Bittell Reservoirs and Hopwood area (2 Viewers)

[Julie50]

Aeshna said if it is not near chalk it will be a narrow-boarded 5 spot burnet - I think this must be the case as I do not associate the area with chalk - anyone advise me?

 

[keithr]

Wow great Kite spot and shot......not seen one here yet...might be the one that has been frequenting the Wythall area.

 

[Andy Gibb]

Lunch-time visit

A rather paltry 18 little egrets round the upper tank, and only 5 grey herons to boot. Couple of oycs and my first common & lesser whitethroats for the site - obviously never been in summer! Thank you, coronavirus.

 

[keithr]

A rather paltry 18 little egrets round the upper tank, and only 5 grey herons to boot. Couple of oycs and my first common & lesser whitethroats for the site - obviously never been in summer! Thank you, coronavirus.

As I have never ventured around the "payment only " areas of Bittell I was wondering if the Egrets are breeding in the wooded areas on the North shore of Upper ?

 

[keithr]

Yesterday 30th June...

2 Terns flew lowish over me in my garden late morning ...one with food in bill.....on flight path from Bartley to Bittell.

 

[Andy Gibb]

As I have never ventured around the "payment only " areas of Bittell I was wondering if the Egrets are breeding in the wooded areas on the North shore of Upper ?

A bridleway runs across this area. The bulk of the egrets were on the east shore, so that seems a more likely breeding area (if I'm allowed to disclose that 🤫).

 

[keithr]

Ha ha...got my compass in a twist !!!...yes the east shore woods. Think its the North Worcester path that runs at the back of the trees.....never ever made it all the way along it - either overgrown or flooded...see lots of people coming from the path onto the east shore at times.

 

[keithr]

UPPER....Thursday 2nd July...

In the afternoon about 8 Little Egrets on far shores and just a few Pied Wags on dam shore.
Then I spotted a Common Tern as it skimmed across the water never to be seen again...think it came up from Lower.

 

[keithr]

Lower and Mill Shrub at weekend....

 

[Steve Newland]

Yesterday I saw what, from my Chew Valley days, I would call a Yellow-legged Gull but I wasn't happy with its eye colour or bill shape. Might Caspian Gull be possible up here? Or is there even a massively pale Lesser Black-backed Gull in the area?

 

[JoshT01]

Yesterday I saw what, from my Chew Valley days, I would call a Yellow-legged Gull but I wasn't happy with its eye colour or bill shape. Might Caspian Gull be possible up here? Or is there even a massively pale Lesser Black-backed Gull in the area?

Hi, YLG is rather common on upper relative to its distribution across the county. Quite often a nice adult sat on a red buoy not too far off the south shore, it was there yesterday morning anyway...

 

[Rob_S]

Five gull species on Upper this afternoon - the obvious LBBG/Herring/BHG plus a single Common Gull and an adult YLG sat on a buoy close to the dam (as Josh mentioned above). Several very good candidates for juvenile YLG on the water too.

Juvenile Linnet x2 in front of the sailing club. Recently-fledged Goldcrest family along the road to the Sailing Club.

More Swallows than I've seen at Bittell recently, particularly feeding low across the fields to the north. Yellowhammer x 2 and Meadow Pipit in this area too.

Worryingly there were three unsupervised children - primary school age, maybe 9/10 years old at most - along the shoreline at the NE corner of Upper around 4pm. Two boys and a girl. The two boys were in trunks as though they'd been swimming. I called over the fence to them to ask whether they knew they were trespassing. They said they didn't know, apologised and said they were leaving. I wonder whether their parents knew where they were.

 

[keithr]

Looked from the gate on Lower about 4pm and had my eyes ready to spot birds etc and this looked huge in the water.....it wasnt there literally 30 secs before when I looked from another place......it was spooked by about 4 people chatting as they walked past hedge and their heads bobbed up and down....

 

[Ian Byrnes]

What a fantastic sight.....well done.

 

[Steve Newland]

Thanks for the feedback on YLG: presumably the same bird was there this lunchtime. Water levels looking really low and promising for waders, of which a few reported recently. All I saw was one common sand, but that was a 25% addition to my wader list! An immature shelduck was also new for me.

 

[Steve Newland]

Caught up with one of the turnstones for my first ever inland record. Green sandpipers and a couple of juvenile red-crested pochards were nice additions for the site too.

 

[keithr]

FEEDING THE YOUNG....last 2 times I have checked on the Grebes the parent caught a slightly large fish....lol...they try about 10 times for the chick to take it and then eat it themselves.....

 

[Steve Newland]

FEEDING THE YOUNG....last 2 times I have checked on the Grebes the parent caught a slightly large fish....lol...they try about 10 times for the chick to take it and then eat it themselves.....

This is my technique for eating/drinking something I should feel guilty about. Nature is a great teacher.

 

[keithr]

MILL SHRUB......the late nest of the Grebes has long gone with all the rain...they just made it this year.....
....finally managed to snap the one youngster getting a fish down its throat....quite a large Tench...well done.

 

[keithr]

...and a few more...