[upstarts1979]

At the Flashes - where the water has again risen to 0.47
during the meeting sneaked in a bit of birding.
Gadwall pr, shelduck pr, Avocet 10, LRP 6, Lapwing only 4 , The leucistic female has abandoned her nest after nearly 3 weeks.
skylark singing over the transmitter field.

To cap off a pretty good couple of hours, I arrived home to hear and see a Black tailed godwit flying relatively low over my house heading east...could well be at Morton Bagot tomorrow.

As we left this evening the winds were strong due East..tomorrow will be the day.

[Phil Andrews]

Whilst Upton missed out on the sizeable tern passage through the West Mids today, all is not lost. Tomorrow the winds are southerly / SSW with further rain in the afternoon which could be promising. The forecast then shows less favourable NW winds on Friday before more easterlies again with rain on both Saturday and Sunday. Get on site and keep your eyes peeled!

[UW82]

Originally Posted by upstarts1979

If we don't get passage this week, I will pack up birding
Trust me it will happen

Des please find something Tomorrow.

I cam find you numerous birds in the Nice area John.

Des.

[upstarts1979]

Originally Posted by UW82

I cam find you numerous birds in the Nice area John.

Des.

Hi Des I wasn't referring to Upton ..honest

Your Wednesday crew have had a good day albeit away from Upton..greasing in on the Osprey late on at Upton.
John

[forgetfulelephant]

From today at the Moors:
Little Gull
Swift-not a rarity but 1st? UW record this year?

Rob

[Brian Stretch]

Originally Posted by Phil Andrews

Whilst Upton missed out on the sizeable tern passage through the West Mids today, all is not lost. Tomorrow the winds are southerly / SSW with further rain in the afternoon which could be promising. The forecast then shows less favourable NW winds on Friday before more easterlies again with rain on both Saturday and Sunday. Get on site and keep your eyes peeled!

Hi Phil,

The whole of Worcs largely missed out on the tern passage. Despite almost every water being covered at some point today not one Arctic was reported even though several hundred were to both the north and south of the county.

Some wader movement was encouraging though.

Brian
___________
Birding Today

[upstarts1979]

Record shot of the Osprey today

[UW82]

Originally Posted by upstarts1979

Hi Des I wasn't referring to Upton ..honest

Your Wednesday crew have had a good day albeit away from Upton..greasing in on the Osprey late on at Upton.
John

They obviously learnt their lesson from two
weeks ago.

Des.

[upstarts1979]

Originally Posted by Brian Stretch

Hi Phil,

The whole of Worcs largely missed out on the tern passage. Despite almost every water being covered at some point today not one Arctic was reported even though several hundred were to both the north and south of the county.

Some wader movement was encouraging though.

Brian
___________
Birding Today

Hi Bri..it would appear that the terns further down the river severn must have followed it up to shropshire and veered off Staffs, but saying that I would have thought Grimley would have got some. Its strange how Gloucestershire got so many and even Shropshire had some as well as good totals in Staffs. The East Mids didn't have as many as yesterday so they didn't come from the east. That's what is so intriguing about Migration we just don't have all the answers.

[upstarts1979]

Originally Posted by forgetfulelephant

From today at the Moors:
Little Gull
Swift-not a rarity but 1st? UW record this year?

Rob

You don't often see pics of swifts ...as they say Rob..'good capture'
John

[Brian Stretch]

Originally Posted by upstarts1979

Hi Bri..it would appear that the terns further down the river severn must have followed it up to shropshire and veered off Staffs, but saying that I would have thought Grimley would have got some. Its strange how Gloucestershire got so many and even Shropshire had some as well as good totals in Staffs. The East Mids didn't have as many as yesterday so they didn't come from the east. That's what is so intriguing about Migration we just don't have all the answers.

Hi John,

Yep, that somes it up really. Maybe our tern tomorrow

Brian
___________
Birding Today

[Spoonbill Finder]

Originally Posted by upstarts1979

Arrived at the Moors east gate at 5pm to catch the Little gull gaining height and then flew off NE. After another 5 minutes 4 ravens (2 prs) engaged in a territorial skirmish.
From the east hide there was a very large group (c250) of all 3 hirundines including 150 swallows. At 5.35 a commotion amongst the BHG drew my attention to my 3rd Osprey of the year, coming over the Education reserve from the west. I looked across to the west hide to see if the birders had picked it up, but it hadn't come into their view when it was attacked by LBBG's, luckily it was not put off and started hovering , by which time the 3 people in the hide managed to see it. It stayed in view for 10 - 15 minutes finally catching a smallish fish.
other species seen included: GCG 4, Teal 2 fems, gadwall male, shelduck 2 males (in addition to the pair at the Flashes). Snipe 3, LRP, common sand, lapwing 2, oystercatcher 4, common tern 3, herring gull,
Not a bad 45 minutes before the management meeting, which also went well.

That was Tim & Mary Owens and myself in the West Hide. We picked up the Osprey pretty soon after the gulls went up and were wondering if you had. Chuffed for Tim & Mary as this was a lifer for them.

In total we saw 4 raptor species: Buzzard, Kestrel & Sparrowhawk also put in an appearance on what was a miserable evening weatherwise. Our Common Tern count from the West Hide was 4.

A record shot of the Osprey taken from the West Hide:

[Spoonbill Finder]

Osprey over Sailing Lake at 0640. 5 Common Terns plus Peregrine also.

[Phil Andrews]

Originally Posted by Spoonbill Finder

Osprey over Sailing Lake at 0640. 5 Common Terns plus Peregrine also.

Well done Andy.

Difficult to tell if this is the same bird as yesterday; I would like to think not as it had three hours of daylight to move on in.

[upstarts1979]

Originally Posted by Spoonbill Finder

That was Tim & Mary Owens and myself in the West Hide. We picked up the Osprey pretty soon after the gulls went up and were wondering if you had. Chuffed for Tim & Mary as this was a lifer for them.

In total we saw 4 raptor species: Buzzard, Kestrel & Sparrowhawk also put in an appearance on what was a miserable evening weatherwise. Our Common Tern count from the West Hide was 4.

A record shot of the Osprey taken from the West Hide:

Nice shot mate , better than mine. Didn't realise you were there. Dave texted me that Mary and Tim had seen it. I bet Mary was well pleased, I bet she got a pic as well. Oh well a joint find then

[upstarts1979]

Text from Dave J adult Kittiwake at the Moors on the deck, found at 6.57am

[Phil Andrews]

Originally Posted by upstarts1979

Text from Dave J adult Kittiwake at the Moors on the deck, between 6.40 and 7am

Thats the 100th species for April (and 114 for the year in total); one we didnt record last year.

[upstarts1979]

Originally Posted by Spoonbill Finder

Osprey over Sailing Lake at 0640. 5 Common Terns plus Peregrine also.

Didn't realise you were on site mate. just texted you about Kittiwake

[Skipper47]

I am quickly becoming addicted to UW, the variety of birds is fantastic and the photos of the species when I can't get there are great too. Thank you, I am learning so much from your posts...

I have a question which someone may be able to answer, I recently visited Chelmarsh Pool, not in the same league as UW but there were lots of freshwater mussel shells littered around the pool and I was wondering what may have caused this. I was told it may be down to fisherman as they use them as bait, I didn't see any oystercatchers there. Any ideas?

Many thanks

[Woodchat]

Originally Posted by Skipper47

I am quickly becoming addicted to UW, the variety of birds is fantastic and the photos of the species when I can't get there are great too. Thank you, I am learning so much from your posts...

I have a question which someone may be able to answer, I recently visited Chelmarsh Pool, not in the same league as UW but there were lots of freshwater mussel shells littered around the pool and I was wondering what may have caused this. I was told it may be down to fisherman as they use them as bait, I didn't see any oystercatchers there. Any ideas?

Many thanks

I think freshwater mussels feature quite prominently in the diet of Tufted Ducks - not necessarily the cause though. Did you see many diving ducks up there?

[Skipper47]

Originally Posted by Woodchat

I think freshwater mussels feature quite prominently in the diet of Tufted Ducks - not necessarily the cause though. Did you see many diving ducks up there?

Many thanks for the reply

There were some pairs of tufted duck, some Great Crested Grebe, a pair of teal and some grey lag geese on the water. Several other smaller species dotted around the woodland eg reed bunting

[Spoonbill Finder]

Originally Posted by upstarts1979

Didn't realise you were on site mate. just texted you about Kittiwake

Thanks for text. Missed Kittiwake. Barnacle Goose at Moors this morning. Missed that too!!

[Phil Andrews]

Originally Posted by Spoonbill Finder

Thanks for text. Missed Kittiwake. Barnacle Goose at Moors this morning. Missed that too!!

Barnacle Goose is a new one for the year.

[PeterE]

For the record there was a Common Gull parked in front of the new Flashes hide yesterday afternoon. Also Sedge Warblers are beginning to appear in front of the Hen Pool hide.

Peter

[Phil Andrews]

John reports some activity this morning. Arctic Tern at the Moors plus 2 Swift 3 Common Sand 3 Yellow Wags followed by a further 2. 8 Blackwits in the transmitter field plus 2 Common Sands on the Flashes