Upton Warren (58 Viewers)

Well said Yibble! I thoroughly agree with you. Although I do not get to Upton Warren as often as I used to, I do check on Forum several times a day. I then feel as if I have really been there.
Have I missed getting a Copy of The Birds of Upton Warren 2014 report please ?

Squeelia said:

Have I missed getting a Copy of The Birds of Upton Warren 2014 report please ?

Click to expand...

Due to problems in sourcing a reasonably priced printing firm plus time constraints due to the writer/editor having two young children it has been decided that it will be a report covering the two years 2014-15... unless Phil has any more up-to-date comments?

wheatearlp said:

Due to problems in sourcing a reasonably priced printing firm plus time constraints due to the writer/editor having two young children it has been decided that it will be a report covering the two years 2014-15... unless Phil has any more up-to-date comments?

Click to expand...

Thanks for this, I just thought that I had missed a copy sometime earlier.

Late afternoon visit.

A late visit on a rather grey afternoon. Just after I arrived and settled in the Esat hide, all the Coots scattered and I got my first sighting of the Otter. it swam out to the area just past the large Tern raft, dived and then came up with what looks like and eel and then took it home.
1: Otter and Eel.
2: Otter and Eel
3: Grey Wagtail
4: One of the many Fieldfare

Good captures Bob...Fieldfare spot on.

work party at Moors Today

Work continued in Swampy Bottom and the Secret Garden today. 14 of us did an amazing amount of work today and hopefully we will reap the rewards soon.
Bob O, Bob P, Bob R, Charles, Janet H, Jim B, John C, Paul M, Peter E, Ray C, Roger, Terry W, Tony B, and me.

SWAMPY BOTTOM:
The channel was opened up from the causeway to the north side of the pool. Many large willows were removed and either used in the dead hedge on the causeway and east side of channel or burned.
The reeds in the channel were cut to improve the view. We have left overhanging branches for kingfishers that regularly fish here.
We have left stands of alders for cover and food in winter. The area is very wet and boggy with thorn bushes to the east and the reed bed to the west.
A water rail was seen immediately after work. When approaching along the causeway walk slowly and quietly before you get to the channel you might see something special one day

Photo's
1. View from causeway along channel towards pool
2. view from pool end of channel looking back to causeway
3.action in channel
4. fen type habitat in swampy bottom or soggy bottom as Jim calls it8-P
5. view inside north end with causeway behind dead hedge.

Secret Garden

Hundreds of saplings in this area were removed today and to recreate the grassy area of a couple of years ago, we will strim it in the late winter ready for the spring. The viewpoint hedgerow was also trimmed to improve viewing. The periphery of this area is a mosaic of thorn bushes, alders, elders and bramble. The site is also a sun trap in the spring and summer, so a rich low flora for butterflies will be encouraged.

photos
1. viewpoint looking west towards swampy bottom
2. looking south mass of willowherb good for finches and dare I say bearded tits:smoke:

Birding Moors

During the work good numbers of winter thrushes and carduelis finches . Water rail and cetti's were close to the work sites.
The spindle bush at the start of the North Moors trail (anti-clockwise) held 3 blackcap. At the East hide 'Bob-retired' had seen the otter with an eel. Pochard had increased slightly and teal by a much larger amount. But generally things were as in recent weeks.

Species counts MOORS:
GCG, little grebe 2, cormorant 15, shoveler 35, teal 92, shelduck pr, pochard 7 (5 males 2 fem), tufted 20, snipe 3, coot 255, water rail 3, kestrel, buzzard 2, green woodp 2, great spotted woodp 2, Fieldfare 95, redwing 45, redpoll c20, siskin 6, chaffinch 5, greenfinch 10, bullfinch 3, goldfinch 6, coal tit, cettis w 3, blackcap 3, goldcrest 2,

Birding at the Flashes

I was intrigued to find out if the complete lack of birds on the 2nd Flash last Sunday was just a blip or the effect of the low water on the food supply.
As well as to if the Starlings are still roosting or not.
The first question was answered immediately when I counted 91 teal most of them on the 2nd Flash, so it was just a blip. Interestingly the teal were walking into the meadow to feed on the large clumps of untouched vegetation that was obviously unpalatable to the cattle. A sizeable group of mallard also feasted
here on the same vegetation.
However the second question was a bit less clear. The first birds didn't appear until 4pm and very few of them too. At 4pm on Sunday the bulk of the birds had already gone to roost. But tonight things were all over the place, a sizeable group of 1000+ birds had gathered then performed a few circuits before flying off.:eek!: I think a sparrowhawk was the reason as the gulls and lapwings were skittish throughout the 'show'. Groups then appeared from the south and joined together to form a small 'murmer' c750 birds. But ionce again these disappeared to the north. Thereafter very small groups formed into a flock of 200 or so, but by now it was 4.30pm and too late for any great show and these quickly dropped into the reeds to roost. Then from 4.35 lots of groups skimmed low over the water and dropped straight into their roosting site on the 3rd Flash, this continued until 4.50 almost dark. So the question is, did they fly well away from their roost site so that the sparrowhawks would follow them?. Then return under cover of dark to sneak back to roost unnoticed by the sparrowhawk? more questions, hopefully answered by the Gloucester University Starling survey.

Apart from this all was as normal.
Species Count FLASHES:
Teal 91, (183 in total), shoveler 15, Egyptian goose 1 roosted other went off with 21 greylags, Coot 10, moorhen 35, Green Sand 4 ( 1st appeared at 4.49pm), curlwe 13, lapwing 330, snipe c25, BHG 440 roosted, kestrel, fieldfare 30, redwing 50, song thrush, redpoll 13, starling 2500 - 3000

upstarts1979 said:

Hundreds of saplings in this area were removed today and to recreate the grassy area of a couple of years ago, we will strim it in the late winter ready for the spring. The viewpoint hedgerow was also trimmed to improve viewing. The periphery of this area is a mosaic of thorn bushes, alders, elders and bramble. The site is also a sun trap in the spring and summer, so a rich low flora for butterflies will be encouraged.

photos
1. viewpoint looking west towards swampy bottom
2. looking south mass of willowherb good for finches and dare I say bearded tits:smoke:

Click to expand...

Looks great although perhaps more suited to Pendulines than Beardies? :t:

wheatearlp said:

Due to problems in sourcing a reasonably priced printing firm plus time constraints due to the writer/editor having two young children it has been decided that it will be a report covering the two years 2014-15... unless Phil has any more up-to-date comments?

Click to expand...

Correct - having got to the autumn with all these flimsy excuses I thought it was easier to hold off and aim to get a combined report out early in the New Year rather than publish two reports within a short space of time.

The writer may have two young children but I am not sure about the editors unless you and Des and something to 'fess up (Lou and Mary might also be interested :eek!:8-P)

Yibble said:

No apologies necessary, Phil. (Please forgive the familiarity, since I don't think we've met!)
For those of us who are only occasional visitors, but keenly interested in what's going on at UW (and the wider area), your contributions - supported by so many others - are really valuable. The effort put in by the volunteers / wardens is superb. Sometimes the information that you all provide makes me feel that I have been there in person. So, a long overdue (from me) thanks to you and (particularly) John B, but also all the other regulars, who give a fantastic commentary on what is going on at Worcestershire's premier bird reserve. Sometimes its the rarities, such as the recent RN Phalarope; but often its more about the month to month, year to year changes - such as the increasing numbers of Ravens (I happen to have seen a couple of them at Blackpole in Worcester, recently, which impressed me greatly!); recent murmurations; or the increasing / reducing numbers of ducks / gulls / waders. Fascinating stuff. And, although I don't visit as often as I would like, I feel that when I do, I know what to expect, and that the background info that you provide is really helpful. So, as I said at the beginning, no apologies necessary. I value the quality of the information that you provide, and the efforts that you go to, to make it as accurate as you can. To me, it's a local equivalent to the BBC's "Spring / Summer / Autumn / Winter Watch" - but without all the hype. I wouldn't be surprised if there are lots of others who feel the same way...!

Click to expand...

Many thanks for your kind words Yibble - as I have commented in previous times there is a wide range of people making a variety of valuable contributions to this forum to paint as broader picture as possible whether it be their sightings of rare and common birds alike (both indirectly and live from the field), insect sightings, photographs, current management work and future proposals, historical data, recollections of previous years, engagement with the Trust, developments with the Sailing Centre, trends, local / regional influxes that may have a bearing on Upton etc etc

Phil Andrews said:

Correct - having got to the autumn with all these flimsy excuses I thought it was easier to hold off and aim to get a combined report out early in the New Year rather than publish two reports within a short space of time.

The writer may have two young children but I am not sure about the editors unless you and Des and something to 'fess up (Lou and Mary might also be interested :eek!:8-P)

Click to expand...

Thought we were proof readers 😊

wheatearlp said:

Thought we were proof readers 😊

Click to expand...

Surely promotion to Editor will bring a pay increase?33

Today's highlights:

MOORS: a.m and p.m.
Teal (74)-----------------Shoveler (32)
Pochard (pr)-------------Tufted Duck (21)
Little Grebe (2)----------G C Grebe (2)
Snipe (2)-----------------Kestrel
Cormorant (25)----------Coal Tit
Siskin (5)----------------Redpoll (1)
Raven--------------------Cetti's Warbler (2)
Blackcap (2)-------------Sparrowhawk
Water Rail----------------Kingfisher still fishing in near darkness in front of west hide.
Grey Wagtail-------------Herring Gull (8)
Fieldfare (c200) around North Moors area.

FLASHES : a.m only
Dunlin--------------------Snipe (28)
Curlew (13)--------------Lapwing (c350)
Teal (90)-----------------Raven
Egyptian Goose (2) reported.
Little Egret. Also seen at Moors Pool.

Des.

Nuthatch boxes

just wondering about the Nuthatch nesting boxes at Upton? Does any one know if they were successful? Was the design good? I got at least 2 birds coming from different directions using a feeding table at work, thinking of making some for the spring. Many thanks Tim

Birder Gladys said:

just wondering about the Nuthatch nesting boxes at Upton? Does any one know if they were successful? Was the design good? I got at least 2 birds coming from different directions using a feeding table at work, thinking of making some for the spring. Many thanks Tim

Click to expand...

Tim do you mean the treecreeper boxes?.
Peter E is our nest box co-ordinator :t:

upstarts1979 said:

Tim do you mean the treecreeper boxes?.
Peter E is our nest box co-ordinator :t:

Click to expand...

sorry, think I'm losing it just lately, will do some homework on nuthatch if they need any help, they sure enjoy sunflower seed, we are thinking of growing some plants around the place (work) next year.

Birder Gladys said:

just wondering about the Nuthatch nesting boxes at Upton? Does any one know if they were successful? Was the design good? I got at least 2 birds coming from different directions using a feeding table at work, thinking of making some for the spring. Many thanks Tim

Click to expand...

Hi Tim,

When we went back to the boxes a few weeks ago we discovered that they were easier to install than to check; in fact we had great difficulty in finding a couple at all. The one by the East track at the moors is completely covered by ivy. We checked two of the boxes but there were no signs that they had been used. I will report when we have managed to look at the others.

The Banbury Ornithological Society put up a nest box of a more traditional design in a wood they own; the birds nested in the space between the box and the tree.

Peter

Bob O. said:

Surely promotion to Editor will bring a pay increase?33

Click to expand...

Maybe an extra biscuit at the next work-party?