Rare and Scarce Birds in Staffordshire (3 Viewers)

[Periwinkle]

Whimbrel (heard) grey plover, short eared owl, 12 yellow wagtail Drayton Bassett north pit today - various obs. Looks good for bird count tomorrow!

 

[andyr]

I've been told by a colleague who birds in his spare time that he saw a crane right by the railway line "about a mile or two north of Tamworth".

He couldn't be more exact about location but it sounded convincing and is presumably the Stafford bird relocating. Looking at the map it would appear to be somewhere in the Hademore/Hopwas area.....maybe

Nick

No sign of any Crane when I looked across all the water meadows, and other land either side of the River Tame, when I walked the canal towpath this morning from Fisherwick/Hademore to Hopwas and back. No sign either along the meadows along the other side of the river, when I later drove from Elford to Comberford and then back round to Hopwas.

Cheers

Andy R.

 

[The Moore-hen]

6 Common Scoter(4drks) first thing this morning Gailey on the Sailing Lake. Also, Lesser Whitethoat still by c'park.

Cheers for the text again this morning mate...:t:

Managed to get up there at lunchtime when the 6 scoters were showing well feeding actively on the west side of the sailing lake also a smart Arctic Tern with 12 Common and 2 superb Hobby hunting low over the water just of the SE corner of the causeway. Gailey getting some good 'padders' at the mo, now it's time for the next biggy...B

Extra News for 4th May

3 Common Scoter - Blithfield also Black & c25 Arctic Tern
sev Arctic Terns - Trent Valley Pits from Whitemore Haye and further north

6+ Arctic Tern - Belvide

 

[Steve Turner]

Gailey getting some good 'padders' at the mo, now it's time for the next biggy...B

You've got some catching up to do, I think the mighty Hales is still rubbing your nose in it for Staffs Cat A's so far this Spring

 

[The Moore-hen]

You've got some catching up to do, I think the mighty Hales is still rubbing your nose in it for Staffs Cat A's so far this Spring

Too right! The mighty Hales is beating everywhere...except for Belvide (Pallid Harrier trumps all others put together!) but Gailey is hotting up nicely for a biggy again I feel. Hales has gone 'off form' at the wrong time of season...:-O Gailey is on a 'Torres' streak of form...:t:

 

[Steve Turner]

Too right! The mighty Hales is beating everywhere...except for Belvide (Pallid Harrier trumps all others put together!) but Gailey is hotting up nicely for a biggy again I feel. Hales has gone 'off form' at the wrong time of season...:-O Gailey is on a 'Torres' streak of form...:t:

Ha ha. Although for 'off form' read 'nobody checking it'! Having a 12 week old baby means my birding opportunites are limited, as you can well appreciate hence only 2 or 3 Hales visits for me since the Tundra Bean...

 

[Periwinkle]

2 Black-Necked Grebe, Grey Plover at RSPB Middleton on Draton Bassett North Pit this morning

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Bummer - but thanks for trying!

No sign of any Crane when I looked across all the water meadows, and other land either side of the River Tame, when I walked the canal towpath this morning from Fisherwick/Hademore to Hopwas and back. No sign either along the meadows along the other side of the river, when I later drove from Elford to Comberford and then back round to Hopwas.

Cheers

Andy R.

 

[The Moore-hen]

Ha ha. Although for 'off form' read 'nobody checking it'! Having a 12 week old baby means my birding opportunites are limited, as you can well appreciate hence only 2 or 3 Hales visits for me since the Tundra Bean...

Yep I can totally understand what you mean, hard work ain't it! But great fun and I showed Charlie his first Buzzard today - he pointed at it and said 'it dare' (there) I've never been prouder...

News for the 5th May

2 Red-breasted Merg - Belvide at 16.40 also Whimbrel flew N this am
3 Common Scoter - Blithfield off St Stephens bay
male Ring Ouzel - Berry Hill Fields this am

 

[The Moore-hen]

News for the 6th May

male Ring Ouzel & SE Owl - Berry Hill Fields

Quiet today due to the lack of any rain (for a change!) forecast for tomorrow looks promising for a bit of movement - SE winds and light rain from between 6-9am then heavier rain later...let's see what it does...

 

[Rob Swift]

Cannock Chase

Marsh Harrier x 1 immature male --flew through the marshy valley adjacent to Brocton Coppice this morn

cheers

Rob

 

[andyr]

Whitemoor Haye

Hi All

1 x Little Gull (immature) showing well on main lake still at 4.20pm.

Cheers

Andy R.

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Berry Hill

At least two whinchats this morning plus 22 wheatears, 3 yellow wags, 1 lesser whitethroat.

 

[The Moore-hen]

News for the 8th May

1s Little Gull - Whitemoor Haye still late am

 

[JHDraytonbassettpits]

8/5/11 DBP South Osprey, John Morgan. Regards, John

 

[The Moore-hen]

Extra News for the 8th May

Osprey - NE over Belvide at 12.05

Where have all the Black-necked Grebe gone this Spring? Each time I go to Gailey I'm expecting to see one and not even Belvide has had one this Spring yet - other than the 2 the weekend at Drayton Bassett North we haven't had any others in Staffs (I think!) this Spring passage.

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Crane

I've had a report of the crane back at Radford Bank today.
Nick

 

[chris23565]

Where have all the Black-necked Grebe gone this Spring? Each time I go to Gailey I'm expecting to see one and not even Belvide has had one this Spring yet - other than the 2 the weekend at Drayton Bassett North we haven't had any others in Staffs (I think!) this Spring passage.

Nick Smith and myself were only talking about this the other day as it's 12mths since he found a pair at Westport, but prior to that there had been several seen around Staffs by this time last year, the Belvide bird being the most obvious one.
I think the Drayton Bassett birds were found the next day but these seem to have disappeared, I also wonder what happened to the Red-necked Grebe that was found at Blithfield the other month, it didn't stick around sadly esp being a summer plumage bird.

 

[The Snapper]

Where have all the Black-necked Grebe gone this Spring? Each time I go to Gailey I'm expecting to see one and not even Belvide has had one this Spring yet - other than the 2 the weekend at Drayton Bassett North we haven't had any others in Staffs (I think!) this Spring passage.

Have been thinking exactly the same mucka.

Gailey has always scored well with BNG both in Spring and autumn.

Near daily morning visits this Spring haven't yielded a single bird :-C

Theres a bit more time yet, but maybe we'll score in the autumn when more juvs are around.

 

[Nick Smith]

Have been thinking exactly the same mucka.

Gailey has always scored well with BNG both in Spring and autumn.

Near daily morning visits this Spring haven't yielded a single bird :-C

Theres a bit more time yet, but maybe we'll score in the autumn when more juvs are around.

It is a bit of a strange spring this year tho, so maybe its not that unexpected? Not exactly tripping over Garganey, waders etc..Some migrants early, some late and struggling. Westport hasn't had a single singing Willow Wrb now for nearly a week. All in and breeding or all shot thru?