Upton Warren (9 Viewers)

While driving towards Webbs from Bromsgrove around 12.45 a very small Falcon flew across the road from the sailing pool area......only time to see a shape and size. I have never seen a Merlin but that was my instant I.D.....would love it to be one but think its unlikely.

upstarts1979 said:

We will be back at the Moors this Tuesday.
Work includes:-
Painting interior of North Moors hide. This is to lessen the 'light' effect when people move about inside the hide that causes birds to be spooked. We are painting it a darker colour..not sure what colour over to you Bob O.

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Dark pink to match your eyes!333

Phil W and Andy P update from the reserve so far today:

SAILING POOL
Female Goosander, Great White Egret flew over heading south

MOORS POOL
4 Whooper Swans, Shelduck, 25 Snipe

4 Whooper Swans still at the Moors Pool today as per JTB

Today's work party Moors

Due to the frosty conditions we were unable to carry out the scheduled work. However we more than kept ourselves busy on a couple of tasks that we brought forward.
The main one was the opening up of 'swampy bottom' (SB) .
The pollarded willows have now reached the time for re-cutting. The brash was incorporated into a dead hedge and a 'living hedge' that runs from the channel on the causeway to the chestnut tree. The area is now open and even with low water the edge of SB is very wet.

The 2nd task was on the track to the new hide. Here some of the large blackthorn have or are falling over and ripping up the path to the hide, they are also crowding out the spindle and Hawthorn scrub. Luckily our new volunteer Bob Green is CHAINSAW qualified and made the task a lot more eadier than it would have been with our handsaws. The beneficial effects of cutting down the blackthorn will be forthcoming in a couple of years when the scrub breaks through the now more open sunlit area. The brash was used to thicken up the scrubby areas along the path.
Thanks to all 17 of the crew and to Julie for the cakes:eat:
Andy A. Bob O. Bob R. Bob Green. Charles. Dave H. Graham L. Ian Joh. Jim B. John C. Julie W. Kim W. Paul M. Roger S. Steve S. Tony B and me.
Check out the pics on my Twitter.:t: john

Birding Today

MOORS
A cold -2 degrees at 7am
Whooper Swans 4. Mute swan 2.
Cormorant 6. Shoveler 18. Teal 20. Gadwall. Pochard 41 (21 male). Tufted 30-35.
Coot 48. Water rail widespread. Canada geese only 5.
Grey heron 2.
Snipe 22. Lapwing 500+. Green sand. Curlew.
BHG 350. LBBG few. Herring gull 1.
Buzzard.
Collared dove
Green woodp. Great sp woodp. Kingfisher.
Fieldfare c80. Redwing 45. Song thrush 3 singing.
Siskin1. Redpoll 1. Coal tit West side feeders. Cetti's w. Meadow pipit. Treecreeper.

FLASHES:
Originally only went to the sailing pool to seer goosander but decided to spend the last hour of light at the FLASHES. Initially not a good decision as the fencing contractors were using a powered bonker to put the posts into the ground but job is more important than my birding.
However literally as the work stopped at 4.20 birds started to return mostly the lapwing and gulls. Teal hadn't been disturbed and were feefing in the wet meadow. At 4.29 a BARN OWL appeared on s post at back of 3rd Flash and then flew along the south side before flying over the hide towards the 1st Flash. This is what last winters bird used to do. As dark approached green sands starting arriving. Also the geese and the female goosander landed on the 2nd flash. Overall a great last hour birding .
Species count FLASHES:-
Teal 50+. Mallard 35. Shoveler 2. Gadwall 1. Goosander fem. Greylag 51. Canada geese 120.
Water rail. Kestrel. BARN OWL.
Lapwing 550. Curlew 11. Snipe 10+. green sand 7 min.
BHG 80+ roosted
Winter thrushes 100+ roosted in hedgerows. Starling 30+ circling. Cetti's w.

4 Whooper Swans still at the Moors Pool as per Des

From the Flashes Andy P reports:

605 Lapwing, 11 Curlew, 5 Snipe, 65 Teal, 115 BH Gull, 106 Canada Geese.

Female Goosander still on the Sailing Pool as per Phil W; 3 Little Egrets earlier as per Andy

Today's highlights:

MOORS:
Pochard (15)--------------Whooper Swan (4).Visited the Flashes for 30 minutes.
Teal (88)-------------------Shoveler (12)
Gadwall (2)----------------Snipe (28)
Little Grebe (3)------------G C Grebe (1)
Cormorant (19)------------Dunlin (1)
Kingfisher (1)--------------Mute Swan (2)
Rook (1)--------------------Song Thrush. Sang for a number of hours.
Fieldfare (c50)-------------Blackcap (reported)
Kestrel----------------------Treecreeper (reported)


FLASHES/SAILING POOL*
Curlew (12)----------------Snipe (1)
B H Gull (c200)------------Peregrine
Greylag Goose (41)-------Goosander (fem)*. Still present this evening.
G C Grebe (2)*------------Little Egret (3)*. Roosting tonight.

Des.

upstarts1979 said:

MOORS
A cold -2 degrees at 7am
Whooper Swans 4. Mute swan 2.
Cormorant 6. Shoveler 18. Teal 20. Gadwall. Pochard 41 (21 male). Tufted 30-35.
Coot 48. Water rail widespread. Canada geese only 5.
Grey heron 2.
Snipe 22. Lapwing 500+. Green sand. Curlew.
BHG 350. LBBG few. Herring gull 1.
Buzzard.
Collared dove
Green woodp. Great sp woodp. Kingfisher.
Fieldfare c80. Redwing 45. Song thrush 3 singing.
Siskin1. Redpoll 1. Coal tit West side feeders. Cetti's w. Meadow pipit. Treecreeper.

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Forgot there were at least 4 Little grebes yesterday

From the Flashes this morning Andy A reports:

2 Green Sandpiper, Barn Owl at 07:30, 11 Curlew, c450 Lapwing, 3 Snipe, c50 Teal

Female Goosander still at the Sailing Pool this morning as per Andy A.

Must be one of the longest lingering birds of recent years - now in its fifth day.

No sign of the Whooper Swans - looks like they have absconded to Upper Bittell where Chris Thomson has had 4 birds today.

Flashes 0700-1030

Barn Owl flew past hide towards 3rd flash at 0730
Teal 60+
Lapwing 450+
Curlew 11
Green Sand 2
Snipe 8
Linnet 13

(Detour to Holt and Grimley for Smew and American Wigeon, returning to Moors at 1300)

Moors 1300-1500
Mute Swan 5
NO WHOOPERS (possibly those at Bittell)
Goosander (from Sailing Pool)
Jack Snipe

Most duck numbers well down, lots of winter thrushes.

Phil Andrews said:

No sign of the Whooper Swans - looks like they have absconded to Upper Bittell where Chris Thomson has had 4 birds today.

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Maybe yesterdays excursion to the Flashes for thirty minutes then back to the Moors was a test flight.

Des.

UW82 said:

Maybe yesterdays excursion to the Flashes for thirty minutes then back to the Moors was a test flight.

Des.

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Another factor to sppreciate is ..the water level has risen in the last week..from 0.58- 0.68( today) in a week .I had noticed that the birds were at the extreme of their upending feeding technique in that they seemed to be stretching much more than when they first arrived as the water is probably too deep where their food is. They have probably moved off to find food.. The Flashes certainly hasn't got enough to sustain them.

No sign of the Whooper Swans again today.

The Female Goosander was at the Sailing Pool until at least 1215 today. The bird was quite elusive today, seeming to favour the corner of the pool nearest to the overflow car park. There were at least 3 Little Egret at roost there at 0730 - it was still quite dark at that time. 6 Great-crested Grebe were noted there later in the morning.

At the Flashes were c520 Lapwing, 11 Curlew, at least 8 Snipe, Little Egret, 28 Teal, 8 Shoveler(on 3rd flash), c120 Canada Geese, 57 Greylags, c25 Meadow Pipits, Grey Wagtail.

On a brief visit to the Moors Pool I counted 8 Snipe (Bob Oakley had 21 in the rain earlier), 19 Pochard, 6 Mute Swans (no Whoopers), Little Egret, Kestrel.

An updated history of Great White Egret at Upton Warren:

1st October 2007
An adult was found and photographed at the Flashes at 2:35 pm where it remained until 2:55 pm before flying north. It was briefly relocated at 3:20 pm on the north side of the Moors Pool and, although it was not seen to leave, was not sighted again (Arthur Jacobs, Mike Jeeves, Patricia Bayliss). This sighting followed hot on the heels of the county's second record which had been seen a fortnight earlier at Grimley New Workings. Interestingly a Great White Egret was present the same evening on the River Stour close to Kinver on the Worcestershire / Staffordshire border.

26th November 2011
An adult spent the morning commuting between the Moors Pool and Flashes before flying off south (Simon Vickers).

1st to 2nd December 2011
What was probably the same bird as the above record was at the Moors Pool early afternoon and then early morning the following day before heading off north.

9th January 2012
One briefly dropped in to the Moors Pool from the north (Alan Hambury).

1st June 2013
An adult visited the Moors Pool in the afternoon before moving to the Flashes in the evening; sadly it wasn't present the following morning (Terry Norledge, Vern Wright).

28th November 2015 to 5th January 2016
An adult flew into the Moors Pool from the north mid morning before heading south after 30 minutes. It reappeared at the Moors Pool early afternoon the same day before again heading south after 1½ hours. It was then seen at the Moors Pool or roosting on the edge of the Education Reserve on a regular basis up into the New Year, although it did occasionally go missing for up to a day at a time (Martin Clay, Andy Dan). An individual noted at Upper Bittell Reservoir during this period may potentially have been the same bird (although that was reported to have had a missing primary), whilst there was an unconfirmed report of a second bird present at the Moors Pool on the 15th December.

15th September 2016
An adult was at the Moors Pool, remaining until the following day when it also briefly visited the Flashes (Chris Thomson).

12th October 2016
One briefly visited the Moors Pool in the early afternoon (Stuart Andrews).

23rd July 2017
One dropped into the Broadmeadow at the Moors Pool late morning and remained for the rest of the day; it reappeared again at the Moors Pool mid afternoon the following day (Phil Cooper, Lynn Cooper)

25th September 2017
One flew over the Flashes on the 25th September (Jonathan Lingard)

28th September 2017
One flew over the Flashes and then spent a few hours at the Moors Pool in the afternoon before departing to the south-west; presumably the same bird was seen the following day over Westwood Pool (Pete Lewis, Marjo Lewis)

30th October 2017
One dropped briefly into the Moors Pool early afternoon (Andy Ambrose, John Weaver).

2nd to 3rd December 2018
One was at the Moors Pool late morning before disappearing, only to be seen flying south over the Sailing Pool the following day (Bill Box, Rita). Presumably the same bird was noted flying north over Throckmorton on the morning of the 2nd.

11 Curlew, 20+ Snipe and a Little Egret at the Moors Pool this morning as per Carl Jones