A little blasé

With the car needing an overnight stay in the garage to be finished off, I stayed around the pits on Tuesday hoping for some movement. It was still pretty cold as I left the car but within a few steps I picked up a reeling Grasshopper Warbler round the edges of the over grown bramble by the pond. It only reeled once for about 20-25 seconds but despite having a really good search I couldn't find it. This was my first Gropper on site for three years so pleasing all the same.

The main pit was very active with birds - 20 Black-headed Gulls & 8 Common Gulls all sat on the water. These were my first Common Gulls of the year and the morning got better when I picked up two  Little Gulls in flight heading from Pophills direction. They flew over the main pit and continued their journey east. To be honest I was rather blasé about them, I was too busy trying to get news out to other pitters to even try and get a photo.

From there I tried driving the lanes searching the fields for Wheatears or Wagtails with no avail. Roll on tomorrow.

Movement at last

Lesser Whitethroat

Scanning at the pits

Super truck

Abbots Salford flash

 Gull trouble

Grey Heron family 

Sole remaining local Wigeon 

Cormorants 

Grey Heron

I was out around the patch on Monday - as my car was in for repair I was in my loaned super truck. I spent an age scanning for migrants but still no real movement. A Sand Martin was the only bird moving through whilst on the pits the main action involved the now resident Gulls who had got their hands on a egg for breakfast.  With five pairs flying around it could cause plenty of trouble for our regular breeding species.

I then tried Abbots Salford as they tend to attract warblers before ourselves. This theory was correct as I found a pair of Lesser Whitethroat clearly stealing a march on other warblers in the scrub. A single Wigeon was an interesting record whilst 7 Grey Heron & a Green Sandpiper were the other records of note. 

Late morning I met head of Ragley Farming Hamish Stewart for a coffee at Hillers. Hamish is very passionate about his conservation & explained how species such as Barn Owl, Skylark & Lapwing are doing really well. Of the 10 new Barn Owl that went up last year a number have new residents. Let's hope the Tree Sparrow boxes have similar success but everyone accepts this is more difficult. Whilst not a birder himself, Hamish was very interested in our sightings recorded and wished to be kept in touch. Let's hope this a first step to a progressive partnership.

Little Gull AGAIN.....

White Wagtail

White Wagtail

Little Ringed Plover

Goose feet

Red Kite

Little Gull in terrible light

Promising wind conditions beckoned all weekend but in all honesty it was still very cold and was hardly the weather to encourage migrants. Three White Wagtails were the only highlight on Saturday whilst on Sunday myself & Jon found our second Little Gull of the year but again not in summer plumage like many seen at other midland sites.

The monthly count included the following :- 15 Little Grebe, 3 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 4 Mute Swans (1 nest), 15 Greylag,  38 Canada Geese (4 nests), 5 Shelduck, 22 Gadwall, 13 Teal, 54 Mallard, 16 Shoveler, 77 Tufted Duck, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, 8 Buzzard, 68 Coot (1 nest), 3 Osyercatcher, 7 Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper, 2 Common Sandpiper, 8 Black-headed Gull, 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls (five pairs on territory), 11 Herring Gulls, 30 House Martin, 20 Swallows, a House Martin, 10 Meadow Pipits, 9 singing Blackcaps, 15 Chiffchaff, several Willow Warbler, pair of Raven, 5 Roe Deer & a Muntjac.

I also spent an hour down on the local farm catching up with local wildlife advocate & farmer Simon. We shared our recent sightings and discussed the spring with an air of excitement. During the hour sightings included a Red Kite, 12 Linnet and two Willow Warblers. 

A Glossy return to Upton

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Reflections

Can't ever go to Upton with a photo of the Avocets

Sand Martin

Swallows

Over the last month I've done a number of double shifts at work so I decided to claim back time owed with a week off for spring migration. 

I started with a return trip to Upton Warren hoping to get some better views of the Glossy Ibis. Willow Warbler were in good voice as I edged along the path to the flashes. The Avocet were in the company of a Little Ringed Plover & boisterous Black-headed Gulls but no sign of the Ibis until it flew over us back into the crop field out of view.

Andy Pitt has tipped me off about a Grasshopper Warbler seen by the steps. With a fair amount of patience I caught it reel twice but neither time for very long. There was 100+ Swallows feeding on the Sailing Lake with around 20 Sand Martin. After taking a few shots I returned to the Flashes where the Glossy Ibis was showing excellently. Now that's more like it. I grabbed an excellent coffee & a rattle with Worcester based birder Lloyd Evans before heading to the pits  where there was definitely movement as there were 20 House Martin, 22 Swallow and 5 Sand Martin but still no waders or Wheatears.

Ibis & Scoter double at Upton Warren

Upton Warren provided me with two bonus visits this week with a Common Scoter on the Sunday and a Glossy Ibis on Wednesday. Neither bird was particularly close and the dull light made any image taking very difficult. 

The drake Scoter was discovered on Sunday from the cafeteria. Whilst the bird was always distant the scope views were good. Sadly the Sailing Clubs speed boat was flying round (with no point at all) scaring the bird on a number of occasions. I got my better shots after it had been flushed, landing nearer to the shore line.

Then I was back after work on Wednesday to see an immature Glossy Ibis, my first for Upton Warren, feeding in a wet field, viewed from archery field. The Ibis was only the third record for the reserve and my first in Worcestershire.

The best news of the day was that the Glossy Ibis was Mike Inskips 200th species on reserve, well done sir. A real gentleman of Worcestershire birding. 

Little Gull lights up a wet Saturday

Little Gull

Little Gull

Little Ringed Plover

Roe Deer

Common Sandpiper

Bredon Hill

It was an early start on Saturday with a walk up Bredon Hill. The stiff walk was made slightly tougher by the very wet conditions underfoot. As we reached the top cold air moved in bringing showers followed by mist. We just had time to find three Ring Ouzels before retreating to the car and coffee in Alcester.

As Mrs D perused the shops I headed to the pits hoping something may have dropped in as it was still showering on and off. After doing the normal scans and counts I picked up a small gull close to the Oystercatcher island. I was pretty sure it was an adult winter plumaged Little Gull but didn't see it come in. As I switched to my camera on the tripod to get a couple of distant shots I was pretty happy I'd recorded the third record of this species on the site. As I switched back to the scope the bird had disappeared never to be seen again. I hunted everywhere but just couldn't relocate the bird. 

On Sunday we had a strong team in the field with Chris Lane joining myself & Jon. Conditions looked very favourable except the for cold breeze. Over all we left a bit disappointed despite recording three year ticks with those being 2 Willow Warbler, House Martin and 11 Swallow. Other sighting highlights included 4 Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, 2 Green Sandpiper, 4 Blackcap, female Pochard, 2 Grey Heron, Redpoll over & 3 Oystercatchers. 

Project Snowstorm

With all this springs Snowy Owl action I came across this great video about project Snowstorm. For more information about this amazing project check out their website.