On a cloudy morning, a little milder than lately, I decided to investigate Lower Park Farm Pools. There was a period about ten years ago when these pools were being created, that they sounded like a very promising habitat.
My one and only visit was a quick twitch to see a Bar-tailed Godwit one day in early May. It shared the pools with Common Terns and Oystercatchers, and evidently earlier years had produced more good waders. But the writing was probably already on the wall, for it was to be a series of fishing pools. The records dried up.
I decided to walk along the public footpath which skirts the western edge, and quickly discovered that an impenetrable Leylandii hedge very effectively screened the pools from prying eyes. Not to worry, the huge muddy field I was walking through looked like it had once sustained an oil seed rape, or maize crop (I'm pretty rubbish at crop identification) and in the far corner was a stand of maize acting as a game crop. Such places can be good for finches and buntings so I made a beeline.
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| A Jackdaw magnet |
On arrival I quickly established that there were at least 30 Chaffinches, a few Greenfinches, and a Reed Bunting feeding in there.
Walking around its edge I flushed three Partridges, and to my great surprise they were Grey Partridges. I was very pleased to find them. I last saw the species at Morton Bagot in about 2013, and they were more than a little plastic as I knew they were the survivors of a failed re-introduction scheme.
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| One of the Grey Partridges |
Grey Partridge was not on my radar as a potential Circle tick....but it should have been. Since getting home I have checked a few recent West Midland Bird Reports and there they are, present at Lower Park Farm/Rowney Green in 2018. Not the great discovery I had thought.
But this is a declining species, particularly in Worcestershire where the 2019 Report could name very few records.
Anyway, still floating on air, I retraced my steps and located a decent flock of 220 Redwings and 57 Fieldfares. I cursed my decision to leave my scope at home, it would have been very handy. A few Skylarks occupied the big field, and a fly-over Grey Wagtail was my second year-tick of the morning.
Once back at the car I decided to gatecrash the pools, driving in through the open gates and seeing whether the place might be worth further visits. It was very disappointing, a few Moorhens and Mallards plus a Grey Heron was hardly worth the possible ignominy of having to explain my presence to an irate fisherman.
I have clearly taken my eye off the ball as far as Worcestershire is concerned, and am looking forward to seeing what else I can "discover".
Two of the reasons I more or less gave up on Lower Park after about 2015 - the leylandii & the division of the original four pools into nine! It no doubt improved things for the anglers, but largely screwed things up for birding. There was a smattering of autumn passage - e.g. Chiffchaff, Whinchat, Redstart, Goldfinch - which were good for the site, but you had to be up there at first light & leave when the anglers arrived. Waterbirds & waders became very scarce, water-bodies too small, little shore-line & too much disturbance once the number of anglers and competitions increased hugely. Shame really, but it was always fishing pools even when it turned up decent birds.
ReplyDeleteHi Mike Thanks for the extra info. As ever, wildlife is squeezed out when it comes to the crunch.
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