Spring is here

Yesterday I went to Broomey Croft for a couple of hours to see if I could pick up a few more migrants.
Fat chance of that as the KWP rangers were on the islands in front of the hides strimming to their hearts content,it looks like they went to the same school as the people at the RSPB and were told to wait until birds have started to breed and passage has started before you do any work.
Well after bumping into John the pilot & Tim we decided to head up the canal to Fishers Mill.I heard and then saw my first Blackcap of the year in glorious sunshine and on reaching "Fishers" Tim soon spotted 3 Little Ringed Plover.
It was as we turned back to the water park that thing got a little rough, possibly an understatement, with first hail and then torrential rain.
We arrived back at the water park looking like 3 drowned rat.

Today I risked a quick hour at Broomey Croft, dodging between the showers produced my first Swallow of the year and on returning to the car park there were at least 25 feeding over the lake.

Rp & Lrp @ NP

No prizes for cracking the code in the title!
Spent most of this morning at North pit where there are signs of the wader passage starting.
2 Ringed Plover, 2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Green Sandpiper and 5 Redshank were present along with over 20 Shelduck including the hybrid, which has apparently returned for it's sixteenth year.
Also saw my first 2 Butterflies of the year, they were a new looking Brimstone and a very worn Small tortoiseshell.
From there I went for an hour at Broomey croft where there was no sign of any waders and all talk was about the moving of the inflatable scarecrow from one island to the other!
Finally, rugger Dave slid a photo of an Avocet in front of me that he saw on Tuesday, wonder how he knows that this is my bogey bird for the Tame Valley?

Funny old game

Iv'e been popping into Kingsbury water park on a daily basis trying to find my first summer migrants, with no sucsess.
The work is still ongoing at north pit, I would have thought that it would have been better to do this during the winter month and not at the start of spring migration, But what do I know.
On the plus side the Middleton lakes news letter says that we should have a hide in place by the Autumn, the only problem will be the distance it is from the nearest parking.
5 Little Egrets were nice to see, about time they bred in the area, but there was very little else on show.
A quick trip to Blindpits lane, Wishaw, after a tip off about a Wheatear also proved fruitless.I always struggle to see these in the Tame Valley for some reason.
After calling it a day, I got home and went for a smoke in the garden only to see 3 Sand Martin go flying overhead!
As I said, it's a funny old game!

Patchwork

Been hitting to local patch, (Broomey Croft), since my trip to Wales in the hope of finding the first of the summer migrants.
Nothing major has appeared yet, however there have been 2 Shelduck and 2 oystercatchers on Cliff Pool.Another good sighting was a Raven croaking as it flew over in the direction of Fazeley.
The number of Black headed Gulls has also increased to around 500 with many displaying and making territories.Just hope they leave a little room for the Common Terns, when and if they arrive.

Escape from the valley

Managed to escape from the valley on Friday, thanks to my father, John foulds & Len.
Our destination was Gigrin farm to see the Black kite, But as it hadn't been seen for 2 days we decided to go through mid Wales to Aberystwyth.
First stop was at Ludlow for the decreasing flock of Hawfinch, which were not seen, but Dipper on the river was a year tick.
From there we went on through the Elan Valley which was very scenic, But very scarce of birds with only a possible Goshawk flying over.
A stop for Crossbills proved fruitless and the only point of cheer was our first sighting of a Red Kite.
Onto Aberystwyth where a quick park and lunch saw us finding two Common Gulls at rest with the Gulls.
After searching in vain for the Purple Sandpipers it was a bit of a relief when Len found a small flock of Turnstone in the dark under the pier.
What Len was doing under the pier in the dark, well you'll just have to ask him!
He then really came up trumps by finding the reported Black Redstart on the College building.
The bird showed well for about 5 minutes, enough for all of us to get good photos, showing blue paint on its feet and the side of it's body.
From there we headed to Bwlch Nant yr Arian, to where I had never been before.
All I can say is, if you haven't been here for feeding, it's a must.
Over 80 Red Kite flying around and above you, and then coming in to pick up carrion on the wing.
Truly one of the best natural sights Britain has to offer and a fine way to finish off the day.
Must say thanks to John, Len & Dad for letting me gatecrash their Friday outing!

Still quiet

Still very quiet at Kingsbury water park with no sign of any summer migrants.
A quick scan of Cliff pool revealed a male Smew in amongst the 200+ black-headed Gulls, which quite a few people were over looking.
Just goes to show that its worth checking every bird.
The Tern island on Cliff pool was having a bit of a makeover with lots of strimming and burning going on and the inflatable scarecrow back in position.
Hopefully the lesson has been learnt, that it needs to stay in place for at least 3 weeks after the first sighting of a Tern, as last year the island was over run by Black-headed Gulls before the main arrival of Common Terns.

Sunny days & Frosty mornings

The weather has been a tale of two halves over the last couple of days with severe frosts during the night, down to -7 last night, and warm sunny days albeit with a chilled wind from the east.
The plan today was to shoot over to Lea Marston railway bridge to get the Curlew on the banks of the river Tame, which was successful with eight birds present, and then to proceed to Kingsbury & Fishers Mill in search of the first Little Ringed Plover or any other Summer migrant, of which there was no sign.
Good company was found in the shape of "Rugger Dave" who was suffering after playing at prop for 70 minutes on Sunday. Not sure if he was suffering from the playing or the drinking afterwards!
Birds present at Kingsbury included 94 Wigeon, 4 Snipe, 2 Shelduck, 2 Redshank & 1 Little Egret.

Very quiet

After all the good birds of last week there seems to be a bit of a lull at the moment, it seems like the valley is holding its breath for the first summer migrants to arrive.
Managed a couple of hours at Middleton Hall and Fishers Mill yesterday, But there was work going on allover the place with earth movers on North pit, hedge planting on Middleton lakes and a group of people armed with strimmers clearing the footpaths, not conducive to a good days birdwatching!
Still the work going on at RSPB Middleton lakes is looking good with the family field starting to take shape with a small woodland walk to access it.
Nothing much on the bird front only a Mistle Thrush decided to pose for me, so I've added a close up of one of the "Wilnecote three"