Ladywalk NR 23/03 and Upper Bittel 24/03

Dad asked me to find him a Brambling as we never saw one on 2009 so a quick search on Brian's excellent website-http://www.worcesterbirding.co.uk/ I soon saw that a Female was being seen regularly at Ladywalk NR.

Arriving at the reserve at around 9:30am Chiffchaff was heard as soon as we got out the car and on the way to the hide at least 6 different birds were heard singing. Arriving at the Sainsbury's hide where it had been seen from almost straight away a Willow Tit dropped in showing its bull neck, white cheek and pale wing panel. Patiently waiting for about 30mins the female Brambling made an appearance around the bottom of the feeders. Mission complete! Other birds seen included 5 Pheasant, 10+ Reed Bunting, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 2 Female Goosander and several Gadwall.

Moving round to the Riverwalk hide yet more Chiffchaff were heard singing and 5 Goosander were on the river along with several Tufted Duck and 2 Grey Wagtail. Once in the hide scanning around the pool Little Grebe were calling frequently, 10 Gadwall were displaying, 46 Shoveler seemed like a lot for this time of the year and 2 Redshank were over the back. Several more Goosander dropped onto the pool and 3 Sand Martin and a showy Muntjac deer concluded the trip nicely.

2 More year ticks takes me onto 123 for the year.

Today whilst sitting in Chemistry at college I received a text from Brian Stretch informing me that there were 4 adult Whooper Swans at Upper Bittel Reservoir, I didn't finish till 1 and there was only one way of telling if they were going to stick around!

Arriving around 1:15 a very fast walk along the Ash Path to Upper Bittel saw us arriving not long after. As we walked up a guy said they were still present in the far corner but when we got there they weren't to be seen! Had they flew or just were they hiding up the corner?! Not long later they swan out from the corner all 4 Adult Whooper Swans showing well if not a bit distant. 4 Sand Martin flew over and 2+ Chiffchaff could be heard singing. Walking back down the path and to the smaller pools there was a single un-ringed ad Barnacle goose associating with the Canada Geese. Checking out the field at the end of the Ash path showed a single male Wheatear perched on the fence. Rounding off the trip nicely and putting me onto 125 for the year.

Upton 19th and 21st

A late start at college so decided to head over to Upton in the morning.


Arriving at the flashes at around 9o'clock it was glorious sunshine and I quickly picked out an Little Ringed Plover, my first summer migrant and very much welcome. 4 Avocet, 6+Snipe, 2 Shelduck and 2 Oystercatcher were all present. Not long into the morning and I picked up 2 Sand Martin moving over quickly although they were heading  SW and I thought that was a bit strange? c30 Lapwing flew around setting up territories and 24 Teal flew off the sewerage pools at the back, 4 Lesser Black Backed Gulls passed over and a Male Tufted Duck appeared on the 1st Flash. 1 Raven flew distantly past the sewage works and was later seen soaring with 2 Buzzards and a Sparrowhawk. Around 7 Buzzards were seen soaring on thermals around the flashes and a Curlew dropped in. 2 more Sand Martin flew over SW also and a 2nd winter Common Gull flew through. 


Heading over the Moors quickly noted the Little Egret present 4 Oystercatchers (2 birds from the flashes), the pair of Gadwall and 2+ singing male Cetti's. 46 Tufted Duck were displaying and pairing up and 4 female Pochard were scattered around. 18 Great Crested Grebe including several displaying pairs (and a bird still in winter plumage which made me think slav!) 2 Little Grebe came out from the reeds and only about 5 Cormorant were loafing on the island. An LRP dropped onto the Island for about 30secs before going back over the flashes and a 1st winter Common Gull hung around. 5 Pied Wagtails flew down but no whites in with them and a Green Woodpecker called. My first Chiffchaff was found flitting around the reeds down to the right of the east hide which was nice to see.


4 New upton year ticks takes me onto 80 for the year there.


A new job and a new year tick! Whilst at work I heard calling and drumming of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker then saw it high up in an oak! A nice little bonus whilst at work.


Back down to Upton this morning where we were welcomed by mist! Heard a Nuthatch call from within the Education Reserve but mist put pay to trying to see it! Could barely see a thing from the flashes hide but fourtunatly a single Redshank was in front and managed 4 Avocet and 1 LRP through the mist! A male Lapwing was busily creating a scrape on the newly mown grass in front and a Meadow Pipit called from overheard but the fog prevented my second possible year tick of the day.




Moving onto the Moors where a dead toad was in the road and a Chiffchaff was singing along the path to the east hide and was a notably paler more grey bird than Friday's. Only the one Little Egret was seen but two were seen yesterday, female Pochard had increased to 6, interesting that there all female? (Answers on a postcard.) 3 Herring and 3 Lesser BB Gulls loafed on the platforms and 1 Little Grebe moved out of the reeds. A fox was asleep again in the reeds in front of the fox fence! And 2 Shelduck flew back over the flashes.

Upton Warren

Two trips to Upton on Sunday and Tuesday so I thought I'd combine it into one post.


Starting with Sunday 7th March. Early start at the Moors with Phil Andrews to get some birding in before the work party at the Flashes. Walking up to the East Hide from the car park picked up 7 Lesser Redpoll in Alders feeding away, arriving in the East hide at around 8am it was a frosty start but not that much of the pool was frozen only really Amy's and the Broadmeadow Pool. 4 Oystercatcher were quarrelling with each other and a nice pair of Gadwall were on the East Island. 2 Shelduck loitered around in between the islands and a pair of Raven were displaying towards the A38 field their deep cronks sounding out across the pools. Counts of other birds included 11 Great Crested Grebe, 16 Teal, 17 Shoveler, 14 Cormorant, 8 Lapwing, 4 Snipe, 19 Tufted Duck, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Little Grebe and 9 Curlew.


Moving over to the Flashes for the start of the work party managed 3 Avocet before starting work. Walking out across the area in between the 2nd and 3rd Flash it was mainly frozen but around 10 Snipe and 3 Jack Snipe were flushed and 58 Teal flew off. A check of the fox fencing along the back found no obvious holes, so we got on with cutting the grass in preparation for the breeding birds returning. With 21 people at the work party! We soon got all the work done including re-shingling the islands, installing a secondary fox fence and trimming the blackthorn in front of the hide. 2 Oystercatchers came and landed on the deck while we were working, 3 Buzzards displayed and a Kestrel called. Best bird of the day was however found when me Gert and Phil went for a walk over the back and a male Stonechat was spotted by Gert.  First of the year for the reserve and a quick few phone calls between us and the guys in the hide to try to get them onto it but it flew off towards the transmitter masts. Due to a few of us having a little competition going with the year list here Dave wasn't to happy that Phil had now taken top spot off him! Luckily the Stonechat reappeared and everyone got onto it.


Moving back to the Moors till dark nothing really extra noted apart from 2 Fieldfare that roosted in the reed bed and then a male Sparrowhawk which then flushed another and promptly caught it just as it was going dark.


All in all 3 year ticks with Gadwall, Avocet and Stonechat taking me to 76 for my Upton year list.


Moving onto today 9th March started out at the Flashes with the usual suspects being around highlights including 3 Avocet, 4 Oystercatcher, 3 Shelduck of which the two males were constantly chasing one another, 1 Peregrine on the masts, 2 Cetti's Warbler sang from the Hen Brook and the male Stonechat making the most of the new fox fence. Counts of other birds included 12 Curlew, 88 Lapwing, 52 Black-headed Gull, 1 Buzzard, 72 Teal, 2 Greylag and 4+ Linnet.


Moving across to the Moors where the Work party were busy working out in front of the east hide re-shingling the islands and tidying things up ready for the breeding season. Bird highlights included 3 Oystercatcher that flew in high from the South and then flew round trying to find somewhere to settle but flew off to the north so possibly not birds from the Flashes so 7 birds across the reserve? The pair of Gadwall remained and the Little Egret flew across the pool and landed in the overhanging trees. 2 Cetti's Warbler sang from the reed beds as well as a Water Rail and a Little Grebe put in a brief appearance right in front of the hide and called several times. Counts of other birds included 13 Great-crested Grebe, 1 Kestrel, 20 Tufted Duck, 17 Pochard, 16 Shoveler, 1 Greylag, 6 Teal, 2 Mute Swan, 1 Shelduck (kicked off the Flashes) 27 Cormorant, 41 Black-headed Gulls, 2 Collared Dove, 1 Song Thrush, 2 Greenfinch, 3 Bullfinch, c17 Reed Bunting, 6 Chaffinch, female Sparrowhawk, 1 Herring Gull and 2 Lesser Black Backed Gulls.


Sorry for the lack of photos but my brother has borrowed the camera for his uni work! If not I could have shown you the excellent work achieved on the flashes and even the stripes Simon managed to get in the grass there!


Also thought I'd add a few websites that could be interesting to anyone if they read this blog.


http://www.xcweather.co.uk/ is a great website for wind and pressure forecasts across Britain, France and Spain so you can keep an eye out for when migrants might arrive etc


http://btoringing.blogspot.com/ Really interesting blog with ringing recoveries from the BTO some quite unbelievable.

Upton 02/03

Went to Upton this morning from about 9:30-12


Started out in the Education reserve trying to get Treecreeper and Goldcrest on the year list to no joy, plenty of the usual plus Green Woodpecker and Great Spotted Woodpecker. 11 Greylags were on the Sailing pool and a Rook flew over the car park so I headed over the flashes.


On the way to the hide I finally managed the Peregrine perched on the left hand mast. Getting in the hide a guy said that earlier there had been a few Golden Plover in the ploughed field but had flown off, probably while I was looking round the eddy! A quick scan revealed a pair of Redshank (first this year) a Cetti's Warbler sang along with lots of other birds and a real bright sunshine gave a real feel of spring. An Oystercatcher was in-between the 2nd and 3rd flash. Counts of other birds included 16 Curlew, 47 Teal, 157 Black-headed Gull (several displaying and defending territories), 7 Linnet, 2 Shelduck, 7 Coot and 15+ Snipe.


Walking over to the moors west hide the work party was out in front of the east hide so most birds where in the north corner. 2 Little Grebe and 2 Oystercatchers were the highlights and the Little Egret put in a brief appearance flying towards the sailing pool. Counts of other birds included 36 Coot, 7 Great Crested Grebe, 29 Shoveler, 19 Tufted Duck (males were in pursuit of females definite sign of spring) 21 Pochard, 2 Mute Swan, 4 Teal, 45 Canada Geese (vast majority paired up) 18 Cormorant, 40+ Black Headed Gulls, 15+ Reed Bunting (males starting to get nice and dark now) 2 Cetti's Warbler, 1 Buzzard and 4 Lapwing.


All in all 2 year ticks with Redshank and Peregrine takes me to 73. Hopefully will get Golden Plover at the work party this weekend!

Update

Thought I'd do a quick update.

Went to Bittel Reservoir twice last week on 20th and 22nd. Managed a great count of 63 Goosander on the 20th and 28 on the 22nd, just shows how numbers here are affected by freezing weather as it was a lot more frozen on the 22nd! Other birds of note on the 20th were about 20 Siskin along the ash path and  also a flock of 40+ Linnet and 2 Barn Owl pellets along a public footpath behind the reservoirs, which had 2 skulls in one a lot bigger than the other. 22nd I managed 30+ Siskin and c8 Redpoll along the Ash path as well as a 1st Winter Great Black Backed Gull on Upper.

One skull in each one large and one small maybe a mouse and a vole?

This shows the larger of the 2 skulls.

You can just about see Upper Bittel in the distance

Went to Upton on 23rd and had the Little Egret in the far corner of the Sailing Pool again and a Rook over the Flashes feeding station taking me up to 70 for the year list there. Also a lot of pollarding had occurred around the Salwarpe at the moors so thought I'd take some photos to show whats happened there.

And finally today went in search of a rare grebe just south of Redditch and sure enough found a Slavonian Grebe on a small pool in Feckenham Wylde Moor NR. Stunning bird showing really well fabulous lifer and I'd definitely recommend going for it, I attempted at some photos but they were rather shocking considering how close it was! But it shows the key features of pale tipped bill, straight line of black/white on the check and the head peaking at the rear, a nice comparison with the Black Necked Grebe I had at Freiston not long ago. This bird also seemed more in proportion with a bigger head than the Black Necked.

Lincs and Leics 15/02

Carrying on from yesterdays epic post this post will cover my trip to Baston and Langtoft Pits and Rutland Water.

After a quick bit of research on the Internet I was able to locate a working gravel pits that are meant to have a regular flock of Red Crested Pochard so a slight detour on the way home towards Baston and Langtoft pits and heading towards the Gull pit where they has last been reported. Pulled up by Gull pit and sure enough there they were Red Crested Pochard, in total I counted 45! This was a much appreciated bird to get back on my Dad who managed to get the brief pair at Bartley Reservoir and I thought that they may turn into a bit of a blocker but luckily not! Quite a few Wigeon and Tufted Duck were also on the pit.

With still plenty of daylight hours left and the fact that we would be driving practically straight past Rutland Water we decided to stop off and see what could be seen. Not long later we were pulling up in the car park and made our way towards the visitor centre brought our permits and decided that although we could remember such birds as GNDiver and Scaup reported recently we decided that it was the regular roost of Long Eared Owl behind the Fieldfare hide that we most wanted to see.

From the visitor centre I counted around 15 Goosander and 30+ Chaffinch around the feeders. We started walking towards the Fieldfare hide and on the way a couple of guys said that there were 2 Owls that could be seen from the path one showing really well apparently. So we quick end our pace and soon were in the area that they were meant to be. A Jay flew over and a single Lesser Redpoll was in a Silver Birch and we by now were saying ''trip tick'' far too much! Walking down the path my Dad started getting annoyed thinking that we were in the wrong area and that the owls would be impossible to find! We then walked a little further and he went ''Oh actually look there'' and sure enough 2 Long Eared Owls were perched one in full view and the other obscured only about 15yards from the path! WOW both had their ear tufts raised and you could see the lovely orange eyes. Couple of photos taken and we then went into the Fieldfare hide were lots of Coot were as well as several Goldeneye, Wigeon and Gadwall.

 

Walking back round the other side in an attempt to get Smew on Lagoon 3 failed but we did see a rather plastic Ruddy Shelduck asleep there! Now my Dad has ticked it just because he thinks it could be gen and that he's already seen one at Upton! I have chosen to not lower my self to such desperate bird ticking and it will just be noted in my note book as plastic and will not feature on my list... I may eat my words if I find one at Upton though!

All in all 93 different species of bird seen, not including the Ruddy Shelduck or a possible Bittern that my Dad had fly over the M42 in the dark on the way home when I was asleep!

Lincolnshire 15/02

After weeks of planning we set off at 4:05am our first stop would be Freiston Shore RSPB. I warn you now this is going to be a very long post!

Arriving just as it was starting to get light at 6:20am we pulled into the car park got out, got wrapped up as it was bitterly cold had a quick scan of the lagoon and could see large numbers of waders roosting on the lagoon as it was high tide. I picked out grebe larger than a little but smaller than a Great Crest but it was still to dark so we decided to walk on up to a hide that overlooked the lagoon. We stopped to read an information sign when my Dad pointed up and said 'O look Tree Sparrow' I thought he was pointing at a picture on the sign but then heard the chirping slightly different from House Sparrow and sure enough in the bush only 2foot away were around 15 Tree Sparrow, nice bird to catch up with on the year list after only seeing them for the first time last year! Walking on up the path and into the hide we started to scan the vast amounts of waders to see what was there. Around 1000 Oystercatcher we constantly calling and flying around some still with the white neck line of winter plumage, also c1200 Knot 500+ Dunlin and 700+ Lapwing made up the main bulk of the waders. More careful searching of the large flock revealed c20 Turnstone, 20 Bar-tailed Godwit 50+ Redshank, c10 Golden Plover and 4 Black-tailed Godwit. Our attention then turned to the Little Grebe, around 6 were scattered around the lagoon and in amongst them was 1 Black-necked Grebe, first lifer of the day a really nice bird diving constantly not to far from the hide but unfortunately left the camera in the car! D'oh! 3 Little Egrets dropped onto the far shoreline and a White Fronted Greylag fooled us for a split second. Other birds noted on the lagoon were 10+ Shelduck, c50 Wigeon 2 Tufted Duck, 30+ Snipe and 11 Goldeneye.

Walking out of the hide and towards the Salt marsh and Sea there were several more Tree Sparrow along the hedgerow and waders were now moving off flying low over head towards the shoreline too feed. There was a small sea watching hut further down and several Meadow Pipits were flying overhead. Scanning the shoreline were birds were feeding revealed several hundred Brent Geese feeding and flying around., 150+ Dunlin and 100 Golden Plover all busily feeding in with hoards of Knot and Oystercatcher. Scanning the sea resulted in 4 Red-breasted Merganser (2m2f) and 2 Eider. Whereas in Norfolk the sea generally has rafts of Common Scoter here there were quite a few Wigeon congregating off shore. A Peregrine flew quickly through attempting to make a quick Dunlin breakfast but was unsuccessful. Around 30 Herring Gull and a few Great-black Backed Gulls lingered off shore and a pair of Goldeneye where diving fairly close in. Another Peregrine came through rising and stooping onto the waders and as I went to get it through the scope I spotted a stunning male Hen Harrier flying overhead! Excellent views were obtained of this stunning bird as it flew across the salt marsh scaring Meadow Pipit as it went over. The sun was getting a bit higher in the sky now and we tried to make a distant Kestrel into a Merlin but it was a Kestrel.

Walking back towards the car waders were still moving off the Lagoon and down onto the shore flying really low over our heads giving really nice views. Closer to the car park several Redwing and Fieldfare were feeding in the hedgerow, a large flock of Greenfinch and Goldfinch were feeding in a Silver Birch. Getting back to the car got a distant record shot of the BNgrebe and a few shots of the Lagoon.

Driving back into Boston where there had been a showy pair of Waxwing in a swimming pool car park. Postcode programmed into the Sat Nav and we soon arrived in the swimming pool car park where there was a small cherry tree as you went in. Stayed here for about 15 mins or so waiting for them to show with no luck. Went into a local cafe and got some breakfast and returned to see if the Waxwing were showing but still no luck. Off to Frampton Marsh RSPB.

Arriving at Frampton Marsh RSPB we walked into the new visitor centre that had nice views across several pools and noted a Barn Owl flying along the far fence line. Also on the pools were 16 Mute Swan, 10+ Greylag Geese, 20+ Canada Geese around 30 Coot and lots of Mallard. After picking up a map we decided to head straight to the 360 hide where several good birds would hopefully await us. Walking down the path to the hide a flock of around 20 Snow Bunting were flying around over the pools  Entering the hide which was all brand new, we started to scan the waders/wildfowl in front of us. 300+ Lapwing were mixed in with about the same amount of Golden Plover also several Redshank and a few Dunlin were scattered around. In with the large numbers of Teal, Wigeon and Brent Geese were several Gadwall and about 6 Pintail. We soon heard the distinctive sound of a large flock of small finch which landed in front of the hide. They were Twite, around 80 briefly landed in front of the hide and quickly moved on never staying still for too long, I noticed one was sporting some bling, with around 4 colour rings on its legs but they flew off quickly not allowing me to get the combination. Looking around to the left and scanning the bank where the flock of Snow Bunting were flying around with several Skylark. Scanning them while they were on the deck I soon found a single Lapland Bunting! 2nd lifer of the day but the flock flew off again, my dad was starting to get a little annoyed! They soon settled down a little further off where careful scanning revealed around 4 Lapland Bunting feeding on a small bank along with Reed Bunting and Skylark. Really neat birds with some being better marked than others but all stunning. 

Whilst scanning these everything got up and the culprit and Female Merlin quickly followed by another Male Hen Harrier! Mega! At one point had them both in one bin view. The female perched up and then quickly went chasing after the Skylark which managed to evade it. The male Hen Harrier floated over the back and over the high bank. A Little Egret was distant and a Male Sparrowhawk was perched up on the far fence line. Lots of Brent Geese were moving off in the distance around 1000 or so. Walking out of this hide and towards the Reed Bed hide two White-fronted Geese flew over. Nothing much else was noted in this hide, the Sand Marting bank which I'd seen in an article on Birdguides could be seen, something I think would be great at Upton so I took a few photos.

Driving back into Boston again to try for the Waxwing again, would it be 3rd time lucky? Arriving in the car park again there was no sign of them in the cherry tree so we parked up and started to wait again. Not long after this I quickly picked up on a Waxwing flying in from straight in front of us, but it didn't stop in the tree and flew over the car. Quickly jumping out of the car managed to pick it up with another in a tall tree. This bird then flew off leaving the one in the tree. This 2nd bird then flew into a slightly closer tree but didn't fancy any cherries for now! A few crummy shots were taken and it was also heard calling. A nice bird to see when they seem to have been fairly rare this winter.

Wow thats a long write up, I think i'll finish the last half of this trip in another post shortly.

Lincs and Leics 15/02

A few quick pictures from my trip to Lincs and Leics, will do a full post tomorrow.