What does a Great Reed Warbler, a Red Necked Phalorope, and a Great White Egret have in common?  Answer........they were there, I went to see them, they were not there.  My twitching days are numbered! The pager came to life reporting a Great White Egret At Tamworth.  I knew where it was so set off.  I got there just as a group of army cadets came running through the field it was in.  They had scared the bird of just moments earlier, everyone was scrambling back into their cars, I was wandering where to go.  Someone said it was flying Kingsbury way so I stopped had a thought and decided to head to Drayton Bassett (soon to be Middleton Hall RSPB).  There was no sign of the bird there but there was Black Headed Gull, Common Tern, Tufted Duck, Coot, Great and Lesser Black Back Gull, Herring Gull, Swift and Swallow.  I only stayed a short while due to leaving my car parked by a busy road, easy to pinch.  I took a drive back to where the bird was first seen but it was not to be on this occasion.

Although the weather was dodgy, I decided to chance it and pop to Cannock Chase hoping for Nightjar.  It was ok leaving Alrewas but by the time I got to the car park it was lashing down.  Fortunetly it was only nine o'clock so I had a bit of time top spare.  Eventually it did relent and me, my mom and Jess started walking up the track.  A Chaffinch greeted us singing from the telephone lines and then two Tree Pipit stareted singing from the spruce tops.  Other birds were Willow Warbler, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Song Thrush, Wood Pigeon, and Common Whitethroat.  By dusk we had walked up this track to a crossroads, turned left and walked about a quarter of a mile.  Two Fallow Deer where grazing further up the track and we managed to watch them for about thirty seconds before dissapearing.  Jess went running into the undergrowth after a stick and flushed a Woodcock. It flew off sqeaking.  Whilst waiting for proceedings to take place, a Cuckoo was calling behind the trees and I was going to see if we could find it as my mother has never had a good sight of one.  Just then we heard the first sign of a Nightjar.  A male started chuirring at the bottom of the valley.  Then it flew up to the track we where on, did some churring and then started chasing moths in front of us.   A few moments later two females flew straight over our heads heading for the male but the male got up and flew off.  After a bit of none activity we started to walk back to the crossroads.  A single, large dead tree has been left in the clear fell area and on it a female settled with a male flying around.  It then settled and then moments later it mated with the female and settled backdown.  This was going on only fifty yards from where we all stood.  After a minute or so they both flew off and when we got to the croosroads we could hear the male churring away down the track.   A top night with lots of quite large bats (forgive my ignorance of bats),  two more Fallow Deer on the way back to the car and a Red Fox drinking out of a rain puddle on the way home.

 

23-6-07, Croxall Gp (late news written 1-7-07)

 

Had a walk around Croxall to see the damage the fllods have done.  Will list birds as cannot remember what happened on that day.  Black Headed Gull, Common Whitethroat, Magpie, Canada Geese, Swift, Coot, Great Crested Grebe, Chaffinch, Shelduck, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Common Tern, Gadwall, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goldfinch, Skylark, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Oystercatcher, Buzzard, Starling, Wood Pigeon, Kingfisher, Long Tailed Tit, Carrion Crow, Shoveler, Stock, Herring Gull.  On the Tern raft, two chicks were seen being fed by the parents.

Popped down to Croxall for more of a tidy up rather than a birdwatch but being as sad as i am, i picked up a few. But first an update.  After the heavy flooding the water  has dropped considerably.  The flash and lake are still as one and birds are rather scarce apart from a few Canada Geese, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Mallard, and Great Crested Grebe.  The East hide is still waterlogged with about six inches of water and a few frogs.  There are no signs of any waders and the farmer whose sheep are grazing the reserve found a few dead Skylark.  The farmer did not lose any sheep fortunetly, this cannot be said for a farmer not a mile from the reserve that has lost over three hundred.  The main pool is well up but access is fine.  Birds of note included Sparrowhawk, Oystercatcher (which are very vocal and flying which I think concludes that they have lost their chicks), Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Canada Geese, Greenfinch, Mistle Thrush, and Common Tern which there are about six squabbling for space on the raft.  Maybe young terns to follow.    

Popped down to Whitmoor 08.30 primarily to walk the dog but also a bit of birding.  Got near the place where I park and it was two foot under water.  Couldn't believe it.  My mates mom and dad live round there so forget the birding, chest waders on and waded through to their house.  Fortunetlely they were fine so I paddled back to the car and went to Croxall, again assuming it was ok.  The car park was part of the river and about a foot under water.  The main track around the corner was up to my knees in most places.  The water was just under the main hide but the East hide was half submerged and the scrape, pool and river were one.  A incredible sight.  The farmers sheep were surviving on a small island and when he arrived the water had started to drop about one inch per hour.  The next few days will show what damage has been done to the wildlife, but Saturday afternoon I was pulling litarally hundreds of snails, one common lizard, hundreds of slugs, and loads of beetles out of the flood water and to higher ground.  There was also lots of voles/shrews/mice scurrying to escape the rising water.  All in all, a busy day but for the wrong reasons.

The weather again was dictating the birding trips.  I decided to pop to Croxall where there was hides in case of rain which was very threatening.  I got to the car park and there was a small trickle of water running through into the lake.  The lake was very high from the rain.  I set off from the car park picking up Common Whitethroat, Canada Geese, Common Tern, Sedge Warbler, Mute Swan, Wood Pigeon, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Magpie, Great Crested Grebe and Oystercatcher.  I got to the first corner picking out Skylark and Robin.  Once round the corner I noticed that the track was flooded quite badly.  With only walking boots on I decided not to risk it, so I dashed home and got my wellies.  When i got back to the car park, the trickle had turned into a stream and the A513 had started to flood.  You could literally see the flood levels rising.  I looked around the flooded grass and fished out loads of snails, beetles and a Common Lizard.  Within an hour of this, the A513 was totally flooded and Croxall was well flooded.  I then concentrated on watching cars attempting to get through the floods.  This is going to cause a lot of damage to birds which are still ground nesting and also insects which couldnt escape the floods.  Six calves were also trapped by Chetwynd bridge so the farmer was called and they were getting rescued as i left.    

I went up to Blithfield after the pager reported a Black Tern.  The clouds were threatening but i got my gear together and started walking along the causeway to look for said bird.  A quick look before it absolutely lashed down.  Swallow, Cormorant, Mallard, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Blue Tit, Coot, Pied Wagtail, and Mute Swan were the only birds around.............and black, wet clouds.

During Friday the pager was beeping away Red Necked Phalorope at Upton Warren.  With the rain Friday night and the forecast for Saturday absolutely rubbish, it was on a whim that I got up Saturday morning, opened the cutains and saw blue skies, packed my gear and headed off to Worcestershire.    The area where the report came from was on the flashes.  There are three hides along one path, two hides overlook one flash and another hide overlooks a small pool.  Firstly you have to park at a sailing club and walk around a pool to get to the track.  Around the sailing pool was Chiffchaff, Greenfinch, Black Headed Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Grey Heron, Willow Warbler, and Blackbird.  I went straight to the far hide to work my way back.  A Green Sandpiper was feeding outdide the hide with Avocet, Common Tern, Little Ringed Plover, Moorhen and Coot.  On the pool was Tufted Duck, Ruddy Duck, Shelduck, Canada Geese, and Lapwing.  There are various little islands around the flash and on these were Moorhen, Stock Dove, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Wood pigeon, Carrion Crow, Magpie, and Oystercatcher.  House Martin, Swift and Swallow were whizzing around the pool with Jay and Sparrowhawk crossing.  Other birds included Blue Tit, Dunnock, Goldfinch and Sedge Warbler. The Red Necked Phalorope was around until dusk friday night but not seen since.  Anyway a  very good small reserve well worth a visit.  

In between showers, I managed to get a couple of hours at Croxall GP.  At the car park was Greenfinch in a tree, Mute Swan, Carrion Crow, and Great Crested Grebe on or near the pool.  A Sedge Warbler was singing in the reeds near the entrance, along with Robin and Wren. Canada geese, Coot, and Mallard were on the pool.  Along the track, up to the hide i saw Garden Warbler, Reed Warbler (both of which I managed to attract by making a pssssht noise..............hopefully no one was watching but I got them to come very close), Wood Pigeon, Black Headed Gull, Common Whitethroat, Chaffinch, Swift, and Magpie. From the hide, the Common Tern were still on the tern raft, hopefully sitting.  To the East hide and the recent heavy rain has again bought the water levels very high.  Hopefully the Little Ringed Plover have learnt their lesson and built their second nest higher up.  From the hide I got Lapwing, Redshank, Lesser Black Back Gull flying through, Willow Warbler, Kingfisher, Song Thrush, Reed Bunting, Gadwall,  and Moorhen.  I left the hide and just walking through the trees, a ghostly apperition came floating over the meadow straight at me and then into one of the trees.  A Barn Owl with a meal in its talons.  I tried to follow it and met a chap who had been watching two of them just behind the pool, fantastic.  It zoomed off over Catton park way and that was that.  Within minutes it was lashing down and the two of us got drenched but who cared, we had just been watching Barn Owls.  

 

 

I had arranged a trip to North Wales to visit my old stomping grounds.  It was an early start (round 6am) to get up to South Stack about 3 hours away.  With me I took my mother a an old work mate, Matt.  I was also meeting up with two old friends, Shaun and Carolyn (at this moment in time I am listening to Shaun on the BBC World Service on about how the G8 summit was a waste of time).  We met about half nine at South Stack.  We were greeted with numerous Skylark and Common Whitethroat.  At the cliffs edge we encountered Herring Gull and Great Black Back Gull terrerising the parents and chicks.  Then came the sightings of loads of Guillemot  and Razorbill either floating in large rafts or flying to and from the nests.  A few Cormorant were seen flying past and then out of nowhere came Choughs surfing on the breeze off the sea.  Excellent acrobats which love wind, look great and have an amazing call.  Three Puffins were on the sea below Ellin's Tower with Kittiwake and Fulmar whizzing by.  A Lesser Black Back Gull was sitting in with the slightly bigger Herring Gulls, whilst we found a Rock Pipit on nearby rocks. An absolutely fantastic place to see birds close, especially Choughs which get to within 20 feet.  On the way back to the car, we also picked up Wren, Linnet, Stonechat and Meadow Pipit.  The weather was stunning with a blazing sun, clear skies and only a slight breeze to keep the Choughs happy. 

 

 

Whilst I was doing some homework, I came across the RSPB's viewing site that had been set up to watch Black Guillemots in Holyhead Harbour, but it was only open Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  I have not seen a Black Guillemot for a few years now and the others had never seen one so I was very keen to get them.  We found a road which led to the car park but you could not see the harbour.  We then found a way to the other side by a truck park.  As soon as we pulled up, two Black Guillemots came flying into the harbour.  Fantastic.  Matt went for a wander to the edge of the harbour, spotted two more, called us as they went whizzing by.  They landed near to the huge 'cat' which goes to Ireland.  I put the scope on them and we all had good, if distant, views of these superb birds.  Also around the harbour were Cormorant, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, and Oystercatcher.

 

 

Cemlyn Bay is a North Wales Wildlife Trust site - NWWT  (I think), near to Wylfa Power Station.  It is a large shingle beach which acts as a barrier holding in a lagoon.  In this lagoon are two islands and these islands are the breeding grounds of the target birds, Terns.  Walking to the lagoon we encountered Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Goldfinch, and Sand Martin.  On the islands there were about 1000 pairs of Sandwich Tern, 70 pairs of Common Tern, and 10 pairs of Arctic Tern and many Black Headed Gull. An amazing place to see all three birds breeding in good numbers and also a good place to compare each Tern with each other.  It is also a good place for the odd Roseate Tern which was seen the day before but not today.  At the sea edge there were Ringed Plover and Dunlin.  Around the island, amongst the Terns were Redshank, Magpie, and Coot.  Also a visit from a  Great Black Back Gull bought chaos to the islanders as it attacked a Black Headed Gulls nest, eating their eggs.   The weather here was hotter than South Stack but with a bit stronger breeze.  Fortunetly for you, digiscoping was all but impossible today due to the heat haze.  Saves you from having to look at crap photos of distant Terns!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

This is another site owned by NWWT.  It is only a small pool with lots of reeds and two hides, one in one corner overlooking the main pool and the other in another corner with views of reeds and water from one side of the hide, and the other side looks out onto the Menai Straits/Aber Ogwen (Ihave proberbly failed big style in creating a nice picture of this superb little reserve).  It may be small but there can be some very good birding here so always worth popping in ......... but not today.  On the whole pretty quite but worth it all the same.  Wren, Blue Tit, and Jackdaw were all greeting us (as well as two friendly sheep dogs from the farm opposite the entrance).  On the estuary were Mute Swan, Mallard, Shelduck, Carrion Crow, Great Black Back Gull, Black Headed Gull, Oystercatcher and Greylag Geese.  Around the pools were Chiffchaff, Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Dunnock, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Long Tailed Tit, Buzzard, and Chaffinch.  On the pools were Mallard, Moorhen, Little Grebe and Teal.  On the way back to the car we also saw a Jay.  In past visits I have had Water Rail, Kinghfisher and Greenshank to name just a few.

 

 

This RSPB reserve was createdfollowing the construction of the Conwy tunnel.  It has a visitor centre, a new tea room, and three hides which are situated around shallow pools next to the Conwy estuary.  The trail leads to all the way round the pools and along the estuary.  Loads of Swift were feeding on thw wing, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Tufted Duck and Coot were on the pool from within the tea room.  You can also get excellent views of Water Rail from the tea rooms but sadly not today.  As we went outside, Herring Gull overhead and Magpie from a bush.  A Willow Warbler was singing in the alder trees.  At the first hide we saw Canada Geese, Mallard, Little Grebe, Oystercatcher, Great Crested Grebe and Red Breasted Merganser.  Reed and Sedge Warblers were in the reeds all around, whilst Greenfinch, Sand Martin and Starling were flying around the reserve.  Sand Martins used to breed here but they have not for the last few years so an artificial bank has been built to encourage them.  Lapwings were dotted around the islands with Grey Heron feeding in between.  Around the reserve there were plenty of Reed Bunting, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Wren, Common Whitethroat, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Pied Wagtail, House Sparrow and House Martin.  Lesser and the odd Great Black Back Gull and Buzzard crossed the reserve whilst Chiffchaff sang from the trees.  Out on the estuary with the tide coming in were plenty of Shelduck, and a few Dunlin, Redshank and Curlew.  Not a bad way to spend a couple of hours birding and an excelent place to end the North Wales Bird Trip.

A walk around the back fields, past the weir and the Trent came up with a few birds.  Chaffinch, House Sparrow and Magpie werer in the village on the way out.  Mallard, Mute swan, Black Headed Gull, Common Tern, Grey Heron, Reed Bunting, Swallow, and Coot were along the river and by the weir.  Further along the river and canal were Moorhen, Carrion Crow, and Sedge Warbler.  Back in the village I picked up Wood Pigeon, and Starling.

Stuffed myself with a B-B-Q on Sunday teatime so went Quail hunting in the evening to walk it off. Mostly the same as this morning with the odd exception.  A Kestrel was hoveringt over the field opposite the lake. Three Shelduck were in the field here the Stock Doves were feeding earlier (about twenty there this evening), a couple of Mallard flew over, and two Lesser Whitethrats were in a bush where the track ends on the corner.  On the way home I stopped off at the lake for a quick look and saw Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Redshank, Ringed Plover and a Pied Wagtail. In the trees behind was the usual Chiffchaff.

Whilst walking around Whitemoor, there was two lads with a Lurcher lype dpg, proberbly after hare. A friend of a friend contacted the farmer but he never showed.  They only legged it after they spotted me, watching them.  Mr Farmer is happy to get rid of birders who are standing and watching birds whilst people illegally hunting are fine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Popped to the pub in Barton to see my known associates and on the way back, a Little Owl was on the road but it quickly flew into a nearby tree.

Other news. At Barton GP the Avocet was still showing; also a female Mandarin and a Raven.   

 

It was getting warmer by the hour and so a trip around Croxall before I hunt shade.  A Carrion Crow was having a peck around the lake edge, whilst Oystercatcher, Moorhen, Coot, and Mallard were sleeping under the willow (to the right of the lake viewed from the carpark).  Through the gates an a Common Whitethroat was scratching away. Also near was a Garden Warbler, Wren, and Chaffinch.  Two Great Crested Grebe were on the lake with some Canada Geese.  A couple of Magpies and Wood Pigeon were feeding on the track whilst two Mistle Thrush were disturbed by myself.  Singing and showing in the hedge row were Robin, Blue Tit, and Blackbird.  A Grey Heron was fishing on the far side of the lake with Black Headed Gull over head.  Two Mute Swan on the lake had four cygnets with them.  Greenfinch and Goldfinch were near the railway bridge.  From the East hide I saw Little Ringed Plover (only one today, hopefully thje other is sitting), Gadwall, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Yellow Wagtail (being chased by a lamb),  and a couple of Buzzards.  A Linnet flew over the hide.  Back on the main lake and two Common Terns were on the raft.  They kept flying away and coming back, always to the same spot and having a sort out before sitting down.  Hopefully they have bred and are sitting.  A few Tufted Ducks were on the lake and a Sedge Warbler was shouting from the reeds.  Too hot for me now so off for shade untill this evening. 

This time last year I heard my first Quail of the year, so fingers were crossed.  7.30am and it was already getting very warm.  A few Swallows were flying low over the rape whilst a Reed Bunting and Common Whitethroat were sitting on the rape by the car park.  In the opposite field were Skylark, Magpie and Carrion Crow whilst Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting were singing near by.  Other birds included Wren, Swift, Wood Pigeon, Linnet and Blue Tit.  On the stubble field (sharp bend on the rough track) there was 15 Stock Doves and a few Starlings feeding. A Black Headed Gull went over and the only other birds around were Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, and a Song Thrush singing near the houses past the microlight field.  Pretty quite all in all.