Monday 30 December 2013

Muddy boots at Coney Meadow





With the wind blowing a gale this morning (Monday) I opted to wait until the afternoon to venture out. Knowing the Lake was as normal I opted to head to Upton Warren to start with. 

The Moors had pretty much as expected in December - Greylag, large flog of Canadian Geese, Cormorant, Shoveller, Pochard, Grey Herons, Lapwing, Teal, Tufted Ducks, Teal and a single Cettis Warbler was in its usual place. 

I then headed to the Sailing Pool to locate the reported female Goldeneye which was present swimming along side two Great Crested Grebe.  I was tempted to walk over to the Flashes however I opted to head to the other side of Droitwich to Coney Meadow.

From parking at the church at Salwarpe Village I headed through the churchyard to the canal path which leads down to the meadow. The reed bed lies on your left and is signposted well for new visitors. Local patch watcher Dave Walker was on evening patrol so I joined him down the canal path. As we made it back by the screen we were joined by Tim (Birder Gladys). 

As we waited for the Starlings, two Raven came in to roost of which one then clashed with a Common Buzzard right above us whilst a Snipe took flight from the front of the reed bed. There appeared to be good numbers of Starlings sitting on the distant telegraph wires that were then mixing with those coming in to roost.  As around 1,500 birds displayed a Peregrine flew straight past us and into the flock to catch a late afternoon meal. A catch at the first attempt ! 

That flock were then in no mood to hang around so after two quick fly pasts they went down into the reed bed. After a quiet five minutes another 1000 starlings came into roost also. The noises of the fly pasts and the birds in the reed bed were superb and well worth the muddy boots.







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