Putative Marsh Warbler at Coombe Abbey

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Monday 10th May 2010

Mill pool, Alvecote - Common Sandpiper, Little ringed Plover, Common Tern, Swift x100, House Martin x30

Coton - 50+ Swift

Cliff pool, KWP. - LRP x2


It was while I was in the hide at Kingsbury that I received a call from Dennis Woodward.'Why aren't you here?', he asked. 'Where'? I responded. 'Coombe abbey, looking at the Marsh warbler' The conversation convinced me that I ought to go and look/listen to this bird. I'd dismissed the first pager message but if someone was kind enough to make the effort to contact me then I ought to make the effort to go and have a look.

Somebody had gone to a good deal of trouble to arrange access and to sign the route from the car park at Coombe Abbey. So it was straight foward finding the area the bird was singing from. Only trouble was it wasnt singing, at least for some time. When it did it sounded like a bog standard Reed warbler. I was joined by 2 other birders the bird sang intermittently but then gave the most extraordinary burst of song, a mixture of Blackbird song and alarm call. Thats it we agreed. The bird stayed low in the reeds only occasionally showing itself. Paul Hodges {the finder} arrived with Steve Cawthray. With the clouds darkening I was pessimistic about the bird singing again let alone showing itself. But sing it did, going through a full repetoire of imitating other birds calls and songs: Blue tit, Greenfinch, Linnet, Nightingale to name a few. By the time Tom Perrins and Adam Archer arrived the bird had reverted to a basic Reed warbler like song. Tom expressed reservation about the birds identity and quoted comments from the bird forums. I also have reservations, reservations about comments on forums made by people who weren't actually there. Its a subject I would like to return to but its way past my bedtime.

At last a Shore bird in North Warks.

Sunday 9th May 2010


A little bit of real birding late today after a day of family commitments. Fortunately I didn't need the Oriental Prat. so a relatively relaxed day until Pete Forbes contacted me to say there was a Grey Plover (149) at Coleshill G.Ps. Dinner was put on hold as I made my way to Coleshill. A crowd of 3 quickly assembled to see this very infrequent visitor th Warks. Aliens from Staffs and the West Mids in the shape of Martyn Yapp and Julien Allen arrived and were heartily welcomed. Well they do more birding in Warks than most Warks birders. Tom and Steve Cawthray were also present to admire the plover in close to full summer plummage. The bird was continually harassed by Lapwings and finally flew to an inaccessible pool for some peace and quiet.

House Finch at Lands End

The Twitch

House Finch, Swingates House Land's End, image courtesy of Andy Hale

House Finch

Flock of 26 Whimbrel, Nanquidno valley

It started as a normal day in the life of a Warwickshire birder. A report of a Wood Sandpiper at Brandon Marsh meant I would make an early start there, treat myself to a breakfast and see what developed. I met Andy Hale and Dennis Woodward and watched a pair of Hobby perched in a dead tree tree from Teal pool hide. We went our separate ways but it was only seconds before Dennis rang me 'Have you seen your pager'? No but I'm up for a twitch! In a few minutes we were off to Cornwall via Dave Ludlow's house, who drove us down most of the way. We had a good run. There wasnt much info coming out on the pager but it appeared that a House Finch had taken up residence in a garden at Lands End. Showing intermittantly from the road not far from the Car Park. When we arrived we were told the bird had shown in trees in the garden about 15 minutes previously. It was a question of finding the best viewing point you could and waiting. A movement of people near the drive of the house suggested the bird was in view so we moved nearer the house. In fact a queuing system had been organised to allow people into the garden 6 at a time. After nearly 2 hours I reached the front of the queue.In fact the time had gone quite quickly as I lined up with Steve Whitehouse on one side and a women whose aim in life was see every living organism on the planet, on the other. My Warwickshire year list for birds seemed totally insignificant in comparison. I contributed very little to the conversation apart from the odd poignant observation and bringing everyone's attention to a Spotted Flycatcher which suddenly appeared. We were finally released into the garden and directed to the House Finch which luckily was showing well. I was regretting leaving my camera in the car, but on the other hand I was able to concentrate on the bird in the short time we were allowed. After such a long wait we had only what seemed a few seconds to enjoy the bird but with 150 birders now in the queue waiting patiently it was fair enough. Making our way back past the queue there were lots of faces I knew I'm sorry I didnt have more time to stop and chat but thoughts had turned to food and drink. Part 2 later.

After a cup of much needed coffee at the Hotel and a very brief sea watch during which we had a pair of Manx Shearwaters close in, we moved on to the Nanquidno valley to look for Chough. We didnt have alot of time for general birding and the weather was closing in. No Chough but Andy found a male Common Redstart and a flock of Whimbrel flew in off the sea.

Fast flying Falcons

Large Red Damselfly, The canal, Kingsbury Water Park

Friday 7th May 2010
Cold north easterly blow but pleasant enough if you kept moving. Caldecote meadows still had at least 2 male and a female Northern Wheatear. Also 2 delightful Grey Partridge, a new bird at the site for me. It was also good to hear Skylark singing almost continually. Other birds included Green Woodpecker, Linnet, Cormorant, Grey Heron and Yellow Wagtail.
Kingsbury Water Park was quiet in an interesting birds sort of way, but noisy in a M42 and Black headed Gull sort of way. Only one Common Tern was seen. On Cliff pool there was a pair of Little ringed plover and a pair of Oystercatcher. At Fishers Mill the highlight was a low flying Peregrine falcon with prey. The unfortunate prey was a black bird about the size of a Blackbird so you can draw your own conclusions!
Returning along the canal a Hobby gave a typically brief appearance over 'Amys'. Also along the canal the first Damselflies of the year - Large Red Damselflies.

Whinchats Galore

Whinchat, Newlands Brandon Marsh NR

Whinchat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Cetti's warbler

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Wednesday 5th May 2010

Well, only two really but it seemed alot. There were 2 males on the Newlands marsh, Brandon late morning. Cracking birds, putting even the Sedge warblers and Whitethroats in the shade. Nothing much else to report there though.

A quiet day in the Tame valley

Northern Wheatear, Caldecote, Warks. - note how bulky this bird looks

Yellow wagtail

Brimstone, Ladywalk N.R.

Comma on Rape

Green-veined White

Orange tip

Green veined White

He approaches, she waits

Rattus norvegicus - Canal pool, K.W.P.

Tuesday 4th May 2010

The Grande Tour began at Caldecote, the 5 presumed Greenland race Wheatears were still present. Presumed on the basis that theyve been present for over a week when most 'British' Wheatears are on their breeding grounds. Shustoke res. had maybe 100 Common Swifts and a couple of House Martins. Lee Johnson had heard a couple of Lesser Whitethroats on his rounds but that was about it. I moved on to Coleshill Quarry where I spotted a single Ringed plover and Brian Kington. After coffee at a new venue for me on Gorsey Lane. Interesting concept in fine dining, the premises obviously doubled as a Greasy spoon during working hours and became an Indian restaurant in the evening.

On to Ladywalk, it was now a lovely day and the insects were making the most of it. There were swarms of Caddis and a variety of Butterfly species but not many birds apart from warblers. Coton was unremarkable. At Cliff a large rat was feeding on something not nice and 3 youths were occupying Skan hide. They'd clearly been smoking something exotic and soon left. Fortunately the new air conditioning and northerly breeze combined to disperse the odour they had created. 2 Common terns were the only birds of note. For the first week of May to only find a single wader species in the Tame valley area is surprisingly but looking at the weather map gives a bit of a clue with Northerly winds reaching as far as Spain and North Africa. So why the influx of Red rumped Swallows?

Ah so

Sunday 2nd May 2010

A non birding day, almost. When Steve Cawthray phoned me to say there was a Marsh Harrier at Fisher's Mill I had to adjust my route to Sutton slightly. Unfortunately by the time I got there the bird was only just visible over fields adjacent to the Drayton Bassett pits - in Staffordshire. I had the pleasure of watching it gain height and disappear to the North.
In my haste to get to Fishers mill I had the unique experience of finding the path along the wood just past the farm blocked by about 8 Chinese or Japanese tourists complete with Camcorders. I was going at my usual warp speed, twitching pace. Not knowing the Japanese for 'excuse me theres a Marsh Harrier I need to see', I could only think of the international warning 'Ding a Ling' as in bicycle bell, to avoid a collision and possible diplomatic incident. It only occured to me afterwards that I might have been shouting out someones name!
The only other vaguely interesting sight was following a Robin Reliant with a Tow-bar on the way home. What was that all about?