Thursday September 21 - Twitching the local stuff

 Yesterday was a bit of a day. Temptations were everywhere, and one of these was a juvenile Ruff discovered at Earlswood late in the afternoon. I was tempted to go immediately, but played it cool and went this morning.

I joined Joe and John on the causeway. The Ruff was on the only patch of shore on Windmill Pool and was very easy to see.

Ruff

We were joined by Ken (KL) who just had time to get an eyeful before two thoughtless fishermen (without rods) felt it was appropriate to walk onto the shore loudly discussing the presence of "twitchers" and even noticing the Ruff as it attempted to land after they had flushed it. We watched it circle the reservoir before leaving to the north-east.

Other birds seen were three Common Sandpipers, four Ravens, numerous hirundines (Joe later saw all three common species) and a constant movement of Meadow Pipits which I didn't log. I just missed a Hobby, but saw a Sparrowhawk.

Common Sandpiper

After this excellent start I had to decide whether to birdwatch at Earlswood properly or try another site in the hope of finding another refugee of the storm. 

I opted for Bittell Reservoirs, having not been there since early June. Parking at Alvechurch Fisheries, I discovered two Common Sandpipers there. Scoping from the dam at Lower Bittell I counted the small number of waterbirds in view. These included 16 Little Grebes, two Little Egrets, and a Green Sandpiper. A flock of large gulls circled from the direction of Upper Bittell, but if they were mobbing anything I couldn't see it.

I decided to step out of my self-imposed Circle (patch), and visit Upper Bittell. The sight that greeted me was a very large number of dabbling duck, Geese, and Coots. These I diligently counted from the dam, but without a permit I could not see many more birds which were screened from view in the north-west corner. At least I finally saw the presumed escapee Tundra Bean Goose for a belated Bittell tick, just over a year since it was found. That is playing it cool. Other dodgy wildfowl were a drake Mandarin, and a Bar-headed Goose.

What I couldn't find was any waders at all. Not even a Lapwing. Stacks of shoreline and lots of wildfowl and Gulls on it. A major drawback was my distance from the action. Even with a scope it was hard to locate and count the Teal (96 at least). I have recently been contemplating the unthinkable (adjusting my Circle border to include Upper Bittell), but after today I'm still undecided.