Rouzling around over Easter

                                                   Bredon Hill

                                 Common Redstart (Cleeve Common)

                                      Ring Ouzel (Cleeve Common)

                                          Ring Ouzel (Cleeve Common)

                                         A very elusive Ring Ouzel

                                 Common Redstart (Cleeve Common)

                     View of Cheltenham Racecourse from Cleeve Common

                                            Female Wheatear 

                                            Green Woodpecker

                                             Redshank (Grimley)

                                               Garganey (Grimley)

                                          Yellow Wagtail (Grimley)

                                              Lapwing (Grimley)

                                          White Wagtail (Grimley)

                                         Yellow Wagtail (Grimley)

                                                 Teal (Grimley)

                                             Black-necked Grebe

                                             Black-necked Grebe

                                              Birding in Oldbury

Easter holidays gave me extra time to get outside and undertake some quality birding.

I broke up on Thursday so I visited the pits very early where I recorded the sites first House Martin, a female Merlin (flushed on farm building) & 4 Little Ringed Plover. Rob Evans noted a valuable year tick when he picked up a Curlew flying through.

On Friday, Mrs D and I did a 3.8 mile circular romp around Bredon. The walk was actually better than the birding due to a cold north easterly wind blowing in our faces. We were hoping for an early Ring Ouzel but searching was difficult. We had to satisfy ourselves with a Common Redstart, 4 Red Kite, Meadow Pipits, Mistle Thrush and finally a singing Blackcap.

Blackcaps had arrived at the pits Saturday morning and there were three Willow Warblers in song. From there I met the Squire for a steep 4 mile walk up Cleeve Common near Cheltenham. As we headed up we passed many singing Chiffchaff, a Willow Warbler and a very showy male Common Redstart. When reaching the summit the walking wasn't over as we needed to do a great deal of searching for a Ring Ouzel. We did find a male but the bird was very elusive so we had to be satisfied with some distant views. 

After a quick recharge of batteries we headed to Grimley in the afternoon where the reported Chanel Wagtail had moved on to pastures new but there was an excellent cast of birds including a Cattle Egret, Yellow Wagtail, drake Garganey & Redshank.

Sundays count at the pits noted an increase of the LRP's to 5 and a female Wheatear was new. I managed to finally get a photograph of the Green Woodpecker that has teased me for weeks.

The weekend was wrapped up with a visit to the Chemical Pool close to my office near Tipton where a Black-necked Grebe has been found. The bird was in stunning summer plumage however viewing was very limited so I made a hasty retreat to the M5 & headed home.

Yankee doodle dandy

Northern Mockingbird

Perching high

Mockingbird preening

Finders original tweet 

Video from YouTube

American Herring Gull

Hoping for a cheap lunch

Rock Pipit

The beast in the harbour

Underwing shot

Posing nicely

Views

AHG circled

YouTube video

                                              
The third lock-down seemed by far the longest & frustratingly we all had to stay local but it could have been far worse. It certainly didn’t help when the news broke that a Northern Mockingbird had been found in Exmouth on 6^th February. (apparently first seen on 23^rd January). It is well known that quite a number of birders twitched the bird from far afield but I was just not comfortable with that approach, I would have to wait until the restrictions were lifted. Every day I would see the bird appear on BirdGuides hoping it would have an extended stay.

I duly hatched a plan to book a day off and try and see the bird after the initial post-lockdown rush. Being in a residential area, I wasn’t keen to be involved in any fuss. I just wanted to see the bird safely and without any privacy issues. 

The Mockingbird was the 3rd record for the UK and the first since 1988. Let's not underestimate this was a must see bird. The journey down was trouble free and parking was very easy. There was only ever a maximum of eight birders on site at any one time all viewing safely and distanced. The bird came into view quickly in it's favoured holly tree before then flying around a number of different gardens. The white feathering looked stunning when the bird was preening and in flight. After getting a satisfactory view I duly departed as I'd decided Cornwall would be my next destination for a chance to see my second American bird of the day.

Traffic was light so the journey to Newlyn Harbour was very smooth. I could actually see the American Herring Gull from the roadside. The Gull seemed comfortable and was no doubt wondering why he was getting the attention from half a dozen birders. This first winter individual had been present since 23rd March and had been a species which I'd never had the opportunity to see before.

On the journey home I stopped at a couple of different locations to break the journey up highlights included Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin, Ring-necked Duck, Scaup & a juvenile Iceland Gull. 

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. 

Kittiwake & slow going

                                           Kittiwake(3rd site record)

                                     Nice comparison with Gadwall

                                                    Pergerine

                                            Now thats a look.......

                                                   Meadow Pipit

                                                   Young lambs

                                      Trouble makers are back again

                                                      Kittiwake

                                                     Roe Deer

                                                    Cormorant flock

We all seemed to be on tenderhooks for March to arrive and yet when it did there are actually very few changes. This is the first blog for three weeks as there has been nothing to blog about except a couple of changes this week. 

The pits have had plenty of visits by a number of the team yet the sightings have been limited. Here are the best of the sightings (date in brackets when first seen)

Little Ringed Plover (17/3), 1 Kittiwake (17/3), Ring-necked Parakeet FIRST SITE RECORD (16/3),  2 Brambling, 7 Little Grebe, 20 Cormorant, 7 Mute Swan, 16 Canada Goose, 5 Greylag, 1 Shelduck (not settled), 8 Gadwall, 9 Teal, 180 Mallard, 16 Shoveler, 5 Pochard, 95 Tufted Duck, 1 Goosander, 2 Red Kite, 2 Sparrowhark, 1 Peregrine, 2 Green & GS Woodpecker, 4 Lapwing, 1 Snipe, 40 Meadow Pipit, 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Cettis Warbler, 2 Raven, 20 LBB Gull, 5 singing Chiffchaff, 1 Blackcap (19/3), 1 Barn Owl, 1 Tawny Owl, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Sand Martin (11/3)  still plenty of Chaffinch & Linnet but the Fieldfare & Redwing flocks have reduced to just a handful.

Hopefully the migration tap will be turned on very soon and we will get the migrants floodng through. The year list now stands at 89 for year.

Year list at pits moves to 82

                                                      Skylark

                                  The formely known as the main spit

                                                     Roe Deer
Our site year list at Salford Priors increased to 82 with the additions of a Tawny Owl (The Squire) & a Great Crested Grebe which was on Kingley Pool on Sunday morning. Other highlights included the second Oystercatcher returning and some amazing close views of the Skylark.

Best counts of the week were as follows:- 1 Shelduck, 5 Teal, 12 Shoveler, 55 Tufted Duck, 8 Pochard, 1 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Oystercatcher, 1 Grey Heron, 15 Lesser Black-backed Gull, 1 Grey Wagtail, Red Kite, 8 Buzzard,80 Linnet, 40 Chaffinch, 3 Brambling. 

Hopefully our first Sand Martin, Wheatear & Little Ringed Plover will be arriving before the next blog.