WHERE WILL IT END?

11th July 2012
One or two Redstarts seen in the north of the County today and a trickle of waders in the week but no sign of any passage migrants in the Caldecote area today. A Nutchatch was a new bird for the patch though.
Now I feel the need for a chunter. I'm old enough to remember when Birdwatching was just that - watching birds. Now its a whole social networking thing, if you want it to be of course. You can still do your own thing, you just dont see so much. On the other hand you spend so much time phoning or looking at the internet to see who else has seen what you still dont see much. Most people are sort of in the middle ground we need information but like to 'do a bit' for ourselves. I'ts techno birding, very useful up to a point, but as new media, the lastest must have hits the shops I have to admit I'm struggling: Birdin', Twitchin', Postin', Networkin',Paging, Bloggin', Followin', Bein' followed, snapin', filin', listin', croppin', sharpenin', Tweetin', mowin' the lawn, - too much, too much. WHERE WILL IT END?

Yellow legged Gull in the Tame valley

Monday 9th July  2012

Yellow legged Gull

Yellow legged Gull

Yellow legged Gull

Yellow legged Gull

The adult Yellow legged Gull has returned to spend the summer at Kingsbury Water Park. It seems to prefer the larger pools:Hemlingford and Bodymoor heath Waters. Note the moulting inner primaries.

Raindrops keep falling.....

Saturday 7th July 2012
A large number of Swifts were feeding very high over Bentley Woods this morning,They were spread over quite a large area so impossible to give even an estimate. At Shustoke reservoir a Common Sandpiper was seen, perhaps a returning bird. The regular count of 27ish Common tern were still present. At Coton there were 60 Coot and a number of Ringlet butterflies.Cliff pool was completely flooded.

The continuing story of the Coots: yesterdays unrelenting rain had caused the river Tame to flood. Despite the best efforts of the Coots their eggs were now lying in water and were temporarily abandoned as one of the Coots made last ditch efforts to save the nest .

The female carefully tries to roll the egg higher up in the nest, perilously close to the edge.

As the rain hammers down the Coot does her best to incubate the egg

Rain

A Common tern during a sunny spell.

Where's Noah when you need him?

Friday 6th July 2012
Looked in at most of the Tame valley sites at least once during the week but very little moment yet. Good views of Cetti's, a juvenile Peregrine, Hobby and all the usual breeding warblers. Common Terns at Shustoke res. showed some interest in breeding judging by the noise and pairing off going on. Managed to not see the Little Gull and Mandarin present in the valley this week though.

Desperate measures as Coots react to rising water levels in the Tame valley

More of the nest disappears as waters continue to rise.

Monday 2nd July 2012
Evidence of some breeding success at Shustoke Res. in the form of recently fledged Swallows but a count of 31 Common Terns loafing around an indication of the problems facing many species in the area caused by the poor weather.

Young Swallow

Visible Migration, not

2nd July 2012
Really getting into this vis migging idea. Took myself off to a Warks Obs outpost at the Wood Farm Brewery yesterday for a bit of vis migging before the match. Good as anywhere, plenty of sky, no birds in it, but plenty of sky. As a distraction from sky watching I enjoyed a couple of pints of Webb Ellis and met a puppie called Rupert which I think is an excellent name for a puppie. Other trivia included seeing Roland Rat in the sky! Nobody else in my family can see it, what do you think?

There, am I right?

Great view of the Warwickshire countryside

Staying local

1st July 2012
A pinch and a punch on the first of the month to you all. Spent yesterday morning walking local sites. Caldecote Hall area produced a single Yellow wagtail, a good number of Skylarks, 3 Linnets, a couple of Reed Buntings, 2 Oystercatcher flying over and an Emperor Dragonfly.
The fields adjacent to the Coventry canal between the Anchor pub and Atherstone produced very little of interest. Sad to see a good winter site for Tree sparrow along the canal near Mansetter destroyed with hedges replaced by ornamental gardens with none idigenous plants. Thats progress for you.
On a more positive note Steve Haynes has set up a Twitter site for Bird sightings in North Warwickshire called Warks bird obs. The idea is to encourage the reporting of local sightings of birds on the move through the area. This may in turn encourage birders  to do more 'patch' watching and find more birds away from the well watched 'hot spots'. Its worth a try anyway.