Morning at Ladywalk NR

Ladywalk Nature Reserve

Tufted Duck

Shelduck

Pochard

Little Egret

Green Fich

Look out over the reserve

Greenfinch flock

After meeting Jim Winsper from the West Midlands Bird Club regarding our negotiations about Salford Priors I was really impressed with his genuine passion and drive for the club and to deliver the best reserves possible for the members. With membership being just £30 (which includes access to four reserves and a brilliant annual report) I decided to join up. The club also has a fantastic new website that was launched last year. After multiple patch visits to the pits recently I opted to make use of my membership by visiting Ladywalk Nature Reserve. The reserve sits in the Tame Valley and shows how wildlife can succeed in flooded gravel extraction workings.  

The reed bed is well known for wintering Bittern however despite my best efforts they were playing hard to get on my visit. Whilst on Bittern stakeout duty, the feeders to the side of the B hide were visited by Willow, Marsh Tits and a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Out in front of me there were a selection of nice birds including Water Rail, Little Egret, Goosander, Pochard, Teal, Shelduck whilst a Sparrowhawk flew through the reserve hoping for an early lunch.

The feeders around the reserve were very busy with a cracking range of the more common birds including Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Blue & Great Tits.  A Siberian Chiffchaff had been reporting near the reserve entrance however the bitter cold day put pay to any thoughts of a longer session. 

Will have to be next time for the Bittern…………..

Stonechats at Avon Meadows

The wife and I stopped at a new nature reserve on Sunday afternoon after visiting her Mom in the middle of Pershore. The wetlands were created after a public consultation in 2007 to soak up excess water when the river suffers flooding. Sightings have included a Great White Egret, Black Tailed Godwit & Barn Owl. The reed bed does attract good numbers of Starlings however none had been seen for a number of weeks. 

During our short walk we saw four Stonechats around the river area not seemingly to be bothered by us walking by. A large number of gulls flew over heading south to their roost site. As the light faded and we headed back to the car a Water Rail called from the reed bed. If are ever passing this way its worth stopping by and they have recently added a number of scrapes which could attract waders pending on the disturbance.  More details about the site is available here. 

Redditch Starlings

The first groups assemble around church green east above the Church

The flock builds

Building numbers

Early flyover 

Murmuration gathers pace

Starlings over Redditch

Impressive view

Streetmap

Park anywhere near the Town Hall

Bridge camera video

Phone video

Following a tip off via the wife's Facebook I took the five minute journey into Redditch town centre to see if the reported Starling murmuration was true. Arriving at 4.45pm there was already a handful of wildlife fans awaiting the spectacular event. The best place to view the birds is from anywhere near the town hall, higher the better. The multi storey car park was a perfect spot.

It was brilliant to see just a small flock of around 30 birds build to approximately 5,000. There could well of been many more as counting proved very difficult. The birds started to assemble around Church Green East before edging closer to the Town Hall before dropping in the Leylandii trees to roost. 

I would warn anybody going that the security from the shopping centre did try and move people on unsuccessfully however there are many places to view the birds but obviously the best place is on top of the car park.

Starling murmurations occur when many individual birds gather together and fly as a group to form swirling aerial patterns in the sky. Sometimes called 'the ballet of the skies', this biological phenomenon is very poorly understood.

Starling numbers have declined alarmingly - since the mid-1970s the UK population has fallen by 66%. The starling is now red listed in the UK as a bird of immediate conservation concern. The cause of the starling decline is thought to link to habitat loss and reduction in food, but much is unknown.

In 2014, the Royal Society of Biology and the University of Gloucestershire teamed up to try to answer some of the many questions surrounding the mystery of starling murmurations. Over 1,600 sightings revealed some interesting results about location and duration of murmurations. This autumn they are calling on the public to send in more specific information in order to discover more. (Royal Society of Biology) 

Owling about looking for February patch points

Oystercatcher in flight

Lapwings on main spit

Oystercatcher

 Teal

Pophills Green Sandpipers

Little Owl (taken last winter)

Peregrine close up

Looking back on my records of the birds I've recorded in previous February's (but have not seen this year at the pits) include Dunlin, Common Sandpiper and Goosander. Visits to find these have continued to be short walks from the car.

We had two new additions on the feeders this week with male Bullfinch paying a visit looking for an easy feast. The bird we would like to attract are Siskins but no luck as yet. 

Over the main pit two Peregrine battled - clearly a youngster trying to muscle into territory already held by our resident bird. Duck counts remain disappointing over all. Two of the five Shelduck look paired up whilst the Teal numbers continue to drop as more habitat is restored around the site. Two Oystercatcher were recorded on one day by Paul but I've only seen one myself.  Seven Buzzards were enjoying Fridays good thermals above the plantation.  Grey Heron's seem to be more active at the moment and they are spending plenty of time in the fields surrounding the pits (seven were at Abbots Salford).

At least six Green Sandpipers are still present on Pophills normally around the small island. The heavy rain has rapidly increased the water level. Skylarks are very actively displaying all around this area and can't be missed. Spring can't be far away.

Paul was keen to see the local Barn Owl one evening however that search was in vein but we did discover calling Little Owl & two Tawny Owls. Towards the south of the recording area looking for Grey Partridge & Brambling,  50 Linnets, 30 Yellowhammer & 35 Chaffinch were noted.

Patchwork Challenge Podcast Launches

This week saw the launch of the new Patchwork Challenge podcast. This handy podcast provides you with all the latest PWC news on top of birding news from further afield. Episode 1 features a round up of the Best finds from #PWC2015 and the leaders in #PWC2016. There is a conversation with Rob Adams from Spurn about migfest, the new Spurn Bird Observatory Trust building and the YWT visitor centre.

First impressions were very good. The challenge will be to find enough content without going over old ground. Personally I'd like to hear about some of the smaller patches and why people take on such tasks. 

You can find the podcast on iTunes or SoundCloud.

Bird Watching Magazine Warwickshire Sightings

I will be continuing to compile the Warwickshire sightings  for the South using Jon's expertise in 2016. If you do have any sightings that are unique or haven't been published elsewhere please email or tweet me with them. It is amazing how often people mention the sightings when I'm out and about. Let's hope we have some great birds to report on throughout the year.

Quick start to February at the Pits

Yellowhammer

Pied Wagtail

Fieldfare

Yellow-legged Gull 

Oystercatcher on Pophills

  Sleeping Pintail

Salford Priors Church

Dunnock

Heavy rain and wind has once again battered Salford Priors this week causing the nearby River Arrow to break it's banks. A midweek meeting about the pits restoration took place with representatives of CEMEX, RSPB, Warwickshire County Council, West Midland Bird Club and three of the regular recorders which I'll do a separate blog about as soon as I can. 

My abdomen woes have continued but I've definitely had some improvement. Patch visits have been time limited but I've still managed to record three patch year ticks.

Chris Lane had recorded a Yellow-legged Gull in January but I'd not managed to see it myself. Thankfully I found what we think was the same bird early in the week on the main pit keeping company with two Herring Gulls. Three Lesser Blacked Backed Gulls were also recorded on a midweek visit.

When recording the impressive count of seven Green Sandpipers on Pophills, our annual Oystercatcher flew onto the island for it's visit of the year. Reading the other blogs and reports, they seem to be returning to their breeding grounds everywhere this week. Shelduck numbers increased to a maximum of four birds however only two were present on Sunday. Skylarks were singing high above the fields in three different locations.

Both Paul and I have been searching hard to try and find a Brambling in with the finch flocks around the orchards. Whilst no Bramblings were located, the orchards contained good numbers of Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Fieldfare and Redwing. 

Three birds outstanding on the patch list at the ends of January were Nuthatch, Tawny Owl and Little Owl so I've been trying every crevice possible within the boundary to find these birds. Thankfully I finally managed to see a Nuthatch in the Salford Priors church yard. Tawny & Little Owl next week ………….