Upton Warren (14 Viewers)

woodwolf · Dec 24, 2011

Merry Christmas Warreners

Sorry I could'nt make it over today.

Just like to echo and reciprocate Gavo's comments. My first full year birding year, and first full year at The Warren.
Unforgetable birding moments, thanks to the expertise and dedication of the regulars. Really enjoyed all aspects of the reserve and it's characters. Had some great laughs and banter along the way. Cannot wait to start all over again next year.

Finally just like to wish Gavo all the health and happiness in his forthcoming marriage, really chuffed for you B

upstarts1979 · Dec 24, 2011

Birding on the Moors today.
Duck numbers have certainly increased;
Teal 51, Shoveler at least 15, Tufted 22. Also seen were Little grebe, coot 184, cormorant 32, Snipe at least 15 on show.
A regular passage of Herring gulls all morning in small groups - many moving south.
A pair of lesser redpoll fed in the silver birch behind the east hide, giving excellent eye level views.
Along the road by lifestyles were several chaffinch, bullfinch and winter thrushes feeding in the freshly coppiced areas.

At the Flashes
Teal 30, Lapwing 120 and small flocks of fieldfare.
B

John

Phil Andrews · Dec 24, 2011

upstarts1979 said:
Birding on the Moors today.
Duck numbers have certainly increased;
Teal 51, Shoveler at least 15, Tufted 22. Also seen were Little grebe, coot 184, cormorant 32, Snipe at least 15 on show.
A regular passage of Herring gulls all morning in small groups - many moving south.
A pair of lesser redpoll fed in the silver birch behind the east hide, giving excellent eye level views.
Along the road by lifestyles were several chaffinch, bullfinch and winter thrushes feeding in the freshly coppiced areas.

At the Flashes
Teal 30, Lapwing 120 and small flocks of fieldfare.
B John

Also at the Moors - 144 Lapwing, 18 Curlew, Yellowhammer flew south calling, good numbers of thrushes incl 9 Blackbirds in the paddock, Teal mating in Amys Marsh.
Great craic in the East Hide with a veritable avalanche of mince pies, stollen and port to soothe the pain of the Flashes hide (and toasting Gavo and Hayley's good news). Impressive management work across the Moors Pool; heres looking forward to a bird-filled 2011.

beyonder · Dec 24, 2011

Gavo said:
To all the regulars at UW, I would just like to say thankyou for making my first year of birding there so enjoyable. You are without doubt the best group of birders in the country.

Likewise.

Many thanks and Seasons Greetings to all.

Paul H

Brian Stretch · Dec 24, 2011

Phil Andrews said:
Also at the Moors - 144 Lapwing, 18 Curlew, Yellowhammer flew south calling, good numbers of thrushes incl 9 Blackbirds in the paddock, Teal mating in Amys Marsh.
Great craic in the East Hide with a veritable avalanche of mince pies, stollen and port to soothe the pain of the Flashes hide (and toasting Gavo and Hayley's good news). Impressive management work across the Moors Pool; heres looking forward to a bird-filled 2011.

Does this mean we have do it all over again? In that case I wouldn't mind having a second crack at the Bluethroat!

A very Happy Christmas to everyone.

Brian
___________
Birding Today

cooky1 · Dec 24, 2011

A few photos from today at the UPTON WARREN Xmas party.B

One of the photos is of the Drake Teal that can`t wait until Spring

.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all on the Forum.

Chris

PS,Sy you look nothing like your photo.

hagar1 · Dec 24, 2011

Happy Christmas to you all see at the work parties next year B

Gert Corfield · Dec 24, 2011

cooky1 said:
A few photos from today at the UPTON WARREN Xmas party.B
One of the photos is of the Drake Teal that can`t wait until Spring.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all on the Forum.

Chris

PS,Sy you look nothing like your photo.

Considering these are re sized photos they're stunning Chris & Sy. Thanks for sharing and long may the boys with their big lenses share their work on this forum :t:

Just to say a Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all the Upton regulars - a marvelous place with marvelous people. And congrats to Gav & Hayley B

B

Picture from this mornings mince pie and cake adventure!

upstarts1979 · Dec 24, 2011

cooky1 said:
A few photos from today at the UPTON WARREN Xmas party.B
One of the photos is of the Drake Teal that can`t wait until Spring.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to all on the Forum.

Chris

PS,Sy you look nothing like your photo.

Nice 1 Chris
Teal mating for the first time at Upton, does that go down as a possible breeding record 8-P
B

John

Sy V · Dec 25, 2011

Merry Christmas fellow Uptonites! :bounce:

wheatearlp · Dec 25, 2011

Happy Xmas to all - here's to 2012 and another good year at Upton. Hopefully spring will be as good as 2011 and autumn far, far better B

Puckle · Dec 26, 2011

Thank you upton

I would like to add to the semtiments of others in thanking the guys at upton in making me most welcomed in my increased visits to the reserve this year. Best wishes to you all in 2012. And may you get lots of rarities

Barry (cockney)

Phil Andrews · Dec 26, 2011

This morning at the Moors Pool:

2 Mute Swan, 1 Canada Goose, 2 Grey Heron, 36 Cormorant, 12 Shoveler, 59 Teal, 196 Coot, 34 Tufted Duck, 144 Lapwing, 8 Snipe, 15 Curlew, 6 LBB Gull. Continuous flow of larger gulls south - mostly LBB but a few Herring and one adult GBB.

In addition Gert reported 96 Lapwing, 44 Teal, 4 Lesser Redpoll and Raven from the Flashes and 21 Greylag Geese from the Sailing Pool.

Quick recount at the Moors gives me 66 Teal so 110 across the reserve.

Edit: Walking back to the car park there were 2 Lesser Redpolls by the east track gate and up to 100 thrushes (mainly Fiedfare) around the secret garden / horse chestnut / spindle clump area; also a Mistle Thrush in the pony paddock.

Phil Andrews · Dec 26, 2011

upstarts1979 said:
Nice 1 Chris
Teal mating for the first time at Upton, does that go down as a possible breeding record 8-P
B John

Hi John - whilst The Birds of Upton Warren opus does refer to pairs of Teal being present in May and June, I couldnt find any previous mention in researching the historic data of mating behaviour.

Phil Andrews · Dec 26, 2011

As we start to look forward to 2012, I attach a spreadsheet tracking the occurence of the 228 species (excluding Feral Pigeon) that have been recorded on the reserve since the annual reports were first produced in 1984. This takes the entries from the annual reports and cross-references with accepted records submitted to the County Recorder (where applicable); as a result the annual totals may be lower than shown the the relevant annual report. Likewise the totals for 2010 and 2011 are likely to be reduced in later years as either descriptions are not forthcoming or those which are submitted potentially fall into the "not proven" category. Many thanks to Mike for supplying some additional information to complete this analysis.

1996 was the most productive year with 160 species. In total there are 99 species which have been recorded in all the 28 years of the period covered; these are highlighted in itallics on the spreadsheet. Some of these are quite surprising eg Spotted Fly, Ruff, Goldeneye and Whimbrel.

There are a multiplicity of trends shown in this very crude snapshot - the decline of species such as the two partridges, Corn Bunting and Turtle Dove; the rise of Avocet, Bittern, Med Gull etc.

In addition a further seven species were recorded prior to 1984 but not since - Leach's Petrel, White-winged Black Tern, Caspian Tern, Velvet Scoter, Snow Bunting, Richard's Pipit and Glaucous Gull.

upstarts1979 · Dec 26, 2011

Phil Andrews said:
This morning at the Moors Pool:

2 Mute Swan, 1 Canada Goose, 2 Grey Heron, 36 Cormorant, 12 Shoveler, 59 Teal, 196 Coot, 34 Tufted Duck, 144 Lapwing, 8 Snipe, 15 Curlew, 6 LBB Gull. Continuous flow of larger gulls south - mostly LBB but a few Herring and one adult GBB.
Quick recount at the Moors gives me 66 Teal so 110 across the reserve.
paddock.

Spent an enjoyable afternoon at the east hide with the 'crofty Boys' (stu86 and oriole boy) with Stu coming back to his roots from deepest Cornwall for Christmas B

. talked about the old times and CAKES', as you do.
A pair of Peregrine made a concerted pincer movement in an effort to split the lapwing flock and isolated a single bird which they pursued relentlessly for several minutes, thankfully without success. They were last seen flying at speed into the setting sun in pursuit of a distant flock of lapwing.
There must have been some local duck movement this afternoon with quite a change in the totals which were:
Teal 85, Shoveler 32 (or was it 34 Stu?), Tufted 24, little Grebe 2, calling water rail and 16 curlew.
also a pair of Raven and a sizeable number of thrushes roosting close to the secret garden.
See you on the May 'all-dayer' Stu. :t:John
ps a Roe Deer was in the seasonal pool area.

timmyjones · Dec 27, 2011

Managed to get down to Upton for the first time since there was no water in the Flashes!

Good to be back on the reserve again, had a play around with some digiscoped photos that will be on the blog later, shame the light wasn't any good!

Had a nice chat with Upstarts and Woodchat and I'm sure they will post on the bird counts for today.

Sy V · Dec 27, 2011

A pleasant morning down at the Moors today. Although the light was pretty dire (by the time I got down to doing some birding) and all birds were at range. Somehow I managed to fluke a a Fieldfare BIF shot though...

upstarts1979 · Dec 27, 2011

Had a walk around the Moors with Paul M to discuss forth coming work parties.
Birded with Dave, Tim, Trev and Sy throughout the day.
Spent a good time in scrub and woodland habitat so came across a good number of passerines, which were as follows:
Fieldfare 60, redwing 40+ in a large flock feeding on blackthorn at the beginning of the north moors trail, by the spindle thicket. A couple of goldcrest foraged through the spindles where a treecreeper and blackcap called. Small flocks of goldfinch (20) redpoll (10) and siskin (4) fed on alder and silver birch fruit. Away from the feeding station at least 6 bullfinch fed on buds and small numbers of chaffinch and greenfich flew over. The large number of blackbirds (30) were almost certainly migrants, they were especially common around the seasonal pool where a large tit flock moved through.
Several great spotted woodpecker and a green woodpecker were seen.
Large numbers of herring gulls passed over throughout the day.
On the pool were: Little Grebe 2, Shoveler 24, Teal 65, Pochard pr, Tufted 20+, Snipe 4, lapwing 200+, curlew 16.

At the Flashes
Teal 35, BHG 350 - 400 roosted
B

John

Phil Andrews · Dec 28, 2011

Eurasian White-fronted Goose on the Sailing Pool now, as found by Woodchat

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