The price of Fame

Just be patient

Nearly there

Stonechat, Middleton lakes

Friday 30th October 2009

Found myself in a bit of a traffic jam at Bodymoor Heath this morning. Shame really cos these people wanted my autograph which I thought was a little odd even odder that they seemed to want their shirts written on as well. But they were quite patient as the mega vehicles with somebody called Ashley Young and Nigel Reo-coker got out of the way. I must say I found the whole experience quite humbling. I hadn't realised birders had achieved Celebrity status, well not in Warwickshire, although I gather there are several in Staffs who have been seen on the inside cover of Hello magazine or was it the Sun. Can you imagine......no we wont go there!

After that birding in the Tame valley was a bit, well Tame. At Drayton Bassett, a Stonechat posed nicely.

I retired to Kingsbury Water Park to hear a very illuminating lecture held jointly by Ron Thomas and John Harris on 'The history of Warwickshire - the vice County, and its birds'.

Lesser black backed Gull

Juvenile Lesser black backed Gull

Thursday 29th October 2009
Many thanks to Alan Dean for the comprehensive explanation of why yesterdays Gull sp was indeed a Lesser black backed Gull. If you had seen the gull in the middle of a roost you wouldn't think twice about calling it a Lesser black backed but a individual gull that you can see every detail of is more likely to get you thinking.

It’s a juvenile Lesser Black-back. It still has entirely juvenile feathers – no moult at all yet to first-winter scapulars and mantle, and hence their ‘simple’ pattern. This itself is indicative of LBB in a late October bird (some Herring may not have any 1W feathering by late October but others do, while in rarer species such as YLG and Caspian, being earlier breeders, the young have obvious grey-based 1W feathering to mantle and scapulars by September or even late August). Other LBB characters include the solidly dark tertials with just white fringe terminally, the long wing-projection, and the dusky head. The bill looks quite long but there is individual variation – it’s probably a male.

Regards, Alan

Gull sp

Wednesday 28th October 2009

Well I was going to prattle on about the highlight of my day being the large flocks of Fieldfare flying over the biggest of which being about 300 birds near Maxstoke - but you dont want to know that. No, you want to test your Gull identification skills. So have a look at this. I'd assumed it was a juvenile Lesser Black backed Gull but I'm not 100%. Bill looks long, head looks small. I dont know. The photo was taken at Shustoke reservoir this morning.

Harlequin invaders from Asia

Harlequin or Asian Ladybird - Harmonica axyridis, Fishers Mill

Harlequin Ladybird

Harlequin Ladybird

Harlequin Ladybird

Harlequin Ladybird

Red crested Pochard, Alvecote pools

Red crested Pochard

Red crested Pochard

Tuesday 27th October 2009

Started by having a look round Coton lakes. There were 3 Ruddy duck among the regular Wildfowl but apart from a few Redwing nothing else was noted. At Kingsbury Water Park it was a similar story with a single female Goldeneye the only new bird on show. The walk along the canal to Fishers Mill was strangely quiet no walkers, no cyclists, no birders and no canal boats. It seemed strange for a half term day. At Fishers mill I met Geoff Williams there was a small flock of Golden plover, a Common Sandpiper and a Dunlin at the north end of Middleton Lakes but I didnt venture due to not being shod for heavy mud. I became intrigued by the Ladybirds particularly around the Ash tree next to the entrance to Fishers Mill as they seemed to be increasing in numbers as I watched. The new fencing at the entrance also attracted the insects and I attempted to take a few shots. They seemed large and came in a variety of colours and patterns quite different from the Ladybirds you usually see. The Harlequin Ladybird invasion had reached North Warwickshire.

Archie Archer turned up, he confirmed that there was a female Red crested Pochard on Mill pool, Alvecote. Probably the same bird that Geoff had seen on Dosthill Nature reserve the previous day.

There was no sign of the Pochard on Mill pool when I got there. A couple of Little Egrets but very few ducks. A walk round to Teal pool resulted in another Little Egret but no R.C.Pochard. On the way back to the lay by the first visible migration of the day with 29 Fieldfares, my first of the winter flying east to west. A further scan of Mill pool showed a large number of Tufted duck had dropped and amongst them the Red crested Pochard (171)

Much ado....again

' Up, up, and away in my beautiful Balloon'

Jack and Jill (John)

Birds eye view

Monday 26th October 2009

You can tell Ive had a pretty ordinary day when all I can offer are shots of sunsets, people, Long tailed Tits and Hot-air Balloons. Garden watch produced a small flock of Greenfinch, which was nice. Fishers Mill had a Garganey and alot of people. Bassett pools had a Ringed plover, alot of Lapwing and no people. ASDA had alot of people but the coffee is cheap.

I then tried to find Branston gravel pits and didn't even get close. Just as I was giving it up as a bad job a pager message told me the Black throated Diver hadn't been seen anyway.

The weekend after.....

25th October 2009
After the excitement in the week the weekend has been somewhat subdued. In fact I haven't been out at all really. Priority was of course adding 1 to all my lists which took most of Saturday. It took me far less time to process all the photos I'd taken up north. So I've been reduced to a Garden watch while I attempted to tidy up the garden. And whats more at precisely 10.30am on Saturday the wind direction changed from easterly to westerly and then South westerly and becoming almost cyclonic on Sunday. The significance of this meteorological info is that my neighbours leaves are now falling in his garden where they belong and not mine.
Anyway, a pair of Skylarks flew over the garden calling this morning and my first local flock, C100 of Golden plover were seen over fields next to the A5 halfway between The Longshoot and the Royal Red Gate. Also an aberrant Kestrel looking like a miniture male Hen Harrier in general colouration was seen next to A5 near MIRA.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

Friday 23rd October 2009

It had been a normal Thursday evening; a couple of pints of Vicar's ruin with the Thursday club at the Church End Brewery, a curry with Jan and the tail end of Coronation Street. I looked at the pager, something about an Eastern crowned warbler in County Durham. Despite the glass of wine with the curry I was aware enough to know that I needed to react. I was trained for this situation. I knew what to do. I phoned Tony Shepherd, he had also had a bit of a night out so a bit of sorting out had to be done. He rang back, I needed to pick Neil up and be at his place in the early hours. A few calculations old me I would be OK to drive by then.

When we got to the suggested parking area at South Shields it was deserted, which puzzled us, even though it was still dark we expected to see a few people around for a 'first for Britain'.

We tried to sleep in the car. Tony made some comment about the proximity of my feet to his head. I had clean socks on what was the problem and anyway I assured him he wouldnt smell them when my digestive system had got to work on last nights curry!

By the time the skies started to lighten there were about 30 or so birders around and we walked the short distance to the old quarry. Another 20 birders arrived from the opposite direction and we waiting for the light to come up. The bird had been seen in bushes at the base of a rocky edge. Time moved slowly as the expectant crowd tried to look for any movement amongst the leaves. Finally the bird was seen in the small Sycamore trees. As the light steadily improved the bird showed on and off always moving restlessly through the foliage. It was a question of being patient. I gave up trying to find the bird in the scope until I'd had a decent view in the bins but each time the bird appeared I got slightly better views. The light was now good and I tried with the scope again, at last a decent scope view - what a little cracker, I could relax now. Apologies to all those people I know who I had the briefest of words with but you know what it like on a twitch before you see the bird well.

The Eastern crowned warbler shared the bushes with a couple of Blackcaps and then a Yellow browed warbler flew, presumably in off the sea, over our heads and into the bushes. By the time we left there were approaching 300 birders at the site. A final memory worthy of note was the sight of Neil tripping over a guide dog in the car park. I'll say no more. A hearty breakfast at the nearby ASDA and then home with thanks to Neil and Tony for driving.