Birding Recently

Hi readers, another post has come around, this post will focus on the last couple of weeks birding seen as quite a few good birds have been seen I felt it better to do a post covering everything seen. So we begin with Sunday a couple of weeks ago enjoy the read.

31/05/15-

So this birding day began quite quietly with a visit to Sandwell Valley, the morning was filled with the usual birds and strangely nothing different really turned up even the rain influx we had, had over the night time. We expected Sanderling or Dunlin but no sign of anything during our visit to Sandwell. However we decided to go for a personal lifer for the afternoon in the form of a Black Tern which had been seen over at Upton Warren. So we headed over there for a crack at the bird. I had never been for a Black Tern hence why I hadn't seen one previously so I was very hopeful we would get the bird.

We arrived at the sailing pool where the Tern had been residing all day and pretty quickly managed to get onto it. A stunning looking Black Tern was showing very well and continuously feeding, we managed to see the bird quite close up as it flew by. I did manage to photograph it but as the bird was constantly moving it wasn't an easy task. I was more chuffed with seeing the bird it was a major tart on my tart list I've been waiting to see one for quite a while now so it was great to see it so well. Bellow is a decent picture of the bird as it flew by it was in great plumage so a good example of the species to see.

Shot of the Black Tern. 

So after seeing the Tern we moved over for a look around the flashes to see what was around. Straight away we got plenty of Avocets in view, there are so many now its great to see them doing well, I know some birders regard them as a problem but I think there does need to be places for them to succeed and Upton Warren is a place where they can succeed while allowing other birds to succeed at other reserves. The Avocet chicks are well grown now and looking very good, also a tone of Black Headed Gull chicks were all around. What was interesting to see was the second breeding of Shoveler at Upton Warren this time on the flashes I'm not sure how many chicks there were but still it is a major breeding bird for Worcestershire and Upton Warren. Another good breeding bird was a brood of Shellduck also residing to the left of the hide. The flashes delivered well we had some great views of Avocet and as a whole a successful visit especially with seeing the Black Tern so well.

Avocet Parent. 

The same Avocet Parent. 

7/06/15- So we move onto the following Sunday now things were a lot quieter on this day. Our birding was done only around Sandwell Valley so we wanted to take it slower for the day as a whole. The morning spent in the hide was pretty average as a whole until later in the morning towards midday, for a few weeks now a pair of Peregrines had been flying by the hide usually from the direction of the electric pylons. However on this occasion the pair came from the left rather than the right, they hadn't been seen for a few weeks so it was good to see them around. Just before leaving the hide I picked out a Ringed Plover to the left of the hide that may have been sneaking around all morning, still it was a nice surprise and something a little different to see. Usually we only get one or two a year which coincidentally has been the same this year. After the hide we moved over to Kingfisher Corner, a Spotted Flycatcher had been spotted earlier in the morning so we felt it was worth a check to get one. Initially it seemed like the bird wasn't going to show, we waited around for a while and had no luck. However our luck did turn when a Hobby decided to pass through Kingfisher Corner while we were looking for the Flycatcher. And then after this the Spotted Flycatcher appeared perched on the trees to the left of the bench at Kingfisher Corner. We observed the bird for 10 minutes or so while it caught flies and returned to its perch and then left with a successful mornings birding in the bag. 

14/06/15- So we move onto the final day this post covers and it begins as our birding days do usually begin again at Sandwell Valley. The morning was again pretty quiet as a whole, a Kingfisher flew through a couple of times and a single Goosander still remains. We also have a single Greylag Goose around which doesn't have the ability to actually fly off at the moment hence why it's still here. The LRP are still nesting so let's hope they do manage their first successful year in a while. The Oystercatcher pair also remained however they seem to have given up on nesting attempts now. 4 Common Terns were also about I know of one chick being around but there is quite possibly more by now. Two jus Pied Flycatchers also remained around throughout the morning. The Carp within the lake seemed very active they were continually moving around throughout the morning I'm no expert so assumed it was spawning or mating. Just before leaving the hide we had a strike of luck with a Hobby flying by the hide presumably after the local Hirundines of which there were plenty. 

So with a free afternoon on the table I began a Twitter search through the bird news accounts looking for something different to go and look for. I managed to find a sighting of Quail down in Ivereley which seemed worth a shot it was a lifer and although we new it may be hard to see we felt it worth a go. Before hand I researched the call of Quail because it is often the only way you will even get close to seeing them and we were all set. Not totally sure on what field to be looking in we stumbled upon some horse fields a few farmers were working away. And then they greeted us by telling us to leave and also warning that if the old man came out he would kill us, I thought she was joking at first but she seemed pretty serious about the murder part. So we moved on, the lady did help us a little and told us of a track further up the road so we walked up there. We had a quick nose over some fields and saw a ton of Rabits and began to think we were punching above our weight.

So on our walk back we first heard the call of a Willow x Chiffchaff Warbler in the trees which was an interesting one that seems to turn up a little more lately, but then a call broke out in the middle of a field that got us up and running it was the call of a Quail of course somewhere in a pretty large field there was a Quail. So we jumped over a gate and began a slow walk up a track next to the field where it was calling. We heard it for a good 10 minutes and then it stopped without a trace, a few Skylarks were still calling but the Quail had stopped. However literally as we were leaving I had a quick look over the field through a small gap in the hedge and the bird burst out calling it had to have been feet away from me so I quickly moved back and had a good stare into the grass for a while. It had to have been moving Round quite a bit it was defiantly far into the field when it first began to call do it surprise me how close to us it was. It was that close as you can see bellow I even managed to film it calling using my phone.

Video of Quail Calling on my Twitter- https://twitter.com/WMBB1 

Although we didn't see it I was still chuffed with hearing the bird it was interesting to hear such a strange call so close up to us. Hopefully in future we manage to get a view of this species but now I know for real how difficult they can be. That's it for this post anyway thanks for reading and there should be another post up soon. 

Thanks for reading and good birding- WB