming around and roosting with the Tufted's at close range!

 

 

Priorslee is also famed for its Gulls, and it wasn't long before a YELLOW-LEGGED GULL joined the flock briefly before it was flushed by a Sparrowhawk and flew north with the majority of the Gulls.

 

With a dark cloud now approaching, we decided to bite the bullet and blast along the A5 towards Cannock, were more avian treats awaited us.

 

Gailey Reservoirs was the next destination, despite no news having emerged from the site, so we were 'going in blind'. Once parked and scanning, we quickly located the GREAT-NORTHERN DIVER, which was showing well on the sailing pool. It was while watching this though that i turned and scanned the edges of the fishing pool, were i was struck by a white 'object' in the reedbed adjacent to a flock of Grey Herons. A few seconds later, and the head and neck of a GREAT WHITE EGRET emerged from the reeds, showing off its bright yellow bill. It was while trying to get the attention of some nearby birders though that i saw the bird jump out of the reeds, and then very quickly fly off along the shore, and then over the treeline heading south.

As if the Egret had sensed danger, this was quickly followed the by arrival of the local hunting 'party' (Feel free to change the word 'party with a word of personal preference). Needless to say, once they started going 'gun ho' on anything that flew by, i vacated the site in disgust at how such vile people can live in a so called 'civilised world'. It was somewhat heart wrenching to see a female Goldeneye flying for its life followed by a barrage of gunfire, and more so to see an unidentified duck fall out of the sky having had its body plastered in shotgun shot.

 

With the light now dropping, a brief drop into Engine lane, Brownhills was rewarded with very good views of the GLOSSY IBIS as it fed in the now very saturated 2nd paddock. After a brief time watching, the streams of Gulls passing over our heads became obvious, and it was time for the pilgrimage to Chasewater,

As if just to show the amount of luck i have had for the day, everything about the Gull roost was perfect. Due to the strong southerly winds, a large proportion of the gulls seemed to be using the south shore as cover, and were very close in for roost standards. Having just placed my scope down on the south shore, i panned onto my main targets. A stunning juvenile GLAUCOUS GULL! As it was still 'early' in the roost, and with the bird being very close in, i took the opportunity to get some pictures and video as it sat on the water!

 

Having been joined by a few extra gullers, we were soon grilling the flocks, and being in the prime position we were able to pick out 3 CASPIAN GULLS (The 2 regular adults and a 3w bird), which was also a huge surprise, as i have never had more than singles in the roost before. As if to complete the set, we also picked up 2 YELLOW-LEGGED GULL, ending what was probably the best possibly days birding in the midlands for the time of year!

MB