Andrew
Tuesday 28th January 2003, 00:03
Here are the two diary entries for my trip to Staffordshire . . .
24-01-03
Location : Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire.
During a short weekend in Featherstone, I nipped over to Belvide reservoir in the afternoon and got a veritable feast of birds. The car park proved hard to get into as they had changed the locks, a phone call soon solved the problem and I scanned the bird table for some Tree Sparrows without any luck. The walk through the woods to the waterside proved uneventful, there were finally some birds to see on the water and near the brick lined edge of the water I set up my scope. I counted many birds at a distance including some of 102 Canada Geese, 50+ Coots, 16 Gadwalls, only 5 Goldeneye and finally my first 10 Goosanders at a distance. The Goosanders were resplendent males and females very much like the Mergansers on the Exe except they were plainer with the males missing the brown streaked necks, shaggy crests and white spotted black side patches. Their eyes were black compared to a Merganser’s red, the female Goosanders were very similar to Mergansers apart from for the blackness below the white wing areas. The Goosanders’ heads seemed bigger than a slimmer Merganser’s. I was really pleased as this was a bird that I had come to the Midlands to see. I also picked out three of 4 Great Crested Grebes, 150+ Mallards, 2 Ruddy Ducks, 130+ Teal, 150+ Tufted Ducks, 50+ Wigeon and a flock of at least 50 Lapwings flew low over the reservoir. The Ruddy ducks were lovely fat birds with stiff upright tails and I scanned each Teal hoping for a Green Winged. I soon moved onto the first hide near the plantation and got a great treat with 16 Reed Buntings flitting about the phragmites coming in onto a board laid down with some feed on it. A Water Rail had been seen too but unfortunately it did not show up for me. I soon lost patience after about fifteen minutes and set off to the gazebo hide a good distance further along the east. I say a good distance, it probably was only a few hundred yards away but the path was a quagmire making it comically difficult to get there. Along the way there was not much of note save for a few Grey Squirrels and some Carrion Crows. From the hide there were many more birds including millions of gulls, here I had a better view of one of the Goosanders and a enchanting male Goldeneye. There were a few feeding stations set up below and these attracted a variety of feathered friends including 4 Blue Tits, 3 Bullfinches, 2 Chaffinches, 3 Dunnocks, a single Great Tit, 2 Willow Tits, 2 Wrens. Down the side of the hide was a small group of 3 Pheasants in the thickets. I soon shifted my attentions to the water birds for rare gulls and excitedly found a third winter Iceland Gull along with a Mediterranean Gull, 300+ Black Headed Gulls and 50+ Great Black Backed Gulls. The Iceland Gull was a very lightly coloured variation of a Herring Gull with a dirty brown streaked head and neck. The bill was very much like a Ring Billed Gull’s being light yellowy greenish with a black ‘ring’ round the end of the bill. I had originally thought I was looking at a Ring Billed after seeing one recently at Stover but the wing tips were not black at all, instead they were white and the tail too. The wings themselves had a hint of light greyness to them too. The bird had been reported in the other hide’s book recently so I was overjoyed to get another rare gull and my second ‘first’ of the day. I spent a while in this hide as I was not keen on the walk back through the mud. I finished off with many of the aforementioned water birds supplemented by 3 Pochards. The return to the car saw a flock of 25+ Redwings take off from the bare trees over our heads into the fields. I popped into the first hide again hoping to get the Water Rail without any success but learnt that it would be wise to return in the spring after talking to two birders. A very rewarding visit despite dipping out on the reported Caspian Gull, topped off the day with a nice ‘Chilli con Carne’ style dish served in a giant Yorkshire Pudding.
25-01-03
Location : Himley Park, Staffordshire.
I looked at the maps and found a park with a pool called ‘The Great Pool’ and I thought that will do for me and this was Himley park near Wolverhampton. The pool was nothing to get excited about with it being used for boating and by many fishermen who were packing up with the water being very choppy and the rain starting to fall down. The only birds on the water were 200+ Black Headed Gulls, 150+ Coots, 200+ Mallards and 36 Canada Geese were being fed bread on the banks. However the day soon livened up with a flock of 21 Redwings feeding over on the park under some giant oak trees. A total of 19 Carrion Crows and a staggering 69 Wood Pigeons were flying about the park, I was not happy with the pool or the park itself so I decided to go to a wood on ‘The Hill’ and this proved to be a smarter move as after a muddy climb I was sat in front of a lot of bird activity in the trees and one the beech mast covered floor. A fascinating minimum of 26 Great Tits were foraging about the vegetation on the floor along with 4 Blackbirds and 2 Robins. In addition 3 Blue Tits, 2 Coal Tits and a lovely quartet of Long Tailed Tits were flitting about the trees. I was rooted to the spot when one of 3 Treecreepers flew down to the base of a tree no more than five feet away from me and began working it’s way up in a typical corkscrew motion. As it flew off I witnessed two others flying off in the same direction, disappearing in the assortment of trees. Before descending back down to the hill forty five minutes after I had started in the park I was allowed the indulgence of another close up view, this time a Nuthatch bobbing up an oak tree. As I came out of the woods I was given a soaking under a brief rainstorm that did not bother me much after what I had in this short birding stint.
24-01-03
Location : Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire.
During a short weekend in Featherstone, I nipped over to Belvide reservoir in the afternoon and got a veritable feast of birds. The car park proved hard to get into as they had changed the locks, a phone call soon solved the problem and I scanned the bird table for some Tree Sparrows without any luck. The walk through the woods to the waterside proved uneventful, there were finally some birds to see on the water and near the brick lined edge of the water I set up my scope. I counted many birds at a distance including some of 102 Canada Geese, 50+ Coots, 16 Gadwalls, only 5 Goldeneye and finally my first 10 Goosanders at a distance. The Goosanders were resplendent males and females very much like the Mergansers on the Exe except they were plainer with the males missing the brown streaked necks, shaggy crests and white spotted black side patches. Their eyes were black compared to a Merganser’s red, the female Goosanders were very similar to Mergansers apart from for the blackness below the white wing areas. The Goosanders’ heads seemed bigger than a slimmer Merganser’s. I was really pleased as this was a bird that I had come to the Midlands to see. I also picked out three of 4 Great Crested Grebes, 150+ Mallards, 2 Ruddy Ducks, 130+ Teal, 150+ Tufted Ducks, 50+ Wigeon and a flock of at least 50 Lapwings flew low over the reservoir. The Ruddy ducks were lovely fat birds with stiff upright tails and I scanned each Teal hoping for a Green Winged. I soon moved onto the first hide near the plantation and got a great treat with 16 Reed Buntings flitting about the phragmites coming in onto a board laid down with some feed on it. A Water Rail had been seen too but unfortunately it did not show up for me. I soon lost patience after about fifteen minutes and set off to the gazebo hide a good distance further along the east. I say a good distance, it probably was only a few hundred yards away but the path was a quagmire making it comically difficult to get there. Along the way there was not much of note save for a few Grey Squirrels and some Carrion Crows. From the hide there were many more birds including millions of gulls, here I had a better view of one of the Goosanders and a enchanting male Goldeneye. There were a few feeding stations set up below and these attracted a variety of feathered friends including 4 Blue Tits, 3 Bullfinches, 2 Chaffinches, 3 Dunnocks, a single Great Tit, 2 Willow Tits, 2 Wrens. Down the side of the hide was a small group of 3 Pheasants in the thickets. I soon shifted my attentions to the water birds for rare gulls and excitedly found a third winter Iceland Gull along with a Mediterranean Gull, 300+ Black Headed Gulls and 50+ Great Black Backed Gulls. The Iceland Gull was a very lightly coloured variation of a Herring Gull with a dirty brown streaked head and neck. The bill was very much like a Ring Billed Gull’s being light yellowy greenish with a black ‘ring’ round the end of the bill. I had originally thought I was looking at a Ring Billed after seeing one recently at Stover but the wing tips were not black at all, instead they were white and the tail too. The wings themselves had a hint of light greyness to them too. The bird had been reported in the other hide’s book recently so I was overjoyed to get another rare gull and my second ‘first’ of the day. I spent a while in this hide as I was not keen on the walk back through the mud. I finished off with many of the aforementioned water birds supplemented by 3 Pochards. The return to the car saw a flock of 25+ Redwings take off from the bare trees over our heads into the fields. I popped into the first hide again hoping to get the Water Rail without any success but learnt that it would be wise to return in the spring after talking to two birders. A very rewarding visit despite dipping out on the reported Caspian Gull, topped off the day with a nice ‘Chilli con Carne’ style dish served in a giant Yorkshire Pudding.
25-01-03
Location : Himley Park, Staffordshire.
I looked at the maps and found a park with a pool called ‘The Great Pool’ and I thought that will do for me and this was Himley park near Wolverhampton. The pool was nothing to get excited about with it being used for boating and by many fishermen who were packing up with the water being very choppy and the rain starting to fall down. The only birds on the water were 200+ Black Headed Gulls, 150+ Coots, 200+ Mallards and 36 Canada Geese were being fed bread on the banks. However the day soon livened up with a flock of 21 Redwings feeding over on the park under some giant oak trees. A total of 19 Carrion Crows and a staggering 69 Wood Pigeons were flying about the park, I was not happy with the pool or the park itself so I decided to go to a wood on ‘The Hill’ and this proved to be a smarter move as after a muddy climb I was sat in front of a lot of bird activity in the trees and one the beech mast covered floor. A fascinating minimum of 26 Great Tits were foraging about the vegetation on the floor along with 4 Blackbirds and 2 Robins. In addition 3 Blue Tits, 2 Coal Tits and a lovely quartet of Long Tailed Tits were flitting about the trees. I was rooted to the spot when one of 3 Treecreepers flew down to the base of a tree no more than five feet away from me and began working it’s way up in a typical corkscrew motion. As it flew off I witnessed two others flying off in the same direction, disappearing in the assortment of trees. Before descending back down to the hill forty five minutes after I had started in the park I was allowed the indulgence of another close up view, this time a Nuthatch bobbing up an oak tree. As I came out of the woods I was given a soaking under a brief rainstorm that did not bother me much after what I had in this short birding stint.