'What the Foxes Hat' !

Fox, Fisher's Mill

Fox Fisher's Mill

Jay

Fox

Sunday 31st January 2010

Went back to the Tame valley yesterday after a quick look at Alvecote. There were a pair of Shelduck on Mill pool and that was about it. At Fishers Mill there was no sign of the Glaucous gull and with a report that a 2w was back at Albert village yesterday it may be safe to assume that the bird had returned to its more regular haunts in South Derbys. I also missed out on the drake Pintail which has been moving between various pools. On the other hand a drake Smew seems to have settled for the southern Drayton Bassett pool. Had an encounter with a very photogenic Fox which seemed to be pondering where its next meal was coming from. Very few birds around Coton, a Kingfisher was good to see on the river and a single Common Snipe was in front of the hide but not surprisingly very few Duck or Grebes.

PS The title is pinched from a popular beer from the Church End Brewery.

Warwickshire Birds in 2010

Saturday 30th January

Quite a quiet week in Warwickshire with no new birds at Draycote or Brandon but The Tame valley produced 4 new birds in the form of White fronted Goose, Mealy Redpoll (treated here as a separate species), Grey Plover and Glaucous Gull. I managed to see the Redpolls and Glaucous gull and also added Peregrine during the week to bring my total number of species seen in the County to 109. With the addition of other birds reported in Warwickshire numbering 13,

the total number of species reported in Warwickshire during January is 122

Glaucous Gull at Middleton Lakes

Glaucous Gull, Fisher's Mill

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull 2w

Glaucous Gull 2w

Thursday 28th January 2010

It had been a fairly regulation visit, a check of most of the likely large wheat fields round Bodymoor Heath looking for Geese and then a walk round the Water Park ending up at Fishers Mill. A couple of Little Egrets, a few Jays and a few small flocks of Lesser Redpolls and Goldfinch were the highlights. I met Geoff Williams at Fisher's Mill and he passed on the news that John Mallinson had just spotted a 2nd or 3rd winter Glaucous Gull from his vantage point on one of the Dosthill mounds. It didnt take Geoff and myself long to pick out the Glaucous gull on the more northerly Fisher's Mill pool in company with a few other large gulls. White winged gulls have been few and far between in the Midlands so far this winter so this one was a real treat.

No go areas in theTame valley

Blackcap, Ladywalk Nature Reserve

Blackcap

Whose watching who?

Blackcap


Wednesday 27th January 2010

Felt I'd neglected the Tame valley so it was overdue a visit. I started at Kingsbury Water Park. Not because I expected to see any birds but it was somewhere handy to park. Met Chris Cooke and we checked out Richards meadow for a reported Stonechat before going our separate ways. I carried on up to Fisher's Mill, there were alot of Gulls on the next pool north, including a Yellow legged Gull. The walk back proved equally fruitless. I moved on to Coton, at least that was the plan. There was a pick up parked at the entrance to the Car park in an unusual position but I didn't give it alot of thought as I gathered my gear together to give the pool a quick scan. As I approached the pick up a bloke jumped out to bar my path. 'Its closed' he said. 'We're shooting, um culling', should'nt be long now.' I was a bit stunned. 'Not many ducks on there' I said. Bit of an understatement if they'd been blasting away all morning. You sometimes say stupid things when you're taken by surprise. No good argueing, he'd have played the old 'elf and safety card I suppose. I might have got away with it wearing a luminous jacket and a hard hat but orange really isnt my colour.

So my visit to the Cedars cafe was somewhat earlier than I'd planned. Next stop was Ladywalk, as I pulled into the car park the Blackcap was feeding on an apple so I stopped to take a few shots. A phone call from Steve Cawthray had me on the move again. 5 probable White fronted Geese had been seen in flight heading north. So it was a question of searching fields around Bodymoor Heath towards Middleton and Drayton Bassett. After an unsuccessful tour round I met up with Steve at the Drayton Bassett pits. He'd seen some small geese flying this way but there was no sign of them now. There were a good number of other birds to be seen though, including Shelduck 17, Green Sandpiper 4, Redshank 2, Little Egret and two drake Pintail.

Bitterns at Brandon Marsh

Bittern, East Marsh - Brandon Marsh

Bittern

Bittern

Bittern

Bittern

Tuesday 26th January 2010

Spent a very enjoyable day at Brandon Marsh. Almost straight away a Bittern was seen 3 times in flight from Teal hide and then again what was probably a different bird flew into the East Marsh reedbed. The birds seemed quite active, whether it was the high water levels or a touch of sun in the afternoon I dont know but they gave some excellent views, much appreciated by those gathered in East Marsh hide. There was no sign of the Green winged Teal or a reported Black necked Grebe but I had a close encounter with a Peregrine Falcon as it flew overhead after making an unsuccessful attempt at taking a Lapwing from the flock on East Marsh. A large mixed flock of Siskin and Lesser Redpolls moved restlessly from one group of Alders to another but apart from Nuthatch, Jay, Greater spotted Woodpecker and noisy Water Rails I didnt see much else.

Having commented that the last time I had a coffee at Brandon it was nearly cold, I specifically asked for a hot coffee and the charming young lady duly obliged. It was very welcome as the temperature had dropped a couple of degrees since yesterday. I moved on to Grandborough Fields in the hope of seeing an Owl. Nothing doing. I struggled to find any suitable habitat for either Barn or Short eared Owls as most of the land was pasture for sheep. The odd corner had been left as rough grassland but I couldn't find any decent areas of set aside.

A little bit of Yellow and a lot of Grey

Monday 25th January
'What a grey day', that not very famous mis-quote from the nearest thing to a Celeb Nuneaton can boast - Larry Grayson, was never truer than today. It was gloomy. The only bright spot, quite literally, was a single male Yellowhammer. It was in fact a County year tick, my 108th species of the year. If I can remember I'll try to keep a running total of species reported in Warks over the year, based on birds I've seen plus those that are reported on blogs, websites and paging services. I'm not going to validate reports or make judgements just apply a bit of common sense here and there. I shall have to make a few assumptions about 'sensitive' records.

So, if we start with 108, I know I've missed Peregrine, Little Owl, Pintail, Red breasted Merganser, Brent goose, Short eared Owl, Med gull, and Bar tailed Godwit. So we're looking at 116 species reported in Warks as we approach the end of January.

The Yellowhammer was seen near Burton Hastings, other birds seen on a walk across to the A5 and back: Linnet c30, Chaffinch 24, Jay, Woodpigeon c500, Fieldfare c40, Common Buzzard 3, Kestrel, and Starling c200.

Possible Mealy Redpoll at Bodymoor Heath

Possible Common Redpoll near Kingsbury Water Park

Possible 'Mealy' Redpoll

Possible Mealy Redpoll

Possible 'Mealy' Redpoll

Possible Mealy Redpoll

Possible Mealy Redpoll

Sunday January 2010

Early start to check out Pete Softley's Mealy/ Common Redpoll at Bodymoor Heath. Beautiful morning and I was surprised their weren't more birders about. A short walk down the canal towpath brought me to the first group of Alders. There were a few Redpoll and Goldfinch in the first few trees but the main flock was further down. It was quite hard work going through the flock, mainly because the bright sunlight bleached out a lot of colour and made the Lessers look pale. The group was flighty for no apparent reason but usually came back to the same trees. I worked my way down past the lock but there were no obvious candidates. When I walked back to the start to try again it was clear the flock was now much bigger, in excess of 30 birds. A group of 5 Redpolls feeding low down in a small tree caught my attention. It was the thick white 'braces' down the backs of two of the birds which stood out, but they also displayed a broad white wing bar. Other features which looked good for Mealy included a broad white supercilium and a general white ground colouration. I've included a few shots which illustrate some of these features.

I only had enough time for a quick look around the Nature reserve pools at Kingsbury but the best bird was a Kingfisher on the canal. On the walk back it was noticable that the main flock of Redpolls had dispersed with only a few birds remaining in the Alders. There was time for a 'drop in' visit to Coton where I saw my first Little Egret of the year and 4 Common Snipe.