Stonechat2
Tooty Fruity Member
Hi all,
Today me Reader, Ross (his wife) went to Shrewsbury in search of spotted and pied flycatchers. Our first stop was at a place called Bridges. We had only just go there and i went to look in some trees on a bridge which had a stream known for dippers trickling underneath it. There they were Pied and Spotted flycatchers darting aroung in pattern as they do, also a wood warbler we saw, the tree was alive with tits aswell and it was a superb start to the day with reader seeing his three target birds for the trip, all year birds. And for me, well three lifers as you might of guessed. We
We then continued along through the wood where we saw Goldcrests, Songthrush, a family of wrens and all the other usual birds. We then came to a style and i was first over it, a cunning bird lied me a nice little supriose on the style, a big dolllop of poo all on my hand, i was wiping it on the grass and a bird landed on a gate about 15 metres infront, Reader identified it has a juvenile whinchat, yet another lifer for me, i was really on a high at this point, and so would we in a minute as we had a very large hill to climb. As we were walking up the hill we saw linnet and whetear on the bank going up the side and on the path infront of us were 3 or 4 Redstarts on the path about 50 metres ahead, another 3 lifers! As we climbed up a buzzard showed of great at a low hight and we also got views of a Raven. When we got to the top we had a bit to eat and saw another 3 or 4 Buzzards. I then said we should go in a direction and what do you know, it lead to a dead-end, but on the way up we did get meadow pipit and a Kestrel hovered in the distance.
We also saw there Great spotted woodpecker, Chaffinch, Willow warbler, Long tailed tit,Blackbird, Robin, Blue tit, Crow, Jay, Dunnock and Grey Wagtail. In addition we heard the call of a green woodpecker but was unable to pick it out of the dense trees.
The Long Mynd,
We went hear in the hope of seeing the Grasshopper warbler which had been heard here, but no luck and to our suprise no Stonechat, that would of been another lifer. We got gret views of a kestrel and also saw meadow pipit and wheatear, we didn't see any red grouse either.
Venis pool,
We went straight to the hide and had missed Dunlin and Curlew, dissapointing as they would have been lifers. Anyway, we saw Lapwing,Greylag goose, Great crested grebe, Canada goose, Mute swan, Coot, Moorhe, Mallard, Grey Heron, Black headed gull, Lesser black backed gull and another lifer, the Cormorant, Yes!!
Finally, Belvide Reservoir,
We set off to the nearest hide and on the way through the wood we got Nuthatch, Long tailed tit, Blue tit, Robin, Wren and Blackbird. All the birds were on the other side of the lake so we mostly only got distant views, we got Canada goose, Mute swan, Greylag goose, Moorhen, Coot, Great crested gerbe, Mallard and in the reed we got Reed buntiund and heard a reed warbler. We didn't try for the med gull as we were all tired. On the way back through the wood we saw at least 6 spotted flycatcher and reader managed to get some pictures of them. We also saw a treecreeper. Reader has gone all year without seeing a spotted flycatcher and now he's seen about ten in two different places in one day.
A thoroughly enjoyable day with eight lifers, my list is now 97, only three away from my first milestone.
Thanks for taking me out Reader :bounce:
Regards,
Steven
Today me Reader, Ross (his wife) went to Shrewsbury in search of spotted and pied flycatchers. Our first stop was at a place called Bridges. We had only just go there and i went to look in some trees on a bridge which had a stream known for dippers trickling underneath it. There they were Pied and Spotted flycatchers darting aroung in pattern as they do, also a wood warbler we saw, the tree was alive with tits aswell and it was a superb start to the day with reader seeing his three target birds for the trip, all year birds. And for me, well three lifers as you might of guessed. We
We then continued along through the wood where we saw Goldcrests, Songthrush, a family of wrens and all the other usual birds. We then came to a style and i was first over it, a cunning bird lied me a nice little supriose on the style, a big dolllop of poo all on my hand, i was wiping it on the grass and a bird landed on a gate about 15 metres infront, Reader identified it has a juvenile whinchat, yet another lifer for me, i was really on a high at this point, and so would we in a minute as we had a very large hill to climb. As we were walking up the hill we saw linnet and whetear on the bank going up the side and on the path infront of us were 3 or 4 Redstarts on the path about 50 metres ahead, another 3 lifers! As we climbed up a buzzard showed of great at a low hight and we also got views of a Raven. When we got to the top we had a bit to eat and saw another 3 or 4 Buzzards. I then said we should go in a direction and what do you know, it lead to a dead-end, but on the way up we did get meadow pipit and a Kestrel hovered in the distance.
We also saw there Great spotted woodpecker, Chaffinch, Willow warbler, Long tailed tit,Blackbird, Robin, Blue tit, Crow, Jay, Dunnock and Grey Wagtail. In addition we heard the call of a green woodpecker but was unable to pick it out of the dense trees.
The Long Mynd,
We went hear in the hope of seeing the Grasshopper warbler which had been heard here, but no luck and to our suprise no Stonechat, that would of been another lifer. We got gret views of a kestrel and also saw meadow pipit and wheatear, we didn't see any red grouse either.
Venis pool,
We went straight to the hide and had missed Dunlin and Curlew, dissapointing as they would have been lifers. Anyway, we saw Lapwing,Greylag goose, Great crested grebe, Canada goose, Mute swan, Coot, Moorhe, Mallard, Grey Heron, Black headed gull, Lesser black backed gull and another lifer, the Cormorant, Yes!!
Finally, Belvide Reservoir,
We set off to the nearest hide and on the way through the wood we got Nuthatch, Long tailed tit, Blue tit, Robin, Wren and Blackbird. All the birds were on the other side of the lake so we mostly only got distant views, we got Canada goose, Mute swan, Greylag goose, Moorhen, Coot, Great crested gerbe, Mallard and in the reed we got Reed buntiund and heard a reed warbler. We didn't try for the med gull as we were all tired. On the way back through the wood we saw at least 6 spotted flycatcher and reader managed to get some pictures of them. We also saw a treecreeper. Reader has gone all year without seeing a spotted flycatcher and now he's seen about ten in two different places in one day.
A thoroughly enjoyable day with eight lifers, my list is now 97, only three away from my first milestone.
Thanks for taking me out Reader :bounce:
Regards,
Steven
