A Whiskered Turn

Thursday 1st November 2012
Apart from finding an excuse not to shave, 'its for Charity you understand' November has not started well. After the rains I set off to check Piccadilly Hills for sodden Snow Bunting, long shot but you never know. Anyway when I got there I decided to carry on to Upper Longdon to look for the Great grey Shrike. No shrike, possibly something to do with the Kestrel which has taken up residence, or the increased density of ground vegetation. Enjoyed a good walk round with the sounds of Raven and large flocks of Redpoll and Siskin, but didnt see much else. Called in at Mill pool Alvecote to look for reported Whooper Swans on the way back. According to the note attached to the stile the birds had left before the message saying they were there was put out. So not much chance of seeing them then.
Now about this not shaving idea, the intention is to grow a beard for Charity. At the moment Im at the down and out stage, looking even more scruffy than I usually do. I feel the need to say to people 'its for Charity'. I cant wait to reach the 'heavily disguised' stage.

Slavonian Grebe, Shustoke Reservoir

Slavonian Grebe, Shustoke Res. Warks

30th Oct 2012
Spent a frustrating morning trying to sort out and collect prescriptions so it was heaven sent to get a message from Pete F at Shustoke that there was a Slavonian Grebe at Shustoke res. It was a beautiful morning so it would have been a crime to waste it and not do a bit of birding. At the car park it was out with the scope to locate the bird, close in on the far bank and then away with the scope and out with the camera to leg it round to the far side. The bird was very confiding and all the usual fears about it being flushed by untethered dogs or children were unwarranted. After filling ones boots it was off to Coton to see if the Scaup were still there. One was at least but didnt show well at all. A Lesser Redpoll did perform well in front of the hide though.

Slavonian Grebe



Slavonian Grebe

Lesser Redpoll, Coton lakes - nice to get images 'in the field'.

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll



Winter birds move in

Good day Friday, joined SH at Hartshill Hayes viewpoint for a spot of Vis migging. He'd already had a several hundred Woodpigeons over and a good many Thrushes. We watched for 2 hours as more groups of Redwing and Fieldfare flew over.Well over 1000 birds passed over but the best for me was a male Goshawk, a long awaited first for Warwickshire. Being close to home I went back to warm up and have some lunch but it wasnt long before I was heading out again. This time to Shustoke Res.where SH had found a Red breasted Merganser. Who said there werent any birds in Warks.? Having said that I did pay a quick visit to Blithfield yesterday to see 2 Whooper Swans. They were very vocal in Blithe Bay just before they left at about noon.

Red breasted Merganser, Shustoke Res. Warks

Whooper Swan, Blithfield Res. Staffs

Whooper Swan

Whooper Swan

Visible migration

In a vain attempt to get with it I spent the morning vis migging, if thats the verb. Having failed miserably at finding aquatic species on reservoirs and putting off raking leaves off the back lawn I'd spend the morning seeing if I could see anything flying overhead. The ridge that runs from Nuneaton northwards past Atherstone,Grendon and Dordon offers a number of east facing vantage points. Merevale hill with Legion wood is relatively quiet and easy to access. I arrived at about 9.30am,visability was good despite a low cloud base with a fresh NE wind. Almost immediately a group of Fieldfare, my first of the winter, flew over. A steady flow of migrants mainly thushes continued to move over during the next 2 hours. Most flocks were 8-10 birds, the biggest flock(mainly Fieldfare) was 30. I struggled with the small stuff but there were certainly Chaffinch, Redpoll and Goldfinch passing. All birds seemed to be heading in the same SE direction except a flock of 19 Golden plovers, again my first of the winter, which flew East.The only other bird of note was a local Raven which 'enjoyed' a joust with Crows.
I was joined by SH who could put names to the LBJs passing over, which was nice. In a further attempt to 'get with it' Ive started to Tweet. The Doc says its an age thing so Ive got to learn to live with it. https://twitter.com/BobD85764876

At least it didn't rain - much

Grey Wagtail, Draycote Water

Grey Wagtail

ok, recent posts have been a bit boring to say the least so why buck the trend? Today was nearly interesting, indeed very interesting if you like counting Tufted Ducks and Meadow pipits. I spent the morning at Draycote Water, indeed I spent the morning walking round the reservoir so if I didnt find any birds at least I got some much needed exercise out of it. Apart from Tufted duck, Coot and Meadow pipits I saw: 1 Pochard,1 Goldeneye and 2 Rock pipits and no Birders. Like I said, I got some exercise. To make it more of an outing I went for a coffee at the Golf range (very reasonable) and went back for more. You never know something might appear from the gloomy skies. It is October for goodness sake. It didnt appear, at least not until I was well on my way back to a commitment in the afternoon. A Brent goose turned up mid afternoon. Aint it the way?

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit

Meadow pipits

Meadow pipit, Piccadily

Meadow Pipit

Well 2 to be exact. Poor return for an exhausting climb to the second highest point in Piccadilly- a small village near Kingsbury. Two Redwing flew over apologetically and about 8 Skylarks flew about a bit to make me feel the effort had been worth it but it hadnt. Polish lorry drivers were stirring from their vehicles on the industrial estate and disappearing into the Birches clutching wads of tissue but apart from noisy Green Woodpeckers nothing else stirred. I debated where to stop for a coffee and ended up at The Cedars cafe via Coton pools. It was shut.Good day having not I was.

Yellow legged Gull at Brandon Marsh N.R.

Just a few rather distant shots of the Yellow legged Gull at Brandon Marsh Nature reserve today.

Yellow legged Gull, Brandon Marsh N.R., Warks.

Yellow legged Gull

Yellow legged Gull



Yellow legged Gull