Spring is in the air

It must be, as I managed to mow my lawn at the weekend and we have had three days of sunshine in a row along with reports of Sand Martins and Wheatears arriving on our shores.  Also, I saw my first Pipistrelle of the year today.

Green Winged Teal

After meeting some friends for Sunday Lunch, we decided to head over to Brandon Marsh for a walk and to take a look at the drake Green Winged Teal on River Pool.  Within seconds we were onto the bird who was showing particularly well by feeding in the centre of the pool (a lot easier to find than the drake I saw at Blashford where I had to search for 2 hours, swapping between hides).

After securing the usual out of focus record shot (above), we moved onto East Marsh hide which looked quite empty at first glance.  However, after sitting for a while we were rewarded by sightings of two Water Rail and two Snipe, along the usual ducks and Pterodactyls on the goal posts.

Another attempt at the Draycote roost

As the light was so good today, I decided to check out the Draycote roost this afternoon.  To avoid being caught out by the gulls roosting in places not expected, I took my bike along with me.  I arrived at about 4:30pm, cycled half way round from Thurlaston and pitched up.  The reservoir was covered with a white coating of gulls by this time but all I could find were the odd Greater Black Backed, Common Gulls and hundreds of Black Headed.  During this time I was accompanied by several Pied Wagtails fluttering around and one Grey Wagtail.  As the sun began to set, I noticed that the larger gulls seemed to nearer the other side where two other birders were watching, so I made my way over to them.  They were obviously skilled veterans at gull roosts and soon had located Yellow Legged Gulls of varying ages. After dark, I made my home via Grandborough Fields to see if I could spot any Little Owls in the area but had to contend with just one Barn Owl.

Waxwings still Warwick

Another detour on the way to work yesterday confirmed that the 8 to 10 Waxwings are still hanging around the Rowan Drive (Coventry Road) area of Warwick.  They seem to be quite flighty probably due to the fact that the berries they are feeding on are on a low level bush by the pavement.

Firecrest....at last

After spending about 7 hours looking for Firecrests in the New Forest a couple a weeks ago and not being succesful and then looking for one in Frampton briefly yesterday and not finding it either, I decided to venture up north to Hams Hall to look for the over wintering bird there.

Fortunately my friend, Mike offered to drive (as I still felt tired from yesterdays excursions).  When we arrived, there was no evidence of the bird or any birds round the river by the bridge (where it was last seen), so we decided to walk to Ladywalk Reserve to watch the birds frequenting the car park feeders.   There were about 10 Lesser Redpolls, Goldfinches and a Reed Bunting, along with Great Tits and Blue Tits.  Also, in the bushes behind the feeders were two Chiff Chaff (which there has been much discussion as to their origin - Siberian etc) - I do not profess to knowing the difference although one bird did appear pale.

After spending half an hour watching the feeders, we walked back to the car via Edison Road Bridge hoping for the Firecrest and just as we were about to give up, I spotted a very pale Chiff Chaff with a distinct supercilium feeding frantically in the treetops.   As I recalled the fact that the Firecrest had been seen in the same vicinity as a pale Chiff Chaff, we scanned the bushes and eventually managed to locate the Firecrest which eventually gave us great views.  My first bogey bird for the year nailed at last and a lifer for Mike, so smiles all round.

Visiting friends in Gloucestershire

Myself and my birder's wife came to a compromise yesterday where we agreed that we would drive down to Gloucestershire to meet up with friends but also fit in Slimbridge in the morning.

So, we got up early and arrived at Slimbridge about 10am where we spent two hours mainly in Holden Tower looking for Bean Geese and the female American Wigeon.  I eventually got onto the Tundra Bean Geese (after some help.....must be going blind in my old age) and even managed a record blurred shot which clearly shows it tertials and how different and pronounced compared to the surrounding White Fronted Geese.

I then spent the next hour and a half looking for the 1st winter American Wigeon and finally got onto it after the Wigeon were scared onto the pool near the hide, only to lose it again quickly, fortunately one of wardens arrived at that moment and got myself and birders onto the bird (a very difficult bird to differentiate from the many other femal eurasion Wigeons around).

I beat a hasty retreat when Holden Tower started heaving with birders and took in a coffee at Zeiss Hide hoping that the Bittern would be performing.  Unfortunately, he was not (obviously gone camera shy) and so we left and spent the rest of the day with friends, arriving home very late.

Waxwings in Warwick

After all the excitement I had last week chasing species across Hampshire and Norfolk, this week was somewhat subdued with no real action.

I knew that Waxwings had been reported about two weeks ago near Rowan Drive in Warwick and despite a couple of drive pasts, I had not seen anything (except berry trees still laden with fruit) and therefore decided to take the detour to work again this morning (on the off chance that they may still be around).

This time I spotted seven of them sitting in trees in exactly the same location.  Not sure if these are last remaining ones in the area, possibly not, but as they have been so common this year, people may not be bothering to report them anymore.  Still a nice sight though and a confirmation year tick (as the last flock I saw was about a month ago and just a fleeting glance of some in Leamington flying very purposely away).