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Feckenham (1 Viewer)

keithr

Relapsus resurgam
Visited Feckenham yesterday - it was sunny but the wind was biting coming through the slot in the hide and I was froze.....

Sightings........nowt.:eek!:
Now this is quite good for here :-C

Does anyone else visit this site and if so what are your thoughts. It is "famous" recently for the Slav Grebe that eventually moved on to Grimley and the great Kingfisher action in 2010....not much else really though.
I did get a dozen Waxwings at the end of the year but I think they were just passing through.

When we comment that the place needs some management to "clean it up" the reply is that we do not get what Feckenham is.....but what is Feckenham .....I understand that it is a rare habitat but for what.
I know the world does not revolve around birds all the time but they are part of the chain.The one thing i go for in the summer is the Dragonflies and there are a few flowers and Butterflies as well as a couple of Cuckoo.(The other year all we could see from the hide was some large Dragons and a few butterflies but when I showed up early one morning all their habitat had been decimated by the Cattle they let in to keep the "weeds" down.) ???

BUT all this I can see on my own patch on the edge of Birmingham.

Feckenham is called Wylde Moor and is an all year wet area...my boots testify to this...but why do they try and manage it if all it is is wet and wild.... surely this habitat could be used to encourage MORE species of everything in the chain...and I might not keep dropping off through the fruitless hours I put in here.

I see the fantastic threads on here and everywhere else on t'internet of just a few fields that are really full of things and cannot see the point of Feckenham.

Would hope someone who has an official line on it to see this and explain it but they probably will not look in.
Thanks
Keith
p.s.If it IS just a place to be left wild and for fora etc then why have a good hide....
 
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Visited Feckenham yesterday - it was sunny but the wind was biting coming through the slot in the hide and I was froze.....

Sightings........nowt.:eek!:
Now this is quite good for here :-C

Does anyone else visit this site and if so what are your thoughts. It is "famous" recently for the Slav Grebe that eventually moved on to Grimley and the great Kingfisher action in 2010....not much else really though.
I did get a dozen Waxwings at the end of the year but I think they were just passing through.

When we comment that the place needs some management to "clean it up" the reply is that we do not get what Feckenham is.....but what is Feckenham .....I understand that it is a rare habitat but for what.
I know the world does not revolve around birds all the time but they are part of the chain.The one thing i go for in the summer is the Dragonflies and there are a few flowers and Butterflies as well as a couple of Cuckoo.(The other year all we could see from the hide was some large Dragons and a few butterflies but when I showed up early one morning all their habitat had been decimated by the Cattle they let in to keep the "weeds" down.) ???

BUT all this I can see on my own patch on the edge of Birmingham.

Feckenham is called Wylde Moor and is an all year wet area...my boots testify to this...but why do they try and manage it if all it is is wet and wild.... surely this habitat could be used to encourage MORE species of everything in the chain...and I might not keep dropping off through the fruitless hours I put in here.

I see the fantastic threads on here and everywhere else on t'internet of just a few fields that are really full of things and cannot see the point of Feckenham.

Would hope someone who has an official line on it to see this and explain it but they probably will not look in.
Thanks
Keith
p.s.If it IS just a place to be left wild and for fora etc then why have a good hide....

Keith
I remember the Trust advertising the new wader reserve that will be as good as upton warren for waders, with a hide overlooking a 'scrape'. The front cover of the Trust magazine at the time showed an artists impression of what it would look like. There were waders all over the place with a hide in the background and people looking out of it - this was Feckenham wylde moor. I don't know how long ago it was, but I am sure the Trust would have a copy. Does anyone know how long it has been a reserve. I know there are plenty of warblers in the summer and I am sure if it was watched daily stuff would turn up. I am sure there must be a list of the birds seen. I seem to remember Marsh harrier being reported;)john
 
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Sat 16th Feb 2013
Popped in for an hour to catch up on some sleep....lol

Quiet- misty and calm but nothing much about.
Just some pre-breeding fighting from the few Mallard at the far end of pool, and apart from a couple of LBJ's flitting about just a Song Thrush.

On the way from Astwood to Feckenham I spotted a Buzzard in a fave tree...saw it here 2 weeks ago as well.It let me get some shots but flew into the field.
On the way back it was still here and again a couple of pics and then off.
Could it be a 1st winter one ?? It is a very pale one as well.
Keith
1...The 3 males eying each other up.
2..The Thrush
3 + 4 on way I got back views
5. On way back the front.
 

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Had an hour to spare after looking for a Corn Bunting near Abbey Park I ended up here...it was good sun but still cold...I was froze at the end.
After all the above negatives I have spouted I was pleasantly surprised today with (For Here) a few things to watch.
!0 mallard
2 Canada Geese
1 Coot
1 Moorhen
1 Little Grebe
1 Heron
1 Female Bullfinch
1 Buzzard
1 Sparrowhawk
Usual Crows and Jackdaws doing fly overs.
Blue and Great Tit
Dunnock
Blackbird.
2 Goldfinches flying through.

Most of all these stayed a healthy distance away at the far end of pool....but just before I had to go the Little Grebe started coming closer and caught a couple of Sticklebacks - then called out while stretching up in a GC Grebe pose....great call.
Also on the way from Redditch the Buzzard in previous pics was within yards of last time I saw it.

Keith
 

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Saturday 13th April

Late report - sorry....but nothing really to report.
There were a few Canada Geese in the fields around the hide and one pair had a friend following them around.
It must have thought it WAS a Canada as it was as noisy and bad tempered as one...but it was really a GreyLag...1st I have seen here though.
Keith :t:
 

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Had my usual couple of hours on the last 2 Saturday late mornings with quite a few spots on each occasion.
The 1st had Toads mating ,Buzzards catching the Toads and then falling out and a Cuckoo heard in the woods.
Lots of Chiffchaff/Willow Warblers,Blackcap,finches and Reed Buntings.
The next Saturday (bank Holiday) was no different except for extremes of weather.
Hot and very sunny when I got there it soon became real foul with a gale force wind driving horizontal rain then torrential rain and at one point it was hard to see the end of the pool.

Sorry for so many pics but they tell it better than words.
Keith :t:
 

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More wildlife here...........
 

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And still more ........sad news on these...at the start there were at least 10 ducklings with each entry in the book there were less and less...now just 2 left.
 

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a nosey Tufty ...hard to see the car park area and a very wet Goose.
 

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Saturday 11th May...9-11.30.

Mostly a cold windy and grey morning.....
Of to a good start wit ha Buzzard on the floor where a horse usually stands in the farm pond field-we took each other by surprise.He took off and landed in a tree by the farm track.Instantly the horse ran down to where it was giving a big whinny.....this from a Horse that doesn't usually lift it's head.
The next hour was largely a let down..... just the usual Little Grebe,couple of Canadas(the ones with the Greylag were in the field other side of lane.Apparently the Mallard chicks did not last long nought out of 10 left.
As the hour went by the bird song became louder and more frequent -a Blackbird and Wren on top of the hide...but it's been so long since I used to hear the songs years ago that I could not recognise any really..but they were so clear with the hearing Aids in.Thought one might be a Reed Warbler but scanned the reeds and could not see anything.
Did see a Jay come over the hide into small tree at far end before going towards the small hide.
In the end decided to follow the Jay and went to other hide....
Instantly some action...a Wren virtually in the hide and something giving it large in the reeds.
Heard a "rattle" call amongst the warbles and hoped for Grasshopper but as I finally located the singer far off in the reeds it fly up-around and parachuted down...a Sedge Warbler.It kept me frustrated in amongst the reeds but never close enough or in the clear and the wind did not help either ...as didn't the bad light.It was starting to drizzle.
Could only stay 1/2 hour but hope to return if there's some light.
Keith :t:
1...On the Deck
2..then up the tree.
3..."Another couple of seconds and I would have had him".......Said Neddy
4.....The jays off.
5...Nice blossom
 

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A few below par of the Sedge Warbler....
 

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4th Image best of the lot for me Keith Nicely done :)

Thanks Joe...I tried to capture one of these last year at exactly the same location BUT with my old gear (OLY 520 and Siggy 135-400) and I just got record shots. Thats O.K. because one reason for having the camera with me at all times IS to prove to myself I had an I.D. right or not.
So I am over the moon they came out so good as the conditions were not very good at all. (these were with Canon 7D and 400mm).
Keith
 
A few below par of the Sedge Warbler....

Desperate now...quoting my own posts...lol...should be EDIT really...just wanted to say that the above Sedge Warbler had a ring on...I wondered if it was one of the ones ringed last weekend by I think by the BTO.

Keith :t:
 
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Thanks Joe...I tried to capture one of these last year at exactly the same location BUT with my old gear (OLY 520 and Siggy 135-400) and I just got record shots. Thats O.K. because one reason for having the camera with me at all times IS to prove to myself I had an I.D. right or not.
So I am over the moon they came out so good as the conditions were not very good at all. (these were with Canon 7D and 400mm).
Keith

Do you use the 400mm f/2.8, f/4 DO or f/5.6 Version?
 
Do you use the 400mm f/2.8, f/4 DO or f/5.6 Version?

Just the little'un...the EF 400 f 5.6 (no IS)
It seems to cope with cropping quite good.....here's the original of the Jay shot.

Keith
 

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Not bad at all! The primes always are the better lens at cropping! I have read some reviews on the 400mm f/5.6 and it looks pretty good lens! I now use the Nikon 300mm f/4 and Have been using before that the Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 with the 1.4x Converter before not the best ,the best image I got with it in was in the wyre forest of a Jay (image attached)
 

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Well that looks a great Jay pic- a lovely bird that I want to get a close up of.
Had one close with my other kit a couple of years ago but it was too slow in the gloomy light.
Keith :t:
 
Well that looks a great Jay pic- a lovely bird that I want to get a close up of.
Had one close with my other kit a couple of years ago but it was too slow in the gloomy light.
Keith :t:

Totally luck shot be honest with you I was walking in the forest and he popped up from a bush and landed on the branch and I just had chance to photography him and then he flew of within 4 Seconds
 

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