Shropshire Birding (2 Viewers)

[pandachris]

A Tawny Owl this morning at about 07:45 over the A49 by the Shrewsbury Sewage works takes my 'drive to work' list up to 48 (since May) and also means that owls now constitute 25% of my UK 2013 list, since landing at Liverpool JLA yesterday tea time.

 

[pandachris]

Very high water levels in Venus Pool after the last lot of rains and an unusual number of wildfowl there too, with three species of white swans and at least seven types of duck yesterday p.m. A Pink-footed Goose had been reported on Friday but we couldn't locate it.

There were also about 25 Comon Snipe, down from a peak of 76 recorded in the log book for New Year's Eve.

 

[pandachris]

"Comon Snipe?"

Went to Polemere NR this afternoon for the Green-winged Teal. Not easy to see because it was in the trees at the far side of the pool and invisible from the hide but we eventually got a convincing view from the road.

At about 3 p.m. a flock of about 20 Golden Plovers arrived with a larger flock of Lapwings. The Lapwings eventually came down in fields behind the pool but the Golden Plovers headed off south.

 

[Solaaris]

Very high water levels in Venus Pool after the last lot of rains and an unusual number of wildfowl there too, with three species of white swans and at least seven types of duck yesterday p.m. A Pink-footed Goose had been reported on Friday but we couldn't locate it.

There were also about 25 Comon Snipe, down from a peak of 76 recorded in the log book for New Year's Eve.

Im going to have to go to Venus Pool as I have never been. Is it hard to get to from the main road, as I don't drive so will rely on buses?

 

[pandachris]

See this link from the shropshirebirds site ...

http://www.shropshirebirds.com/venus_pool/VenuspoolOS.htm

I would guess that it's about 10-15 minutes walk from Cross Houses and there are definitely bus stops there. Might be worth having a chat with any birders in the hides. you could get a lift back to Cross Houses. It's a pleasant enough walk though, although some of it might be on the road.

 

[Wildmoreway]

I am pretty sure that I have seen Venus Bank mentioned as a site for glowworms. I don't know the service number, but think that there is a regular bus that runs along that road between Shrewsbury and Much Wenlock. I have cycled along the lanes in that area and they were fairly quiet lanes. I think that there were bus stops in Cound village which might be a shorter walk.

 

[Patrick_L]

Im currently sat watching the male Green-winged Teal at Polemere, which is showing well now it's woken up. Smart bird, and plenty of other duck here to keep it company.

 

[Patrick_L]

Despite the snow, the female Blackcap at Coton Hill, Shrewsbury is still around, and this morning was in the ivy-covered tree by the slipway opposite Benbow Quay.

 

[Patrick_L]

A very smart Woodcock flew low over the Baschurch road at Leaton at 08:50 this morning.

 

[pandachris]

My drive to work

This might be of interest to somebody, or maybe not.

Like many birdwatchers who also drive, I keep half any eye on the birds seen whilst going from place to place. I’ve seen a few reasonably interesting birds on my most regular drive to work, from the north side of Shrewsbury to Telford town centre. For a while I’ve toyed with the idea of keeping a ‘journey to work’ list and for no particular reason, on 15th May 2012 I started one.

A digest of the year’s results follows.

I kept records for a total of 104 days in the period.

Most of the trips began between 07:20 and 08:10 and ended approx 20-25 minutes later.

I start listing whilst washing my breakfast crockery and finish when I reach the office front door. If the list was restricted to observations from the car I would have to remove Wren, Marsh Tit and Brambling and possibly Garden Warbler.

I only recorded positively identified species, although I have been happy to count a number based solely on voice. A few assumptions were made, particularly with large gulls. If I could not definitely ID a large gull I didn’t count it. If I saw a group of large gulls I counted Lesser Black-back. There were probably others.

My route was from Heath Farm, Shrewsbury, via Sundorne Road, A49, A5, M54 and Telford centre. The route was seldom varied and on odd occasions when I used different routes I haven’t recorded the species seen ‘off piste’. Only Herring Gull would be on the list if I had done so.

 

[pandachris]

Some statistics and comments:

Up to the end of 2012 (last count on 24th December) I recorded a total of 47 species.

The largest count in a single day was 20 species on 15th November.

The smallest count was 1 on 24th December, when admittedly the whole journey was carried out in darkness. The bird recorded was a Blackbird. Only 3 species were seen on 29th August (a vile day), 16th October (very heavy rain) and 21st November, when birds were seen on only six occasions on the whole drive and I think 3 of the six sightings were Magpies. It is possible that sightings might have been reduced somewhat because of worse driving conditions, but apparently birds don’t much like the rain.

There were no surprises regarding the most frequently seen species. Woodpigeons ‘won’ with a massive 102 out of 104 days, closely followed by Carrion Crow (98) and Magpie (92). Starlings would have been up there too but completely disappeared from their regular areas after 11th December, coinciding with the influx of Waxwings to the north Shrewsbury.

More surprising was the infrequency with which some species were seen. Pheasant was only recorded once, which is not that odd because there are few areas visible that they would frequent but I expected more than three records of Kestrel and with only one record each, Sparrowhawk and Grey Heron were seen less frequently than Waxwings.

The most prolific month was November, with an average of 11.17 birds seen each day and the least prolific were August and September with 8.5 each. From 17th October to 19th November only one day resulted in less than 10 species.

The most unexpected bird was probably Shelduck. A party of three were seen not far from the bend at the end of the long straight on the A5 before it starts to climb towards the M54. I’m fairly certain that I haven’t seen Shelduck since I started driving this route frequently in 1999.

The Waxwings were pleasing and the two records actually cover three sightings. Again I’m confident that I have not seen Waxwings before on the drive, despite looking hard most autumns and winters.

 

[pandachris]

The numbers:

Cormorant 5
Grey Heron 1
Pheasant 1
Mute Swan 12
Canada Goose 4
Mallard 8
Goosander 2
Shelduck 1
Black-headed Gull 21
Lesser Black-back 35
Lapwing 1
Common Buzzard 34
Kestrel 3
Sparrowhawk 1
Wood Pigeon 102
Collared Dove 79
Swift 26
Great Spotted Woodpecker 3
Robin 41
Skylark 1
House Martin 4
Swallow 7
Waxwing 2
Pied Wagtail 5
Grey Wagtail 1
Garden Warbler 1
Blackcap 12
Wren 1
Blackbird 85
Redwing 10
Fieldfare 1
Mistle Thrush 3
Dunnock 21
Blue Tit 37
Great Tit 6
Marsh Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 6
Chaffinch 10
Brambling 1
Greenfinch 17
Goldfinch 38
House Sparrow 53
Starling 82
Magpie 92
Jay 6
Jackdaw 30
Rook 7
Carrion Crow 98


I’ll do the same again at suitable intervals.

 

[Patrick_L]

Look forward to getting your updates Chris - best of luck for the list this year!

A male Blackcap has joined the female in the garden here at Coton Hill. A pair of Goosanders flew over at lunchtime too on their way back to the river.

Cheers,

Patrick

 

[Spotter]

At Priorslee Flash & Lake today and saw the following:

Note: The figure in brackets is for male birds the other figure is for total birds.

Priorslee Flash 0815 - 0900
Dry & Mild

On first viewing there didn't appear to be much birds around but count is as below.

Mallard (16) 25
Canada Geese 16
Coot 9
Tufted duck (39) 53
Mute Swan 2 Adult 3 Cygnets
Moorhen 2
Blackheaded Gull 26
Greylag Geese 1
Pochard (8) 15
Grey Heron 1
Goosander 3
Collared Dove 3
Chaffinch 12
Bullfinch (2) 5

Priorslee Lake 0910 - 1100
Dry & Mild

Few birds on woodland side or in middle of lake. Mostly all on other side, these were flushed by dog walkers and they retreated into centre of lake. Count is as follows:

Coot 86
Blackheaded Gull 25
Herring Gull 3
Mute Swan 2
Tufted Duck (17) 32
Wigeon (6) 12
Mallard (8) 14
Gadwall (3) 6
Pochard (2) 3
Woodpigeon 27
Robin 4
Coaltit 6
Blue Tit 24
Goldcrest 2
Great Tit 5
Jay 1
Reed Bunting (1) 2

 

[Spotter]

Out and about today although it was wet, windy and muddy. Started of at Colmere at 0900 and saw the following: Mute Swan, Mallard, Gannet, Heron, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye, snipe, Great Tit, Redwing, Lesser Blackbacked Gull and lots of goosanders. I did see a bird which I thought at time to be a gannett but upon reflection it couldn't have been. Then moved to Wood Lane and saw shelduck, oystercatcher, coot lapwing, snipe, Moorhen, Teal and Great spotted woodpecker. Left there at 1240 ish and went down to Priorslee Lake 1330 where I saw Coot 118, Tufted Duck (30) 48,
Pochard (9) 11, Mallard (8) 13, Blackheaded Gull 33, Herring Gull 2,
Wigeon (14) 27, Moorhen 6, Gadwall (2) 4, Great Crested Grebe (1) 2,
Mute Swan 2. A good days birding despite the weather.

 

[Phil Andrews]

Out and about today although it was wet, windy and muddy. Started of at Colmere at 0900 and saw the following: Mute Swan, Mallard, Gannet, Heron, Canada Geese, Chaffinch, Great Crested Grebe, Goldeneye, snipe, Great Tit, Redwing, Lesser Blackbacked Gull and lots of goosanders. I did see a bird which I thought at time to be a gannett but upon reflection it couldn't have been. Then moved to Wood Lane and saw shelduck, oystercatcher, coot lapwing, snipe, Moorhen, Teal and Great spotted woodpecker. Left there at 1240 ish and went down to Priorslee Lake 1330 where I saw Coot 118, Tufted Duck (30) 48,
Pochard (9) 11, Mallard (8) 13, Blackheaded Gull 33, Herring Gull 2,
Wigeon (14) 27, Moorhen 6, Gadwall (2) 4, Great Crested Grebe (1) 2,
Mute Swan 2. A good days birding despite the weather.

Hi Spotter - a few maritime birds moving through the Midlands today eg Kittiwake and Common Scoter so not impossible

 

[Spotter]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for your response. When I spotted the bird there was no-one around to confirm my sighting. I was sure it was a gannet though I only saw it for about a minute due to the fact that I spent some weeks on St Kilda which is an island about 45 miles of the west coast of the Hebrides in the 80's and saw loads of them.

 

[Solaaris]

Saw my first Dunnock today in Bridgnorth

Not that impressive, but its the first time I have seen one around here in the flesh to to speak. Managed to get a poor picture of him too!

 

[jwreeves]

Has anybody else been unable to view the shropshirebirds yahoo group message board over the last week or so?

 

[IanGrant]

Has anybody else been unable to view the shropshirebirds yahoo group message board over the last week or so?

Hi John,

I've been having a similar problem. I put this down to the recent spam e-mail issues, but maybe not? Luckily, I also get the daily email updates, so have been using these instead.

Ian