At last

Saturday 7th February 2009

It had begun like many Saturdays in March, as a quiet birding day. Quiet in a birding sense as we wait for the arrival of the first migrants. But not quiet in a Julian Allan 'Whoops I've just dropped the window' in the hide at Coton sense. It actually didn't make any difference, the 2 female Scaup on the far side seemed obliveous to the Howitzer like explosion from the hide. Even the nearby Common Snipe were more alarmed by a couple of foraging Mute Swans than the seismic upheaval going on in the hide. No harm done then. Julian was in fact acting as Chaffeur to Tom for the day who in turn had offered to show his appreciation by buying Julian lunch which we all agreed was a dam fine thing to do. I decided to join them for a coffee at least, however, just as we arrived at the cafe at KWP Tom suggests I look at my pager. Would you Adam and Eve it. 4 Waxwings on my own doorstep in Nuneaton, the coffee would have to wait. On arriving on site there's no sign of the 4 Waxwings reported but more worryingly no sign of any trees or bushes which might encourage them to hang around. For nearly an hour I walk round the adjacent roads and avenues with no luck until walking further up the Weddington road I finally find not 4 but 15 Waxwings (120) in a large Willow tree next to the River Anker next to the Old Eds. Rugby ground (close to the site of the infamous Nuneaton Black bellied Dipper).

I phoned up a few local friends and put out an update on Rare Bird Alert. At last I'd caught up with Waxwings in Warwickshire.

And by the way The Old Eds won their match against Old Laurentians.

Feeling deflated

Friday 6th February 2009
Journeyed to the extreme limits of the county today ie Dosthill Lake, to look for Iceland Gulls. There had been 3 reported the previous day including an adult which I was eager to see in good light. I was joined by Graham Mant a partial migrant south in times of dire lack of birds at Blithfield. Indeed it was Graham who spotted an Iceland Gull drop in on the main lake. It was a very pale individual, not a typical juvenile but certainly not the adult. This bird is probably better described as 1st winter rather than juvenile. We chewed the fat about a of range of topics hoping the other Icelands would also drop in. Although further gulls continued to arrive the vast majority were Lesser Black Backs with relatively few Herring Gulls and no sign of any other Icelands. Apart from a couple of Oystercatchers on the Bund and a few Goldeneye nothing else of interest was seen. Graham and I went our separate ways.
I went to Kingsbury Water Park where the most interesting sight was the latest high tech anti Black headed gull device on the former Tern island at Canal pool. The device, defintely a mail order brown paper package job appeared to be a hybrid inflatable doll/Father Christmas. It was difficult to be precise as I only saw it in a flaccid state. According to an old dear who knew about such things it became erect intermittently after considerable effort.
On Cliffe pool there was I Snipe, 86 Wigeon and a pair of Raven.

Working for Nature

Thursday 5th March 2009

Only time for a quick look around Brandon Marsh today. Forgot it was a workparty day but they provided a brief moment of entertainment with Alban and Jim getting into deep water on East Marsh. Birds seen included my first Cetti's warbler of the year, a Peregrine, Siskin 20+, and Water Rail.

Buntings galore

Wednesday 4th March 2009

I had one of those 'I dont belieeeeve it' moments today. Lovely day, Whitemoor Haye. I started at the entrance to the workings to check the geese. The Barnacle geese were still there, all 15, but they were soon flushed by a photographer on the far side of the main lake were he shouldn't have been. His camouflaged jacket clearly didnt work. Unlike the photographers at Coleshill, his presence did interfere with the birds normal behaviour. Migrating birds need to feed, which they can't do if they're wasting time being forced to seek shelter on the water.

Away from the water I enjoyed a walk around the tracks surrounding the fields. I was surprised at the number of Tree Sparrows in the area but there were also good numbers of Linnet, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer. Corn Bunting were also in evidence. Flocks of Starling, Woodpigeon, Stockdoves and Corvids in tight formations filled the sky at regular intervals which made me scan for Peregrine but none were seen.

Just in case there was any doubt about the ID of yesterdays birds. from the top:

Pectoral Sandpiper, Glossy Ibis, Puffin and Cuckoo. Have to make them a bit harder next time.

Master Quiz

Tuesday 3rd March 2009

Yes you were right, Woodlark. The response to my little teaser (not anatomically speaking you understand) was so underwelming I thought I'd try and dig out some more images from the archives of crap photos to test our ID skills. These are from the early learning stage of my continuing stuggle with Bird photography. However the torrent of abuse I had to endure in the Digi scoping days has now slowed to a trickle. A birdingless day its been so I've devised a cunning plan to fill in for lack of news and debate.

Talking about clever ideas : check out Archie Archer's Atlas of current Midland Birds, on Google Maps. Its very impressive.

Quiz Time

Monday 2nd March 2009

OK lets get the football thing out of the way first. Why did Villa 'fans' boo their team off the pitch on Sunday? I know fans who watched the game were extremely disappointed and frustrated in the way we lost 2 points in the last minute of the game, I was tearing my hair out cos you knew it was going to happen and after the elation and relief of our quality second goal. I suppose booing was the only way a lot of people could vent this frustration. I just wish they wouldnt do it.

Right enough of that. I felt I had unfinished business at Cannock Chase so I went back today. The day started brightly enough weather wise but soon clouded over and became quite breezy. Which didnt help Woodlark watching but I managed to see 3 in flight. Common Crossbills were very mobile but sometimes settled in the treetops, one flock had over 30 birds. Common Buzzards were much in evidence as were Greater spotted Woodpeckers. Mistle Thrush and a pair of Stonechat were also seen.

Time for a challenge folks, most of my photos are easily recognisable (I did say most) but today I've included a mystery bird. LBJ ? Yes, but Im looking for a little more. So whats your best shot? I deliberately took this shot at about 1/2 mile away against a grey sky so that the ID is a little more difficult. Answer in next post.

Whitemoor Haye

Sunday 1st March 2009

Jan and I made flying visit to Whitemoor Haye on the way to visiting my Dad in Sutton. We found the Barnacle geese, we couldn't find the White fronted Geese but we did find Bernard Smith. According to Bernie I was accompanying my daughter! Over the top or what? That man is so smooth he could charm the birds out of the trees - or at least flush them out. It wasn't long though before he was back to normal taking every opportunity to humiliate me - we did laugh!

We found a couple of Pink footed geese and the Eurasian White fronted Goose but lack of time prevented us from really searching for the Greenland White front or any Swans.