Black-necked Grebe at Earlswood

Black-necked Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

 Common Tern

Great Crested Grebes

A glorious weekend for cricket but not so good for birding with very little movement in the Midlands. The only report of note from Salford Priors was eight Teal including six drake that were present on Sunday.

For a change on Sunday afternoon we opted to have a walk around Earlswood Lakes as it's a nice circular walk and has plenty to look at. Four Common Tern were around for most of the visit and it was enjoyable to the see the Great Crested Grebes with their broods. A Green Woodpecker was showing well in the horse paddocks but was just out of distance of the camera.

I made a surpising return on Monday as patch birder Matt dropped me a text that a Black-necked Grebe was on the Engine Pool early afternoon. Quickly out of work, I arrived in about 45 minutes and was quickly on the bird. The bird stayed quite distant initally but kindly drifted towards the west bank where it was amazing to see the Grebe in full summer plumage, the red eye & yellow ear tuffs really stood out in the afternoon sunshine. Just a fantastic bird to see on a Monday after a full day at work.

Squacco Heron at Ogmore-by-Sea

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron

View of the flash from corner of car park

The Watermill Pub

I was well up for a days birding somewhere different over the weekend but I certainly didn't expect to be watching a Squacco Heron from a pub car park on Sunday lunchtime. The report came through just I'd finished at Salford so I jumped on to the M5 to join the M50 for the 2 hour journey. The traffic was light considering it was a Bank Holiday weekend and I was even more pleased that there were only two other birders watching the Heron feeding on a small flash. 

The stunning bird was in full summer plumage like I saw out in the Gambia and had certainly settled in well to its new surroundings, catching a range of small fish and frogs. Squacco's get their name from their piercing call and it was interesting to note how small the bird seemed compared to the resident Grey Heron's. 

This was my ninth new UK species for 2016 and a delightful one. Easy drive, plenty of parking and only a couple of birders present. 

New arrivals at pits

Hunting hobby

Fox cub

 Yellowhammer

 Little Owl on my way home

Little Owl

Distant female Ruff

Redshank 

Three consecutive day visits to Salford Priors over the weekend saw no movement with waders. The only waders around the site were the Little Ringed Plovers and the Oystercatchers who are trying to nest in their third location of the spring. 

Sunday mornings visit did result in two fox cubs playing before taking a hiding postition photographed above. Very cute, however I also witnessed an adult Fox removing eggs from a Mute Swans nest. Sadly last weeks pair of Pochard's were not around but I certainly haven't given up hope whilst the pair of Shelduck so seem to be continually harassed by another bird.

The highlight of the morning was a Hobby hunting over south lagoons and a Cuckoo around the central lagoon & bunds. House Martin numbers seem to be much better this year whilst I have counted over 400 Swifts on four different visits.  The water table has remained to high this spring so we have done well to record the species we have.

On Saturday I paid my third visit of the week to Upton Warren mainly to record my first Ruff of the year. Plenty of good chat in the hides as always. Avocet number have increased to a record 43 whilst there was a Shoveler brood of 18 ! 

On the way home on Sunday I called in to see my local Little Owls. After an intial game of hide and seek I managed to take a couple of images.

Short-eared Owl is mid May bonus

Short-eared Owl

Short-eared Owl 

Whitethroat

Shortie in flight above the pits

April Patch Challenge table

 Damselfly

 Skylark

 Reed Bunting

Goosanders on main pit

When away in Norfolk last weekend Mike Inskip reported a Ruff , Black-tailed Godwit & a Grey Plover. The Plover & Ruff were the first records of the year. The red-headed Smew made a second visit of month when arriving late in the afternoon. 

The first visit after my trip to Dorset resulted in me finding a Short-eared Owl which is one of my favourite bird. The graceful Owl was hunting the central area before landing the fields my the main pit. I managed to get a couple of record shots before the bird was mobbed by the local corvids and took cover. I did return in the evening where Mark and I had some fantastic views before the bird's hunting drew attention of the corvids again. This was the first time I'd seen a Short-eared Owl at the pits and is a welcome two pointer in the patch challenge (April table above).

Our Goosander count reached three at the weekend, a strange sighting at this time of year. Three Cuckoo's were seen down at Abbots Salford in addition to one calling on the top of migrant hill. Two Pochard remain around the main pit and we are hoping they may attempt to breed. This would be a new record for the site. 

A Common Tern briefly fished the south lagoon in front of us before moving on. There really wasn't anything else of note sadly. The winds are the varied weather seem to have stopped the flow of migrants. The Shortie certainly made the week ! 

Warwickshire April sightings

The Warwickshire sightings page has been updated to include a very good April, especially for Salford Priors. All sightings are published in nationally published Bird Watching magazine. Many thanks to Jon Bowley for his efforts. 

Sanderling & Marsh Harrier at Upton Warren

Two Sanderling

Two Sanderling

Marsh Harrier under attack

 Marsh Harrier

 Black-tailed Godwit

Avocets 

Coot chicks

After completing my morning walk around Salford Priors I headed over to the Flashes at Upton Warren for a quick visit. This ended up being about four hours with the reserve being full of good birds as well as catching up with Terry "Gullman" Hinnet and fellow pitter Mike Inskip.

Two Sanderling were the original star attraction and were showing well with three Dunlin. This was the first sighting of the species since May 2013. The waders were creeping closer to the hide when everything was flushed by a Marsh Harrier hunting the far reed bed. The larger gulls mobbed the Harrier every time it tried to get near to the reeds until it eventually gave up and headed south. 

Other sightings included a Black-tailed Godwit, two Oystercatchers, Cetti's Warbler, two Shelduck, Lapwings with 11 chicks, a Shoveler, four Gadwall, 34 Avocets with just one chick & five Little Ringed Plover. Finally there were three Common Tern on the education reserve as I headed back to the car.

Lyme Regis Dunlin

After a very busy Saturday, Sunday was going to be an easier day so (before spending a leisurly day walking with my parents at West Bay) I made a short walk to the front before breakfast. After passing a family of Grey Wagtails on the stream & a Rock Pipt I found a pair of Dunlin among the rock pools. The waders were very confiding and I mange to sit myself down and watch the birds feed for over an hour in fantstic light. House Martins continued to land close by pulling sea-weed off the rocks.  Sometimes the simple hours of birding are the most pleasurable.