Sunday October 13 - Out of action

 Unfortunately I found myself unable to go birding over the weekend. 

Fortunately the birds don't care about that, and migration carried on regardless. I counted 34 Redwings heading west and two Swallows going south early on Saturday morning, so even from the house you can feel a part of it in some small way.

So this post is just a round up of the exploits of others locally. Tony was ringing at Morton Bagot on Friday, and was pleased to catch a Redwing among other birds.

Redwing - Tony Kelly

Dave put in a shift at Morton Bagot this morning, counting 17 Snipe, 52 Teal, two Stonechats and a few Redwings.

Meanwhile the Yellow-browed Warbler continued to frustrate would-be observers at Earlswood, showing well to the fortunate few, and just offering up occasional bursts of calling to the majority. I'm not entirely sure how many have been located in the West Midlands over the last few days, but I've heard of at least six.

I'll just count myself fortunate to have participated in the fun.

Friday October 11 - Earlswood Lakes

 Early this morning the temperature had plunged to zero, and I found myself scraping the frost off the car and wondering how I had missed the aurora borealis visible to so many overnight. I looked, it wasn't there.

The plan was to revisit Earlswood where both the Yellow-browed Warbler and the Lesser Whitethroat had been seen again yesterday. I was particularly keen to see the latter because John Oates' photographs showed a bird with plumage tones suggestive of the Siberian race blythi. Unfortunately without capturing it or obtaining a dropping to check its DNA there was little chance to prove it either way.

I arrived in bright sunshine and saw four Snipe and a Shoveler on Engine Pool.

I'd convinced myself that conditions overnight would have persuaded my target species' to head off to who knows where, and on reaching the pumping station there was nothing to suggest otherwise. A flock of 11 Redwings heading south was all I had to show for fifteen minutes of standing around.

John Oates arrived and offered to show me where he had seen the Lesser Whitethroat. Shortly before we arrived at the spot, a welcome "chi-wee" told us that at least the Yellow-browed Warbler was still present. More standing around ensued, followed by a little exploring, before the bird in question showed itself. Unfortunately it was in a sallow between us and the fierce morning sun, so my faint hope of getting a photograph in the thirty seconds or so available went out of the window.

There was also no sign of the Lesser Whitethroat. One good thing about standing around chatting, apart from the company, was the opportunity to record whatever was flying over. Thus we added several Skylarks, a Siskin, Meadow Pipits, and more Redwings to the morning's haul.

A few more birders arrived but by the time I had to leave, the Yellow-browed had fallen silent and could not be relocated. My final noteworthy record came from Malthouse car-park where I heard a Redpoll flying over.

Wednesday October 9 - Yellow browed Warbler at Earlswood

What is it they say? "I love it when a plan comes together." I visited Earlswood Lakes this morning with Yellow-browed Warbler firmly in mind. 

My plan was to study the bushes carefully and hope for the best, a bit like every October day to date. It never works.....until it does.

I'd reached the Scrublands at the end of Windmill Pool, and heard a Chiffchaff. Shortly afterwards I heard a different call. It was distant, but sounded like a Yellow-browed Warbler. I couldn't quite believe it, so chose not to. Instead I headed along the dog-walkers track towards the road hoping I would hear it again. There was nothing doing, so I returned to the pumping station where I almost immediately heard it again. The more it called, the more sure I was. I decided to take the plunge and inform the Whatsapp Group.

The occasional "che-wee" calls on this lovely video of a Sallow bush are made by the bird. The much closer calls are made by Robins etc. 

About half an hour later John Oates arrived, and he wasn't messing about. It started calling again, so we waded towards the sallows. He played a recording of its call at it and like magic the bird appeared. We had sufficient views to confirm it, big eyestripe, two wing-bars, the lot. What a star.

I couldn't have been happier. The only downside was that neither of us got photos. A little while after John Sirrett arrived I had to leave, but John Oates was still intending to get a shot so I'm hopeful of a result later on.

While we listened for it, a Siskin and seven Redwings flew over.

 

PS: Early in the afternoon John Oates managed a record shot of the bird which he has kindly allowed me to include on the blog. 

Yellow-browed Warbler - John Oates

I've also heard that John Sirrett saw the bird and also a Lesser Whitethroat. Interesting!

Sunday October 6 - Morton Bagot

 A cloudy morning with a little drizzle from time to time and a very light south-easterly.

I was joined by Dave, fresh from a holiday on Scilly, so it was probably down to earth with a bump for him. Tony was also on site ringing, and had caught a Treecreeper before we reached him.

As for us, it wasn't too bad. At least 65 Teal were on the nearest flash along with a single Green Sandpiper. We had earlier flushed about a dozen Snipe from the scrape field, and I suspect they were now on the flash field although we could only see one.

Also present in the scrape field were a pair of Stonechats, about 20 Meadow Pipits, and about 10 Linnets. We regularly saw Jays all morning, and at least four Kestrels. 

It wasn't the ideal weather for taking photographs, but the fact they are on display at least means that the blog is still working as it should.

We saved the best till last as five Swallows and 22 Redwings flew over. The largest flock of the latter were accompanied by a single finch or bunting, but they were too far away to give us a chance of identifying it.

Tony's results for the weekend were as follows:

Great Spotted Woodpecker 2

Blue Tit 47 (25)

Great Tit 13 (9)

Long-tailed Tit 3

Goldcrest 3

Treecreeper 2

Chiffchaff 5

Blackcap 5

Robin 2 (1)

Dunnock 3

Wren 2

Meadow Pipit 27

Chaffinch 2

Greenfinch 20

Goldfinch 8

Reed Bunting 4

Reed Bunting  - Tony Kelly

For the next few weeks one might expect loads of Scandinavian migrants to be darkening the skies. It's an exciting time of year.

Friday October 4 - Earlswood Lakes again

 This afternoon I found myself visiting Earlswood Lakes again, not on spec this time. Instead I was twitching a pair of Common Pochard. It seems crazy to an oldie like myself that Pochards require a special visit. Back in the day blah blah blah..yes I know, boring! 

Anyway this should have been a quick turn up, see them and leave kind of twitch. If I'd had any sense it would have been, but having not seen them on my initial scan I chose to walk to the causeway in case they'd flipped over to Windmill Pool. They weren't there either, so on my walk back I decided to do what I should have done in the first place and check the other side of the rafts.

And there they were, a smart drake and his dowdy companion.

 

Blogspot is playing up again, but I have managed to post my record shot of the Pochard this time.

I feel that the days of this Blog might be numbered.

Thursday October 3 - Earlswood Lakes

 With the wind still from the east, and after two or three days of drizzle this morning's sunshine encouraged me back into the field. The West Midlands still feels like the poor relation compared to almost every other part of the country.

Where to go? I opted for Earlswood, and began by checking out the scrublands at the end of Windmill Pool. Here I found three Chiffchaffs but nothing more exciting. 

Moving onto the lakes themselves, a couple of hours of reasonably careful birding added nothing better than a couple of Swallows and a trickle of Meadow Pipits heading south.

A Kingfisher posed on one of the rafts, so at least my camera made a brief appearance.

I didn't see any other birders, but evidently they were about because upon returning home I learned of a Stonechat, a Red Kite and some Redwings in various parts of the site.

Maybe I'll be luckier next time.

Lower Bittell Reservoir - A fool's errand

 Earlier this year I noticed that the BTO were asking people to volunteer to count gulls at gull roosts. I used to do this so thought I would apply to count the one "vacant" locality within my circle of interest; Lower Bittell Reservoir.

Now I know what you are thinking. Surely Lower Bittell doesn't have a gull roost. That's what I thought too, but maybe my knowledge was out of date.

I didn't hear anything after I applied, but I assumed that once I logged on to their website I would be able to enter data anyway.

It turns out I couldn't. Presumably my application went unnoticed. This was probably just as well because, guess what. There were no gulls whatsoever roosting (or even popping in for a look) at Lower Bittell this evening.

At least I got a Bittell tick out of it. Great White Egrets are semi-resident there nowadays, but in my very few recent visits I had managed to miss them until this evening. In poor light, photographed through a hedge, I managed a horribly out of focus record shot.

This may not have been the best bird recorded though. I also heard a Water Rail squealing from reeds below the locked entrance gates.

All in all it was an evening I'd prefer to forget.