Garganey pair at Norgrove Court, Redditch

Rather pleased with this one 

Always something special to see Garganey this close

Little Egret on main lake

Norgrove Court

Norgrove Court is only a couple of minutes from home and I occasionally call in if passing. The lake is very narrow and with no scrapes it's unlikely to attract any waders. Ducks normally like wide areas of water so I was very surprised to get a text from Chris Lane that he had seen a pair of Garganey in the channel between the pools at dusk. Needless to say, I was there early the following morning where I was delighted to see both birds still present. My first sighting was in the channel and then later on they were on the small garden pool at the back of the property. Thankfully, there was a large gap in the hedgerow enabling some fantastic views of the ducks. The male bird was calling at regular intervals, I'd never witnessed this call before.

Other species recorded were Little Egret, Canada Goose, Greylag, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Chiffchaff, Green Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Goldfinch & Nuthatch.

Pits scores in Garganey influx

Garganey

                                                     Garganey

                                                   Reed Bunting

                                             Little Ringed Plover

                                            Northern Wheatear

                                                    Chiffchaff

                                               Northern Wheatear

An excellent week at the pits with four new year ticks taking us to 93. Mark & the Squire recorded a Merlin midweek chasing the Skylarks and the first Wheatear was located on Friday (26/3). Their was an additional male Wheatear undertaking a circular feeding circuit. 

I was very happy with my first Sand Martins of the year on Saturday morning and the extra Wheatear. I had a nice catch up with John C before walking back to the car. As I reached the car, John called saying a drake Garganey was now on the main pit. I quickly headed back where we watched the stunning duck for an extended session. A Barn Swallow came through with a additional group of nine Sand Martin.

Sundays conditions were very cold and windy which made it very difficult to search for new migrants. 

Three new year tick at the pits

Cuckoo on main pit

Garganey (Dennis Sinton)

Wood Sandpiper (Dennis Sinton)

Sunday count day

Wood Sandpiper (Dennis Sinton)

An amazing three patch year ticks for the pits last week in various circumstances. The first one was a Wood Sandpiper recognised by a photograph that Marion & Dennis sent me. Sadly with being away I didn't get the image until I'd returned home, but a great record for the site.

The second bird was a drake Garganey I found on Saturday when doing the morning shift with the Squire. Thankfully the bird was present enabling all the locals to see the duck. This was very much a new record for the site as we only tend to get Garganeys in the autumn.

The final bird was a Spotted Flycatcher picked up by Jon late on Sunday morning after a pretty uneventful session of birding. Sightings included :- 9 pairs of Little Grebe, 1 Cormorant, 10 Mute Swan (1 nest), 3 Greylag, 47 Canada Geese (3 broods), 12 Gadwall, 1 feamle Teal, 133 Mallard (13 broods), 1 drake Shoveler, 3 Pochard, 58 Tufted Duck, 14 Moorhen, 82 Coot, 2 pairs of Oystercatcher (1-2 young), 4 pairs of Little Ringed-Plover, a pair of Lapwing, 1 Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper, 7 Black-headed Gull (1 nest), 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 pairs of Cuckoo, 1 Sand Martin, a pair of Meadow Pipit, 1 male Yellow Wagtail, 2 singing Sedge Warbler, 29 singing Reed Warbler, brood of Long-tailed Tits, pair of Ravens, Sparrowhawk & a Spotted Flycatcher.

Garganey at Brandon Marsh wraps up week off

Nice size comparison

Late post on this one I'm afraid. I had a nice addition to the year list the previous Sunday when I visited Brandon Marsh to see a stunning drake Garganey. The bird was unfortunately a bit distant for photographs but the scope views were excellent. 

Grimley bonus visit on trials night

Bar-tailed Godwit

 Drake Garganey

Bar-tailed Godwit

 Worcester City centre

Common Tern

You never know with Grimley how close the species will be & my tripod clip is being really problematic making it unusable (new clips on order from the Birders Store). On this occasion I didn’t have anything to worry about as the Hippo pool was where all the action was happening. Firstly a Bar-tailed Godwit was feeding pretty close to the causeway and a male Garganey was at the back of the pool looking splendid. Very jealous we have never had a stonking male like this at the pits. Four Common terns were buzzing about feeding, the downside dogs off the lead was disturbing the birds. Dogs love being off the lead, I think we can all understand that, but letting your dog roam freely with so many wild birds in location with no control as owners caught up on local gossip shows a real lack of understanding & responsibility.

Additional  sightings included a Ringed Plover, Little Ringed Plover, 3 Swifts plus the normal regular species. I saw another 4 Swifts in the city centre, it seemed there was a huge influx in the country during the day.

Grimley Garganey on basketball diversion

Stunning Drake Garganey

Drake Garaganeys

Garganey with Wigeon & Little Grebe

Team Garganey

Firsy Little Ringed Plover of the year

Worcester legends on the causeway

Tip off

After finishing off the patch, a text alert came through that there were three Garganey on Camp Lane Pits at Grimley. Knowing I needed to pass through Grimley on the way to Worcester for the afternoon sports taxi duty I elected to hold fire & takes my chances on route. With Mrs D & Fraser for company we noticed the Garganey had moved from the Church Lane Pits where there were only a flock of Wigeon & a few Gadwall. 

Walking round to the causeway on the Camp Lane pits we were greeted by Dave Twitcher & Butterfly Dave. It was good to see Butterfly Dave back in the field after a couple of rough months with his health. They had been lucky to see the Garganey before they had flown & Dave got a handful of great shot which is kindly shared above. We had to be content we fairly distant views of the ducks among the willows on the north side. The drakes were stunning looking birds and were among a number that were reported across the country on Saturday. 

The basketball matched ended with a comfortable 58-33 win for Gussy's Worcester Wolves. Not a bad day….

Garganey Morton Bagot

A quick early check on Thursday evening informed me a Garganey was back at Morton Bagot and knowing in was a guaranteed nice walk (although muggy) I made the short drive before heading past the log pile towards the flashes. 

The hedgerows were pretty quiet but I noted a couple of Wrens, Long-tailed Tits, four Chiffchaffs, Green Woodpecker, four Linnets and a Lesser Whitethroat before reaching the flash.

As I arrived at the Flashes it was all very quiet except for a Green & Common Sandpiper, two small flocks of Teal and a couple of Snipe. The ducks then took flight after being startled by a long bang towards the far side. As the birds flew past I picked the Garganey up in flight and followed it closely before it landed much closer on the first flash. I immediately called Mike Inskip who had missed it only ten minutes before and was pleased it was still present in my scope when he returned. The ducks did take flight again but this time landing behind the trees on the first flash.

Treble Garganey at Holt

I do love a text from Brian Stretch about a local rarity. It's great to have a base like Salford Priors but I do enjoy having a drive to different locations. After doing the pits I drove over to Holt Fleet to see three Garganey including two drakes. Viewing isn't perfect due to the ground work around the flash but I still managed to get a couple of record shots. Well worth a visit, especially when the drakes woke up to show their stunning head stripe.

Waderific at pits

 Garganey

 Dunlin

 Turnstone

 Turnstone

 Little Ringed Plover

 Arty Goldfinch

 Hatrick of waders

 Who's watching who

 Little Stint

Little Stint & Ringed Plover

It was good to get back home after a couple of great days away in Rutland. The forecast rain hadn’t arrived sadly so less chance of a goodie landing at the gravel pits. Paul joined me and Jon giving us three pairs of eyes to scan every where. We started at Pophills where the Garganey were still in residence. We thought this may be a separate bird to the first one reported.

It seems that two broods of Little Ringed Plover have been successful with fours chicks fledging.

Four Swifts heading south past us over head at around 10am just after a Ringed Plover circiled the old workings. Other movement included good numbers of House Martin and four Yellow Wagtails. Other sightings included 14 Teal, 4 Green Sandpiper, 8 Common Sandpiper, 2 Buzzards, Kestrel and a Kingfisher.

After a quick lunch I returned to the pits following a note from Jon that a juvenile Turnstone was on the main pit. The rain was hammering down at this time and I was relieved to locate the bird on Oystercatcher island before it flew closer. It was flying with another bird and once settled it was great see it was our second Little Stint of the year. Just as Paul and I were patting ourselves on the back our Black-tailed Godwits flew across the pit, oh my days, another patch tick for us both. We hung around for another hour getting some great views of the waders.

My first Osprey at Salford Priors

 Dunlin on main pit scrape

 Garganey on Pophills

Osprey taken with my digiscoping camera (Small dot)

Osprey (File image)

After four days at Longleat Centre Parcs I was back at the Salford Priors on Monday evening and again on Tuesday morning. Whilst I was away Mike found 4 Black Terns (192nd species for site), Paul had located Ringed Plover & Ruff and Jon had a Wood Sandpiper on Sunday.  All species I needed on the patch challenge. Arrghhh !

The Garganey had returned to Pophills on my arrival which was nice however when I reached the main pit all the birds on the ground took flight indicating a raptor was getting close. As I scanned the skies an Osprey flew straight over the pit, absolutely amazing. This was my first Osprey at the site, without checking with Jon I'd say it was the 6th record for the site.

This takes my own species count for the year on the patch to 119 whilst the complete total is 124. Very decent compared to Upton Warrens 134 which you would expect with their large footfall of watchers.