Withymoor - Amblecote, Stourbridge..... (1 Viewer)

Goldies.....

I'm not privvy to any sightings of the spp around here altho Craig regularly records individuals and small groups from his lofty perch @ Clent.

I have had to make do with counting a flock that was posted on LGRE's Tw@tter account taken at Slimbridge recently. It was part of a group of an estimated 5,000 birds, i would like to have seen the original with the estimate and work from there but i don't have the info/image to hand.

I initially did a visual estimage of maybe 750+ birds then i used the software. I did 4 different counts. First, open the image, then turn it into Grey-scale then use the Red slider to try and reduce each 'bird' to a Red Marker and finally make them into Black particles. At this last stage i then compare the original image with the particulated one and see whether it more or less matches the pattern of the flock and then at least you know you will be something near altho quite what the +/- factor is is anybodys guess?

At 130 it gave me 2317 dots/birds which i thought was way over and reset it at about 100 which gave 1671 which, again i thought an overestimate based on my visual first guess. A third setting of about 75 gave 1116 and finally a setting of about 60 gave 880 birds which is something more like it! The trouble with the last setting is that chunks of the flock dissappeared from the particulates so i knew that could'nt be right - frustating or what:C

Finally, i opened Photoshop CS6 Extended which has a 'count' tool. This is very useful as each click places a number on the bird. For this exercise i enlarged the image by 300%. There were still groups of upto a dozen to 15 that needed careful marking but i am confident there is very little missed.

To my surprise the individual click count showed a minimum of.....1696 birds:eek!: This is far more than i thought at the original image size so what do i know? It's an interesting excercise to carry out and i am sure that with practice on the software an optimum setting will be found in this case the slider set @ about 90/100 yielded the closest match.

Below are the original image size, the particulated image at same size and the enlarged one used on PS6 and click-counted (this took about 1/2 hour btw)

Laurie:t:

If you can't Beet 'em.....

Spent an hour or so over in bootifull Kiddy looking for the 'Starts - mission not accomplished but they will probably be around for a while. I haven't been that side of Wilden for quite some time and so hadn't seen the new 'development' on the site of the former Beet works.

The Beebs farming programme the other day came from one of 4 processing plants in Eastern England. Due to increased cultivation of the crop in Europe sugar has become cheaper and it is no longer profitable to grow the stuff unless you are able to process it within 20/30 miles, any further than that and you lose money. The farmer has to deliver the beet and it is then washed and tested for sugar content, typically 15/20 % - British Sugar do not pay for the dirt and soil. It is now only grown around here as a break/forage crop. I had/still have an access arrangement for Wilden Marsh from BSC to 'mooch' around altho when they ceased washing the beet due to 'elf and safety' considerations they broke thru the bunds that held the water on the marshes and no more decent birding. It's a real pity as those pools had a bit of a wild 'unmanaged' feel about them and in years of routinely checking at migration times only ever bumped into the odd birder. It is now an area of Willow which, in itself, is better than nothing but there is plenty of this habitat and it means that the region is one wetland less. The Wildlife Trust has an adjacent reserve and it is a pity an agreement of some sort even possibly temporary could not have been made to not break the bunds but i suppose they have their reasons?

The only thing of note on the Industrial Estate was a copper on a bike who enquired, he already knew about the birds presence. I gave him a potted history of the Black Redstart including its colonisation of bomb sites and current status in the Black Country. I don't think he will be so inquistive in future so hopefully i have done everybody a favour.....

Of more interest was the adjacent former industrial land c/w overgrown car park. It is quite a large, has several mounds of rubble and lots of Buddleia - ideal.....for something. At the far end is a long, Grey, building. On top of this were a couple of Gulls, they sported a paler mantle than the LBB that was nearby and looking worthy of further grilling. I got a fair bit closer and they both had pale straw-coloured legs, mantle looked good-ish (the lighting was as flat as a witchs' tit). Went for the camera and they flew off:C They appeared OK for YLG's, a male and a female going on the size, one called - quite high-pitched? Back in the car we drove back past the next complex of buildings which are Brintons carpet and there were loads of large gulls and a couple of hundred BHG's presumably the building is operating and warmer than the other ones. Jay and GSPWPecker also noted.

Stopped @ Hurcott, the usual under-whelming experience - i shall take some smelling salts the next time It looks promising with quite a large bed of vegetation at the East inflow end and a superb series of little pools and creeks i suppose it just needs a bit of patience at the right time of year. I thought i would take a picture of part of the reed bed. When i say 'reed' it is a mix of proper Phragmites and a proportion of Typha, so-called Bulrush that everybody would be familiar with. I decided to zoom in on the reed-bed and then noticed that the Bulrushes that i have scanned over when looking for Reed Warblers each season had a noticeable size discrepancy. All these years and i had'nt realised that both spp are present. The larger 'latifolia' and the lesser known 'angustifolia' with its different leaves/stem arrangement and its more delicate, thinner, head. The former is on the outer, nearer edge of the bed and the Lesser Reedmace is out in the deeper water its preferred habitat. I am familiar with LR but had passed over it down at Hurcott until yesterday - a salutory lesson.

I have never had the dubious pleasure of eating either spp but they are both starchy and would keep you alive in a Crocodile Dundee stylee. The Celts used the former and the latter was used, by native American Indians, as an Okra-style thickener in their traditional Jambalaya down in the Everglades.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jambalaya

Mary Stevens Park held about 350 BHG's and a solitary adult LBB but still no Goosander:C

Have fun, below is a pic of both Typha taken at Hurcott ystda.

Laurie:t:

rollingthunder said:

The only thing of note on the Industrial Estate was a copper on a bike who enquired, he already knew about the birds presence. I gave him a potted history of the Black Redstart including its colonisation of bomb sites and current status in the Black Country. I don't think he will be so inquistive in future so hopefully i have done everybody a favour.....


Stopped @ Hurcott, the usual under-whelming experience - i shall take some smelling salts the next time
Laurie:t:

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As is the norm an interesting post with added humour from you Laurie!:t:

I do my best, under trying conditions, Pam. Are you out and about these days or have any trips, further afield, planned?

Laurie:t:

I haven't had much free time lately for 'local' walks, shorter daylight hours do not help! However a trip to Lancashire is planned for the end of next week! RSPB Leighton Moss and Morecambe Bay being the target areas.

Gulls and a 'Grin.....

Making the most of a fine late-Autumn day ystda i, first of all, took the dog down to the Golden Puddle and then, late afternoon, cycled over to the lower West Hagley Fields. This is the area from the Pump House down to the Railway line, not the best approach at this time of year as the low sun is against you but it turned out productive in the end.

Withymoor held about 50 BHG's and a couple of adult LBB's. Little Grebe still present and Tufties now up to 10 individuals - 6 males and 4 females including a distinct 'Scaup-faced' bird. Bullfinches calling on the embankment to a background cacophony of Magpies altho not approaching the 40+ seen last week. 2 hunting Sprawks completed the sightings. In addition some local pondlife had let go a a couple of distinctive Orange plastic Sainsburys bags tied but full of rubbish to float around the pool until it chokes something or ends up near the overflow:C Another similiar Blue bag, large Black DMBC recycling bin and somebodys barbecue trolley had also been thrown in.....

There is not a lot of this sort of thing down there and there is an active group that clean the place of such detritus regularly but whoever did it must have seen the recently placed signs with regard to Xmas cheer and a clean up and then done 'their bit' for anti-social' behaviour.....Just what do you do with these people - answers on a postcard pls:C

Over to WHF for about 3 o'clock, i wanted to mooch around as the light dropped before meeting a mate and the bride in the 'Spoonz in Stourbridge for the start of the Beowolf Beer FestivalB

The sort of things i envisage are possibly a Corn Bunting altho i have not seen them over there in the Winter so i don't know where they go. I don't even know if they actually breed there despite 2 singing males this Spring? Stonechats are a possibility, i had a Wintering pair about 5/6 years ago and there is always the possibility of a marauding Merlin which i have never seen over there but there always appears to be one about somewhere within a few miles? I had to make do with double figures of Yellowhammer and sitting in a Hawthorn hedge in the last rays of the sun appeared like some exotic fruit waiting to be picked.

Instead i made do with setting myself up, sun behind me and took a series of pictures of the large Gulls coming in from the South-West and presumably heading for Bittell/Egbaston. I have started examining the images for the purposes of a count and will post when finished, it was a useful excercise and something to do. In addition 3 Ravens flew over.

As i made my way back, pushing the bike, i glanced at a field that still had not had the potato's lifted. Apart from the wispy flower stems it was a series of uniform ridge and furrow type affair. Then, as you do, something sticks out even to the naked eye. In this case just a small lump, in the distance, not flapping or moving or even much difference in colour just something that, in an un-ploughed context, should'nt be there. Bin's up to reveal a Peregrine just sitting on the hump, looking around not feeding just sitting there. I got the camera i always carry and took some record shots zooming in as i went.

Below are the results.....as if proof was needed

Laurie:t:

rollingthunder said:

........At 130 it gave me 2317 dots/birds which i thought was way over and reset it at about 100 which gave 1671 which, again i thought an overestimate ................

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Laurie

I've had problems with the red slider as well but have come up with a method that gives some quite accurate results. I don't believe you can do it with one setting for all photos as depends very much on how dark the background is. I'll put some notes together and get them over to you at the weekend as would be interesting to see if the method works on your photos.

Steve P

Update of wildlife in and around Brierley Hill town centre:

Badgers still showing nightly in a couple of places (often down to a couple of metres).


Green Woodpecker......daily around St Michaels churchyard.
Kingfishers several sightings along the canal between the Delph and Brockmoor.
Ravens have re-appeared and seen on several occasions lately above the church.
Fieldfares/Redwings, early mornings over the town and in Marsh park.

No signs of any Peregrines yet.

Hi Steve - nice to see the 'bins are not gathering dust

Steve P - It's both an interesting and frustrating, in equal amounts, piece of software but as you say - it needs to be interpreted and tweaked.....

The factors that i have considered are -

The overall clarity of the image and how much 'non-bird' stuff is in the picture. I try to take shots against as much open sky as possible then edit or crop anything else out otherwise 'it' wants to count the clutter as bird stuff. I have found that not zooming and thus pixelating the birds, particularly the larger spp, gives a more accurate count. Birds bunching up are also a problem so the more spread out the flock the better. The Red slider default is a good start but if i know there are less birds in the flock i then start working it down the scale. It can be very frustating when you know the exact amount but due to overlapping birds it will not give you the required result. I use Photoshop CS6 Extended count tool to check stats.

A couple of days ago i took a series of images from a fixed point over at the West Hagley Fields of the large gulls coming in to roost from the South West and heading over Clent presumably towards Egbaston and Bittell? The flocks coming in from the right were slightly bunched and then directly in front of me had drawn out and then departing to the left had bunched up again - all changes in perspective. The centre shots on no more than 10x optical zoom gave the best results.

Below is a montage of 7 of the 20 images. The upper ones are pixelated and contain the tree line clutter. The centre pair are ideal with a drawn-out flock and the software more or less matched my own count. The lower shots are both pixelated and enlarged and were least satisfactory. The right-hand image is of about 30 birds but the slider gave me double that and no amount of tweaking could get it below about 45. That margin of over-estimation is worrying but it is an easy image to count by eye anyway. On balance i think it tends to overestimate by at least 5%. The totals for the series of pictures was 1770 so 1600-1650 would be my guess.

A crap visit ystda, i was'nt doing the gull thing again, yielded very little. A mixed party of about 70 passerines feeding in one of the stubble fields ca30 Mipits and the rest YellowHammers/Chaffinches/Goldfinches plus some Stock Doves in the recently ploughed areas. I am hoping that the last couple of hours of daylight on these jaunts might coincide with a hunting/roosting raptor along the lines of either Barn/SEOwl or possibly a Hen Harrier - they've got to be somewhere?

I would be interested in yr thoughts re: the software and how you've managed to tweak it - at least you have several hundred Golden Plover to go at:eek!:

ATB Laurie:t:

The dull conditions continue, the weekend promises some sun, light breeze and better conditions.....

I shall make another trip over to the West Hagley Fields later on, it ties in nicely from 3-5 before sampling another of the days delights at the 'Spoonz'B

As an exercise i thought i would try and take some 'flock' pictures but nothing obliged but as i approached the high point of the Pumping Station i heard the local Jackdaws moving about in the mist. I could just about make out a small party of dots in the distance - the time approaching 16:30 so the 'light' had well and truly gone.

Below is a series of images to show the process.

The first shows the view from the ridge, this is at about a 7x zoom.

The second shows the image cropped of the field and trees.

Picture number 3 is a much enlared portion of the second one, using Photoshop cs6 showing a couple of Jackdaws - i was able to count 21 birds by working my way, slowly, across the PC screen.

The last is a montage of the process. Top shows the crop using the Red Marker - you can make out the loose flock as the larger Red shapes, all the bottom and right clutter has to be removed using the slider adjustment. The middle image is the same thing but changed to particulate setting to show black and white which means i can count the flock again. Once the slider has taken out as much of the Red as to be virtually gone the particulates are then counted - i could'nt get less than 40 otherwise there was no reading and i don't think there was 40 birds present, 1/2 that at the most but it is an interesting excercise (for me anyway).

Laurie:t:

ImageJ

Further to the recent posts regarding Image,j and the inaccuracies of the counts of birds from photos, I have been messing about with the software, and have tried the following to try and get an accurate count.
Open the image as normal? For me some images open directly, or I have to go through Photo Viewer.
I have tried this method with easy photos and got accurate results. Thought I would try it out with a non birdy image where I could get a reasonable count manually and then test with ImageJ. The image that I choose was various sized dots randomly distributed
Once the image is open - Convert to 8 -bit ---Adjust - Threshold - Leave as Default and in RHS box choose Under/Over and leave the Background box blank (no tick).This should give an image of black particles on a green background. I then cropped the area to get rid of the text as initially it was included in the count! You can do it using a sqare box or the freehand tool.
Do not click apply when you have the black particles on green background.
In the box choose 1-infinity, Circularity 0.00-1-00, Show Overlay Outlines, Display Results, Clear Results, Add to Manager. Not sure if u need to tick all these boxes. Click on Process - Find Edges - Don't click on this again! Start clicking on Process - Sharpen and keep clicking until u get the same reading. You can click on Analyse then Sharpen Analyse etc until you get to the same point. When you get to this point, click on results and summarize and it will give u the Mean, Standard Deviation (SD), Min and Max. For the image below it gave me a count of 777, which was pretty much accurate!

Any suggestions or improvements let me know. That is about as accurate as i can get it at the moment. Not sure if everything i have said is exactly in the right order, but those who are interested/have posted will know their way round the basics of ImageJ and put things in the right order!

Let me know if this is useful.

This is the original image to the above

Random dots

I like the, scary, right-hand image Gav - looks like an MRI scan showing blocked ventricles before a gastric band is fitted to somebody.............anywhere in the Black Country

Laurie:t:

Bunting and Backshall.....

Fridays mooch proved a tad more productive helped by an infusion of.....light!

Mary Stevens Park held about 250 BHG's and a solitary adult LBB and whilst i as taking a few pictures of a Grey Heron i failed to notice the Winters first Cormorant standing on a log, wings spread, presumably just emerged from a fishing foray. The bird had a slight Brown 'dappling' on the upper-breast which i presume is a sign of sub-adultness? The brighter weather also produced singing Nuthatch and Great Tit.

Over to the West Hagley Fields and altho the brighter conditions were welcome the previous 2 visits in poor visibility leant a feeling of murky serenity. 2 tractors were busy ploughing up the remaining stubble which was welcomed by the attendant Gulls but will reduce the feeding area for any passerines. The latter were more evident with 2 distinct parties of Yellowhammers at ca30 each. A mixed group of Mipits/Chaffinches/Goldies again around and about 50 Skylarks to add variety and a dozen or so Linnets overflew. The birds just disappear when they start feeding in the stubble so it is difficult to grill them but when one of the Yellowhammer flocks flew towards me i heard a distinct flight call to reveal a flyby female Reed Bunting. OK - nothing to write home about but these flocks are worth working thru if you can. Local 'sleb' and birder Brett Westwood diligently worked a mixed finch/bunting flock over @ Caunsall a few years ago that had been feeding on some set-aside and found multiple Little Buntings, at least 2 probably 3 birds and other much rarer relatives have been found in the Midlands over recent years.

And finally.....the BBC's Saturday media-magazine programme features amongst its' normal guests the over-ego'd omelette that is Steve Backshurt. Fresh from being booted off Strictly C*** Dancing.

Somewhere in deepest Oxfordshire there is a facility that is trying to replicate, for milliseconds, the conditions that exist in the centre of the Sun. The process of fusing Hydrogen without using Uranium fission. Powerful, incredibly powerful, magnets are used to hold a plasma whilst the experiment takes place. It uses a lot of energy, more than you get out - cue Woodchat

My point is - why don't they just contact the producers of SC***D? They must have used some unknown technical process to get 'our boy' to actually touch his female dancing partner? I mean the natural non-tactile repellant that coats Steves skin must have had to be overcome in order to participate surely? Today our plucky self-promoting explorer is taking listeners questions, i would have liked to have emailed a few but that would have been a windmill-tilting exercise to put it mildly. Steve informs us that despite 10 months 'hard' travelling he manages to spend time, on his own (now there's a surprise) almost totally reducing his Carbon footprint as some sort of atonement for expending the last few hours of fossilised sunlight pursuing his interests and telling us all about deadly critters. This year he spent several weeks (not enough for me) in the high Arctic living out of a rucksack - the question i would have liked to have asked him is how the f*ck he got there? He also informs us that he intends to work with wildlife for the foreseeable future and that is the impetus that gets him out of bed every morning.

We know that there is nothing to keep him in it

Laurie:t:

Below is MSP's very own Carbo footprint, a local in his taxpayer funded offroader and Backshurt pulling faces and exhibiting very negative body language, he's even on record saying that he would have rather danced with one of the other males - as if any more ammo was needed.....a case is rested and my work here is done - have fun!

Hi, I'm new to birdforum, I'm from Stourbridge. Early afternoon today I went to Mary Stevens Park to see the Cormorant my friend had told me was there (after going early Saturday and not seeing it), the Cormorant was there and spent most of the afternoon fishing...to my surprise, there were also two female Goosander! The picture uploads are rather limited on here, so I uploaded them a hosting site, http://imgur.com/a/8hhGW

A Kestrel and Jay I saw in Iverley, then the Cormorant and Goosander at Mary Stevens.

Chris Mills said:

Hi, I'm new to birdforum, I'm from Stourbridge. Early afternoon today I went to Mary Stevens Park to see the Cormorant my friend had told me was there (after going early Saturday and not seeing it), the Cormorant was there and spent most of the afternoon fishing...to my surprise, there were also two female Goosander! The picture uploads are rather limited on here, so I uploaded them a hosting site, http://imgur.com/a/8hhGW

A Kestrel and Jay I saw in Iverley, then the Cormorant and Goosander at Mary Stevens.

Click to expand...

Welcome to birdforum Chris!! Nice photo's!! All my favourites!! (minus a KF!!)

Omid and OMG - Crane and F4, last of their kind.....

Hi Chris - nice to have a new local contribution, keep 'em coming.....

I also popped down ystda but i don't usually post until the following morning so you beat me to it. I spoke to a lady, with a young child, last week who was taking some photos. I mentioned the Cormorant and that it was the first of the Winter and she said that she did'nt know what it was and was taking a picture to show her friend 'who would know' - would that be you?

I only paid a brief visit and the Cormorant is possibly a different bird to last weeks as the bill pattern did'nt look the same but i did'nt get a chance to look at the breast. The 2 Redhead Goosander were feeding about the central island and made their way to the far end, near the swings, before turning and burning their way the full length of the pool and departing, at about 4 oclock, like a couple of fighter jets.

Withymoor, at 3 oclock, held ca50 BHG's, a solitary adult LBB, 7 Tufties 4m/3f and the now resident 1st Winter Little Grebe.

Talking of birds and planes.....Iran (my most-want-to-visit destination) is in the news with air-strikes on IsIs. They have employed Vietnam-era F4 Phantoms, the only country that now operates them in a combat role. Germany/Turkey/Greece still have them for training and recon purposes. These were sold to the Shah when diplomatic (CIA-dominated) relations were 'warm and fuzzy' along with the superlative F14 A-model Tomcat of Top Gun fame. The Yanks then proceeded to halt the supply of spares, weapons etc and their own fleet, sadly, went into mothballs a few years ago. They naturally thought that the planes would fall to bits due to lack of interest. How wrong could they be? Iran oozes engineers, travel anywhere in Europe including the UK and talk to any ex-pat Iranian, usually to be found serving excellent Persian cuisine, and they will probably be an engineer.....working for minimum wage:C The ever industrious and ingenious Iranians have been constantly upgrading both the Phantom and particularly the Tomcat by sourcing Black Market parts and manufacturing their own. Indeed the current F14a is now designated the 'M' for 'Modernised'. Now both countries have a common enemy. Maybe it will lead to a thawing in relations and i can obtain a visa to visit without travelling to another country to organise it and still facing problems of entry?

Perhaps both countries are working on the premise that 'my enemies' enemy is my enemy'? You could'nt make it up.

I have, like the rest of us mere mortals, to make do with Jos Stratfords' updates from his jaunts between the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. http://josstratford.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=47&Itemid=101 This link is for the first of 3 trips, the rest can be accessed from the right-hand menu, it's these sort of trip reports that get me through the Winter and most of the rest of the year around here

The second part of the Iran theme concerns a bird that is the last of its kind and has returned for another Winter of solitude fishing in some muddy creek around the Caspian - Omid, the last known surviving Siberian White Crane of the Western population:C I don't know if there are plans to augment this bird with any from the healthier Eastern group or individuals from captivity? Unless they do he will pass into history which is all rather sad, ironically Omid means 'hope':C

http://de.swarovskioptik.com/natur/blog/Finding_Omid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siberian_crane

Attached is an F4 montage including a web capture of one on a 'sortie' over Iraq, an F14 in its new splinter-pattern cammo and Omid with a couple of Grey Herons eyeing up the 'stranger on the shore'.....

Laurie:t:

Hi rollingthunder, no that wouldn't be me, the person who told me is a man. I left the park at around 3:20PM yesterday, looks like you just missed me if you were there at 4, I have a DSLR with a very big lens on the end of it, I'm hard to miss! I did have at least 5 lots of people speak to me about the Cormorant yesterday, one lot thought it was a Shag. I took a video of the cormorant after it was fishing, flapping it's wings, etc...I'll upload it to youtube (but it will take a while)

I might have to go to the pool in Withymoor soon if there is a Little Grebe there! Here are some pictures I took of a Little Grebe at Upton Warren a few weeks ago, http://imgur.com/a/JuAea I would love to get some decent ones of the one at Withymoor!

Hi Chris - i have'nt come across a Shag in the park but i'm sure they take place from time to time Seriously, there is a record of 2 birds after some gales a few years ago but before my time.....

I hope to bump into you at some stage. The WM LGrebe can be elusive but it's only a small pool so you should get some shots - it was down there today when i visited.

ATB Laurie:t:

Is there anywhere that I can see the records of birds at Mary Stevens? I actually went down to Withymoor quickly this afternoon and there were two Little Grebes! I've got pictures of them both in the same shot, but they are still on my camera, so you'll just have to take my word for it for the time being.

I uploaded the video I took of the Cormorant at Mary Stevens, you can see it here. It was very cold and the camera was just in my lap, so its a little shaky. http://youtu.be/dr_DfrgLLK0