Upton Warren (58 Viewers)

Yep. Watching it now.

Afternoon at Moors Pool. Heavy crops but you can still manage to see the black tern. :t:

An interesting return from ringer Colin McShane once ring two Black-headed Gulls ringed six days apart at Belvide Reservoir, went their own way in different directions but were both seen at Upton Warren just two days apart.

Red 22N2 was ringed in the nest at Belvide on the 22nd June 2018. It was later observed at Ellesmere, Shropshire on the 6th March 2019 before being noted at Upton Warren on the 10th and 11th May 2019.

Red 27L4 was ringed in the nest at Belvide on the 16th June 2018. It was later observed at Rutland Water on the 20th July 2018 before being noted at Upton Warren on the 8th May 2019.

Where Bird said:

For those of you who think finding little brown birds is easy you might want to look at these pics.
My thanks to the guy sitting on my right who always seemed to be able to track the elusive diminutive Temminck's Stint. Andy I think his name was - No not the bird!!

In the world of bins , high powered scopes and telephoto lens birds often appear much larger than they really are.

So for Mr.T a slightly different set of comparisons. Makes the LRP look positively big and easy to find. At least it is slightly more colourful. Mind you on a rocky foreshore that is highly debatable.

Pic 1 shows a white ball directly above the blob of mud and the bird.
Pic 2 shows green balls-left mud- right bird.
Pic you can see it on your own!

Phil E
Last but not least beginning to recognise people again and put names to faces again.

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Phil, I think that was me to your right...always happy to help...

Temminck's Stint still present early morning as per JTB

A quick tot-up would suggest that yesterday's single Black Tern was the 27th bird at Upton Warren this spring. This seems an exceptionally productive spring; I will post some stats over the weekend.

Black Tern still at the Moors Pool as per Jason Wills

Finally managed to get down to see the Temminck's Stint. Thanks to John for pointing it out at the back of the Flashes- I don't think I would have noticed it otherwise! Only my second at Upton, my first being a bird in September 2014.

Also of note was a Black Tern on the Sailing Pool when we arrived at 11.15.

Chris

Temmincks Stint still at the Flashes at 7.45pm, but distant. My best attempt of record pic. heavily cropped in gloom. Nothing else of note, all gone to roost!

Richard

The Avocet colony had increased further to 43 birds yesterday as per JTB; also the long-staying first summer Med Gull still together with an exceptionally high count of Tufted Duck for the Flashes (48).

From the Flashes this morning Dave J reports:

Temminck's Stint, 44 Avocet, Yellow Wagtail briefly, Mediterranean Gull (first summer), 4 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatcher (+ 2 young), Common Tern.

Common Sandpiper on Sailing Pool; a further 2 birds at the Moors Pool as per Carl Jones

Friday 17th May

Spent 13 hours at and around the Flashes yesterday.
Conditions not looking quite as good as hoped for being NE more than easterly. Arrived in the rain and a few showers throughout the day gave hope for migrants arriving but apart from a decent arrival of Swifts nothing else was of note.
As always the breeding waders are the attraction for me, not only noting numbers and nest sites but how the birds interact with one another. At the moment the Oystercatchers are the 'bad boys'...every time they move the Avocet and lapwing attack them. Whether this is because Oycs are egg eaters ( as witnessed recently when they ate BHG eggs) and that causes consternation I'm not sure but the whole site is a 'warzone'. Every species is attacking or defending itself against another species and even their own kind. Canada's are trampling all over the place and come in for a lot of stick especially from the avocets in the meadow.
One worrying aspect of the scene is the corvid tactics.
Magpie perch on posts watching and waiting and are easily repelled by the Lapwing, LBBG are chased successfully by avocets but the BHG's find them difficult to defend against and their chicks are easily taken. Getting back to the corvids, carrion crows have a fly and drop method of attack..by this I mean, when flying they are bombarded by mostly lapwing and Avocet and retreat rapidly. However they now fly a short while and drop into the thick grass on the southern side of the Flashes and then walk through the grass unopposed and systematically plunder eggs and presumably lapwing chicks in that area. (As witnessed by Mike W and myself). The waders have no defence to this and yesterday I watched the female lapwing and her remaining chick in that area move it back to the safe zone that is in front of and the sides of the hide. The human presence probably keeps the larger avian predators further away than the jackdaws.

Species Count FLASHES:-
Little grebe 2 Hen pool. Shelduck 10. Shoveler 3 males
Gadwall 4. Tufted 48 (38 on 1st Flash where many were dabbling more than diving).
TEMMINCKS STINT. Lapwing 18 +1:4 ch. Oystercatcher 3+ 2 ch. Avocet 43. LRP 5.
Med Gull 1st summer. LBBG 5.
Black Tern. Common Tern.
Buzzard 2
Raven, Jay. Rook flying caused a panic.
Stock dove c20. Swift 80 over Education Res.
Skylark 2 / 3 singing. Song thrush 2.
Blackcap 3. Sedge warbler 3. Reed warbler 6. Cetti's. Chiffchaff 2.
Linnet 6. Goldfinch 5.
Reed Bunting 6.

SAILING POOL:-
GCG 6 +ch. Black tern
Swall 10. Sand martin. House Martin 6.
Reed warbler.

a few hours today

a few pics from this morning

A busy morning for Dave J at the Flashes:

No sign of Temminck's Stint, 44 Avocet, 2 Black-tailed Godwit in at 06.47 which stayed approx 30 mins then flew north-east, first summer Mediterranean Gull, Redshank, 4 Little Ringed Plover, 4 Oystercatcher, 3 Little Egret over north - both the godwits and Redshank are new for the month.

Most pleasing however is the breeding news:

- 2 Oystercatcher chicks still
- The hatching of the first brood of Avocet (2 young)
- The emergence of TWO broods of Shoveler (9:8)

As promised please find an analysis of the number of Black Terns estimated to have been involved in Spring passage (April to end of June) over the years. I have cut the assessment off as 1981 as the WMBC annual reports become rather sketchy prior to that date in respect to numbers and dates.

This spring (to date) with 27 birds is the second most productive in terms of Black Tern numbers, surpassed only by 1990 which was boosted by the inclusion of a single flock of 28 birds. As can be seen numbers vary widely year-on-year.

Phil Andrews said:

As promised please find an analysis of the number of Black Terns estimated to have been involved in Spring passage (April to end of June) over the years. I have cut the assessment off as 1981 as the WMBC annual reports become rather sketchy prior to that date in respect to numbers and dates.

This spring (to date) with 27 birds is the second most productive in terms of Black Tern numbers, surpassed only by 1990 which was boosted by the inclusion of a single flock of 28 birds. As can be seen numbers vary widely year-on-year.

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Great work Phil
have you got all the temminvks records to handB

upstarts1979 said:

Great work Phil
have you got all the temminvks records to handB

Click to expand...

Will post later

Second Avocet brood hatched at the Flashes as per Andy P - now 5 young

Red Kite west over the Flashes at 5:10pm as per James Kenny

few standard photos.
1. there once was a ugly duck.
2. Red kite. James said it looked untidy with primeries missing,the one the other Wednesday was in good shape. different bird????
3. we had 2 chicks, I go away for 5 minutes and now?
4. we got some too.
5. who remembers the 70s poster F**k off