Withymoor - Amblecote, Stourbridge..... (1 Viewer)

[steve_zodiac]

Laurie, if I start taking photos of birds......highly unlikely I know, but if I do.....you can use whichever ones you like, mate. :t:

 

[Pam_m]

Brake Lane will be visited when I have less festive demands!

Happy New Year to you Laurie! Keep up the posts in 2014, they are fun to read...well more often than not.:t:

 

[rollingthunder]

I'll try Pam, despite a 'Rain Man' on my parade

A late visit to Mary Stevens Park on the 30th (ca16:30) was too late for Gulls but i could still make out at least 5 Goosander - 3males and 2females this time also calling Nuthatch. There does appear to be small groups of Redwings in a number of places around Stourbridge maybe they are coming closer into the built up bits.

The wet and windy conditions show no sign of abating so i would expect something pelagic somewhere shortly. No reports on BF of the TBC's over @ Wyre since my post on the 23rd. Weather permitting i shall pop over on Sunday.

I had to smile at the report of a solitary Swallow:eek!: toughing it out somewhere in the South West but for how much longer? Conditions for feeding must be difficult to say the least. There were small numbers at most coastal sites that i visited in Morocco recently along with very good numbers of the local Plain Sand Martins.

Below Brompton @ Essaouira.

Happy New Year to all and sundry.........

Laurie:t:

 

[Phil Andrews]

The wet and windy conditions show no sign of abating so i would expect something pelagic somewhere shortly. No reports on BF of the TBC's over @ Wyre since my post on the 23rd. Weather permitting i shall pop over on Sunday.

Surprisingly, given the weather, 3 TBCs reported again this morning from Postenplain (although no better directions given than that)

 

[rollingthunder]

I am surprised, Phil, somebody got lucky or had a very localised 'window' in the weather - whoever it was deserves a medal - even the area from Postenplan over to the 'Red tanks' is not that far it's still large enough considering the potential feeding area.......

Laurie:t:

 

[rollingthunder]

Thur 2nd Jan 2014..............

It could be worse, at least we are on high ground around here!

A quick visit, in blustery conditions down to Withymoor.

3 pairs of Tufties noted, 2 of which were fairly standard and a third pair which consisted of a very dusky-flanked male and a 'scaup-faced' female.

Green Woodpecker calling on the embankment, ca75 BHG's and a solitary Redwing feeding on some Dogwood was about it!

Surprisingly the area has generated 2 threads on the Rare Birds section on BF, that's notable in itself. The TBC's must still be around but conditions must be difficult for viewing, depending on what else is about or what has been confirmed i intend having a poke about on Sunday - obviously weather dependent.

What appears to be exercising minds is a putative Arctic Redposs of the Greenland race 'hornemanni' named after the Danish botanist. I have never seen an 'Arctic'-type but if i were to then this would be the race/spp. The real deal is a large hoary snowball of a bird with a 'pinched-in' face and a White sugar-cube of a bum. The fotos (other peoples) that i have seen does not convince me but i'm no expert as they say.

The only Common Redpolls i get here are the odd flyover bird or birds and i last saw a Mealy years ago - it's a good job they have a distinct flight call otherwise they could be easily missed. Let's hope it bears more fruit than the Parrot Possbill @ the Lickeys a few weeks back.

Redpolls, particularly the 'Arctic' group have generated more light than heat and are either being lumped or split depending on what you read and how important your list is but help is at hand..........

Below for starters is a link to Common and Mealy ID -

http://redpolls-worcestershireredpo.../09/worcestershire-redpolls-and-guide-to.html

Next, the main meal of pictures with regard to the current candidate -

http://www.worcesterbirding.co.uk/mealy_redpolls_worcestershire_74.html

Finally a link to Martin Garners excellent site for some Arctic roll to finish with -

http://birdingfrontiers.com/?s=arctic+redpoll

All good stuff for those that want their brain racking!

I remember a record from the Isles of Scilly (Tresco i think) sometime in the 70's a Hornemanns in the same field as a Spanish Sparrow - only on the Scillies

Attached is the distinct 'buzzy' flight call of Common and a piccy of a classic 'snowball'.

All the best -

Laurie:t:

 

[Steve Sutton]

Thur 2nd Jan 2014..............

It could be worse, at least we are on high ground around here!

A quick visit, in blustery conditions down to Withymoor.

3 pairs of Tufties noted, 2 of which were fairly standard and a third pair which consisted of a very dusky-flanked male and a 'scaup-faced' female.

Green Woodpecker calling on the embankment, ca75 BHG's and a solitary Redwing feeding on some Dogwood was about it!

Surprisingly the area has generated 2 threads on the Rare Birds section on BF, that's notable in itself. The TBC's must still be around but conditions must be difficult for viewing, depending on what else is about or what has been confirmed i intend having a poke about on Sunday - obviously weather dependent.

What appears to be exercising minds is a putative Arctic Redposs of the Greenland race 'hornemanni' named after the Danish botanist. I have never seen an 'Arctic'-type but if i were to then this would be the race/spp. The real deal is a large hoary snowball of a bird with a 'pinched-in' face and a White sugar-cube of a bum. The fotos (other peoples) that i have seen does not convince me but i'm no expert as they say.

The only Common Redpolls i get here are the odd flyover bird or birds and i last saw a Mealy years ago - it's a good job they have a distinct flight call otherwise they could be easily missed. Let's hope it bears more fruit than the Parrot Possbill @ the Lickeys a few weeks back.

Redpolls, particularly the 'Arctic' group have generated more light than heat and are either being lumped or split depending on what you read and how important your list is but help is at hand..........

Below for starters is a link to Common and Mealy ID -

http://redpolls-worcestershireredpo.../09/worcestershire-redpolls-and-guide-to.html

Next, the main meal of pictures with regard to the current candidate -

http://www.worcesterbirding.co.uk/mealy_redpolls_worcestershire_74.html

Finally a link to Martin Garners excellent site for some Arctic roll to finish with -

http://birdingfrontiers.com/?s=arctic+redpoll

All good stuff for those that want their brain racking!

I remember a record from the Isles of Scilly (Tresco i think) sometime in the 70's a Hornemanns in the same field as a Spanish Sparrow - only on the Scillies

Attached is the distinct 'buzzy' flight call of Common and a piccy of a classic 'snowball'.

All the best -

Laurie:t:

I hope you've made it clear that the piccy of the classic 'snowball' wasn't yours and gained consent from and credited the originator accordingly.

 

[rollingthunder]

Hi Steve -

It's from the Wikipedia page, which i believe is Creative Common Licence.

It is also not the original picture it is a digitilised 'watercolour' version of the original with tonal adjustments.

As i have already stated - pictures that are not mine are only used to illustrate identification features to other birders that might not be as experienced or familiar with pertinent features that might aid them and/or flag up a species. The elements of any image i.e species, background, buildings, vegetation, water etc will be from a range of other images - thus the image i attach will not actually exist anywhere else and certain features of the image will have been created by myself.

Happy New Year -

Laurie:t:

 

[Phil Andrews]

Hi Steve -

It's from the Wikipedia page, which i believe is Creative Common Licence.

It is also not the original picture it is a digitilised 'watercolour' version of the original with tonal adjustments.

As i have already stated - pictures that are not mine are only used to illustrate identification features to other birders that might not be as experienced or familiar with pertinent features that might aid them and/or flag up a species. The elements of any image i.e species, background, buildings, vegetation, water etc will be from a range of other images - thus the image i attach will not actually exist anywhere else and certain features of the image will have been created by myself.

Happy New Year -

Laurie:t:

Hi Laurie - even on Wikimedia Commons there are certain restrictions about the way images can be used:

I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publish it under the following license:

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

You are free:
to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
to remix – to adapt the work

Under the following conditions:
attribution – You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
share alike – If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.

 

[Steve Sutton]

Hi Steve -

It's from the Wikipedia page, which i believe is Creative Common Licence.

It is also not the original picture it is a digitilised 'watercolour' version of the original with tonal adjustments.

As i have already stated - pictures that are not mine are only used to illustrate identification features to other birders that might not be as experienced or familiar with pertinent features that might aid them and/or flag up a species. The elements of any image i.e species, background, buildings, vegetation, water etc will be from a range of other images - thus the image i attach will not actually exist anywhere else and certain features of the image will have been created by myself.

Happy New Year -

Laurie:t:

Hi Laurie

my comments were 'tongue in cheek' as I was trying to be sarcastic to the apparent Birdforum 'police' on here , if you get me , some people on here need to 'get over it' and I'm not referring to you and as someone else previously mentioned you can use any of my photos (if ever I submit any) without seeking my permission first!

Happy New Year

regards

Steve

:t:

 

[Steve Sutton]

Hi Laurie

my comments were 'tongue in cheek' as I was trying to be sarcastic to the apparent Birdforum 'police' on here , if you get me , some people on here need to 'get over it' and I'm not referring to you and as someone else previously mentioned you can use any of my photos (if ever I submit any) without seeking my permission first!

Happy New Year

regards

Steve

:t:

see what I mean, they're out there watching every keystroke!
:-C

 

[Phil Andrews]

see what I mean, they're out there watching every keystroke!
:-C

Steve - my last post was simply highlighting to Laurie the conditions that may be attached to images on Wikimedia Commons (there are a range of different licences with a varying degrees of restrictions on Wikimedia which users may or may not be aware of as they might not be immediately obvious).

My gripe with Laurie on the Brunnich's wasnt neccessarily the use of the image but the fact that Laurie hadnt credited the photographer with what would have been a nice background story about "how the finder Debby Saunders had posted this photo on Twitter and the rest is history" or similar.

 

[Pam_m]

An hour or so around Brake Mill Pools this morning yielded: Goosander (3 f, 2 m), Tufted Duck (3 prs), B H Gulls 100+. Grey Heron, Mute Swan pair, truckloads of Mallards and Canada Geese, Little Grebe x2, Goldcrest and the usual Robin, Blackbird etc!
Talking to a couple walking by the pool they told me that on Thursday around lunchtime the pool was almost covered in Gulls. They had never seen so many on the water before.

 

[nokemyster]

A quick visit in the rain to Mary Stevens park, stourbridge - normal candidates plus three goodander quite close in; very active and diving frequently.

 

[Ste-gull]

Quick stop at Lakeside & Mary Ste's pools

Did a little reccy to see what's about at these spots. Haven't really given them a look since getting into birding a few years ago and thought I'd give them a bash. Had a decent couple of stops with highlights being Goosander at both pools.

LAKESIDE:
-Mute Swan 2
-Canada Goose 55
-Greylag (white feral) 1
-Mallard 21
-Tufted Duck 6
-Goosander 2 (1m 1f)
-Coot 4
-Moorhen 1
-BHG 56
-LBBG 2

HEATH POOL (mary ste's):
-Mute Swan 4
-Canada Goose 76
-Mallard 65
-Goosander 3 (3f)
-Coot 11
-Moorhen 12
-BHG 125
-LBBG 2
-also had a drive-by Heron here yesterday.

(Poor) picture of the Lakeside Goosanders below...

 

[rollingthunder]

Have'nt posted for a couple of days as i have been moved as part of the Witness Relocation Scheme

Seriously - the weather has been Shiite so i've spent some time on 'photo manipulation' for future posts..........

Steve - my apologies mate i did'nt see the tongue-in-cheek aspect and feared some sort of SnowballGate - i did'nt think that you were trying to Police me as that job has been taken by Phil. Not that it will make any difference.

Rules are there to be interpreted, imo, if you don't agree with them. I have had my 15 minutes of fame on a number of occasions in a court of law i can assure you!

SJH - you had a Purple patch m8, i cycled down to Lakeside ystda morning and did'nt see any Goosander - in fact, apart from one flyover bird last Winter i have not recorded them on the pool and i paid a visit to MSP @ 1430 ystda and did'nt see any there either altho BHG's had gone down to ca125. It just highlights how mobile these Sawbills are?

Hv just had a text that an Iceland Gull:eek!: was reported in 'the fields' in County Lane ystda (no time given) - if i get any further details i will post. That would be nice to see whatever the age.

Steve - also IIRC i used a picture of yours awhile ago and altho i have'nt checked i'm pretty sure i credited you. It was a nice flight shot of a 'hundsonius' Whimbrel showing the White rump. It was when there was a light Whimbrel passage thru the Midlands and was used to highlight the feature. In the unlikely event that one was picked up locally thru me posting your picture then i'm sure you would have been suitably chuffed......

ATB and good birding -

Laurie:t:

 

[Ste-gull]

SJH - you had a Purple patch m8, i cycled down to Lakeside ystda morning and did'nt see any Goosander - in fact, apart from one flyover bird last Winter i have not recorded them on the pool and i paid a visit to MSP @ 1430 ystda and did'nt see any there either altho BHG's had gone down to ca125. It just highlights how mobile these Sawbills are?
Laurie:t:

I got chatting to a bloke there who'd even said he'd had a GWEgret fly over there once and a Spoonbill back in the 80s!!

 

[rollingthunder]

Ste - That would be my partner-in-crime Paul Allan Legge, You did well, i have'nt seen him for months altho i am more likely to find him gathering trollies or skulking behind a till @ Sainsburys!

He had the GWE as a flyover last Spring when one did the rounds and i think was seen at the Goldfish Bowl on the same day. He also says he saw what he now realised was a Collared Pratiincole when it was still being worked:eek!:

My best was a Red Kite last year altho i visit frequently it's not a place that i linger - about an hour tops so records are a by-product of serendipity i'm afraid:C Your Goosanders bear that out - i've yet to see them there on the deck.

Laurie:t:

 

[waterrailus]

A quick visit in the rain to Mary Stevens park, stourbridge - normal candidates plus three goodander quite close in; very active and diving frequently.

I popped to MSP late morning (Sun) just in time to see a pair of Goosander taking off, i watched as they flew towards Withymoor so assume it was the pair seen later. However as i walked around the pool there were a male and two females still swimming around. It seems that every time someone starts to feed the ducks they come to around the "fountain" area but then hold back. I only went to MSP because Bunkers Hill Wood was so treacherous underfoot.

 

[rollingthunder]

It is good to note a few more people popping in to the Park (and WM) as i have found it a lonely furrow to plough (and then to the Plough and HarrowB )

Post whatever even if it's just Gull numbers there will be a Med or a White-winger eventually.........

Laurie:t: