Due to a prolonged illness, the content of this blog will be severly reduced.  I have worsened during the week and have cancelled my bloggers day out with blurred birder, brightside birder, localbirdingfor and Reg the birder.  I like to hope that I might be out over the Bank Holiday but it is currently looking very doubtful.  I do apologise for this.

I was using today as a chill out day as I was not feeling to good.  That was untill I had a phone call off Martyn Yapp.  He had found 5 Whiskered Terns at Croxall GP.  Unbelievable.  There had been a few at Willington GP and I would loved to have seen them but was not feeling too good.  These birds at Croxall were to hard to turn down so I got my stuff together and headed to Croxall.  On site I found Martyn and he put me on the birds.  Stunning birds to see, but not a lifer, although it is a tick for the UK as I have seen them in Spain.  I hung around for about half an hour as a few Midland birders, that I recognised, turned up to see the birds.  I also saw a few Common Terns as well as at least one Arctic Tern.  I managed to get some photos although I dont know how they turned out yet.  I was glad I managed to get to see the terns.  Cheers Martyn for the phone call, and as you say, I owe you at least a pint.

 

I have also just found out that I have a photo of a Merlin and not a Sparrowhawk which is what I thought it was.  Fantastic.  Thanks to Mark Priest and Martyn Yapp (again) for pointing my error out.

 

Congratulations to Burton Albion for their promotion to the football league.  Although a Derby fan, I have been to some Burton games and it is my home town so I will be following them all the way.  They cant do worse than the Derby performance yesterday, complete dross.  Fotunately though, we are now safe.  Well done the Brewers.

I'm afraid there is no birding again for me this weekend.  I would love to go and see the Whiskered Terns at Willington but am feeling not very well this weekend.  I have these birds on my life list but they were in Spain.  My whole left hand side is numb and am waiting on a call from the MS nurse in Burton.  I did go and see Derby yesterday and it was an awful game with a good result.  A few beers then followed in Burton.  Sunday I will have to rest as I am pretty tired.  I do apologise for the lack of content but I am planning a bank holiday weekend with lots of birding, including a dawn chorus I am co-leading at Fradley. 

No birding for me this weekend for various reasons but today I spent some time sitting outside.  Whilst doing this, I was watching the birds in the garden.  I saw Greenfinch, Blackbird, Blue Tits and Wrens busy nest building.  In and around the trees I also saw Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Wood Pigeon, Collared Dove, Dunnock and Robin.  Flying over I added Sparrowhawk, Buzzard, Black-headed Gull, Swallow, Cormorant and a House Martin which was my first for the year.  Next Saturday I am off to see Derby trying to avoid relegation, but Sunday I have a trip planned all being well.  

At work I help out with activities for the public and I was asked to help in a Spring birdwalk.  I was to assist Bob from Lichfield RSPB .  We had two, one hour sessions with several people and the plan was to walk them around Fradley resevoir and find as many birds as we can.  The morning did not start brilliantly with violent thunder and lighteneing, which knocked the electricity out in the offices.  Needless to say, the first session we had only two people.  the rain had stopped by now and we saw the following :- Wood Pigeon, Stock Dove, Goldfinch, Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Song THrush, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Mallard, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Greenfinch, Chiffchaff, Moorhen, Grey Wagtail, Long-tailed Tit, Coot, Mute Swan, Wren, Jay, Robin, Canada Geese, Grey Heron, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Starling, Swallow, Great Tit and Blue Tit.  I dont think this is a bad list for an hour walk around a small wood.  The second session we had twelve people, half adults, half kids.  We went around the same walk and this time we saw Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Tree Sparrow, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Mallard, Chaffinch, Moorhen, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Song Thrush, Magpie, Mistle Thrush, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Blackcap, Coot, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Robin, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail and Grey Wagtail.  Less than the first session but everyone enjoyed it.  It was nice to see a few children on the walk and they all were really keen, not forced to go on it.  Good to see.

I decided to chase a life tick today and head over to north Leicester for a Red-rumped Swallow.  It had been showing well for the last couple of days and my pager ping early on saying the bird was showing well.  I arrived at about ten o'clock to plenty of birders with their scopes, bins, and cameras fixed onto a bird.  Cracking I thought.  My pager then pinged again '18 Common Scoter - Watermead CP'.  I got out of the car which and I was overlooking a very small lake (about the size of the east pool at Croxall).  On there were the 18 Common Scoter, 2 females and 16 males.  That was a nice start.  Now for the swallow.  I asked someone if it was showing and they gave me the news that it flew off a few minutes earlier with a load of Sand Martins.  But people wre quite confident the bird would return.  I took some photos of the Common Scoter then I spotted some Sand Martins in the distance in the sky. I decided to take a look and walked around the park to an artificial Sand Martin nest site.  It was very impressive and loads of Sand Martins were diving in and out of the holes.  I kept scanning the birds but there was no sign of the Red-rumped Swallow.  I went back to the lake were there were loads of birdsers camped and then hung around for a few hours.  The bird was last seen about 11.15 and it was now about 13.30.  With an hour drive and some rerst needed I decided to head home with no sighting of said bird.  the birds I did see were Common Scoter, Cormorant, Coot, Mallard, Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Wren, Tufted Duck, Sedge Warbler, Great-crested Grebe, Greylag Geese, Blackcap, Robin, Great Tit, Chiffchaff, Sand Martin, Buzzard, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Reed Bunting, Grey Heron, Little Ringed Plover, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, and Moorhen.  Not the best result but yet another mini adventure to a new site.  

I decided to write Saturday off.  The beer trip was good, and the following pubs were even better.  I was feeling fine but tired and proberbly not fit to drive for most of the day.  I have also, recently, been diagnosed with Multiple Sclirosis (I think thats the spelling, not too sure).  My Mom has been doing some research and rest is good as well as keeping up with sleep.  I am proberbly the worlds worst sleeper so saturday I was watching John Wilson fishing, and lots of football and American wrestling, with very short bursts of sleep in between.  In the middle of all that I had an eye on the pager and was gutted when a Little Gull and some Arctic Terns were present at Blithfield.

Back to today and I was planning on going to Inner Marsh farm on the Wirral, a small RSPB reserve.  Unfortunately I could not find my RSPB cards so I decided to stay local and head off to Belvide.  I got there nice and early and there was not a sole in sight.  I basically walked to the west end, visiting all three hides, and then walked to the lane before walking back to the car.  The birds I saw were Robin, Chiffchaff, Pheasant, Wood Pigeon, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Wren, Blackcap, Blackbird, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Collared Dove, Great-crested Grebe, Coot, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Kingfisher, Goldeneye, Mallard, Wigeon, gadwall, Carrion Crow, Canada Geese, Cormorant, Swallow, Skylark, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow, Pochard, Moorhen, Pied Wagtail, Shoveler, Redshank, Lapwing, Ruddy Duck, Greylag Geese, Goldfinch, Buzzard, Peregrine, Rook, Common Whitethroat, Grey Heron, Sedge Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Herring Gull, Stock Dove, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Willow Warbler and a Treecreeper.  A right good list.  I met Steve Nuttall on site today (man who writes the Belvide blog).  We walked around the far West side and we got on about the lack of hirundines.  On the same day last year Steve recorded 800 Sand Martins alone.  Today there was five Swallows and Sand Martins equalled 1.  Whats going on?  I have noticed at Whitemoor that the Sand Martins are missing and have had only sightings of single Swallows. Very strange.  A very good morning at Belvide.

 

 

I did not know what to do here.  I had forgot my walking boots so only had my trainers, and I spoke to a bloke at Belvide and he said it was very quiet.  With this I had a quick look on the causeway, then parked in the sailing club car park and walked over the dam and back.  The birds I saw were Skylark, Pied Wagtail, Mallard, mute Swan, Coot, Tufted Duck, Great-crested Grebe, Black-headed Gull, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Moorhen, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Chiffchaff, Wren, Wheatear, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Grey Heron, Greylag Geese and Lapwing.  Nothing to write home about and I am sure it would have been better as I took my boots and walked around Tad and Blithe Bay.  Never mind.

 

 

A pair of Black-necked Grebes have been present here for a few days so they were my target birds.  I parked up and walked to the canal scrape.  There I had Coot, Reed Bunting, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Magpie, Blackbird, Linnet, Wood Pigeon, Willow Warbler, Little Grebe, Mute Swan, Buzzard, Chiffchaff, Great Tit, Wren, Robin, Dunnock, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Green Woodpecker, Skylark, Teal, Gadwall, Ringed Plover, Shelduck, Black-necked Grebe, Shoveler, Great-crested Grebe, and Wigeon.  I managed to get a few photos of the grebes but they were pretty distant and there was also a heat haze.  From here I walked up to the three stages and added Swallow, Blackcap, Moorhen, Sedge Warbler, Cormorant, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Goosander, Goldfinch, Lapwing, Grey Heron and Carrion Crow.  Not a bad visit and the target bird found.  Ideal.    

 

 

In the past, this site has held breeding Mediterranean Gull.  After getting a rubbish photo of one in the winter, I fancied stalking one at this site.  I last visited this site a couple of years ago and the gulls were nesting on an island close to a gravel bar.  It was just a case of getting as far down the vegetation covered bar as I could and getting a photo.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  I got to the site and either the islands had changed or the bar had gone, but the nesting sites were very distant.  Birds I saw getting here were Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Skylark, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull, Dunnock, Sand Martin, Buzzard, Coot, Mute Swan, Mallard, Canada Geese, Green Sandpiper, Tufted Duck, Great-crested Grebe, Cormorant, Shelduck and searching through the gulls, 2 Mediterranean Gulls.  I managed to fire off a few distant shots.  Pleased with that I headed back to the car and added Teal, Goldneye, Moorhen, Gadwall, Shoveler, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Lesser Black-backed Gull, and Wood Pigeon to the site list.

 

 

With time getting on I decided to go to Whitemoor.  I was going to park by the pool but there was a couple on bikes by the fence so I decided to have a drive around the square and wait for them to go.  Birds I saw there were Carrion Crow, Stock Dove, Yellow Wagtail, Jackdaw, Wood Pigeon, Pheasant, Mallard, Lapwing,and Magpie.  I returned to the pool were the couple had gone so I got out my stool and hung around there for a while.  Birds I saw here were Black-headed Gull, Canada Geese, Pied Wagtail, Chaffinch, Tufted Duck, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck, WhiteWagtail, Teal, Ringed Plover, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Skylark, Goldfinch, Starling, Greylag Geese, Blackbird and the bird of the whole day, an Arctic Tern.  I spotted this tern flying around at the far end of the pool and put it down as a Common Tern.  I lost it for a bit but re-found it a lot closer and noticed it was an Arctic Tern.  The bill was all red and it had a 'no neck' look.  I watched it for a few minutes before it flew off north.  I was well chuffed.  with that I packed up, went home, and went down the pub.          

Today I only had chance to go to Whitemoor as I was going on a trip around the Martsons brewery in Burton.  I have been drinking the stuff for years but never seen how its made, so a group of us are booked on a trip at lunch time, followed by a few beers.  I set my stool up at Whitemoor and spent an our and a half by the pool.  I saw Kestrel, Skylark, Black-headed Gull, Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Canada Geese, Redshank, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan, Robin, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Starling, Ringed Plover, Tufted Duck, Oystercatcher, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Blackcap, Yellowhammer, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Wren, Pheasant, Little Ringed Plover, Yellow Wagtail, Swallow, Stock Dove, Shelduck and Tree Sparrow.  Not a bad list for sitting around by a pool.  Now its off to the pub.

In my efforts to get a lifer, I had a tip off one of my fellow bloggers but have been asked to keep the site quiet.  I needed to get a Goshawk and so headed for this area where they have been seen.  I parked up and headed off up a track.  Birdsd I saw were Siskin, Pied Wagtail, Pheasant, Robin, Canada Geese, Wood Pigeon, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, and Wren.  Once out of the trees I found myself on the moors and either side of the road all I could hear and see were Red Grouse.  They were everywhere.  I cannot believe it took until last year to get a Red Grouse on my life list.  I got to where I wanted and scanned the area where Goshawks can be seen.  I hung around about an hour with no luck.  I headed back down and added Meadow Pipit, Curlew, Great Tit and Blackbird to my list.  Near the car was a gate way were acoup-le of birders were hanging around for a Goshawk.  I started chatting to them when a bird appeared above the tree line.  It was the GOSHAWK I had been after.  We watched for some time while it flew high above the woodland.  Well chuffed I headed back to the car and added Great Spotted Woodpecker, Raven and Chiffchaff. 

 

 

This area has been hloding a Great Grey Shrike for the last few weeks, and as I did not see one last year, this was a must.  The guys I saw at the last site had views as close as twenty feet away, so i was hoping for a good photo.  When I arrived on site the bird had just flown.  We scanned the area and sopmeone eventually picked the bird up about four hundred yards away, down the busy A57 (I think).  I hung around for about half an hour but the bird stayed distant.  I was not too bothered though, and as it was the start of Easter holidays, mixed with excellent weather, it was time to head out of the peak district.  Birds I added here were Curlew, Lapwing, Mallard and Meadow Pipit.

 

 

It was along drive home due to high levels of traffic but I arrived at the lake by the quarry entrance.  I dcided to hang around here and se if anything was around before going home to watch the football.  Birds I saw were Canada Geese, Robin, Magpie, Black-headed Gull, Redshank, Greylag Geese, Teal, Mallard, Ringed Plover, Lapwing, Pied Wagtail, Carrion Crow, Cormorant, Long-tailed Tit, Starling, Golden Plover, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Wood PIgeon, Corn Bunting, Wren, Skylark, Pheasant, Yellow Wagtail (3), Meadow Pipit, White Wagtail (1), Grey Heron, Rook, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Kestrel and Jackdaw.  A nice list for here with the bonus of the wagtails for the year list.

 

By seeing the Goshawk, my life list jumps up by one.  Or does it??  In 2006, on the way back from seeing the Pacific Diver, and American Robin in Yorkshire, my pager said there was a Kumlien's Gull in Derbyshire.  I was not far away and so went to see it.  It was there and I even got a photo.  Three lifers in a day, not bad.  I have recently learnt that this bird does not exist.  It is, in fact, a hybrid of Thayer's and Iceland Gull.  This bird does not exist, however, the one near Rugby recently was quite heavily twitched.  Also, on Birdguides birdmap, this bird is coming up as rare.  I dont know who eventually makes the decision to class the bird as official in this country, but surely it should be done quicker.  3 years ago I saw my first none-existant bird, and still it is a hybrid with its own name.  This is not a rant but a comment from a birder who does not undrtand the situation.  If anyone can shed any light, please leave a comment.