RSPB walk at Throckmorton

I saw on the local RSPB website a morning walk led by Worcestershire birder Andy Warr so I thought I'd try it for a change. The hope was to find a few of the rarer Gulls however with all the local flooding the winter population of gulls had been reduced to just 500-600 gulls from the normal thousands. The only gulls located were Black Heads and Herring Gulls.

Around 20 people took part and enjoyed the walk through some very wet terrain. A family of Raven honked noisily as we headed through an orchard which also held Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing, Stock Dove, Long Tailed Tits, Mistle Thrush,Goldfinch and Fieldfare.

The lagoons were quiet other than Greylag, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Pochard, Shelduck, Canadian Geese and nine Little Grebe. A couple of Skylark, Buzzard, Snipe and a single Lapwing flew over head.

The far side of the tip saw thousands of Starlings present. Andy estimated that around 10,000 roosted there and it was certainly the biggest roost in Worcestershire. A raptor, most probably a Sparrowhawk put the flock up to give great views. 

The stench and huge amount of plastic bags swirling around the hedgerows wasn't the best of experiences but was pretty much as expected. I certainly couldn't walk round there every week !