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| Herring, LBBG and BHG on Longmoor Pool |
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| Herring Gulls (adult and 3rd cy) on Longmoor Pool |
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| A Mipit in a tree - monster hind claw showing |
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| Carrion Crow |
Notable were 2 Common Buzzard, 3 Grey Wagtail, 4 Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting, a Swallow over Powell's Pool and singing Blackcap and Chiffy.
Saturday I met up with Martyn for a Staffs Day, however not
before we perused a couple of ghetto birding sites once again. I’ll not say
much on this matter, as birding around derelict buildings and canals is not everyone's
cup of tea. We were slighty surprised to see a female Blackcap in Buddelia
in the Jewellery Quarter, but then even more surprised to find a Willow Warbler in subsong at the side of a
Digbeth canal. Also noted a pair of Grey Wagtail.
Later in the morning we arrived at Radford Meadows, where the
Common Crane showed well, but fairly distantly, providing me with a regional
tick. Very occasional Cranes are recorded passing through the region, but a twitchable Crane in Staffs is a very good bird. This Crane arrived on 5th
April and is presumably the same bird that was at Kingswood earlier that week.
At the time of writing the bird is still present. Also here an elusive pair of
Garganey that only provided one all too brief swim-past view and a Wheatear.
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| Staffordshire Crane - image courstey Martyn Yapp http://www.theregionaltick.blogspot.co.uk/ |
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| Elusive Garganoids - image coutesy Martyn Yapp http://www.theregionaltick.blogspot.co.uk/ |
The temptation of Ring Ouzel on Berry Hill was all too much and
we were soon on the road to this Stoke-on-Trent migration hotspot. Two had been
reported here this morning, but this remaining single male was more than enough.
We enjoyed fine views although the bird was at one point needlessly flushed
from its favoured slope by some pretty clueless birders who saw fit to walk through it. This is a great spot
for migrating birds, however there was nothing else around of any note,
everything else (including that mornings Wheatears) had apparently all passed
through.
The day ended with a visit to Gailey Reservoir. Noted here
13 Swallows, 3 Oystercatcher, 1 Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Reed Bunting and 3 Little
Grebe.
Easter Sunday and Monday I spent some time around south
Warwickshire haunts Draycote Water and BrandonMarsh.
At Brandon Marsh, waders included 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2
Redshank, 4 Oystercatcher and 15+ Common Snipe. Hirundines were now in large
numbers and these included 3 House Martin, c20 Swallow and larger numbers of
Sand Martin.
A Willow Tit was noted and Blackcaps, Chiffys and Willow
Warblers and Cetti’s Warbler could all be heard belting out song all around the reserve. There was
also an early Reed Warbler in the Gorse Pool reedbed, which gave occasional
subsong but did not show. Water Rail was also heard. 10 Common Gull were on the
reserve on Sunday.
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| Willow Warbler - image courtesy Mark Rayment |
Some Coot violence was witnessed from Carlton Hide, when a Coot tried to disturb a female on the nest. Her mate returned quick as a shot and proceeded to attempt to drown the infiltrator, grabbing it from from the back of it's neck. Facinating, but brutal bit of bird behaviour there.
Draycote, as it has done in previous years provided me with first
sightings of Yellow Wagtail with single birds on Farnborough Bank on the 8th
and one in Toft Bay on the 9th. 2 Little Ringed Plover and a lone
female Goldeneye were also in Toft. The rainy stormy conditions produced 2
Arctic Terns in the middle of the res with around 200 Black-headed Gulls and 20
or so Common Gull. Also provided a thorough soaking to finish off the weekend
with.
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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