Anser Birding

THE NEXT EVENT IS…..

Nothing offered as I am still looking for a new car! Sorry.

I await confirmation of boat charter details for the Madeira trip which has been moved into June. This will mean I have to shift some dates around for existing trips and remove some offerings completely, for trips that have had good support they will still run as normal. Please see the list below for more details. 

Upcoming 2010 trips-all dates are provisional

Extremedura 7-11 April 2010 now booking, flights are cheaper well in advance.

 North Norfolk in Spring 21-23 May 2010

Northumberland and the Farnes 
End of May or June 2010 (will be able to offer dates as soon as Madeira dates confirmed) I am looking at 8-12 or 15 to 19 June 2010 or 25-29 May 2010. Any feedback on preference most welcome.

Skomer and Pembrokeshire 2-4 July 2010

New Forest/Martin Down day trip in July

Madeira (dates now likely to move into June!)

Isles of Scilly and Cornwall
5-9, 9-13 and 19-23 October 2010

 North Norfolk 18-20 November 2010

Champagne Lakes and Cranes, France. late November 2010

Directions for events if you meet at Whitminster…. leave Junction 13 of M5 and head to A38 Roundabout.
On the A38 take exit for GLOUCESTER, WHITMINSTER heading North. Second exit if coming from A38 South or 3rd exit from A419.
Head up the hill and take first left (after Garden Centre) turning into School Lane.
The village hall and car park is immediately on the right of this junction. Opposite is the Old Forge Pub which is on the east side of the A38, School Lane is on the West side.

BBC Tide Timetable for the West
(note you can search anywhere in Britain from this link) 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides/west.shtml

3 March 2010 The Pink-footed Goose, 186 E White-fronted Geese and 150 Bewick’s Swans and Green-winged Teal remain at WWT Slimbridge.

2 March 2010 I was filming with the Countryfile team today in amazingly lovely weather. A long day with a few good birds thrown in.

My earliest ever White Wagtail, WWT Slimbridge
Seen over the high tide among the tidal debris.

  

Water Pipit, WWT Slimbridge MJM
This bird was obligingly calling regularly. I have been seeing this species at regular intervals around the reserve in the last three years, changes in the management of parts of the reserve have benefited this bird which was previously very scarce. It still remains very hard to see with most views of flyovers as it usually feeds around the scrapes/wet fields etc often in long grass.

 

1 March 2010 Some great weather today.

Lapwing at WWT Slimbridge, Tack Piece
An albanistic bird with white patches on the back, also Redshank and Dunlin with white panels in the wing this week and the white-headed Dunlin seen here this winter.

Pochard at WWT Slimbridge MJM
Large scale departures of this long distance migrant in evidence this week along with many duck species.

Long-tailed Tit at WWT Slimbridge MJM
A species that nests early and should be incubating eggs by the end of the month.

Bittern in flight through the reeds and taken from a boat.

Female Black Redstart at Sharpness 27 February 2010 MJM

Ended Feb with this showy little bird.

26 February 2010 Good to be birding with Jubs locally again, we logged 4 Little Egret and a pair of G.C Grebe at Saul Ponds, plus 160+ Barnacle Geese at the the Court lake Frampton on Severn, c30 Pochard, 80 Tufted Duck and a sinensis Cormorant.

My month in images…

Green-winged Teal readying for a flap..Top New Piece, WWT, Slimbridge, MJM

Pink-footed Goose, South Lake, WWT, Slimbridge, MJM

Merlin on the Dumbles both sexes of this falcon are being seen more regularly from the Holden Tower in the last week.

Whooper Swan on the Tack Piece, seen on three days at WWT this year, where does it go?

The Whoop, left bird with Bewick’s Swans.

A very tame family of Bewick’s Swans are seen daily among the pumps, pipes and mud of the Big Pen development which when finished should see the return of large numbers of Tufted Duck to the pond, we can see them from the office which is very nice indeed.

From the office….

7-25 February 2010 All birding for me has been at work around WWT but great to see lots of breeding activity and some birds on the move over the last week. I have had some luck in locating  male Green-winged Teal at WWT which was still present on the Top New Piece yesterday. Other news to pass on as Gloster Birder is down whilst Mike is away in C.Rica is of a female Hen Harrier WWT, Holden Tower 25th plus Pink-footed Goose, Merlin and the GWTeal. The Whooper Swan was on the Rushy on 23rd. I hope to add some images from this period over the weekend. A Great Spotted Woodpecker in the garden yesterday and 4 Yellowhammer in the field behind were notable for me.

5-6 February 2010 No birding other than from the house windows.

4 February 2010 No sign of the Ring-necked Duck today.

3 February 2010 We had a swan/duck catch at WWT Slimbridge on the Rushy where c 300 birds were trapped and processed. It was good to ring Pochard and Tufted Duck again and 17 Bewick’s Swans were also ringed.

2 February 2010 At work at WWT Slimbridge female Goldeneyes on South Lake and the Rushy was of note, the Ring-necked Duck made a very nostalgic visit to the Rushy 55 years after the first for Europe was found there by Lady Scott. The Ruddy Duck was still on South Lake too.

Female Ring-necked Duck, WWT, Slimbridge, South Lake 1 February 2010 MJM

1 February 2010 The female Ring-necked Duck showed well from the South Lake Obs along with a Ruddy Duck. see below…

The tide on the Severn flooded over the Dumbles breaking the ice and terrifying the geese in particular. In full flood virtually no grass was left and the sight of Canada Geese running ahead of the icy flood, Dunlin riding mini ice floes at 16mph with the tide, panicking White-fronts and 3200 Wigeon, all in bright sunshine and calm conditions was very memorable. The cracking ice was very easily heard from the Holden Tower.

We left Whitminster at 0900 and arrived in the Forest at 0940. We were a small group of which two were rather keen on seeing Crossbill and Hawfinch as they were lifers. I was joined by Neil Smart who helped me with locating the birds and we headed for Brierley first. Soon after leaving the car we were watching 5 Crossbill atop the trees and scoped them in the sun. We spent about two hours quietly exploring the plantations and trackways and had some great birding. Crossbills were flying over in small parties of 4-20 regularly during the whole time we were here, our final flock numbered c50 and 10 allowed scope studying views as they stripped layers of bud from the tips of the trees. A Goldcrest fed close by proving that some survived the cold. Also in the area were 30 Siskin which we scoped and a Redpoll that Neil saw only in the same flock. At least 3 Redpoll flew over as silouhettes. After following the stream back toward the car we found a mega flock of tits. About 50-60 Coal Tit, 20 Blue Tit, 6 Great Tit, 10 Long-tailed Tit with 2 Great spotted Woodpecker (we saw 5 in this area), 2 Nuthatch, 3 Goldcrest, c40 Siskin, 3 Redpoll, 4 Treecreeper and 1-2 Willow Tit (only MJM saw the latter) fed in a roaming flock that we kept up with until they veered off into dense woodland. Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch and Greenfinch were all heard singing. A Fieldfare and Marsh Tit were seen back near the car.

A short transfer to the Speech House area and I located a Hawfinch immediately, soon after 3 were seen feeding on the ground and then 5 nearby. Finally 3 showed well on the ground to all of us and then perched in the trees undisturbed. We all got scope views of these handsome birds.

Next stop was the Cannop Valley, it was good to see 4 Mandarin as I thought they were all frozen out, I had heard that 60 were in Worcs on a reservoir near the Severn and wondered if the Forest of Dean birds had moved out in the worst of the cold weather. 4 Little Grebe and 4 Tufted Duck joined a Greylag. The stream levels were very high so we did not find Dipper or Grey Wagtail here or at another site in Parkend.

A visit to New Fancy View was well worth it, it was still and quiet with few birds but we did manage to see a Goshawk that Neil located and a party of 4 Hawfinch that sat atop the pines in full view for 20 minutes, they were not as close as the birds earlier in the day but made up for it with their prolonged appearance. We popped in to Woorgreens Lake but it was still frozen over still so we finished for the day arriving back at 1600.

A decent set of birds with quality views being most important today.

Martin J McGill

Crossbills at Brierley

Some distant Hawfinches at New Fancy View

Ring-necked Duck, WWT Slimbridge, South Lake, MJMcGill

31 January 2010 At WWT South Lake the birding was very good today. I checked ut a report of a strange duck that was seen by John Budd and it turned out to be a female/immature Ring-necked Duck. It was 5.00pm and getting dark. A Smew, Ruddy Duck and Goldeneye were also present as was a White-fronted Goose and earlier in the day a Pink-footed Goose.

White-front

RCP

26 January 2010 A nice surpise to see a Pink-footed Goose in with 356 E. White-fronted Geese at WWT today. The Goldeneye was still showing very well at times in front of the Peng obs.

Pink-footed Goose bottom left bird in the Bottom New Piece

24-25 January 2010 Back at WWT with some quality birding with the winter flocks and the Canada Goose showing characters of Todd’s remains among the Canada flock. A redhead Smew and the Bittern were both seen at WWT today.

Crossbills at Brierley

23 January 2010 A day out to the Forest of Dean guiding an Anser Birding group. We had good views of Hawfinches, Crossbills, Goshawk and lots of other birds, I will post a short trip report on the relevant page (trip reports).

A ‘White-headed’ Dunlin, WWT Tack Piece.

22nd January 2010 My local Skylarks have returned, numbering c50, last Sunday and Monday saw a passage of Skylark over WWT all heading N or NE. I have heard that a similar movement was noted at Aylburton, Lydney and Walmore Common on the same days and involving hundreds of birds. Also added Reed Bunting to my local patch list, one was with 5 Yellowhammers near my home.

18-21 January 2010 As 17-18th.

17-18 January 2010 At WWT the thaw has let many birds back into the area, the Canada Goose showing characteristics of Todd’s was still showing well on the Rushy today and yesterday at the feed. It flies onto the Dumbles with the flock of 410 Canada’s. The female Goldeneye was still here also. Two Bitterns remain on the reserve, I managed some decent pics today in the sun. I will upload them when I can.

16 January 2010 No birding today.

15 January 2010 No birding today.

14 January 2010 Again the  goose that shows features of Branta candensis interior  or Todd’s Canada was on the Rushy this morning. The female Goldeneye was also present. I was delighted to see two Woodcock at the South Finger reedbed this morning.  Andy Jayne saw three Red-crested Pochard on the canal at Splatt and also had 5 Whooper Swans near Lydney the day before so it proves there are plenty of birds moving about.

13 January 2010
Watch BBC2 at 8.00pm tonight for Snow Watch featuring WWT Slimbridge.

Bird of the day at WWT was a Canada Goose as found by JSL which shows features of Branta candensis interior  or Todd’s Canada.

12 January 2010 Mike Youdale and I saw a female Merlin on the Dumbles, lots of wildfowl around the ‘water holes’ of South Lake and the Rushy.

11 January 2010 A female Goldeneye has been on the Rushy the last couple of days but a male Red-crested Pochard was a bonus, the regular female Red-crested Pochard x Mallard hybrid was also still present.

10 January 2010 I spent the day with the BBC at WWT Slimbridge trying to get footage of birds in the snow. We did manage to get some results and the programme goes out on Wednesday night at 8.00pm (I think). As a result I did not get a chance to have a good look around.

At least 116 Red-crested Pochard were reported around the country today as far East as the Ouse in Cambs (29 seen) and Cliffe in Kent (7 seen) but 2 had reached Helston/Marazion in Cornwall.

Four Red-crested Pochard were at Frampton today, I did see a couple here last winter but they are uncommon in our area and fairly common in the Cotwold Water Park. Studying the movements of these birds today shows reports of 14 at Cheddar Reservoir, Somerset, one in Devon, four in Hampshire at coastal sites. In the Midlands 25 were in Northants, 2 Berks and 5 in Beds with one as far west as Pembrokeshire. Are these the Wilts/Glos CWP population dispersing or genuine immigrants? Any counts from CWP should reveal what is happening. Ex Gloucestershire county recorder Andy Jayne brought up a very good point last night, where are the Red-necked Grebes? we normally see an influx in such a winter.

9 January 2010 A walk around Frampton Court Lakes footpaths revealed c50 Redwing feeding in snow free patches and 2 Siskin, on the Court Lake c800 birds held a Ruddy Duck and 4 Red-crested Pochard plus c8 Little Grebe and 4 Great Crested Grebe.

Sleeping Ruddy Duck

8 January 2010 Still lots of birds visiting the garden, perhaps 150 or more. Great spotted Woodpecker and male Blackcap and c5 Fieldfare among them.

A phantom view of Bittern

7 January 2010 A very very cold night and day for the birds. On South Lake I saw a female and first winter male Smew and also on the reserve at WWT at least two Bitterns. A selection of images from the stunningly beautiful day at the trust.

Cetti’s Warbler, a sad casualty of the big freeze…

6 January 2010 The heavy snow has brought many more birds into my garden, I have placed halved apples everywhere to create an orchard and this has brought in up to 20 Fieldfare and a new female Blackcap. I have 30 Chaffinch as other feeding sites may be covered with snow. The water has also been popular but needs changing regularly. Common and Black-headed Gull and Magpie are also on the ground in the garden which is unusual. At WWT 300+ Bewick’s Swans are on the Rushy, a good count.

5 January 2010 At WWT Slimbridge the freezing conditions and eventually today, snow has concentrated the birds. A female Smew, probably an adult, female Goldeneye and a male Ruddy Duck could be see with 32 Ruff (probably a winter record), 60 Gadwall and 237 Shelduck, a count of Tufted Duck revealed 666 on site! The Bittern showed at the Zeiss Hide again today.

Smew, female, probably adult MJM
It lacks the black mask that always seems to be apparent on first winter males and any white in the plumage other than what shows on adult females. The white cheek area is not extensive as I have seen in first winter males.

4 January 2010 After ringing 49 duck in the morning (13 in the evening) I re-checked out reports of a swan stuck in ice to find it had freed itself despite leaving many feathers behind. I did see a Bittern, 3 Water Rail, 900 Teal, 4 Snipe, 2 Jack Snipe, a Rock and Water Pipit whilst around the North end of the reserve.

1-3 January 2010 No birding during the first couple of days of the year but back at WWT on 3rd a few birds were on show.

Blue Tit at the end of 2009 MJM