• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Shawell Tip (1 Viewer)

Hi Brian, yes I think there is a link with the Severn/Avon valley, as one of last year's Iceland Gull at Shawell GPs looked like a bird which had been photographed at Throckmorton Tip a few days earlier.:t:
Cheers,
Dave.
 
No joy for the twitchers this morning at Shawell GPs(No Sign of the Ring-billed Gull) but at least one adult Caspian Gull noted by the group of birders!
Cheers,
Dave.
 
Dave has captured some nice images with his digi kit but I thought this one I took is a useful marker to show how much smaller Ring-billed Gull is than your standard 'large' gulls yet noticeably larger than Common Gull.
 

Attachments

  • 8.jpg
    8.jpg
    92.7 KB · Views: 118
Last edited:
New bird at Shawell today was a 2nd winter Med Gull. The German ringed adult Med Gull was also present plus assorted usual stuff.
 
Great stuff Dave, interesting to know that it's likely to have come from Worcestershire. :t:

I should've known better about checking Albert Village on a Sunday. But I did get onto the roaming 2nd winter Glauc eventually that day, at Chasewater.

Just out of interest, is the Shawell tip also shut on Sundays?

davidearlgray said:
Hi Richard, I think the Ring-billed has probably come from Throckmorton, Worcs looking at the photos?
Also looking at your blog, Albert Village Lake is usually better in the week, as the tip is closed on the sunday!
Hope this helps?
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/
Click to expand...
 
Richard Powell said:
Great stuff Dave, interesting to know that it's likely to have come from Worcestershire. :t:

I should've known better about checking Albert Village on a Sunday. But I did get onto the roaming 2nd winter Glauc eventually that day, at Chasewater.

Just out of interest, is the Shawell tip also shut on Sundays?
Click to expand...

Hi Richard, yep Shawell is also closed on a sunday and its a bit hit and miss on saturday as well because the tip closes on saturday afternoon.
On the subject of best days to visit these sites is usual later in the week (Weds to Sat) as the gull numbers seem to increase as the week goes on, and if you notice via my blog that the rarer gulls I have found are usual on thursday or a friday!:t:
Hope this helps?
Cheers,
Dave.
http://davidearlgray.blogspot.com/
 
nexstarneil said:
New bird at Shawell today was a 2nd winter Med Gull. The German ringed adult Med Gull was also present plus assorted usual stuff.
Click to expand...

As Neil said here is a couple shots of the Med Gulls and 2nd winter Yellow-legged Gull at Shawell yesterday.
 

Attachments

  • DSCN0011zz.jpg
    DSCN0011zz.jpg
    57.1 KB · Views: 98
  • DSCN9993zz.jpg
    DSCN9993zz.jpg
    49.2 KB · Views: 93
  • DSCN9998zz.jpg
    DSCN9998zz.jpg
    59.8 KB · Views: 99
The wintering ad Med Gull was on the main A5 pool at lunchtime. There are loads of gulls in the area but with many of the ad type Herring gulls now looking pretty smart and white headed it is getting difficult scanning for scarcer stuff.
 
Adult & 2nd winter Med Gulls plus an adult Caspian Gull at the A5 pool this lunchtime.
 

Attachments

  • Untitled-1.jpg
    Untitled-1.jpg
    38.8 KB · Views: 86
Hi Neil, looks like the same bird which was at Shawell a couple of weeks ago!
Off from work tomorrow so will try and have look at Shawell before the rugby?
Cheers,
Dave.
 
At the tip today 2 Caspian Gulls (ad & 2ndW), ad Yellow-legged gull and the German ringed ad Med Gull. I didn't check the A5 pools.

I can confirm that the tip does operate on Saturday mornings till about 11am so there will still be gulls around in to the afternoon. Closed on Sunday obviously so not a good day to try.
 
Hi Neil, it looks like that there's a idiot with a catapult around on saturday mornings as I saw him by the A5 pool firing at the gulls and ducks. So maybe the tip would be better on this day?
Good to hear you got access to the tip, next we need access to do some cannon netting!!
Cheers,
Dave.
 
I went today hoping that the 1stW Glauc that Tim had seen in the roost at Draycote yesterday had come this way, it hadn't .. grrr. There was however an ad & 3rdW (new bird) Caspian, ad Y-L Gull and the German Med Gull. It is amazing that with the thousands of birds there I see the Med virtually every visit. I even saw it with its head in a tin can feeding on the tip last Friday.

Just a bit of gen, it seems the falconer comes most week days about 10 and clears the gulls with a starting pistol about 10.30. He then stays with one of his birds in tow until late afternoon. In between the birds generally stay off but then pounce the moment he walks away. That means until mid morning most birds will be on or around the tip so the pools are likely to have limited action. The pools seem to peak early afternoon, hope this helps with planning visits.
 
nexstarneil said:
I went today hoping that the 1stW Glauc that Tim had seen in the roost at Draycote yesterday had come this way, it hadn't .. grrr. There was however an ad & 3rdW (new bird) Caspian, ad Y-L Gull and the German Med Gull. It is amazing that with the thousands of birds there I see the Med virtually every visit. I even saw it with its head in a tin can feeding on the tip last Friday.

Just a bit of gen, it seems the falconer comes most week days about 10 and clears the gulls with a starting pistol about 10.30. He then stays with one of his birds in tow until late afternoon. In between the birds generally stay off but then pounce the moment he walks away. That means until mid morning most birds will be on or around the tip so the pools are likely to have limited action. The pools seem to peak early afternoon, hope this helps with planning visits.
Click to expand...

Hi Neil, may get time tomorrow morning to look for the gulls at Shawell, will let you know what I see?(Hopefully a 1st winter Glaucous!!)
Cheers,
Dave.
 
A tip from a certain well-known birding ex-police traffic inspector....

It is illegal to park in the obvious gateway by the Newton turning (unles you drive right downinto the gate). So be warned. But don't mention it to the catapult-kid who always parks there.

Steve
 
davidearlgray said:
Hi Neil, may get time tomorrow morning to look for the gulls at Shawell, will let you know what I see?(Hopefully a 1st winter Glaucous!!)
Cheers,
Dave.
Click to expand...

Caught up with the 1st winter/Juvenile Glaucous Gull this morning at the A5 pool. Also the 2nd Winter Med Gull was seen at the same time (between 10.30-10.45pm). Large numbers of Gulls were also seen on the nearby fields were myself and Neil counted at least 1 adult Caspian Gull and two adult Yellow-legged Gulls.
What was also interesting was that the Glaucous Gull was seen again at Draycote Water in the afternoon, so maybe the Glauc only visits Shawell in the morning?!
Cheers,
Dave.
 
thanks Dave, good work. The two Yellow-legged Gulls were being very attentive to each other today. The presumed male is a monster of a bird in immaculate plumage.
 
Last edited:
Having only recently obtained permission to enter the site the gull numbers have just evaporated in the last week (only about 100 today) so I think I'm done for this season. The highlights have included Dave's Ring-billed Gull, a couple of Icelands, four Med Gulls, over 10 Caspians and at least 30 Yellow-legged Gulls. Between Steve and I it has also produced a lot of colour ring observations. I will continue to visit as I think it has potential for other stuff but otherwise that's about it for now.
 
Hi Neil, interesting observation as the gull numbers at Albert Village Lake have greatly decreased since last weekend(3 Common Gulls on site yesterday!) Also no sign of the Mew Gull since the weekend?
Cheers,
Dave.
 
If the Staffs Franklin's Gull goes walkabout over the next few days it might be worth checking Shawell GPs and or Albert Village Lake as I have a feeling it might move east!?
Cheers,
Dave.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 10 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Similar threads

G
  • Article
The Slow March To Spring
Replies
3
Views
690
Stonefaction
Stonefaction
wolfbirder
Wonderful winter's birding in the East Midlands yesterday
Replies
0
Views
738
wolfbirder
wolfbirder
opisska
Iceland 2022: at the wrong time in the wrong place
Replies
14
Views
3K
greykangaroo
greykangaroo
wolfbirder
Ouarzazate area, Morocco - A brief report from a 3-night trip 22/4/23 - 25/4/23
2
Replies
31
Views
3K
Paul Chapman
Paul Chapman
wolfbirder
Lanzarote Pelagic 2-night tour 6-8 September 2022
Replies
12
Views
2K
wolfbirder
wolfbirder

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top