Bittell Reservoirs and Hopwood area (1 Viewer)

[keithr]

Thanks....I looked at ALL waders in my book and only a couple had a bill like this....the evening sun gives a false impression as it turns everything too red.
I looked through bins and my toy town scope and couldn't really see any pale colouring underneath whereas the Gulls were showing white and right next to it.
It will just have to remain a mystery.

 

[keithr]

Upper...5.30...

On the point 1 Common Sand and 5-6 very small waders...either or both Ringed...Little Ringed Plovers.

When I only had bins couldn't see a thing on the point so thinks have to get a tiny scope at least...now got the tiniest I can see shapes. ..but now need to know what they are so need at least a medium scope...when will it end....lol

 

[keithr]

UPPER....Sunday evening and a little family party of these warblers popped up on the bridge area by the overflow channel.

 

[keithr]

Saturday evening ...not a lot of birds but this made up for it..

 

[Rob_S]

Lower, 3.30pm - very quiet apart from dozens of juvenile Mallard and a small number of Moorhen and Coot. I didn't stay long.

Upper, 3.45pm - *teeming* with birds. I would conservatively say there was a thousand birds visible from the dam, basking on all that fresh, rapidly-drying mud or rooting around in the plants springing up on it. Unfortunately there wasn't a huge variety of species. A single Sandpiper (Green?) opposite the Sailing Club (where the gulls and cormorants usually are, is this The Point referred to by Keith above?) and a flyover Sparrowhawk were the most interesting by far.
Dozens of BHG, LBBG, Canada Goose, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Mallard made up most of the rest.

 

[keithr]

LOWER....Weds...3 pm. ..King on overflow rail then flew to far end.
Thurs 7.45 pm...King on overflow rail..then into tree on right before going off to far end.

UPPER...Thurs ..8.15pm...Common Sand in front of causeway as I arrived then off to shoreline by boats....where the 10 Barnacles were.
Loads of Swallows...

Nights drawing in now. ..

 

[keithr]

LOWER...1.30pm

Just stopped when passing....no Cam..bins or scope.......saw a wader take flight from the flooded "little island" in front of the slope from Mill Shrub......only saw it in silhouette with it flying like a Green Sandpiper....with (bad) eyes couldnt see any white on it.

UPDATE...could it have been a Snipe ?

UPPER..4.30pm...must be over 500 Geese on north side....mostly Canada. ..few Greylag and 10 Barnacle.
50+ Lapwing on East shore.Only 1 Oystercatcher amongst them.

 

[JoshT01]

LOWER...1.30pm

Just stopped when passing....no Cam..bins or scope.......saw a wader take flight from the flooded "little island" in front of the slope from Mill Shrub......only saw it in silhouette with it flying like a Green Sandpiper....with (bad) eyes couldnt see any white on it.

UPDATE...could it have been a Snipe ?

UPPER..4.30pm...must be over 500 Geese on north side....mostly Canada. ..few Greylag and 10 Barnacle.
50+ Lapwing on East shore.Only 1 Oystercatcher amongst them.

Lower had snipe during spring and they should be picking up in numbers this time of year so it's perfectly possible.

 

[keithr]

Had Snipe by the fish ponds and in the fields at the back of Alvechurch Fisheries before now.

 

[Rob_S]

Upper 7pm - 8.15pm

Swallows and House Martins all over the place, and a couple of Swifts still.

200+ Canada Geese. From 7.40pm onwards, at intervals of 2-3 minutes, groups of 30 or so would make a racket on the water then take off and head for their roost. This happened at least 8 times. Very few came back, so they must be roosting elsewhere.

100+ Greylag Geese. These left en masse around 8pm, again accompanied by a raft of noise.

10 Barnacle Geese.

Common Sandpiper (3), Oystercatcher (1) and approx 20 Lapwing dotted around the edge of the ever-diminishing lake.

 

[Rob_S]

Also last night - Med Gull, stood on the edge of the water at the end of the footpath on to the causeway next to the sailing club.

Spent a lot of time closely watching the selection of BH Gulls feeding over the water, as I thought initially there was a Little Gull in amongst them - certainly one bird which ticked a lot of boxes - small, erratic flight pattern, dark bill etc - but I came to the conclusion it must be a BH Gull as there wasn't enough of a difference in size.

 

[Bittell Birder]

Upper 12:30: Juvenile Peregrine showing on and off, flying up and down the shores, harassed by crows and gulls.

 

[Rob_S]

Did the Upper/Lower loop between 7pm and 8pm.

Upper - Green Woodpecker in the field next to the path up to the causeway from the Sailing Club.
Plenty of birds around but little else of note.

Lower - Swift x7

 

[keithr]

UPPER...Saturday evening.....Common Sandpiper on shore at start of dam (where we stand) as I arrived but flew off to south shore.....only other thing of note was the 10 Barnacle Geese.

LOWER...Monday evening...Kingfisher on one of the white poles.....watched for 15 mins where it dived 5 times ....then on to the submerged tree where it continued to dive....could tell if it caught anything as only used eyes...lol ...... left it to him and went home.

There wont be anywhere for kings to fish soon with all the weed.

 

[Rob_S]

Upper 7pm - Kingfisher along the bottom of the dam. Flew off as I got close but circled around and landed back on the dam. Calling, and being answered from the woods along the outflow channel.

Swift x 3 over the fields between Upper and Lower.

The fields to the north of the Sailing Club were being harvested this evening, hopefully increasing the variety of birds passing through?

 

[Bittell Birder]

1 Redshank and 1 Ringed Plover on Upper this afternoon. Other than this, the reservoirs looking quiet at the moment. LRP's and Common Sands look to have moved on, whilst only 2 Lapwing were dotted around the shores. Sparrowhawk over.

 

[JoshT01]

Had a great encounter with a STOAT just down from the Church. Ran towards the tree right next to me, and proceeded to climb to the top of the tree and jumped through the branches above me until I lost sight. Fantastic. 100% stoat, not squirrel... lol

 

[JoshT01]

Draining Upper Bittell Reservoir

With water levels lower than anybody has ever seen, it doesn't seem long before we will have no water left at Upper Bittell. I find it important that birders understand what is going on, and the impact it will have.

The problem is the Dam and valve. Repair and adjustments are needed for both, which will eventually see the whole Dam cordoned off while repairs are done.
It is expected that work will begin around December, with netting of the fish rumoured to be around October-November.

The MAIN IMPACT on us birders is the presence of the so called 'Killer Shrimps' in the canals. The water will be taken out of Upper, and pumped into these canals. This means that the water WON'T be pumped back into the reservoir, due to the damage these shrimp will cause to the fish.

Therefore, we shall have to rely upon rainwater to refill the reservoir, which will in all likelihood take years. The repair work is vital, so there is nothing that can be done to stop it, much to the annoyance of members of Bittell Reservoir, be them birders, sailers, fishers and anybody else.

The timings of work aren't usually reliable as I am told the company involved with the repair aren't exactly true to their word. The above is a major blow to us birders that enjoy birding around our patch.

I fear that with all this change, the overall ecosystem and our birding will never be the same around the Reservoirs.

 

[Rob_S]

Thanks for the info. I'd heard some of this from other birders when I've been at Bittell.

Don't suppose there's any chance we might instead end up with some nice marshy areas which end up being perfect bird habitat? We can but hope...

 

[JoshT01]

Unfortunately I expect all we'll be left with is an expanse of stones and concrete. We can definitely hope though, who knows what will happen!