Monday 31 May 2010

Twitch - Purple Heron



Got the chance over the weekend to go to Dungeness and try for the Purple Herons.
Set off at the ungodly hour of half two, with my Father, Brother and friend john, with the plan being to stop off for the Iberian Chiffchaff at Walderslade.
After finding the correct area at the second attempt, the Iberian Chiffchaff was found by its significantly different call, showing with five other Chiffchaffs.
From there it was onto the far side of the Denge Marshes where we spent half hour looking out over the marshes for any sign of the herons.
After blanking there we went onto Dungeness RSPB where after about an hours wait the heron exited the reed bed and flew across the reserve. Unfortunately my brother and father had gone back to the car but luckily enough as they returned to the hide the heron flew back across the reeds giving good flight views for all.
After navigating around the M25 and a quick stop at Magna Carta Lane for the Parakeets we decided to finish they day at Wilnstone Reservoir to try for the Red Footed Falcon that had been reported.
On arrival the bird was flying over the reservoir with four Hobby's for company, the bird was quite easy to pick out though.
The rain then started to come down heavily so we decided to call it a day.
All of the significant birds seen on this trip were in the air for most of the time so digiscoping was impractical so there is only a very distant shot of the Purple heron and what looks like the Common Tern gymnastic team.

Friday 28 May 2010

Barren patch





After the Grey Plover & Temmincks Stints at Coleshill,I was hopeful that a few waders might have dropped in on Cliff Pool over the last couple of weeks.
However, there has been nothing, nowt, nada, zero, zip, bugger all out of the ordinary apart from a couple of reports of a pink footed goose and a Bean Goose.
Probably a case of miss identification but you never know.
An Oystercatcher appears to be sitting on eggs on the horseshoe island and most of the other resident species have got young, apart from Great Crested Grebe.
Took a couple of snaps of damselfly's, which I think are common blue and blue tailed.
I'm sure my brother will put me right...IF I'm wrong.

Thursday 13 May 2010

Temminck's Stint at Coleshill gravel pit




Having awoke this morning at 01:30 for work, yes I do really have to get up that early, I found that I had a message informing me that there were 3 Temminck's Stints at Coleshill gravel pit.
Having never been there before I did a quick search on Google earth, checked the local forums for info and then found directions on Tame Valley Birding.
Well the day at work really dragged on and I eventually finished at about half one and shot straight over to the pits.
A couple of departing birders told me where to go and within minutes I was scanning the pit.
Having been told they were over there a minute ago, it took me about 5 minutes to locate 2 birds in a different area.
The birds were feeding happily, but being harassed by Little Ringed Plovers.
After about an hour one of the birds departed leaving only a solitary bird for anyone trying later in the afternoon.

Wednesday 5 May 2010

Mini twitch - Clayhanger marsh Hoopoe




Having missed the Walsall bird of a couple of years ago and never having seen one i decided to twitch the bird that has been resident at Clayhanger marsh for the past couple of days.
The excellent directions on the Clayhanger marsh blog lead me straight to the site only to be told the dreaded "it was just there five minutes ago".
After half hour of searching many watcher departed leaving me with four other die hard or maybe just desperate birders.
After a slow walk up toward "the slagheap" I spotted the bird half way up the heap feeding.The bird then showed intermittently for about an hour before being scared by two trail bikes riding along the old railway.
If you have never visited this site it is well worth it.
Also many thanks to Chas of http://clayhangermarshlog.blogspot.com/ for his excellent directions and for making the bird known to the masses.