Another non county tick

Still fed up with the local scene, I decided to go out of the County again this afternoon to go and see two Taiga Bean Geese in Worcestershire.  Although Tundra and Taiga Bean Geese are not split into two separate species by the BOU, I still wanted to go and view them anyway as I had only ever seen Tundra Bean Geese before.  Taiga Bean Geese I believe are usually restricted to the Norwich area each winter in the south of the UK and therefore I could not pass the opportunity of seeing them relatively close to home.  The birds were not that difficult to find and were associating with some Cananda and Greylag Geese just north of Kemerton Lake.

Taiga Bean Goose

On the way back home, we popped by Hampton Woods and bumped into an old family friend of my birder's wife.  He informed us that a Great Grey Shrike had been seen nearby on a farm about two weeks previously but had now departed. We had a pleasant walk round the reserve which had nothing except for loads of singing Chiffchaff and several singing Goldcrests.

Local birding and a twitch

Early morning I dropped my birder's wife off in the north of Warwick to catch a coach down to Twickenham in order to watch the Natwest Schools Rugby Championship.

I then drove over to Oakley Wood to go for a walk in the south of the wood.  Unfortunately, some kind and considerate individual had parked across two parking spots which meant I could not park the car in the area to access that part of the wood.  As I was in the area, I decided to proceed to Lighthorne to have a walk round the ponds.  The only thing showing were about 5 Chiffchaffs and the usual ducks and the farmer who proceeded to tell me in a friendly way that I could not walk on the public footpath!!!!!

Baikal Teal

Feeling pretty fed up I decided to head home to perform a few household chores.  Over lunch, news broke of a Baikal Teal in Cambridgeshire and I decided to cheer myself up by going on a twitch.

An hour and a half later after a bit of a confusing walk (where I really did not know where I was going), I was watching the Teal which spent the whole time asleep.  That did not really matter, as a friend I had met in the Shetlands, turned up and we spent the time catching up.

Evening Stroll Round Hampton Wood

After doing a lot of late nights at work this week, I decided to leave early and headed over to Hampton Wood for a stroll.  As I was putting on my wellies, a Chiffchaff was singing strongly from one of the trees nearby and as I walked down the path towards the river I chanced upon a lovelly singing Marsh Warbler who alighted in a bush not that far away.

Marsh Tit

Further down the path, I came across another singing Marsh Warbler and one calling from some distance within the wood.  Other birds in the area were a few Great Tits, Blue Tits and Long Tailed Tits and another singing Chiffchaff.

The river and fields nearby had about 20 Jackdaws, 25 Wood Pigeon and 3 Stock Dove and I caught a glimpse of blue as a Kingfisher darted past.  Species added to my list on the way back to the car were Jay and Bullfinch and a Muntjac sloped off into the wood on my approach.  The drive home along Fulbrook Lane provided 2 Little Owl, the first I have seen in that area for a while.

A very nice but chilly evening walk with a good variety of species but no new migrants on offer.

Head for Higher Ground

This weekend, I was set for having a lie-in on Saturday and then to get up really early on Sunday to have a look round the southern end of Oakley Wood before heading off to Lighthorne.  However, late Friday night, I received a text from a birding pal of mine who normally works shifts asking if I fancied a spot of birding on Saturday afternoon - I did!

Yellowhammer

With a few downpours and breezy conditions coming from the south west, we decided to head for higher ground in the hope of catching any Wheatears or Ring Ouzels downed by rain.  We drove up to Burton Dassett Hills but decided to continue driving through the country park, which, despite the weather had masses of families gallivanting round every single spot.  We parked up just outside the country park and followed the footpath that leads into a valley and then close to Gredenton Hill.  The area held 5 Linnet, Stock Doves, Jackdaws, Crows, Rooks and on the top of the hill our first resplendent male Wheatear of the year.

After half killing ourselves with the climb back to the car, through a field full of newborn lambs, we decided to get out of the wind and go for a walk in Oakley Wood.  En route we saw 3 Ravens with 2 displaying to each other.  Oakley Wood held the usual species with a calling Great Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, at least 4 Marsh Tits, 3 singing Goldcrests and 3 Chiffchaffs.

As the wind had died down a bit, we took a stroll up Wasperton Lane and across the public footpath to Hareway Lane.  This area is great for finch flocks with the public footpath being the most profitable with a flock of Yellowhammer in excess of 60 birds.  On the way back to the car, we came across a gorgeous Hare in the middle of one of the crop fields.

This morning, despite waking up at 6:00am, I just could not be bothered getting out of bed (probably because it was so darn cold), so me and my birder's wife ended up going shopping instead.

Roll on next weekend when hopefully it will be a bit warmer and a few more migrants will have graced our shores.

Wheatears 0 Dog Turds 30,586

It is official I am obsessed with finding that first migrant of the year.

For the past three years, I have not had to look for Wheatears on Warwick Racecourse but have stumbled over them accidentely.  After all the reports from yesterday and today, including 2 seen at Berry Fields in Staffordshire, I thought I would have a good chance but alas no.  The only thing I seem to see are dog turds, usually too late and of course Pitbull Terriers wanting to play with my leg. 

This morning and this evening were no different to normal, a woman too busy fiddling with her phone to pay attention to her Staffie terrorising a dishevelled birder and a jogger who looked like he was going to keel over at any moment.  This evening, I decided to venture into the fields behind the Racecourse into the realms of six foot deep mud shelves and the nearby roar of the A46 but again the search proved fruitless albeit that I finally have confirmation that Red Legged Partridge occupy the area but keep a very low and wary profile.

Tomorrow is another day.

Lighthorne and Hampton Wood - Wellies essential

Sunday morning I would say that I jumped out of bed on such a fine day.  Instead, I kind of rolled out and left my birder's wife still comotosed.  First location was Oakley Wood.  Unfortunately, at that time and due to the fine weather, the wood already had a couple of dog walkers not keeping their dogs under control.  I therefore opted for a quick circuit close to the main entrance car park.  The pines held a lot of singing Goldcrests and despite my efforts in trying to turn them into Firecrests they just would not oblige.  I therefore had to settle with a few Goldcrests, Marsh Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Next stop was Lighthorne ponds.  This is a new location that I had only been to once before a couple of weeks previously.  Upon arrival, there were some Canada Geese, a few Mallard and some Coots on the main pond.  The footpath round the pond, following a stream and into a wooded area only held Great Tits and Blue Tits and the North facing field as the footpath came out of the trees had a calling Chiff Chaff.  As I walked my way past more of the ponds, I would have hoped for something special, I obviously was being too greedy and had to contend with some resplendent singing Reed Buntings, a couple of Yellowhammer and Skylarks in the nearby fields.  It was not until I almost reached the end of the row of ponds that I came across anything more unusual, a Green Sandpiper took flight and as I continued walking to the next pond, another one flew up.  I then came across a couple of Pied Wagtails and a Grey Wagtail bobbing along on the mud and on my way back to the car got views of a lovelly female Bullfinch and a very obliging Buzzard.

Buzzard

Great Tit

Late afternoon, I managed to drag my birder's wife out for a brief walk around Hampton Wood.  We went via Wellesbourne Airfield to see if any Wheatears were around but alas there were none.  Hampton Wood fortunately was quiet and we bumped into only one other person.  The bird feeders were humming as per usual with loads of Great Tits, Blue Tits, a Nuthatch and one Coal Tit.  The bushes nearby held one Chiff Chaff, several Chaffinch and 2 Long Tailed Tits.  The surrounding fields still had at least 30 Fieldfare and the river still looked fairly swollen and held its usual Mute Swans.

Over a week since my last post

I can't believe it has been a week since my last post and a week since I have done any birding.  Of course, the weather has not been the best for birding with the usual wind and rain.  Yesterday, was ideal for birding with bright skys and no gusts of wind but I decided to get up late and spend the day around the house instead.  Late in the day we went to visit some friends of ours for afternoon tea.  They have a garden to be envied with good mature trees and lots of cover which attracted during the short time we were there several species, including; Wood Pigeon, Colllared Dove, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow and Robin.

After a night of southerly winds I decided to get  up early this morning to see if any early Wheatears were resting up on the local Racecourse.  Unfortunately, the site was completely empty besides a couple of Skylarks and two Grey Herons.  After breakfast, I decided to take a drive around the area to look for loafing gulls and headed for Barford, Ashorne and then Wellesbourne Airfield.  My search proved to be fruitless with just a few Common Gulls found along Hareway Lane and nothing, not even a Lapwing on Wellesbourne Airfield.  I decided to head home and take refuge from the wind and rain and opted for some decorating for the rest of the day.  Hopefully things will improve over the next few weeks with migrants coming to our shores.