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Upton Warren (58 Viewers)

Today on Reserve

FLASHES:-
Teal 18, shoveler pr, shelduck 3. Coot 15+. Little egret 2
Curlew 4. Lapwing 6. Oystercatcher 3. Avocet 39. LRP male.
BHG c1800. Herring gull 5. LBBG 10.
Buzzard 2. Peregrine
Green woodpecker. Collared dove. Stock Dove 6.
Song thrush. Starling 6 on meadow.
Cetti's w singing poss 2. Chiffchaff 4. Goldcrest
Greenfinch 4. Goldfinch,

MOORS:-
GCG 4. Little grebe 5. Little egret 3.
Shoveler 11. Gadwall c10 . Teal 16. Shelduck 2.
Pochard 5. Tufted c30.
Snipe 20+. Lapwing 1. Curlew 3. Oystercatcher 4.
Water rail. Coot c10.
Peregrine.
Kingfisher.
Cetti's w singing 3, chiffchaff 4.
Chaffinch 2, Bullfinch.
 
From the Flashes this morning Dave J reports:

41 Avocet, Little Ringd Plover, Curlew, 4 Oystercatcher, 5 Lapwing, 28 Meadow Pipit over, 12 Fieldfare
 
From the Moors Pool Dave J reports:

3+ Sand Martin, 3 Little Egret, Curlew, 4 Oystercatcher, 16 Meadow Pipit over, 5 Gadwall, 4 Pochard, Coal Tit
 
PeterE said:
Hi Peter - hope you are keeping well

I will repost the half monthly maxima counts but think it's 54 off the top of my head
Click to expand...

As promised here are the maximum half monthly counts of Avocet at Upton Warren (adults and fledged young only), updated since last produced in February 2018:

J1 - 0
J2 - 0
F1 - 4 (2019 & 2020)
F2 - 20 (2017)
M1 - 35 (2020)
M2 - 44 (2017 & 2018)
A1 - 47 (2017)
A2 - 52 (2017)
M1 - 53 (2017)
M2 - 48 (2017)
J1 - 56 (2018)
J2 - 57 (2015)
J1 - 67 (2019)
J2 - 42 (2017)
A1 - 34 (2019)
A2 - 21 (2016 & 2019)
S1 - 4 (2016)
S2 - 6 (2015)
O1 - 2 (2017)
O2 - 2 (2016 & 2019)
N1 - 0
N2 - 0
D1 - 0
D2 - 0
 
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I have just seen an Announcement on Worcester Birding to the effect that 'Upton Warren NR is now CLOSED until further Notice' It would have been nice to have been informed by the Trust
 
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On the website it states that all Worcestershire reserves are closed. The Warwickshire website says theirs are all open (except Parkridge) as long as people respect the social distancing advice.
 
Statement on the Trust's website:

"Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 across the UK we expect everyone will have to make changes to their working and daily lives.

In order to take precautions to protect our staff, volunteers and supporters, we have taken the decision to begin to implement social distancing measures throughout our work.

UPDATE: 23rd March 2020
Closure of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust reserves from 24/03/20 during the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.

Over the weekend we have seen unprecedented visitor pressure upon our nature reserves and car parks. It is clear from the numbers visiting our reserves that it is not possible to maintain social distancing which is putting staff and public at risk.

Whilst we recognise that many people will turn to nature to help them at this time, we have to make the health and wellbeing of staff and the public our top priority. Therefore, we regretfully feel that we now have no choice but to close our reserves and car parks to protect the public, our staff and neighbours. Where there are public footpaths that cross our nature reserves, these remain open but please stick to these and maintain social distancing at all times.

Government guidance is to restrict unnecessary travel and observe social distancing and we appeal to those who wish to visit our reserves to respect the closures.

We will update this page as and when the situation changes. If you have any queries, our contact us page has information about how to get in touch.

Thank you for your understanding and co-operation."
 
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Whilst I will miss the birding at Upton terribly, I know we have to protect everybody. I have been sent home from work and live in a one bed flat, so this is going to be tricky - but many have it worse!

What do you all think to posting some of your favourite pictures, anecdotes etc., from the past to keep us going through these difficult times?
 
The final update for an unknown period from Andy P:

MOORS POOL
4 Pintail as per Alan Giles, 4 Shelduck, 6 Shoveler, 6 Gadwall, 3 Pochard, 18 Teal, 38 Tufted Duck, 4 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Little Grebe, 2 Little Egret, 10 Snipe, 4 Oystercatcher, 2 Lapwing, 3 Sand Martin

FLASHES
Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, 35 Avocet, 3 Oystercatcher, Curlew, 6 Lapwing, 4 Shelduck, 2 Shoveler, 3 Teal, Little Egret, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, Cetti's Warbler, Goldcrest

SAILING POOL
25 Tufted Duck, 4 Great Crested Grebe, Kingfisher
 
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Julie50 said:
Whilst I will miss the birding at Upton terribly, I know we have to protect everybody. I have been sent home from work and live in a one bed flat, so this is going to be tricky - but many have it worse!

What do you all think to posting some of your favourite pictures, anecdotes etc., from the past to keep us going through these difficult times?
Click to expand...

Good idea Julie....Im sure some of the elder statesmen and others can conjure up some classics.
Ie best days at Upton warren;)
 
This enforced seclusion has me reading a few more threads than normal and I just wanted to chime in on this one.

Paid a visit a few weeks ago for the first time, on my way home from Telford and hoping to catch the Glaucous Gull (found out that I was a few hours late but I did manage to see it a few days later at Upton Snodbury)

Anyway I was really impressed by the reserve, I've always seen it on birdguides but been put off by not understanding the payment aspect but I really found everyone in the cafe extremely friendly (and the food very good) and the local birders very chatty and helpful.

No Gull for me but the waders and more common gulls and ducks were great to see and it's definitely a reserve I want to return to
 
Owene said:
This enforced seclusion has me reading a few more threads than normal and I just wanted to chime in on this one.

Paid a visit a few weeks ago for the first time, on my way home from Telford and hoping to catch the Glaucous Gull (found out that I was a few hours late but I did manage to see it a few days later at Upton Snodbury)

Anyway I was really impressed by the reserve, I've always seen it on birdguides but been put off by not understanding the payment aspect but I really found everyone in the cafe extremely friendly (and the food very good) and the local birders very chatty and helpful.

No Gull for me but the waders and more common gulls and ducks were great to see and it's definitely a reserve I want to return to
Click to expand...

Thanks for the nice 'review' 😀

Lots of work done by a regular work party on a weekly basis (scaled down during the breeding season) which keeps the habitat in good condition. Plenty of regulars around to, hopefully. ensure not much gets missed & monitor the breeding birds.


Hopefully we can get back there sooner rather than later 👍
 
Hi all,

On a break from online teaching - very weird!

Thought I’d start with one of my favourite Upton encounters.

Juvenile water rail came out for ages. Just outside the new hide at the North Moors.
 

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old photos
1 21 Aug 2011.the west hide
2 19 Feb 2012. the View of the sparrow hawk feeders
3 & 4 31 Jan 2012 Building the new Flashes hide, should be finished soon 8-P
 

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UW Flashes 13-1-13

When we first visited UW it was to the Flashes and there was so much to take in the number of recording pics were few. Todays pics are tomorrows history pics. Thanks to Tim for his.

1 From the Cuckoo hide the subject was the swans but the water level was recorded by luck.

2 The first "special" bird seen was the common snipe on the then open ground in front of the Cuckoo Hide.

3 Taken by the open nature of the area I did record it and with it the sluice pipe.

4 From the main hide a general pic of across the main pool. For those of you who wonder why we refer to the sewage meadows at the back -

5 is a cropped section of the same pic showing the layout of the sewage works Hindsight is wonderful . Wish I actually zoomed in with the camera - that came later as I began to understand the site and the area.

If the snipe was out in the open then when we finally got The Moors what were the next "specials" to be seen in the open - why the water rails and the jack snipes. For us at least. At the end of the year we met one chap who had spent ages looking for the jack and never found one.

Phil E
 

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Unprecedented times - even in my lifetime !! I do wonder however whether the move to completely close down everything outdoors will ultimately be counterproductive. I recognise and respect absolutely the Trusts prerogative to close its reserves in the circumstances and understand that we are in a situation where one size fits all [i.e. close down everything] is the simplest option. I also get that organisations such as the Trust have to save some people from themselves. We are "allowed" one form exercise per day. For most people of a certain age [paricularly if no garden is available] this will be a a walk. if absolutely every open air countryside space is closed [National Trust, RSPB etc] more and more people who wish to take a daily walk will be corralled into ever smaller spaces and thus increase the level of potential contact with others. At Upton like elsewhere enclosed spaces like the hides are the risk areas so closure of the hides - a no brainer. The footpaths are a different proposition and adhering to the 2 metre distancing guidelines would be easy enough if other visitors are encountered. I really don't see any issue with stepping out of my front door and into my car, driving to Upton and taking a walk with binoculars, then returning home. My final point [thankfully you probably think] is that we exponentially hear that ever greater numbers of the population suffer from depression and other mental health issues and the cost of this to the NHS. We may all know people who rely on access to nature in all its forms to combat their mental illness issues so lets hope that in the measures introduced to combat the spread of Covid 19 we are not exacerbating the condition of those already suffering, and/or storing up a "tsunami" of new cases of mental illness. Julie and I wish you all well - See you in 12 weeks - maybe.
 

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