Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Looks like an imm bird from the pics. No sign first thing this morning according to RBA but if its gone, hopefully its headed north into cheshire!!
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Birding In Staffordshire (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Upland Birder
- Start date
Steve Turner
Well-known member
In the flesh, the all black yellow-tipped bill, yellow throat patch, jet black legs, absence of any black in the wingtips, small head crest, and hint of an ochre breast band all pointed to it being an adult (or near adult!).
Cheers
Steve
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Cheshire Birder
Well-known member
Sub-adult it is then.
Steve Turner
Well-known member
Or an adult not in full breeding plumage.
Rob Jones
Well-known member
This evening at Uttoxeter Quarry, 1 Spoonbill :eek!:, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Curlew, 7 Oystercatcher.
Time for a small tincture! B
Also did well to get that Cobra in the third picture!
Rockbirder
Well-known member
Utch SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONBILL !
Well done RP, once again we birdin' mortals are left floundering in your wake. Hope you had more than just the one owd ladB? Just goes to show constant work on the old local patch will pay off every now and again.
Even copious amounts of the old amber nectarB couldn't ease the pain of being stuck at a barbie after your phone call:t:
Andy.
Well done RP, once again we birdin' mortals are left floundering in your wake. Hope you had more than just the one owd ladB
? Just goes to show constant work on the old local patch will pay off every now and again.Even copious amounts of the old amber nectarB
couldn't ease the pain of being stuck at a barbie after your phone call:t:Andy.
Neil-T
Moorlands Macro: Close up and personal....with bug
Huntley Quarry
Spent an hour or so at Huntley Tunnel and Quarry just before tea. Not a lot of birds about apart from the common species, highlights were Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and a couple of nice Buzzards. Lot's of butterflies about though so decided to photograph these instead.
Spent an hour or so at Huntley Tunnel and Quarry just before tea. Not a lot of birds about apart from the common species, highlights were Chiffchaff, Whitethroat and a couple of nice Buzzards. Lot's of butterflies about though so decided to photograph these instead.
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gatekeeper, red admirals, skippers, a single small copper and hundreds of meadow browns at coombes today. along with large and small whites, speckled browns and painted ladies. martin mere are reporting painted lady caterpillars out and about on thistles, so might be worth looking out for.
all the usual woodland birds and warblers about, no reports of any redstarts or pied flys since last weekend though. willow tit at the feeders is a bit of a site rarity. a report of a common lizard inbetween the pond and the cottage came in today.
in an earlier post i mentioned some yellow eggs in the garden possibly belonging to a moth, i have now found out what they are. its a parasite called apanteles glomeratus, they kill large white butterlfy caterpillars, feed on them, then pupate around the dead body in small yellow cocoons, which are the 'eggs' i found.
my pc 'should' be fixed by tomorrow so i can get back to posting photos.
adam
all the usual woodland birds and warblers about, no reports of any redstarts or pied flys since last weekend though. willow tit at the feeders is a bit of a site rarity. a report of a common lizard inbetween the pond and the cottage came in today.
in an earlier post i mentioned some yellow eggs in the garden possibly belonging to a moth, i have now found out what they are. its a parasite called apanteles glomeratus, they kill large white butterlfy caterpillars, feed on them, then pupate around the dead body in small yellow cocoons, which are the 'eggs' i found.
my pc 'should' be fixed by tomorrow so i can get back to posting photos.
adam
Upland Birder
Birding On The Edge
Made my way to Cley in Norfolk today to continue with my challenge to see as many waders as possible in the UK during July and to bird generally in this top birding location. When I arrived I had perfect sunny weather and blue skies. I saw:-
Red Legged Partridge plus chicks
5 Marsh harriers
7 Spoonbill
Dunlin
Black Tailed Godwit
Lapwing
Buff Breasted Sandpiper
Red Shank
Ruff
Spotted Redshank
Little Egret
Black Headed Gull
Heron
Kestral
Sedge Warbler
Reed Warbler
Avocet
Greylag Goose
Eygptian Goose
Skylark
Swallow
Black Headed Gull
I have never seen a party of 7 Spoonbills together before. The maximum for me previously has been three up at Leighton Moss and on occassion just one. They looked great and when at one point all was spooked I was able to watch them in flight together.
The highlight for me though was seeing the Buff Breasted Sandpiper which was one of the reasons for going over there. There was a Temminck's Stint present the night previously but I did not see it today. I will catch up with one of these blighters in due course perhaps near Uttoxeter
On my why home I visited Titchwell briefly and saw
2 Spoonbill
Knot
Turnstone
Curlew
Black tailed Godwit
Black Headed Gull
Sedge Warbler
Meadow Pipit
Bearded Tit
Starling
Skylark
Meadow Pipit
Swallow
Had really good close views of the Bearded Tit next to a party of 4 Sedge Warblers. Not seen one for a couple of years.
By the end of the day I was able to add another 4 waders to my tally which means I have seen 18 species of Wader since 1st July 2009.
Across Lincolnshire on the return journey I saw a Barn Owl in flight and hunting. A nice way to end the day.
Happy Birding
Dean
Red Legged Partridge plus chicks
5 Marsh harriers
7 Spoonbill
Dunlin
Black Tailed Godwit
Lapwing
Buff Breasted Sandpiper
Red Shank
Ruff
Spotted Redshank
Little Egret
Black Headed Gull
Heron
Kestral
Sedge Warbler
Reed Warbler
Avocet
Greylag Goose
Eygptian Goose
Skylark
Swallow
Black Headed Gull
I have never seen a party of 7 Spoonbills together before. The maximum for me previously has been three up at Leighton Moss and on occassion just one. They looked great and when at one point all was spooked I was able to watch them in flight together.
The highlight for me though was seeing the Buff Breasted Sandpiper which was one of the reasons for going over there. There was a Temminck's Stint present the night previously but I did not see it today. I will catch up with one of these blighters in due course perhaps near Uttoxeter
On my why home I visited Titchwell briefly and saw
2 Spoonbill
Knot
Turnstone
Curlew
Black tailed Godwit
Black Headed Gull
Sedge Warbler
Meadow Pipit
Bearded Tit
Starling
Skylark
Meadow Pipit
Swallow
Had really good close views of the Bearded Tit next to a party of 4 Sedge Warblers. Not seen one for a couple of years.
By the end of the day I was able to add another 4 waders to my tally which means I have seen 18 species of Wader since 1st July 2009.
Across Lincolnshire on the return journey I saw a Barn Owl in flight and hunting. A nice way to end the day.
Happy Birding
Dean
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russell toon
Well-known member
Berryhill
2 Whinchat present this morning in the lower west paddocks (Shrike corner).
The finch flock up to about 150 birds mainly Linnets and Goldfinch attracted a Hobby and Sparrowhawk.Groppers have started to get vocal again this last week or so.
Russell
2 Whinchat present this morning in the lower west paddocks (Shrike corner).
The finch flock up to about 150 birds mainly Linnets and Goldfinch attracted a Hobby and Sparrowhawk.Groppers have started to get vocal again this last week or so.
Russell
Rockbirder
Well-known member
Utch Quarry 0640-1000.
Hey up folks, not all bad news pour moi from Utch, finally nailed a Hobby this morning chasing hirundines and then perched in a large ash tree. No compensation for missing the Spooner but still a site tick.
It reappeared later as i was chatting to a tall very well spoken lad about how he can't find anywhere to live. I thought of mentioning one or two of the local estates but he didn't seem to keen:-O.
Also present were 2 Kingfishers, 1 Greenshank, 3 Green Sand's, 8 Curlew, 6 Oystercatchers and one or two LRP's.
Andy.
Hey up folks, not all bad news pour moi from Utch, finally nailed a Hobby this morning chasing hirundines and then perched in a large ash tree. No compensation for missing the Spooner but still a site tick.
It reappeared later as i was chatting to a tall very well spoken lad about how he can't find anywhere to live. I thought of mentioning one or two of the local estates but he didn't seem to keen:-O.
Also present were 2 Kingfishers, 1 Greenshank, 3 Green Sand's, 8 Curlew, 6 Oystercatchers and one or two LRP's.
Andy.
Steve Turner
Well-known member
Ha ha yes, nice chatting to you too young man! Good to see that you hadn't tried slitting your wrists after missing the Spooner!!
After you departed I managed to dig out a single Dunlin, and a group of 10 Goosander - not a bad morning on the patch.
Cheers
Tall bloke
Steve Turner
Well-known member
russell toon
Well-known member
Not been up there for a few weeks,whats the water level like at the quarry at the moment.
Russell
Rockbirder
Well-known member
Utch Quarry.
Hey up Russ, the water level as increased dramatically with the recent rain. Two weeks ago it looked like the main pool was going to dry up completely, but it's now looking rather tasty to any high flying tringas or calidrids. Any of the rarer ones would go down nicely, obviously not found by yours truely:t:.
Andy.
Hey up Russ, the water level as increased dramatically with the recent rain. Two weeks ago it looked like the main pool was going to dry up completely, but it's now looking rather tasty to any high flying tringas or calidrids. Any of the rarer ones would go down nicely, obviously not found by yours truely:t:.
Andy.
russell toon
Well-known member
Richard Powell
Once Bittern, Twice Shy
Neil-T
Moorlands Macro: Close up and personal....with bug
Dragon hunting
Spent the morning with Stuart, mainly looking for dragonflies and the such. Started at Tittesworth, as it was a bit dull we went to the conservation hide to see what was about. Common sand, Oystercatcher, chiffchaff, willow warbler and the usual stuff on the pool including over 100 lapwings, one with a very small chick. Over to Berry hill to see if there were any dragonflies on the pools, none about and it actually started to rain, we did manage to find an empty case from an emerged dragonfly (no idea which one). Goldfinches were feeding well on thistle heads, while reed bunting, sedge warbler and whitethroat were showing well in the same area. Over to the pool at the back of the gasometer near park hall. Loads of small damsels about of various hues and sizes (see pics), and we did manage to see a couple of Dragons...Southern hawker, Brown hawker and a smaller dragonfly we couldn't get close enough to identify, it was around 50/60mm in body length with a very pale brown, bordering on cream coloured body, very slow flittering flight, managed to get within a few feet of it, but when I lifted the camera to take a picture it flew to the top a small tree, around 12 feet up. Good mix of Birds, damsels and a few dragons.
Spent the morning with Stuart, mainly looking for dragonflies and the such. Started at Tittesworth, as it was a bit dull we went to the conservation hide to see what was about. Common sand, Oystercatcher, chiffchaff, willow warbler and the usual stuff on the pool including over 100 lapwings, one with a very small chick. Over to Berry hill to see if there were any dragonflies on the pools, none about and it actually started to rain, we did manage to find an empty case from an emerged dragonfly (no idea which one). Goldfinches were feeding well on thistle heads, while reed bunting, sedge warbler and whitethroat were showing well in the same area. Over to the pool at the back of the gasometer near park hall. Loads of small damsels about of various hues and sizes (see pics), and we did manage to see a couple of Dragons...Southern hawker, Brown hawker and a smaller dragonfly we couldn't get close enough to identify, it was around 50/60mm in body length with a very pale brown, bordering on cream coloured body, very slow flittering flight, managed to get within a few feet of it, but when I lifted the camera to take a picture it flew to the top a small tree, around 12 feet up. Good mix of Birds, damsels and a few dragons.
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