Spring break (Day 3) - Lambert's Castle

Female Redstart

Male looking on from a safe distance

Singing actually above me

An area, another male 

Look I'm busy !

View towards Colmer's Hill

I was out very early to the National Trust owned Lambert's Castle on Sunday morning hoping to catch up with a few local Common Redstarts. Local birder Justin Tunstall marked my card that the birds were back in residence but they would just need a bit of finding.

It was a beautiful morning with the dawn chorus in full swing. I quickly established what looked to be the best areas and was rewarded with a male then a female Redstart landing right in front of me. The female posed beautifully teasing the male by flicking her tail. The male sat up about 40 yards away watching his potential mate.

After taking in the amazing views from the top of the iron age hill fort towards Colmer's Hill I carried on surveying the area to see what I could find. Yellowhammers were singing and a Sparrowhawk flew low through the orchard looking for any easy breakfast meal.

I then established two further male Redstart territories with the birds in full song enabling me to get some amazing footage. I must say this was the best I've seen this fantastic species. I was enjoying them so much I over looked taking a shot of a Spotted Flycatcher seen twice in favour of this colourful birds of the woodland. 

Spring break (Day 1) - RSPB Ham Wall

Ten days off work in May meant it was that time of year to head south to spend a few days with my parents using Lyme Regis as the usual base. Previous years I've gone direct to Portland so to mix things up I headed to RSPB Ham Wall.

At this time of year the reserve can be seen at its absolute best. Before leaving the car park Swifts were soaring overhead and a Cuckoo was calling high on some dead trees.

I saw and heard Garden Warblers in three seperate locations as I headed towards the Avalon hide. The hide was full of photographers so I had to wait a while to get a good viewing position. Two Bitterns emerged flying very high but struggled with it being so windy. As they beat their wings they just didn't make any progress, in the end they gave up and landed distantly. 

There were many sighting of Great White & Little Egrets but apparently the breeding Cattle Egrets had not been seen since the very cold weather.

As the weather warmed up a number of Hobby's emerged, a couple at first then I reached three within the same scope view. 

With the water levels very high I walked through to Shapwick Heath, where remarkably I found some passage waders. A Greenshank, 2 Ringed Plover & a Little Ringed Plover were all on the first lagoon. 

Satisfied with a good morning I headed out towards Glastonbury Tor on the way further south.

Spring break (Day 2) - Portland & Lyme Regis

Sandwich Tern

Wheatear

Little Terns

Great Black-backed Gulls

Little Terns

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

Purple Sandpiper

My first full day in Dorset so I headed east towards Portland. First stop was Ferrybridge, where I found a sneaky early bird car parking bay that gives you great views of the Fleet and right opposite the Little Tern colony. The Terns were very active but I'd estimate there were around 50 Little Terns & 12 Sandwich Terns present. A Ringed Plover had also established territory so it could be a very exciting spring.

Down at the Bill sea watching was about quality rather then quantity. An Arctic Skua ( one of two seen) came really close to lighthouse chasing a gull and I also added two Great & Pomarines. Other passage included 100+ Manx Shearwaters, 30+ Common Scoter, a Great Northern Diver & 30 Gannets. Guillemot & a couple of Razorbills were on the sea and cliffs. On the deck it was much quieter than expected however I did see a Tree Sparrow in the observatory garden and also picked up a couple of Rock Pipits & a Wheatear. 

After a quick recharge I got the bike ready and did a very difficult lap of Lyme Regis. I was rather pleased the 11 regular Purple Sandpiper were still present and even in winter plumage. 

Salford Priors GP latest

Time for a quick catch up with latest sightings. Arctic Tern found by the Squire on 27th April was a welcome year tick for the patch, the bird fed for around 20 minutes before heading north.

The Wheatear passage remains dreadful however I did find one midweek which was the second for the year at the pits and also my first on site.

On Saturday I thought I try and do as many of the habitats in depth to see if I could muster up a reasonable score in the West Midland All-dayer. To be honest it was very tough going but it was for all the West Midlands area. I didn't really bag anything out of the ordinary but due to the lack of movement  everywhere else my solo score of 77 looked very reasonable. Best birds were Cuckoo, Great Crested Grebe, Swift & Common Sandpiper. 

I didn't visit on Sunday opting for morning in the forest (see next blog) but Monday there did seem an influx of Common Whitethroats. 

The only other sighting to report was a Hobby seen by Paul Rhodes on the south of the pits by the A46 taking our year list to 115.

Sunday Double

Pied Flycatcher

Stunning morning

Frog ID please

Some off fella behind the bench

Pied Flycatcher

Black Tern

Black Tern

Black Tern

 

With very little movement being reported I headed to the Wyre Forest on Sunday to take advantage of the weather but also the cover available. I won't blog about every step of the morning as I've done that on a previous blog.

The star performers of the morning were definately the Pied Flycatchers. I didn't take a photo in the first hour of the walk but in one of the favoured spots a male bird perched superbly enabling me get take a few nice shots and also record a video clip. 

Word of warning if you are going, go early. The car park on Dry Mill Lane was at capacity as we left. We stopped in Bewdley for a spot of lunch as they had a food festival on before heading for home.

No sooner were we home when a Black Tern was reported for the second time at Earlswood Lakes. Earlswood is only fifteen minutes from home so I headed over to see this fantastic looking bird. The bird was reported on Engine Pool but thankfully it had relocated to Windmill pool. 

The bird sat perched on a buoy and only flew when flushed by one of the sailing boats. The Tern did not seem over fussed by the boats or the local rugby term that arrived for an afternoon swim ! Quite a sight. 

Sunday twitch for Llanmill Green Heron

Fantastic twitch location

One of my favourite photos of the year

On the hunt for another snack

Posing for everyone

Amazing views 

Local signage made it even easier to find

A few video clips put together

Last weekend was one of those weekends when I fancied a rarity. I was so engrossed in Dusty's West Midland Basketball final I didn't even notice my phone had to gone off with texts from people all saying the same "GREEN HERON WALES". After a quick recharge and an assessment was made it would be all systems go as soon as the bird was reported the next day.

With Chris now on Anglesea & the Squire on civic duties, young birder Jack joined myself and WarwickRCBirder (wearing what had to be described as a big shirt for birding)for the trip to Llanmill in Pembrokeshire. The journey time of 3 hours 10 minutes was made slightly easier by the ease of the Sunday traffic. 

We were all expecting a scramble for car parking and scrum to see the bird. For some reason people had not travelled in any numbers, there were only 35-40 birders maximum.

The location was a very nice pond (mini lake) in the garden of local MP Simon Hart who had kindly given permission for birders to view the bird from his terrace. The bird was in hiding when we first arrived but we didn't have to wait long to see the bird extremely well. The term "showing well' wouldn't reflect well on the experience as bird stalked its prey, caught fish, flew & preened all within 100 metres. 

The small heron, about 40cm, reminded me of the Dwarf Bittern seen earlier this year. The colours of the birds feathers were just stunning, it's so good to see a bird this well. The bird clearly got lost on it's spring migration from central to north America. This was Pembrokeshire'd first record and the 8th for Britain. The last sighting of a Green Heron was in Cornwall in 2010. 

With the third lifer in the bag for the year the normal Coldplay playlist was put on for the drive home. The excitement was too much for young Jack as he was asleep quicker than Squire is normally but thankfully without the snoring. Quite a day……..

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.