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Upton Warren (137 Viewers)

Phil Andrews said:
For me its a three-way tie between THAT Osprey, the Short-eared Owl and the Med Gull influx; all special in different ways.
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Best book for me Edmund Sandars' Bird Book for the Pocket (though his insect books are even better).

Watching the the Common Snipe has given me the greatest pleasure, so that's my bird of the year, closely followed by the Avocets. Waxwings worth an honourable mention too.
 
Just another shot of some gulls from last week what doyou make of these?
Phil.
 

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Just back from a brief visit, in which I saw:
Blackbird, Robin, Curlew, Mallard, Cormorant, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Black-Headed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Reed Bunting, Great Crested Grebe, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Lapwing, Pochard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Bullfinch, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Sparrowhawk, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Buzzard, Woodpigeon, Long Tailed Tit, Goldfinch, Magpie, Linnet, Greylag Goose and Redwing.

Also Brambling still at the Flashes feeder (seen from the Cuckoo hide) and 1 Waxwing at Webbs at around 12:45.

Chris
 
Brian Stretch said:
Having had a closer look on a full size screen (as opposed to my phone) the black mark actually appears to be on the tertials or secondaries but in any case indicates immaturity.

John first thought it was a Yellow-legged Gull in the field and lets face it, our first instincts when calling a bird are usually the right one. It's only when a bird gets over scrutinised that mistakes can creep in. The overall jizz, bill shape and upperpart tone look OK for YLG. Some YLGs can show a small dark eye like the Upton bird.

Without seeing the primary pattern properly, it would be a brave person to say definitively that it was YLG or Caspian or even a hybrid but my hunch is for YLG. Out of interest a presumed hybrid Caspian/Herring was seen in Staffs last month which had a small dark eye - pic here. The whole 'white-headed' large gull complex is a minefield!

I saw a possible candidate for an adult-type Caspian Gull at Throckmorton briefly on Monday while looking for the Glauc but this was not the same bird that was seen there yesterday and neither did it look anything like the Upton bird.

Brian
___________
Birding Today
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Hi Brian

The dark mark you refer to actually looks like the dark marking on p5 that ylg/caspians always show, normally you can't see it on most birds but you can see it here because of the slightly dropped wing. I think judging bill shape on this bird can't be done due to mud on the beak!

I still think that the lack of black up the primaries rules out YLG, I'll look into it further and try and find some pics to compare
 
The more and more I look at this gull the more and more my opinion on it changes! A very educational bird!

Did this comparison trying to look at amount of black up the primaries into the primary coverts. Its a shame that there isn't a just slightly higher res pic of the wing tips to properly make it out.

Would it be possible to crop the wing tips from the original photo to get a better quality around the wing tip Phil? Also any other photos of this bird please B :)

From what I can see it doesn't show as large of a black wedge as the Yellow-legs but a bit more black than the Caspians, however also from looking at various different birds it seems that Caspians vary a lot more in the amount of black here whereas Yellow-legs are more consistent.

Hope I'm not boring everyone too much!
 

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the wicker man said:
Hiya

Not sure I'm as knowledgeable as you think Gav but.... I'd agree with this John. Yes we tend to imbue things around us with human qualities as that is an easier way to understand the world around us hence we use words like 'grieve' as it appears to be the way they are acting. I've seen a house sparrow standing next to a road victim - it was there on and off for at least an hour and one's natural instinct would say that it was 'grieving' but we shouldn't place what are human, or at least primate, emotions onto birds. Certainly though the sparrow that I saw doing this recognised that there was something 'wrong' - that their partner was not the same as it was before - so perhaps the bird recognises a sudden traumatic change in its social environment and is then confused? Certainly other mammals appear to show symptoms of 'grief' (elephants, cetaceans are good examples). Perhaps it's best to think about what we define as 'grief' rather than attribute human emotions to other species. Even better, sometimes it's best to think about the possible biological/evolutionary reasons for our emotions - perhaps we overanthropomorphise ourselves and stand too far apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. So no doubt there will be a similar process going on in the mind of the waxwing/sparrow/blackbird to us when we lose a spouse but we need to examine the underlying reasons for any behaviour.

This all seems very academic for a Saturday afternoon!
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Nice response Mike, how I miss your lectures.

Regarding books Hayley bought me Corvus last year, a very good read.
 
Woodchat said:
Record shot of one of the Jack Snipes....
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Cracker Dave, it was certainly a snipe snipe day from the East hide today. Along the top of the south bank and the north shore of the seasonal pool a 'wave of snipe' probed their way to the end of the pool and then turned around and swept in the opposite direction. Meanwhile on 'snipe island' at least 24 commons and 2 jacks fed during the heavy showers. This weather also coaxed a 'flock' of 3 water rail out onto the muddy track to the left of the hide, they were feeding on large worms, which the blackbirds were trying to steal from them. I don't think I have ever seen 3 water rails so close together, although there was a bit of quarrelling initially.
Species counts for the Moors
GCG 2, Shoveler 6, teal c30, Pochard 15, tufted 30+, snipe 45+, jack snipe 2, Herring gull 2, water rail 4 from the east hide. kingfisher,coal tit, song thrush. grey wag.
 
The Flashes was pretty quiet when I arrived at 3.50, with only 1 each of teal and lapwing! and a few BHG's.
Things had picked a lot by the time I left at 4.55pm.
The BHG roost stood at only 125, but they left just before I left. Other species seen were. Teal 23, mallard 60, shelduck pr feeding all the ducks were feeding at dark. Lapwing 4, snipe 5 flew out at dark, redwing.
A brambling was seen earlier on the feeding station.
B :)John
 
With the Flashes quiet (5 Moorhen, 5 Teal, 2 Lapwing) early afternoon I spent an hour in the Feeding Station hide.

The highlight was a male Brambling (probably the same bird as photographed yesterday) which was showing well, using both the seed feeders and feeding table as well as feeding with the Chaffinches under the blackthorn scrub right of the feeders. JTB received a report that two bird were present earlier.

Maximum counts at any one time were: 7 Bullfinch (4m, 3f), 2 Greenfinch, 3 Dunnock, 3 Robin, 3 Great Tit, 6 Blue Tit, 5 Reed Bunting, 5 Moorhen, 2 Magpie. Kingfiosher and Sparrowhawk flew by whilst Redwing and a female Kesrel gave good views perched up. I am sure as the weather gets colder and the birds get more used to the feeding station that numbers (and variety) will increase.

The Sailing Pool held 4 GC Grebe and 2 Mue Swans.

Not a lot to add to John's sightings; 2 LBB Gull and 4 Herring Gulls were present just before 4pm. Extra were 1 Grey Heron, 4 Mute Swans and c30 Cormorant.
 
Don't know if it is getting close to a reserve record but I had 56 Cormorant from the east hide yesterday. 31 on one island alone.

42 Snipe on Snipe island this morning.

Rob
 
Some pics from the east hide this afternoon in poor light.
1. some of Rob's 42 snipe on snipe island, with a few teal
The next 3 pics are all from the muddy track to the left of the hide
2. snipe
3.water rail and snipe
4. all 3 water rail together
 

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