• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
Where premium quality meets exceptional value. ZEISS Conquest HDX.

Birding In Staffordshire (7 Viewers)

Just 3 of my favourite pics from Staffs in 2010. Nothing special I know but I like them.
Have a great new year everyone!
 

Attachments

  • reedwarbler.jpg
    reedwarbler.jpg
    54.3 KB · Views: 14
  • dipper.jpg
    dipper.jpg
    143.9 KB · Views: 11
  • Buzzardwebsize.jpg
    Buzzardwebsize.jpg
    132.5 KB · Views: 10
Its been a good year at North Staffordshire's premier birding hot spot over the last four decades with most regulars recording high year totals. I managed to beat my record this year with 112 species seen. Five other birders managed to do the Westport ton including novice birder Phil Jones for the first time. Six patch ticks this year for me as well - can't be bad but only managed 326 visits this year - a bit down on previous years. Must try harder!
 
Happy New year Folk's
I personally ringed just over 300 birds in 2010,not many i know but i ringed a lot more with my Bird ringing group,Bache,Shearwood and McShane who are based in Brewood,staffs,
Piedflycatcher young were really down in numbers in 2010,only ringed 191,The bulk of these were ringed at Coombs Valley Nature Reserve,The others were ringed at my local patch in Dimmingsdale Nr Alton
 
The Buzzard

I would say these are a couple of my Favourite shots that i took in 2010 even thought it came down to the scraps of meat at one of my feeding/ringing stations,These look like 2 different birds,They bred close by
 

Attachments

  • B1.JPG
    B1.JPG
    236.9 KB · Views: 15
  • B2.JPG
    B2.JPG
    309.8 KB · Views: 10
Happy New year Folk's
I personally ringed just over 300 birds in 2010,not many i know but i ringed a lot more with my Bird ringing group,Bache,Shearwood and McShane who are based in Brewood,staffs,
Piedflycatcher young were really down in numbers in 2010,only ringed 191,The bulk of these were ringed at Coombs Valley Nature Reserve,The others were ringed at my local patch in Dimmingsdale Nr Alton

You're quite welcome to come ring some in the garden Keith, we have discussed it before. Plenty of Bullfinches, Goldfinches and Redpolls. See if you can do better than Colin and the gang.
 
Happy New Year to you all.

My year will be a bit slow off the ground this, maybe even as late as February dependant on what my surgeon tells me.

Eider at Belvide this morning, what a way to start a new year with a reservoir tick for most of the regulars.

I ended the year a little early for my liking on 205 for the west Midland Bird Club Region, some ten species down on last years efforts, so I would really have to say it was not the best of years.

Maybe Berry Hill could just hold on to the SEO's a while, a bird i did not see last year.
 
Well I gave up on my year list by about June, I simply didn't have enough time to go birding to make it worth while keeping a year list. Something that might happen again this year and probably next as well.

Highlights for me, the first chiffchaff in my garden, in fact the first ever warbler on my garden list. SEOs at Berryhill, a bird I have been meaning to go see for quite some time. Getting within 3-4 yards of a sparrowhawk in the garden that had a greenfinch in its talons. Finding my very own waxwings at uni was possibly the best though.

Here's looking forward to 2011. I've got a uni field trip to Great Cumbrae in April, I am going to do some residential volunteering at RSPB Ynys-hir as well over June and my third year project starts over the summer (sampling for dead wood beetles), should be a good year!

Adam
 
Ringing in your Garden

You're quite welcome to come ring some in the garden Keith, we have discussed it before. Plenty of Bullfinches, Goldfinches and Redpolls. See if you can do better than Colin and the gang.

Thank you for your kind invitation,but at the moment iv'e got more than enough places to go netting birds,I suggest you stick to Colin and the Gang, I have nothing to prove by trying to better a very good friend of mine,I respect Colin to much and wish to keep it that way,Iv'e met some very good friends through the ringing group that i'm associated with and do not wish to upset anyone by trying to better them..
 
Thank you for your kind invitation,but at the moment iv'e got more than enough places to go netting birds,I suggest you stick to Colin and the Gang, I have nothing to prove by trying to better a very good friend of mine,I respect Colin to much and wish to keep it that way,Iv'e met some very good friends through the ringing group that i'm associated with and do not wish to upset anyone by trying to better them..

Think you took my Invitation the wrong way Keith, my saying better was aimed mainly at catching the Redpolls. Colin even mentioned you and another local ringer and suggested you come and ring some birds as you are a lot closer than he is. It's not a competion, it's a survey (especially with the Redpolls) to see if the ringed birds in my garden come back next year, obviously, the more we ring the better chance we have of seeing them in the future. There are a couple of other ringers I am in touch with who would be happy to do it, and I am starting on a course myself soon, so hopefully will be able to do it myself in future. All the best. Neil.
 
HNY, and Garden birds

Happy New Year to all on this forum and thanks for some really interesting stuff over 2010 - concluding for me with the two stunning SEOs at Berryhill which performed really well yesterday evening! Reasonable start to 2011 too with three Brambling appearing in the garden (close to Bagnall to the east of Stoke) alongside double-figure Chaffinchs . . . had a single Brambling a week or so ago so let's hope they're building up a bit. We've been getting redpoll for a few few weeks now and Neil's note on his ringed birds had me reviewing some recoveries that we've had from the birds marked here - don't get the numbers that Neil has but a few birds trickle through and some of these are ringed and found elsewhere or are "controls" that have been ringed somewhere else. I've attached a map of the distribution of the redpoll that we've heard back from in the last couple of years - hope it's of interest. It includes a bird ringed in Yorks that was found dead in Trentham . . not one that visited our garden but all part of the North Staffs picture so have included. I've a couple of outstanding controls not mapped that I've yet to hear back from the BTO on so I'll update when I get the feedback.

And, a different subject - the next meeting of the West Midland Bird Club Staffordshire Branch is on next Tuesday 4th Jan: Steve Stansfield, warden of Bardsey Island Bird Observatory is visiting with a talk about the island (just off the hook of North Wales) and is a place that has had some cracking birds over the years - should be a good 'un. Meeting is held at Perkins Sports and Social Club (with bar! and coffee) off Tixall Road in Stafford, starting at 7.30pm

cheers
Andy
 

Attachments

  • sot_redpolls.jpg
    sot_redpolls.jpg
    79.9 KB · Views: 25
highlights for me 2010 were mainly out of staffordshire working with the RSPB protecting the purple heron nest is high up there along with my trip to the states and all my time at dungeness and kent staffordshire highlights include the franklins gull and short eared owls , also black redstart on my patch
thanks to all the people that i have had lifts with this year that have helped me get 252 for the year

news for today female black cap in garden up clayton feeding on crad apples nice see that it has survived the weather
 
Could someone pm the directions to the SEO's from arbourfield? Never been, but looking to head up on Thursday...

Ta
Carl
 
Could someone pm the directions to the SEO's from arbourfield? Never been, but looking to head up on Thursday...

Ta
Carl

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie...d=118209269367094647896.0004490ebab0414443ff9

Click that link and scroll North a bit until you see the giant P at the end of Arbourfield. The place to look for the owls from is the place called Tiddlers pool, which almost directly south, but slightly to the left, from that P. The blue line shows the footpath, which should help with the directions below.

Park on Arbourfield, walk onto the site and to the arena area, take the footpath to your right (heading north-west on the map), follow it until you reach the hawthorn hedgerow and turn left (heading south on the map), and stand at the East side of the pond.

Hope this helps.

Adam
 
Bent Lane, Whitmore

At least 50 Brambling still present in the game cover this afternoon. Also a Little Egret near the Severn Trent building.

Cheers
Steve
 
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie...d=118209269367094647896.0004490ebab0414443ff9

Click that link and scroll North a bit until you see the giant P at the end of Arbourfield. The place to look for the owls from is the place called Tiddlers pool, which almost directly south, but slightly to the left, from that P. The blue line shows the footpath, which should help with the directions below.

Park on Arbourfield, walk onto the site and to the arena area, take the footpath to your right (heading north-west on the map), follow it until you reach the hawthorn hedgerow and turn left (heading south on the map), and stand at the East side of the pond.

Hope this helps.

Adam

Cheers Adam - bus to Dividy road mind :) Hope to give camera a work out!

Carl
 
Berryhill 2010

A good year here with 121 species recorded.
Due to lack of decent sized ponds etc still missing out on tart ticks such as Pochard,Wigeon,Tufted Duck,Shoveller,Great crested Grebe and Little Egret to name a few.
Have been working on the water issue and the council have applied for grants to create 3 scrapes and other habitat improvements but in the present hard up climate I will be surprised if we get any money.

Russell
 
Whitmore

Whitmore today again hosted 60 Bramblings and the Little Egret. Note this is not Whitemoor Haye in the east of the county but Whitmore south of N-u-Lyme.

Also had 2 bramblings in my Stoke garden today - one of which has learned how to feed on the sunflower feeder.

Nick
 
Westport Lake
2.15pm, Yellow Legged gull on edge of the ice middle of the main lake, also of note 5 Herring Gulls, fem Goosander and Shovler
 
Warning! This thread is more than 9 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top