Belvide Bonanza

Saturday 21st November.

Did I say autumn was winding down? Well, at Uttoxeter Quarry I don't think it even started. Actually that's a little unfair. The water level still looks ideal for passage waders. Trouble is they've all gone now, and there's not enough water to attract diving duck, or a rare Grebe or Diver.

I'll stick with it of course, but unless it fills up a bit, it could be a long winter. Still a nice flock of 15 Snipe around, along with 16 Wigeon and a couple of Teal.

After that I was struggling to think what to do next. That was until the pager mentioned a Snow Bunting at Belvide. Which showed really well on the shoreline in front of the west end hide, a cracking little bird. Pity I left my camera in the car, by which time the heavy persistent rain had started.

Sunday 22nd November.

Well, back at Belvide again. As it's the perfect place to go for a Shag.........


What? What else did you think I meant?


The bird did have a head by the way, but was doing a lot of preening at the time.

Pondering to myself about what to do next. I know, I'll give Aqualate Mere a try, not all that far up the road from Belvide. Although I did wonder if I had arrived in Exmoor.....


On arrival at the hide, flicking through the sightings book, both Bittern and Cetti's Warbler have been around for about a month. Isn't is strange how they don't get put out on the information networks? If it was the breeding season I would understand of course. Anyway, after a while of waiting in the hide, a familiar burst of noise came out of the reeds to the right of the hide, that's a Cetti's Warbler alright.

The day was finished at Blithfield, to check for roosting gulls in Tad Bay. Which was rather productive actually, as I managed to pick out an adult Med Gull, along with an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Little did I know while I was at Aqualate, all sorts of fun and games started at Belvide. Make up your own mind for this wader.

Tough Going

Last weekend was just one of those times, where you put the effort in but not much in return. I nearly didn't bother blogging about it. But no, I always intended this to be a warts-and-all tale, within reason of course.

Saturday 14th November.

Starting off at the quarry in Uttoxeter:

1 Redshank, 2 Green Sandpipers, 140 Golden Plover, 300 Lapwing, 55 Teal, 3 Wigeon, 60 Fieldfare.

Then at Blithfield, 4 Redshank and 6 Dunlin in Tad Bay. Any thoughts of checking the gull roost at the causeway were thwarted when an almighty shower came in.

Sunday 15th November.

A much calmer morning, so a walk around the Katyn memorial area of Cannock Chase was called for. And not a bad selection actually, considering the time of year. A few Stonechats, a single Redpoll, Skylarks, Reed Buntings, Fieldfares, Redwings, Green and Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

The afternoon was then spent in the Trent valley, most of the time at Whitemoor Haye to scan for farmland birds. Which produced very little really, the call of a Partridge got me excited for a short while, but it was Red-legged and not the Grey I was hoping for. To break the lack of birds, a short visit to Branston Water Park produced a Water Rail and 4 Snipe in the reeds at the southern end.

And that was as good as it got really. Must be a sign that the best of autumn has passed. In fact, this was the most exciting thing I saw at Whitemoor Haye. Alongside Sittles Farm is a small airstrip, about to be put to the test here........

Rock 'n Roll Birding

I do like my popular beat combos. So I've always wondered for a long time now, what is "The Birder's Anthem"?

Well, I can't really put my finger on one song as there are all sorts of different aspects to birding. So, by the power of Youtube, here are my birding anthems:

1. The Twitcher's Anthem. "I Want It All" by Queen.

2. The Local Patcher's Anthem. "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" by U2.

3. The Stringer's Anthem. "Little Lies" by Fleetwood Mac.

4. The Suppressor's Anthem. "Our Lips Are Sealed" by the Fun Boy Three.

5. The Migration Fall Anthem. "I'm Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage.

You get the idea with that. This is what the dark nights have reduced me to!

As a musical aside, one will notice that we're heading towards the end of a decade, and next year will be the start of a new one. To commemorate the last ten years, Absolute Radio are currently conducting a poll for the "Song of the Decade". I have used my vote wisely, and gone with "Is This The Way To Amarillo.

But I encourage everyone to vote in this poll, just to make sure that anything by James Blunt, or "Chasing Cars" by Snow Patrol, doesn't win! I shall be following this poll closely during December.

On the road to Wembley

You know, if I could muster the effort to twitch the Brown Shrike at Staines, that blog title would be rather appropriate, not that far away from Bobby Moore's statue. How much longer is it going to stay, I might crack yet. As for this weekend, I decided to go a bit lazy on the birding front. Still a bit done mind you.

Saturday 7th November.

A decent selection at Uttoxeter Quarry to start with. Including 37 Golden Plover, 2 Green Sandpiper, 6 Goosander, 23 Wigeon, 4 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare, 1 Stonechat and an intruiging flock of around 20 Reed Buntings. Worth keeping an eye on them during the winter.

A check of Swallow Moss until dusk afterwards proved rather quiet. No sign of any roosting Hen Harriers yet, but perhaps the rain didn't help matters. What was around however was this Red Deer stag. Honest guv, it really is there, but it was getting dark.


Sunday 8th November.

But the real reason for the blog title is because I have a lot of time for the F.A. Cup. I still find it rather special, there's nothing more exciting in the footie calendar than the third round draw.

Thanks to Football League status these days, the mighty Brewers go straight into the first found proper. With a potential banana-skin tie at home to Oxford City to look forward to, I thought some time spent round Whitemoor Haye and Branston would be a good idea before going to the match.

That was until I was on my way getting as far as Uttoxeter, a call from the Blurred Birder informed me of a possible Long-Tailed Duck at Blithfield, off Beech Tree Point. And so it proved to be the case. Unfortunately I had left my camera at home, but thankfully I've wheeled and dealed, a "Blaggers for Bloggers" deal, to get an exclusive picture.


Also around Blithers were a Curlew in Blithe Bay. Then in Tad Bay were an immature drake Scaup, 1 adult Yellow-Legged Gull, 13 Dunlin, 3 Goosander.

As for the footy, thankfully Burton Albion scraped a 3-2 victory, with the reward of an away tie at Gillingham. If the Brown Shrike is still around on the 28th I could combine the two, hmm................

Whoops, they're Bewick's

There's a clever pun in the title, which will become apparent..............

Saturday 31st October, Weaver Hills, 9:00 - 10:30.

After all the excitement of the last few weeks, back to a bit of bread and butter. A migration watch up the Weavers. Well, I did when the fog cleared............


Quite a bit of activity when the mist cleared. 200 Fieldfare, 46 Woodpigeon, 90 Starling, 10 Skylark, 12 Meadow Pipit, 1 Siskin, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Linnet and a Lesser Black-Backed Gull.

A decision next for the afternoon, Uttoxeter Quarry or another try for Glossy Ibis round Drayton Bassett? Well, it was the latter. An afternoon stood by Fisher's Mill pit and scanning around until dusk, along with the Voices of the Tame Valley, Tom and Julian.

Unfortunately there was no sign of the Ibis all day. But highlights included the Garganey, 5 Little Egrets, 1 Water Rail, 6 Snipe, 1 Guzzunder, 20 Fieldfare and 4 Redwing.

Sunday 1st November, Blithfield Reservoir, 11:15 - 17:00.

A wild and windy day, I just felt that Blithers would have the best chance of something blown in.

4 Whooper Swans in Tad Bay I was told. But that can wait whilst scanning around the dam, and not much appeared. Then a text from Mr Blurred, informing me that the two remaining Swans are Bewick's rather than Whoopers. Looking at the size of them initially, they certainly weren't much larger than the surrounding Canada Geese.....



....then a bit of movement a short while later.


Now reader, if you look at the bird on the left, I can fully understand why there may have been a bit of confusion. One thing I always remember about Bewick's is the "concave" shape of the bill. But this one looks really long and quite straight, with a large amount of yellow on it. The bird on the right a more classic Bewick's.

It just goes to show how much variation occurs on the bill of Bewick's Swans. Which as every schoolboy knows (well, those of us who remember Sir Peter Scott on the telly, and his studies at Slimbridge), the bill pattern is unique, just like our fingerprints. Fingerprints being unique that is, our fingers don't look like a Swan's bill!


Also in Tad Bay were 71 Golden Plover, 5 Dunlin, 11 Snipe, 3 Goosander, 1 Shelduck,
and 17 Pintail. Also some autumn fungi in Stansley Wood. Don't pick it if you don't know what it is, I haven't a clue!

Eastern Dippers

Eastern Crowned Warbler eh? Well, I ummed and aahed on Friday night about combining a twitch with a weekend at my sister's on Teesside. It won't be around on the Saturday I thought, the bad weather that's forecast will move it on.

Saturday 24th October, Drayton Bassett, 10:30 - 12:45.

And in any case, let's give this Glossy Ibis at Drayton Bassett a try (whilst continuing to ignore pager messages about South Shields, what!).

At Fisher's Mill pit, in deepest Warwickshire (well, most of it), were the Garganey and two Little Egrets. A scan around Drayton Bassett north pit, in deepest Staffordshire, there were a flock of 35 Golden Plover, and another 40 Goldies that flew south. After a while I noticed two Swans fly in with intent. They turned out to be Whooper Swans.


Well that's not a bad consolation, as there was no sign of the Ibis. Not late morning anyway. The wind was getting up a bit now, although the rain was nowhere near as bad as was forecast. A short drive along the A5 leads to Stubber's Green, so I thought I would give it a try.




At last, finally managed to catch up with Caspian Gull here, a British tick for me. This is the third-winter bird. Some black markings in the tail, along with long legs and a mean looking bill. In fact, a monster of a gull. Well, it was until a couple of Great Black-Backeds flew in.

Right then, one or two arrangements to make, an early night (missed Jon and Edward on X Factor again!), then give South Shields a try in the morning.

Sunday 25th October. Trow Quarry, South Shields, 08:00 - 10:00.

Well, in amongst a car-full with Andy, Mad Malc, Nobby and Vaughan. No mention either way by the time we arrived. And was it there?


Well, err, no. I would usually say never mind at this point, but to be honest it was a real blow. But it had to be done, and we weren't the only ones that dipped.

The Red-Flanked Bluetail at Bempton Cliffs was still around, which was also on the agenda for the day. A short stop-off at Saltholme Pools was done on the way, to look at the drake Blue-Winged Teal. The drive along the Yorkshire coast, Heartbeat country of course (it was never as good after the great Bill Maynard left), eventually led us to Bempton.

I must admit I'm not the best company at twitches that involve a long wait. It's not so much being impatient, I just get bored with standing around looking at nothing. But after at least two hours of waiting, the Red-Flanked Bluetail was eventually found in a small wood opposite the feeding station, and showed fantastically well. Close enough just for binoculars was the order of the day, this was why:



After the disappointment of the morning, to end the day with crippling views of the Red-Flanked Bluetail, a lifer for me. Well, I for one was delighted. Actually, we were all delighted.

Back in the Cold

Saturday 17th October, Chasewater, 14:45 - 16:30.

Just as Chris Evans zoomed off out of Birmingham airport (no baggage carousel for him!), time for us get out of the airport and catch up on some local birding. So I dropped Martyn off, and straight over to Chasewater to have a look at a Black-Throated Diver.




It took a bit of finding actually, as most Divers usually do from my experience, but I eventually found the bird along the west shore, just to the north of the powerboat club.

As the hourdes of visitors gradually left Chasewater and things started to quieten down, the Diver swam over to the dam. There were also two Rock Pipits along the south shore and just before heading home to unpack, three Common Scoters (either female or immatures) flew around the reservoir.

Sunday 18th October.

I suppose I should've headed to Drayton Bassett after leaving Chasewater, as a Glossy Ibis was found. So I thought I would wait and see what came on the pager. A report of an Ibis flying over Willington made me decide to have a search around the Trent valley.

As Whitemoor Haye and Croxall were rather quiet, I then headed over to Branston Gravel Pits. And I didn't think there was much here either, until I was walking back to the car and a pager message came on, "Black-Throated Diver at Branston, southern pit"! Eh, I've just walked past there. Well, I did say they're not always easy to see. Thankfully Dave Scattergood was also around and found it, must've have been the same bird that departed Chasewater earlier in the day.

I watched the Diver until dusk. During that time there was also 2 Little Egrets, 1 Goldeneye, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Snipe, 1 Peregrine, 4 Redwings and most pleasing of Barn Owl in the fading light.