Birding In Staffordshire (1 Viewer)

[bull's birder]

Quiet up Hanchurch this afternoon. Raven, Skylark for the yearlist and loads of Buzzards. Met Bill Lowe on the way up there and he'd had a pair of Peregrines over there earlier.

Cheers
Craig

 

[terryeyre]

female reed bunting in the garden this morning,walk up threapwood end of dimmingsdale this afternoon 2 buzzards,2 jays, 2 tufted ducks, 2 moorhens,8 coots 12 mallard,6 pairs long tailed tits,4 nuthatch,4 g s peckers 2 green peckers (heard)plenty of singing,wrens, blackbirds,robins,coal,blue, and great tits no summer migrants yet.

 

[russell toon]

Sideway.

2 singing chiffchaffs and a barn owl.

I'm sick at either my rotten luck or poor birding skills regarding the wheatears at berryhill, i must have been scanning them fields just 10 mins befor they were spotted!

There will be plenty of Wheatears on Berryhill over the coming weeks.
Could be that they were not there when you were looking.
As Nick as pointed out there does appear to be some arriving during the day as well as the main arrivals in the early morning.
Did not seem to be any present before mid-day at least.

Russell

 

[Upland Birder]

In and Around Thorswood

Went over to Thorswood today and saw:-

Great tit 3
Blue tit 4
Buzzard 8
Raven 5
Long tailed tit 3
Pheasnt 5
Kestral 1
Green Woodpecker 1 (heard)
Pied Wagtail 2
Jackdaw 11
Crow (several about)
Magpie 2
Chaffinch 3
Nuthatch 3 (heard)
Woodcock 1
Starling 60
Blackbird 5
Tawny Owl 3 (heard 2m 1f)
Mallard 2
Wood Pigeon (several seen)
Linnet 8

Bumble Bee 2
Rabbit 2
Brown Hare 1

Surprisingly no Curlew seen. A good scan of the area found no Wheatears or any other migrants on the open hill country between the Weaver Hills, Thorswood, Blakelow and Stanton. At the end of the day and as it the light was deteriorating it was great to hear the birdsong in this upland area.

Dean

Happy Birding

 

[Rockbirder]

Hi Andy
We had our first Swallow as we got back to the car. Nice meeting up with you, if we hadn't stopped and waited for you we would probably have missed out on the LRP's.
Glyn

Nice one pal, i'll add your report to the Utch spring arrivals list pour 2010!

Andy.

 

[rob.72]

Of cause russel you is right.
I look forward to seeing more of these quality early birds.
I was on the verge of taking myself to seriously.

 

[russell toon]

Berryhill

12 Wheatear this morning,8 around the pallet stack on the track up from Shrike corner also a further 4 in the Lap Bunt paddock.
3 Chiffchaff and a Swallow through.

Russell

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Nice tally Russell. Good description of the "pallet stack" field too. I was wondering how best to describe it yesterday - I thought of "the white door" field (go there and you'll see what I mean!!!) but pallet stack is better.
Nick

Berryhill

12 Wheatear this morning,8 around the pallet stack on the track up from Shrike corner also a further 4 in the Lap Bunt paddock.
3 Chiffchaff and a Swallow through.

Russell

 

[JimMorris]

Hello folks,
Just a quick line to let you all know i'm still around. I should be out of hospital by Easter
after 5 months. all my birding will have to be from the car in lay by's. It will be interesting to see what turns up.
jim.

 

[terryeyre]

really glad to hear from you jim,hope to see again at the ramblers.

 

[Neil-T]

Excellent news Jimmy boy, if you need a lift anywhere, you've only got to call. All the best mate. Neil.

 

[Neil-T]

Spent Sunday with Glyn, Mick and John looking for various species around Staffs, no luck with any Avocets but we did manage to see 6 LRPs and a Green sand at Utch, and a nice fly over Swallow as we were getting in the car, spotted by my good self. Branston GP produced 1 Little Egret and the other usual stuff like Curlew, Redshank, Oytercatchers and Shellduck. Very large Finch flock at Cannock chase 150-200 birds, mainly Redpolls we think....Stonechats and yellowhammers. And a nice Willow tit at the feeding station.

 

[Adam M]

Hello folks,
Just a quick line to let you all know i'm still around. I should be out of hospital by Easter
after 5 months. all my birding will have to be from the car in lay by's. It will be interesting to see what turns up.
jim.

best news i've heard in a long time. nice to hear from you jim, great to know you are getting better :t:

adam

 

[coloz]

Caverswall scrape

Single Wheatear in horses paddock with green horse box.
Still plenty of meadow pipits about and lot's of pied wagtails.
Cheers col.

 

[Upland Birder]

Hello folks,
Just a quick line to let you all know i'm still around. I should be out of hospital by Easter
after 5 months. all my birding will have to be from the car in lay by's. It will be interesting to see what turns up.
jim.

Brilliant news Jim and great to hear from you. Best news I have had all day.

Happy Birding

Dean:t:

 

[terryeyre]

the pair of mandarins back on the garden pond this evening

 

[Rob Jones]

Hello folks,
Just a quick line to let you all know i'm still around. I should be out of hospital by Easter
after 5 months. all my birding will have to be from the car in lay by's. It will be interesting to see what turns up.
jim.

Just you're luck a Barn Owl will sit on a post for you to photo, like last time lol!:-O

Great to see your on the mend now Jimbo. :t:

 

[Upland Birder]

With the recent sightings of Wheatear reported in Staffordshire over the last week or so I thought I'd draw your attention to an interesting article in April's Birdwatch Magazine out now. The article is on the Greenland Wheatear the subspecies of Northern Wheatear that occurs on passage in the UK. It revisits the identification of this bird and also makes comparisons with the nominate Northern Wheatear.

For anyone interested in bird art and photography there is a new magazine of the same name out soon. Check out the details:-

www.birdartandphotography.co.uk

Happy Birding

Dean:t:

 

[Richard Powell]

Great stuff Jim. :t: However, be careful of car parks and layby's on Cannock Chase, you never know what may turn up around there! :eek!:

Hello folks,
Just a quick line to let you all know i'm still around. I should be out of hospital by Easter
after 5 months. all my birding will have to be from the car in lay by's. It will be interesting to see what turns up.
jim.

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Berry Hill

7 wheatears present this morning - 5 in the White Door / Pallet Stack field, 2 in the Lap Bunt field.
Nick