I fancied a bit of a change from my local patch and I am sure any regular readers are getting fed up.  A couple of Great Northern Divers had been there a few days and, after looking at one of the pictures on Birdguides, one of them looked as if it was in summer plumage.  Having never seen one in this condition, I decided to go and have a look.  I arrived pretty early and walked around the whole resevoir.  Birds noted were Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Coot, Mallard, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Pheasant, Great-crested Grebe, Wood Pigeon, Great Tit, Cormorant, Redwing, Collared Dove, Grey Wagtail, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Siskin 8 flew over, Little Grebe, Blue Tit, Dunnock, Long-tailed Tit and Lapwing.  No sign of any divers, but a good walk anyway.

 

 

I dont know which lake I was looking over but it was the one with the Environment Agency hide, overlooking one of the purification lakes (Lea Marston I think).

Birds seen were Coot, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Magpie, Wood Pigeon, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Great-crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Pochard, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Robin, Lapwing and Long-tailed Tit.  Lots of birds but not many species but still an enjoyable hour in the hide before the rain came.

No birding next weekend as saturday I am helping a voluteer group build a tern raft , plant some flower plugs, and build some hibernaculums (I think that is what they are).  Sunday I have a fishing match.

Another walk around a couple of local patches today.  Weather forecast was not brilliant plus some things to do led me to Croxall first thing.  It was a pleasant start to the day so I walked up to the hide, had a quick scan, and then went and had a goosy around the east side.  Birds seen on the main side were Jackdaw, Robin, Wren, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Redwing, Moorhen, Mallard, Starling, Blue Tit, Treecreeper, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Teal, Fieldfare, Goldeneye, Black-headed Gull, Cormorant, Great-crested Grebe, Lapwing, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Bullfinch and Coot.  The workmen working on the river profiling were busy at work so thet were pushing the ducks out of the hidden bay on the right and over the far side opposite the hide.  Through to the east side and I added Pheasant, Meadow Pipit, Long-tailed Tit, Reed Bunting, Little Egret and Rook.  Back towards the car and I could hear the sound of guns going mad around the area.  I added Blackbird, Green Woodpecker and Song Thrush on the way back.

 

 

With the guns going crazy, I was not sure about here but I thought what The heck.  I parked outside Whitemoor Haye house (the empty one), and walked upto, and around, the rough track.  Then I walked back to the car via the quarry pool.  Birds noted were 130 Mute Swan, Blackbird, Wren, Carrion Crow, Starling about 600 - 700 in a flock, Pied wagtail 26 in a field, Skylark circa 20 together, Black-headed Gull, Stock Dove, Blue Tit, Dunnock, Magpie, Lapwing 33 overhead, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, and Fieldfare.  On the quarry pool I saw 30 Tufted Duck, 1 Teal, and 4 Great-crested Grebes.  The heavy machinery have moved in and started work on the centre which is to be built on the land.  Rubbish.  

After Saturdays washout and tv-a-thon, I had to get out so it was this ace reserve first of all.  I will admit I did not do all of this reserve as someone said nothing was on the canal pit.  A bit of a copout and I should really have walked round but it is a fair distance.  from the car and walking up to the first viewing point I saw Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Wren, Pheasant, Black-headed Gull, Redwing, Blackbird, Bullfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch.  From the first viewing point I saw Shoveler, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Robin, Great-crested Grebe, Wigeon and Reed Bunting.  From the second platform I added Tufted Duck and Cormorant.  I have alsways found this platform a bit useless as the vegetation has got too tall to see the pit or any of the water.  Derbyshire Wildlife Trust has a machine in there and they have dug out a channel.  This will be much better.  Well dom DWT.  Some noisy Canad Geese were added on the way to the third platform and Magpie, Goldeneye, Gadwall, Grey Heron, Pochard, Teal, Lapwing, Jackdaw, Starling and Kestrel were seen from platform 3.  Walking back to the car I added Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunncok, Great Tit, Linnet, Jay and Skylark.        

 

 

Breakfast was calling but I popped in here to have a quick look.  Birds noted were Blackbird, Wren, Mute Swan, Robin, Long-tailed Tit, Black-headed Gull, Canada Geese, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coot, Lapwing, Mallard, Chaffinch, Tufted Duck, Great-crested Grebe, Buzzard, Redshank, Pied Wagtail, Redwing, Magpie, Dunnock, Starling, Pochard, Wigeon, Goldeneye, Little Grebe, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow and Cormorant.  

 

 

I could not visit Alrewas gravel pit and not pop to the Junction Pit.  A short walk to the site and there was not much around at all.  Magpie, Wren, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Lapwing, Great-crested Grebe, Mallard, Carrion crow, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Wood Pigeon, Greenfinch and Reed Bunting were all seen.  

 

 

After a rather splendid, but rather late, breakfast I decided to walk it off with a good walk around the lanes of Whitemoor.  I parked near the quarry and walked up the road, around the rough track and back again.  Birds noted were Mute Swan, Starling, Skylark, Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Black-headed Gull, Robin, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Blackbird, Meadow Pipit, Wren, Carrion Crow, Linnet, Tree Sparrow, Cormorant, Jackdaw and Magpie.  very quite.  I then went to the have a look over the quarry pool and I noted 53 Tufted Duck, 21 Wigeon, 11 Pochard, 1 Great-crested Grebe, 6 Goldeneye, and 2 Mallard.

 

 

I was half thinking about doing a gull roost at either Blithfield or Chasewater but a) I could not find my WMBC members card and b) as satyrday was rubbish and todays weather was lovely, Chasewater would proberbly be rammed.  I decided to finish at Croxall and have an early day to go and watch Ireland v Australia in the rugby union (and a good match it was too).  Birds seen were Teal, mallard, Coot, Goosander, Wren, Canada Geese, Wood Pigeon, Redwing, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Blue Tit, Marsh Tit, Robin, Long-tailed Tit, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Mute Swan, Magpie, Wigeon, Dunnock, Green Woodpecker, Cormorant, Fieldfare, Pheasant, Moorhen, Snipe, Pied Wagtail, Redshank and Lapwing.  I walked around by the river on the east side where a load of work is being done to shape the river and provide shallow areas.  It is looking very good, they have dug right into the field.  Should be good habitat for the future.  

No birding today but 4th tv bird, Herring Gull on Doc Martin last Sunday.

A check on the gull roost but first I decided to see the swans.  I counted 110 Mute Swans near Sittles farm.  No Whoopers though.  60 Greylag Geese flew in and joined them.  Other birds in the area included Carrion Crow, Magpie, a few Black-headed Gulls and a single Buzzard.  Over to the pool and I noted 34 Tufted Duck, the single Canada Goose which seemed ok when it flapped its wings, 2 Pochard, 12 Mallard, 19 Wigeon, a single Redshank, 6 Goldeneye, and a single Great Crested Grebe. 

I went down a bit late to check on the gull roost.  A quick scan around produced 11 Wigeon, 74 Tufted Duck, 23 Mallard, 1 Pochard, 2 Teal, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 6 Black-headed Gull, and 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls over.  No roost could be seen from the usual point and the Lesser black-backed Gulls hovered, thought about landing, then flew away.  With no point of hanging around I headed down the road to check out the swans.  This time last year we had the first Whooper Swan.  No luck so far with just 108 Mute Swans.  Other birds included Carrion Crow, Wren, Lapwing and 2 Grey Heron. 

After a trip to see the fantastic Brown Shrike, it was a weekend of trailer repairs, pyrotechnics, beer, lack of sleep, recovery, furniture removals, resting and football, no more birding was done.  I have a mini-trip planned for next weekend, depending on the weather, and I will be checking the gull roost again at Whitemoor.

I thought it was about time to add another great bird to my slowly increasing life list.  The Brown Shrike had been very showy down near Heathrow for some time now.  I had a lot of work to do today but I decided to have an early start and get there, see the bird then head back unless something else en-route turns up.  On the way down and way back I saw several Red Kites, my first for the year.  I got on site, made the treck up a very muddy footpath, over the boardwalk and a few birders were already there watching the bird.  I set the scope up and the cracking BROWN SHRIKE was in a nearby bush.  It was skulking around the bottom of the bush before showing on a branch were a got a few photos.  It then flew into another bush before being flushed by some dog walkers.  It flew over the back of this site and was just visible.  I hung around but it never came back close.  It was a great bird and very special for me as it was my 300th bird ever.  I have never done birding abroad except on the Bay of Biscay when we did four hours near Santiurzi before getting back on the ship, hence my UK list being 8 behind my all time list.  Whilst there I also noted Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Wren, Chaffinch, Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Robin, Black-headed Gull, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Moorhen, Ring-necked Parakeets which I enjoyed watching them whizz around the site but they could become annoying day in and day out, Skylark, Kingfisher, Green Woodpecker, Grey Heron, Starling, Magpie, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Fieldfare, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Jay.   

I had about half an hour before going to work when my mom came home from a walk around Whitemoor.  She said a load of swans were on the fields by Sittles farm.  I decided to go and have a look as there have been a few Bewick's Swans as well as Whooper Swans reported in the area.  On site and I counted 71 Mute Swans only.

 

 

Back for the gull roost but first I popped to see if the swans were still around.  I counted 90 Mute Swans.  Over to the lake and I noted Starlings, jackdaw, Magpie, Wren, Carrion Crow, 63 Tufted Duck, 1 Canada Goose it was swimming and showed signs of a damaged wing and was generally in an odd shape, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 5 Goldeneye, 96 Pochard, 2 Mute Swan, 5 Mallard, 11 Wigeon, Wood Pigeon, c250 Black-headed Gull, c200 Lesser Black-backed Gull, and several Herring Gulls heard.  For those of you who dont know this pool, only half can be seen.  The pool is in the shape of an L with the short bit seen from the road and the long bit going around the quarry which is out of bounds.  Tonight, the gulls were slowly drifting out of site.  I managed to get into a position where I could see the flock before they started to dissapear, to count them.  Once they were out of sight, I came home but I could still see plenty of birds voming in so my figures could be well lowere than the actual number.  I also noticed a lot more ducks were round the corner.  A proper count can only be done with access and there is no chance in that department.  

I had a meeting down warwick this morning so early start at Draycote Water to hopefully add Lesser Scaup to the year list.  The rain was a pain but it stopped on my arrival and I headed straight for Toft Bay as this is the place the bird has usually been seen.  I did not do a full birdwatch as I did not have much time but I did note Blue Tit, Blackbird, Wood Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Coot, Mallard, Grey Wagtail, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Little Grebe, Pied Wagtail, Tufted Duck, Rock Pipit, Great-crested Grebe, Gadwall, Meadow Pipit, Goldeneye, Teal, lesser Black-backed Gull and Wigeon.  I did several scans over the Tufted Duck flock but could not locate the Lesser Scaup.  There was a good size group of Tufties over by the Valve Tower but I did not have time to get over there.

 

 

I got down to Whitemoor just as it was getting dark to check out the gull flock.......and had a massive shock.  Not one gull was on the water.  First of all, birds noted were Wren, Tufted Duck 44, Robin, Pochard 49, Wigeon 22, Carrion Crow, Mallard 10, Teal 4, Black-headed Gull couple flying over, Canada Geese see end of write-up, Yellowhammer 2, Magpie, Blackbird and twenty Lesser Black-backed Gulls that flew over the pit, circled then flew off.  Thanks.  I don't know whether work at the quarry had scared off the birds but nothing was on the water at all.  I am just hoping they were around the corner.  The single Canada Goose has been seen in the same place for the last three nights, on the left hand side of the lake.  It is hiding in deep grass and I fear this bird could be a victim of careless shooting.  Yes, I know it is only a Canad Goose but it is still a living creature.  I am not against shooting.  I have shot many birds in the past and have stalked many deer with a friend of mine (legally of course), and I am looking forward to shooting one myself soon.  What I hate is the hunters who shoot just to get rid of the birds.  They don't collect them up, they lie and rot.  If they are injured then they become fox fodder.  When I lived on my own in Wales I virtually lived on venison, pigeon, pheasant, teal and rabbit.  Cost?  Nothing.  Taste?  Beautiful.  I hope this goose proves me wrong and flies off soon.   Rant over.

Got in from work and managed to get down to Whitemoor for the last half hour of sun, to check on the gull roost.  Numbers were building quite nicely (well, better from last nights anyway).  On the pool there was Redshank 3, Pochard 52, Mallard 12, Tufted Duck 69, Goldneye 14 (2 males), and Wigeon 22.  In the nearby hedges and flying over I added Starlings, Canada Geese, Wren, Magpie, Jackdaw, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2, Pied Wagtail, 2 Yellowhammers and a couple of Blackbirds.  Back to the roost and by the time it was too dark, I reckoned on c300 Black-headed Gulls and about 400 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  I also found a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls.  It was an improvement on Sunday nights roost and birds were still coming in so who knows how many are roosting there at night. 

Wheres October gone.  Blimey.  Woke up this morning and, for once, the weather forcasters got it spot on.  I messed around this morning, watched the grad prix, the rain stopped so i went to Croxall.  It was very windy and birds noted were Great-crested Grebe, Mute Swan, Wood Pigeon, carrion Crow, mallard and Goldfinch from the car park.  Cormorant, Pheasant, Jackdaw, Pochard, Chaffinch, Moorhen, Teal, Magpie, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Little Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Grey Heron, Wren, Lapwing, Wigeon and Coot on the main lake.  Starling, Kestrel and Blue Tit on the east side.  Lesser Black-backed Gull added on the way back to the car.  Wildfowl numbers were up this week with plenty of Mallard c300, Teal c150, Tufted Duck c80, Pochard c50, Wigeon c30.

 

 

This was a visit to the lake for the last hour, and hopefully another decent gull roost.  Birds on, around and near were Carrion Crow, Wren, Mallard 25, Tufted Duck 12, Wigeon 14, Teal 10, Canada Geese, Lapwing, Redshank 1,  Pochard 54, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mute Swan 2, Starling, Jackdaw, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Grey Partridge 4, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1, Blackbird, Robin, Blue Tit and 4 Yellowhammer.  The gull roost never took off tonight.  I counted about 30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and about 150 Black-headed Gulls at the height.  The gulls never seemed settled and were constantly flying and landing, with some birds heading off.  There was a lot of shooting in the near fields so I wonder if this affected them.  I did notice some gulls flying around the same pit which you cannot see from the view point.  Just before the light went, and on my way home, I drove onto the A513 to have a look.  To my suprise there were no more gulls but there were about 400 ducks.  They were in the very distance so species could not be sorted.  A mixture I suppose.  In my excitement, last night, of reporting the roost, I forgot to mention two factors which might affect the future.  One is the increase in shooting, both legally and illegally (3 poachers chased off yesterday).  The other problem is going to be the construction of a centre for bad boys on the edge of the lake.  This will proberbly end all birding in that area as little brats get to enjoy, and no doubt ruin the local area.  It has all been marked out and Ive heard the machinery will be there very shortly.  Deep joy.

A Friday night works do led me to not plan anything Saturday for obvious reasons.  However, I was well behaved and up decent.  First job was to get the car taxed before going out.  Got the insurance certificate, got the MOT certificate.........oooops, it ran out early September.  This led to the rest of the morning sorting out an MOT, which it passed, before tackling Burton parking to get to the post office.  Finally got home around two, watched the end of the Spurs-Gunners match,  and then took the dog to Whitemoor.  I had a very steady walk around the track, trying to get the dog used to gun shots, whilst on a very long lead.  Also did some birding but it was quite quiet.  There was also a 4x4 with three poachers in it (after hares) who, after driving away, suddenly span round and raced passed me being chased by the local gamekeeper.  to the birding and I noted Lesser Black-backed Gulls 30 in the fields, Carrion Crow loads all around, Wren, Black-headed Gull, Grey Partridge 12 feeding in the open amongst the crows, Starlings, Magpie, Buzzard 1, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Robin, Jackdaw, Mute Swan 4 flying over, Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, Blackbird, Dunnock and  Blue Tit.  As reported in the previous blog entry, I noticed a gull roost here the other night so I headed for the pool and was going to stay around till dusk.  The other night was the first time I had noted the roost as usually I bird here in the morning and I apologise if this is old news but I have not read it on any other blogs or heard from other birders.  I got to the lake and there were a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls and Black-headed Gulls.  Also on the pool I noted Tufted Duck 20, Goldeneye 15, Canada Geese c200, Pochard 12, Mallard 6, Redshank 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 being very vocal in the trees in the small wood, and Skylark 1 over.  I hung around for about an hour untill dusk and it was very good.  I estimated about 500 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and about 250 Black-headed Gulls.  It is not on par with the likes of Blithfield or Chasewater but I will be trying to get here in the evenings more often.  Hopefully I might be able to find a gem or two such as Mediterannean Gull, Common Gull or Yellow-legged Gull.  I could also dream of Iceland or Glaucous Gull.

With tomorrows forecast I think I will be watching out for TV birds only.