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Upton Warren (16 Viewers)

Ringed Plover,

Mike[/QUOTE]

Must admit I thought it was a Ringed Plover Juv but staring into the sun yesterday morning it was difficult to make out ! I'll need to strike my report of LRP in the log book out:t:
I am currently performing a rain dance on the Hagley Road, but can see blue lights in the distance coming my way..
 
Ringed Plover,

Mike

Must admit I thought it was a Ringed Plover Juv but staring into the sun yesterday morning it was difficult to make out ! I'll need to strike my report of LRP in the log book out:t:
I am currently performing a rain dance on the Hagley Road, but can see blue lights in the distance coming my way..[/QUOTE]

Not so sure about that Gert
I spoke to a couple of experienced birders from belvide, who said they had a plover but were adamant that it didn't have any wing bars. Last week a ringed plover appeared for 10 minutes and the LRP disappeared, to reappear after the RP flew off. Also yesterday Simon M (a very experienced birder) told me he had seen a reeve at the Flashes.
B :)John
 
Must admit I thought it was a Ringed Plover Juv but staring into the sun yesterday morning it was difficult to make out ! I'll need to strike my report of LRP in the log book out:t:
I am currently performing a rain dance on the Hagley Road, but can see blue lights in the distance coming my way..

Not so sure about that Gert
I spoke to a couple of experienced birders from belvide, who said they had a plover but were adamant that it didn't have any wing bars. Last week a ringed plover appeared for 10 minutes and the LRP disappeared, to reappear after the RP flew off. Also yesterday Simon M (a very experienced birder) told me he had seen a reeve at the Flashes.
B :)John[/QUOTE]

Maybe the LRP and Ringy are in cahoots to confuse us Birders! That Redshank did look at bit Ruff - see what I did there 8-P
 
With the return passage of Green Sandpiper now tailing off, it is encouraging to note that numbers have remained relatively high (peak count of 18 on the 30th July). Upton went through a 4 year spell between 2005 and 2008 where the peak annual counts were only 11 or 12 birds but numbers seem to have now recovered.

Upton remains one of the best sites in the country to observe Green Sand, often at close range and in direct comparison with Common Sands. A quick trawl through the RBA website found only a few sites that have exceeded our peak count of 18 birds this year:

Cantley Beet Factory, Norfolk - 45
Grove Ferry, Kent - 56
Elmley Marshes, Kent - 20
William Girling Res, London - 21

Phil
Not too many years ago, Brandon (Warks) held the largest numbers in the West Mids in the autumn. So it would be interesting to know why there numbers have dropped so dramatically?

Perhaps our totals have increased in recent years because conditions have been ideal. This years total although still half decent, has seen a rapid drop off in recent days. Even the partially wing moulted adults have been forced to seek refuge elsewhere.
B :)John
 
a couple more for i.d.

the duck was on rutland water sometime last year the two waders were down the river parrot estuary area bridgewater last week can't see owt in books with that white back, suppose they'll be a couple of chiff chaffs again, dave! cheers in anticipation.
 

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Yesterday

Have been left all confused by today's posts. Are we saying that there was just a Ringed Plover present or a Ringie and a LRP? Am I safe to add Ruff to the year list?
 
Not too many years ago, Brandon (Warks) held the largest numbers in the West Mids in the autumn. So it would be interesting to know why there numbers have dropped so dramatically?

Have just looked at the WMBC reports that I have available I list the following annual peak counts for Brandon and Upton (I have also included the highest total for the region if not achieved by one of the two stated sites):

2000 - Brandon 22 vs 21 Upton Warren
2001 - Brandon 20 vs 31 Upton Warren
2002 - Brandon 23 vs 18 Upton Warren
2003 - Brandon 9 vs 24 Upton Warren
2004 - Brandon 10 vs 27 Upton Warren
2005 - Brandon 8 vs 11 Upton Warren (Gwen Finch 17)
2006 - Brandon 11 vs 12 Upton Warren (Longdon Marsh 17)
2007 - Brandon 8 vs 12 Upton Warren (Salford Priors 21)
2008 - Brandon 13 vs 11 Upton Warren (Salford Priors 25)
 
the duck was on rutland water sometime last year the two waders were down the river parrot estuary area bridgewater last week can't see owt in books with that white back, suppose they'll be a couple of chiff chaffs again, dave! cheers in anticipation.

Not Chiffchaffs this time mate.

The first appears to be a type of domesticated duck - probably an Abacot Ranger (or similar breed, e.g. Kahki Campbell).

The second are probably Greenshanks - judging by the rumps.
 
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Least Sandpiper 13th August 1988

On August 13th 1988 I had birded the reserve from 5.15am until 11.15am. I was quite pleased with my tally, which included wood sand, 5 greenshank, Med Gull and yellow wags (not rare in those days). The weather was sunny at first with a SW wind and clouding over as I left.
However that feeling of a ‘nice mornings birding’ was somewhat overshadowed by the following sequence of events.
I remember getting a phone call from SC about 1pmish to say that someone had got a little stint at the flashes and he was going to check it out. Within the hour SMW phoned to say he thought it was a least sand:eek!:. I had been to Texas the previous year where I saw 100's and he said can I confirm it before we get the news out (remember no mobiles in those days and the nearest phone was half a mile away). A few minutes later, I had arrived on site and views through my bins revealed this was not a little stint and within a short time we were about to embark on the most historic ornithological event on the reserve.

Within an hour many of the ‘top local boys’ had arrived. But this wasn’t anything like these days, when there would be a 100 people within an hour. Throughout that first day possibly 60 or so arrived before dark. Being a Saturday and in the peak migration period many birders would have been doing their patch or gone to Norfolk or the likes. The bird spent most of the time on the 1st Flash shingle island, where it ‘crawled’ around in a very slow deliberate manner.
However by the following day (Sunday) the news had certainly got around. I arrived at 4.30am to find the Sailing pool car park almost full. People had slept overnight and were lurking about in the dark, perplexed. A group of birders said they had already looked around the pool, and were mystified by the lack of suitable habitat and wondered if they had come to the right place. Rather dismayed and concerned, “what do you mean, you’ve already been looking for it, its still dark I exclaimed!!!!” However, after my sharp riposte, I realised that they had been looking around the sailing pool 8-P
I told everyone gathered, which was quite a sizeable crowd by 5am, that we were going to keep everyone in the car park until the FLASHES was checked out and no one would be allowed onto the reserve until we knew if the bird was present and there was also going to be a charge of £1 per person. We eagerly raced to the Flashes the other birder I think was Stuart Croft, after a few anxious moments, YES it was still there. Unfortunately it was feeding in a small bay in the first Flash, which meant viewing from the side of the hide. (For those that don’t know in those days the main Flashes hide, stood 20 yards in front of today’s hide was a third the size, with steps only 5 foot high, thus not too much in the way of elevation.) This meant that no more than 5 people would be able to view the bird at a time. I ran up to the steps and waved to the other wardens in the car park ‘let the show begin’. The baying crowd made a mad dash to the hide, almost like a January sale at Debenhams. The £1’s came flowing in and everyone was happy with the 5 minutes we allowed them, as the bird performed well. The rota continued smoothly, with some happy enough go on their way, whilst others joined the queue for ‘second’s.’ The bird was almost glued to the spot for the first few hours. This enabled everyone to have plenty of views and couple of hundred birders were all happy. However something spooked the bird and it decided to hide out of site. Dilemma… we couldn’t move people out of the hide until they had seen the bird and coupled with a growing crowd of late risers, we had a problem. Whoops all of a sudden ..mayhem!! instead of an hour waiting time it became 4 hours. Thinking the bird had gone the mood changed and people became frustrated not knowing whether to leave or hang about. Thankfully normal service was resumed when after an hour or so the bird reappeared. The crowd became jovial and acceptance of the situation and we were grateful for their patience. By 8pm the last of the ‘twitchers’ had left and once again we regained our reserve.
Apart from one awkward birder everyone was very grateful to us for our assistance and organisation and to top it we had raised an amazing £750 or more. A minimum of 1,000 people saw the bird that day. Today I would think that amount of people would appear in the first day and the money raised would be several times that amount.
The following day the bird performed well until the late evening, when it flew off to the south bringing an end to this once in a lifetime event….well hopefully more of a once in a 23 year event.
I may have missed out a few details but I'm sure SC MIW and some of the other Lads will add there bits.
2 (crap)pics of the bird
B :)John
 

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2nd Flash almost dry

2 pics of the drying 2nd Flash yesterday
 

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Nice write up John, I notice Steve Whitehouse gets credited with discovering the bird in the newspaper snippet :eek!:

I can't imagine how you controled a baying crowd, maybe you're organizationary skills could of been requested during this weeks civil unrest :t:
 
Nice write up John, I notice Steve Whitehouse gets credited with discovering the bird in the newspaper snippet :eek!:

I can't imagine how you controled a baying crowd, maybe you're organizationary skills could of been requested during this weeks civil unrest :t:

HAPPY LEAST SAND DAY!

One dreads to think how many twitchers might turn up for something that was a 23rd record for Britain nowadays - this equates to Bridled Tern / Baltimore Oriole / Little Swift - especially over a weekend. Any news would inevitiably be delayed in being released whilst suitable parking arrangements were sought with local businesses / farmers; dont think the Sailing Centre car park could hold several hundred baying birders!
 
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coupled with a growing crowd of late risers, John

... and I'd be one of fairly late risers (no change there then :-O). In 1988 I'd only been birding again for about three years, so I didn't even know what a Least Sandpiper looked like (some might say I still don't ;)) and I had to look it up late on Saturday night when I got John's message, which was about 22.30 as I played cricket in those days. Also I'd just bought my first house and was due to spend all day working there. I arrived at about 5.30 to find a fullish car park and a long queue of birders at the Flashes stretching back past where the bench is now. I did queue, although didn't have to pay Mammoth (Ian Ricketts), who was collecting the £1s. Other people helping were Tony Ware, Alan Shaw and SMW as previously mentioned. Once in the hide I managed to see the bird fairly quickly and then just stayed there, ostensibly to help with 'crowd control', but just chatting to John and Simon Harrop who I knew from my brief fliratation with birding during my school-days. Eventually about half-a-dozen scopes were set up under the hide, which people good views when the birds wasn't 'hiding' in the bay opposite the first flash island. As John has said, it was a good day with Wood Sand and Hobby also seen, but I had to leave at about 10.00 for the aforementioned reasons. Unfortunately I didn't get down to see it again.

Mike
 
cheers dave

Not Chiffchaffs this time mate.

The first appears to be a type of domesticated duck - probably an Abacot Ranger (or similar breed, e.g. Kahki Campbell).

The second are probably Greenshanks - judging by the rumps.

i,ll get something yet to make ya ***** up your ears, cheers once again.
 

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