Upton Warren (22 Viewers)

Yesterday evening at the Flashes Mike W reported:

3 Blackwit, Wood Sand, Dunlin, 2 Avocet, 5 Green Sand, 2 Common Sand, 3 Curlew, 13 Common Tern in the roost (9 adults + 4 juvs)

Also 8 Swift and Willow Warbler at the Moors Pool; juvenile GC Grebe still at the Sailing Pool.

This morning at the Flashes Andy P reports:

Juvenile Wood Sand, 3 Common Sand, 2 Green Sand, 2 Avocet, Dunlin, 26 Lapwing.

At the Moors Pool Bob O reports:

Egyptian Goose, Little Egret, 3 Blackwits, Green Sand, Common Tern.

At the Flashes Andy P further reports on the passerine front:

Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat & Blackcap in hedge to right of main hide; male Redstart in the transmitter field hedge.

Nice weather for Ducks!

Very pleasant morning at the reserve today. There was a bit of a shower just after lunch with some thunder and lightning. The channel nearest the main hide on the Flashes filled up very quickly.

Monday's survey 21st August

The survey team will be arriving at the FLASHES at 8.30 am. It is important that we find out what invertebrates are in the lagoons.
Leader's name is Will. :t: john

5 Arctic Terns at the Sailing Pool at dawn then flew south as per JTB

JTB reports Wood Sand still present at the Flashes, plus 2 Avocet, 5 Green Sand and 3 Common Sand.

Also 44 Greylag Goose, 310 Canada Geese, 28 Teal, 3 Shoveler, 3 Gadwall, Egyptian Goose, 2 Common Tern

Friday 18th August 1345-1710

Plenty of birds around, particularly at the Moors Pool, but other than an increased variety of duck at the Moors the birding had started to feel a bit "same-y".

MOORS POOL
22 Lapwing, 4 Gadwall, 5 Shoveler (+3 on North Moors), 4 Teal, 35 Tufted Duck, 26 Little Grebe, 101 Coot, 19 Moorhen, adult + juvenile Water Rail in Amy's Marsh, 10 Mute Swan, c190 Canada Geese, 45 Greylag Geese, Egyptian Goose, 2 Grey Heron, Little Egret, 3 Cormorant, 1 LBB Gull, 2 Common Tern (both adults), Raven, Buzzard, Swift.

SAILING POOL
3 GC Grebe + 1 young, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Tufted Duck, 11 Coot, 1 Moorhen, 1 Common Tern

FLASHES
Juvenile Wood Sand, Dunlin, 2 Avocet (adult + juvenile), 4 Green Sand, 2 Common Sand, 2 Black-tailed Godwit, 9 Curlew, 71 Lapwing, 1 Snipe (2 earlier as per Andy P), 27 Teal, 17 Coot, 27 Moorhen, Little Grebe on 3rd Flash, 3 LBB Gull, Rook, c100 Jackdaw, c50 Starling, Jay, Buzzard.

3 Black-tailed Godwit still at the Moors Pool as per Paul Croft

Juvenile SPOTTED CRAKE at the Flashes at 7:55am although elusive as per JTB

Phil Andrews said:

Juvenile SPOTTED CRAKE at the Flashes at 7:55am although elusive as per JTB

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Shown three times briefly in the last hour but no sign since 8:30am.

Phil Andrews said:

Sue also reports the return of Black-headed Gull with white 2K44 on its right leg.

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A slightly fuller history of 2K44 is as follows:

This bird was ringed in the nest at Cleveland Farm, Cotswold Waterpark, Wiltshire on the 12th June 2007 and has been recorded back at that site in May 2008, May 2009 and between March and May 2010. However it has also been sighted on a number of dates over the years at Upton Warren - 27th July 2009, 5th August 2009, 16th and 23rd July 2011, 2nd August 2014, 27th August 2016 and 17th August 2017. I will contact the ringing coordinator for an up-to-date history but as far as I am aware it has not been seen away from CWP or Upton Warren. I believe this is the oldest Black-headed Gull ever recorded on the reserve.

Phil Andrews said:

Juvenile SPOTTED CRAKE at the Flashes at 7:55am although elusive as per JTB

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This is the seventh Spotted Crake record for the reserve:

1st to 19th September 1981 - North Moors Pool
8th to 13th October 1994 - Moors Pool
13th July 1999 (adult) - The Flashes
14th August 2001 - Moors Pool
15th August 2009 - Moors Pool
11th September 2012 - The Flashes
19th August 2017 (juvenile) - The Flashes

Ringed Plover just dropped into the Flashes as per JTB and Bobby Potter

Oystercatcher at the Moors Pool as per Andy P, the first of the month.

Today at FLASHES 5.30 am - 12.30pm

With heavy overnight rain I thought there might be something forced down. Shortly after leaving my car I picked up a group of terns on the sailing pool. Expecting them all to be common I was pleasantly surprised when 5 birds veered away from the rest. They started calling and flew closeby where I could see their clear primaries (lacking dark wedge) . Unfortunately after circling the pool a few times they gained height and flew rapidly off to the south. A good start but the best was to come a couple of hours later.
Surprisingly passerines were pretty active at this time with thrushes feeding all along the south side of the pool. Probably taking advantage of the wet ground where worms and snails would be at a premium. From the Avocet hide I rapidly set about counting the waterfowl before they left their roost. When they depart waders are easier to find as they tend to keep to the periphery of roost. Sadly no new species emerged but good to see wood sand and Avocets are still with us.
After a short foray to the sailing pool in search of passerines , I decided the cold SW was not conducive to migration so I returned to the Avocet hide.
While checking the southern 2nd Flash for new waders I picked up a crake sp literally shoot into the reed fringed sw corner. Immediately alarm bells rang, this was too well marked for a water rail. Even in a split second its surprising what information you can absorb. A lot smaller than the nearby moorhen, high cocked tail extensive white markings all over underparts and importantly what appeared to be a triangular shaped bill although it was looking front on. At this stage my gut feeling was this was a SPOTTED CRAKE!!!
However with just a couple of seconds view I needed to see it again. But frustratingly it never reappeared. I ignored the now gathering throngs of noisey passerines in the western hedge intent on refinding the CRAKE. After a good 10 minutes Paul Croft appeared and I informed him of the my CRAKE.. Stating that I was almost certain it was a SPOTTED CRAKE, but I needed more views.
Then excitedly Paul had got it some 20 yards east of where it had disappeared. And yes it was a juvenile SPOTTED CRAKE . It had obviously doubled back through the reeds. Wow hopefully the start of another good autumn.

Species count FLASHES:
SPOTTED CRAKE.
Teal 28-30. Gadwall. Shoveler 5. Mallard 220. Tufted 2. Greylag 44. Canada's 310.
Grey heron.
Avocet 2 (ad and it's juv) curlew 6 . Green sand 5. Common sand 3. WOOD SAND. Black tailed godwit 3 . Ringed plover ad. Lapwing 110. Snipe.
Common Tern 2. BHG 220. LBBG 10. Herring gull.
Kestrel. Buzzard. Green woodpecker. Kingfisher.
Swift 15. Swallow 10. Sand martin. House martin 35. Raven. Rook 35. Stock dove 65. Pheasant.
Cetti's w singing. Sedge w. Whitethroat. Lesser Whitethroat 2. Blackcap 5. Willow warbler. Chiffchaff c10. Pied wag 2.
Starling 65. Coal tit. Treecreeper. Goldcrest.
Bullfinch 4. Goldfinch 15. Linnet 22.
Reed bunting 5

Upton Warren is the joint most productive site in the West Midland Bird Club region for Spotted Crake with 7 sightings, an honour shared with Sandwell Valley, followed by Brandon Marsh (6 records) and Doxey Marsh (5 records); other regular sites include Ladywalk and Belvide Reservoir.

No sign of Spotted Crake yesterday evening or this morning but Wood Sand still and Ringed Plover as per Andy P.