Upton Warren (117 Viewers)

[Sy V]

Yes John. Instructions are appended to the shelf in front of the megawindows. Gav came up with another pro for the bigguns; in the event of a mega bird, the windows will allow those behind to view easily! Allowing us photographers to occupy the prime seats ad nauseam - I jest of course.
Gert please don't dis the twig, man!

 

[Gavo]

What a great day, I put in a seven hour shift in the NEW hide, all in all I have no real complaints, I am not one for aesthetics so the look of it is of no relevence to me. I do however think there may be some problems with the big windows, several people were unable to lift them, and the ones that did raised concern about them coming down on their heads.

There was of course a lot of people moaning about one thing or another, you can't (it seems) please all the people all the time

As for the bird count:

curlew 21, oyks 2, teal 75, bhg 220, lapwing 200, lbbg 1, linnet 15, fieldfare 25, green pecker 1, starling 50, sprawk (f) 1, kestrel 1.

There were a pair of mallards nest building and a pair of buzzards displaying overhead.

All in all I thouroughly enjoyed birding back at the flashes, top top day :t:

 

[Sy V]

21 Curley jobbies - b4st4rd!
I now have to pick out the chaff from Gav's wheat...

Sailing Lake @ 0715
2 Cormorant
7 Canadas
1 GCB
1 Grey Heron
6 Mallard

Hen's Pool @ 0720
14 Fieldfare
2 Goldcrest
1 Kingfisher (per)
1 Water Rail (per)

Flashes
Water level 4.9
3 Pied Wags
14 Coot
10 Moorhen
oh that'll do...

 

[Sy V]

... a 'two sigma event' - only likely to happen once in the next 60 odd years by my reckoning.

Mark,

Sounds a bit like us and our quest for someone stupid enough to pick up the poisoned chalice of management!

 

[upstarts1979]

21 Curley jobbies - b4st4rd!
I now have to pick out the chaff from Gav's wheat...

Sailing Lake @ 0715
2 Cormorant
7 Canadas
1 GCB
1 Grey Heron
6 Mallard

Hen's Pool @ 0720
14 Fieldfare
2 Goldcrest
1 Kingfisher (per)
1 Water Rail (per)

Flashes
Water level 4.9
3 Pied Wags
14 Coot
10 Moorhen
oh that'll do...

What's happened to the Moors boys - everyone stopped going.8-P

 

[Sy V]

Where are the Moors, again? :smoke:

 

[Sy V]

John

Joking apart; I was pleasantly surprised to see the water level at 4.9. But, as Master of the Sluice, what would you consider to be a sustainable level at this time of year to see us through (and if at all possible) avoid the salt plains of last summer?
I'm guessing (based on the fact that there are still a couple of the nearest islands that are dry-surrounded) somewhere close to 5.2 at this time of year should suffice.
BTW, the new island looks like it's been there forever - kudos to us builders!

 

[kingfisherajh]

New Hide?

Can anyone tell me if this is open for us to use now as I don't want to walk down there only to find it is out of bounds!

 

[Gavo]

Oh and I forgot to mention (apart from the 3 wagtails) there were several male teal displaying, it certainly felt like spring was in the air :t:

 

[Sy V]

Today was the first full day of the new Avocet Hide being open. Are you walking from Stourport, then?

 

[Gavo]

I also forgot to say I saw my first butterfly of the year today, a small tortoishell, and my first bumblebee a red tailed, both from the new hide.

 

[kingfisherajh]

Thanks!

Today was the first full day of the new Avocet Hide being open. Are you walking from Stourport, then?

Thank you for letting me know Sy!

I am not completely up to date with the latest developments on the hide as I only drop in to the forum occasionally and to wind a few people up about petty subjects? (JOKE) To be honest I have got bored with all the moaning and groaning about the new hide! I am looking forward to seeing it for myself and making up my own opinion - I do have my own opinions as you well know and I am not afraid to express them! It's nice to know that you haven't forgot about our little altercation recently regarding the kingfisher perches! Never mind - if you are around tomorrow please make yourself known to me as we both seem to be passionate about these things? You probably know who I am but just in case you don't I am a Nikon man, with a big 400mm lens mounted on a Wimberley Gimbal head and yes I am a Volvo driver!!! Oh dear - you will probably have a field day now! Looking forward to meeting you sometime!

 

[forgetfulelephant]

What's happened to the Moors boys - everyone stopped going.8-P

I was at the Moors this am but I haven't got a count-must learn how to do it one day!

Lots of noisy activity, Canadas being territorial, GCGs displaying & collecting nesting material on the right hand end of the pool island where they nested last year, Mallard mating. Cormorant displaying/passing weed to each other.

Birds: Sparrowhawk (F) Buzzards x2, Snipe x4. Oyc x2

Rob

 

[upstarts1979]

I was at the Moors this am but I haven't got a count-must learn how to do it one day!

Lots of noisy activity, Canadas being territorial, GCGs displaying & collecting nesting material on the right hand end of the pool island where they nested last year, Mallard mating. Cormorant displaying/passing weed to each other.

Birds: Sparrowhawk (F) Buzzards x2, Snipe x4. Oyc x2

Rob

Good to see some ones still there Rob:t:

 

[upstarts1979]

John

Joking apart; I was pleasantly surprised to see the water level at 4.9. But, as Master of the Sluice, what would you consider to be a sustainable level at this time of year to see us through (and if at all possible) avoid the salt plains of last summer?
I'm guessing (based on the fact that there are still a couple of the nearest islands that are dry-surrounded) somewhere close to 5.2 at this time of year should suffice.
BTW, the new island looks like it's been there forever - kudos to us builders!

Sy
here is my original water depth marker document from 15 years ago. It is pretty much the same these days. You can see we are well below what it should be.
re the island, yes it blends in well, one of the very few positives from last years drought.
B John

 

[Sy V]

Thank you for letting me know Sy!

I am not completely up to date with the latest developments on the hide as I only drop in to the forum occasionally and to wind a few people up about petty subjects? (JOKE) To be honest I have got bored with all the moaning and groaning about the new hide! I am looking forward to seeing it for myself and making up my own opinion - I do have my own opinions as you well know and I am not afraid to express them! It's nice to know that you haven't forgot about our little altercation recently regarding the kingfisher perches! Never mind - if you are around tomorrow please make yourself known to me as we both seem to be passionate about these things? You probably know who I am but just in case you don't I am a Nikon man, with a big 400mm lens mounted on a Wimberley Gimbal head and yes I am a Volvo driver!!! Oh dear - you will probably have a field day now! Looking forward to meeting you sometime!

Good on you. I'll see you soon... if you don't spot me first!

 

[Sy V]

John

I tend to go blind looking at that sort of data, but I think it implies that we should be 5.4 (or 0.54) as opposed to today's 4.9 (0.49). Similarly, my estimate of needing to be about 0.3 (0.03) higher 5.2 (0.52) at this time of year is just about spot on... if a little on the conservative side.

 

[Sy V]

Thank you for letting me know Sy!

I am not completely up to date with the latest developments on the hide as I only drop in to the forum occasionally and to wind a few people up about petty subjects? (JOKE) To be honest I have got bored with all the moaning and groaning about the new hide! I am looking forward to seeing it for myself and making up my own opinion - I do have my own opinions as you well know and I am not afraid to express them! It's nice to know that you haven't forgot about our little altercation recently regarding the kingfisher perches! Never mind - if you are around tomorrow please make yourself known to me as we both seem to be passionate about these things? You probably know who I am but just in case you don't I am a Nikon man, with a big 400mm lens mounted on a Wimberley Gimbal head and yes I am a Volvo driver!!! Oh dear - you will probably have a field day now! Looking forward to meeting you sometime!

Actually, the more I read this...

Nikon-using, wimberley-dependent, volvo-driving individual.

You don't knit yoghurt and support some pinko-lefty lesbian commune do you!

This may be another post that should be taken with a pinch of salt...

 

[Phil Andrews]

John

I tend to go blind looking at that sort of data, but I think it implies that we should be 5.4 (or 0.54) as opposed to today's 4.9 (0.49). Similarly, my estimate of needing to be about 0.3 (0.03) higher 5.2 (0.52) at this time of year is just about spot on... if a little on the conservative side.

Hi Sy,

This is the perenial battle to ensure that the Flashes doesn't dry out in the summer vs having a suitable margin for passage waders to feed on (especially giving the encroachment of the phraggy in recent years at the back of the second Flash) vs the total devastation that flash floods in April / May have previously caused for our breeding waders. Never a perfect solution; we need to play it by ear with the broad principles that John's guide outlines. In all fairness the Flashes is far fuller than we expected last autumn!

 

[kingfisherajh]

Actually, the more I read this...

Nikon-using, wimberley-dependent, volvo-driving individual.

You don't knit yoghurt and support some pinko-lefty lesbian commune do you!

This may be another post that should be taken with a pinch of salt...

Absolutely!!!!!!