Coney Meadow and Adjoining Areas (10 Viewers)

[Woodchat]

Just a short exercise walk this morning:

Cuckoo showed well
Lesser Whitethroat- good views
7 Greylags
Sedge Warblers
Reed Warblers
2 Swallows
Skylarks

 

[Woodchat]

A Little Egret flew over Coney/ Salwarpe at 15:30 - a patch year tick for me.

 

[Woodchat]

2 Cuckoos today - at Coney and near Ladywood
1 Gadwall
Water Rail
7 Lapwings
Skylarks
4 Willow Warblers
1 Meadow Pipit
Sedge Warblers
Reed Warblers
Swallow becoming more numerous
2 House Martins
Common Whitethroats
Lesser Whitethroat yesterday
Blackcaps
Chiffchaffs
Mistle Thrushes
Coot
Linnets
Grey Wagtails
Grey Herons
Sparrowhawk
Buzzards

 

[Woodchat]

Today's birds:

Grasshopper Warbler Coney Meadow
Water Rail
Reed Warblers
Sedge Warblers
3 Lesser Whitethroats
Common Whitethroats
Cetti's Warblers
Swallows
House Martin's
Buzzards
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Linnets
Grey Wagtails
Grey Herons
2 Gadwall
Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps
Green Woodpecker
Skylarks
Lapwing
Mistle Thrushes
Meadow Pipit

 

[Rob Williams]

Walk from home today to Coney Meadow and the canal

Reed Warbler
Sedge Warbler
Lesser Whitethroat
Common Whitethroat
House Martin
Buzzard
Linnet
Grey Wagtail
Grey Heron
Chiffchaff
Blackcap
Green Woodpecker
Skylark
Mistle Thrush
Song Thrush
Willow Warbler

 

[Julie50]

I envy you all warblers! Especially reed and sedge - they are among my favourite birds and I cannot access a habitat in walking distance!

I am having some fun trying to find chiffchaffs and blackcaps though - which I can hear and sometimes see along the River Cole as it wanders through my part of Birmingham!

 

[Philb50]

My first Swift over Salwarpe Church this morning. No luck with Gropper

 

[Woodchat]

The Gropper sang briefly this morning.
A Cuckoo was singing and showing well
A flyover male Shoveler over Coney Meadow
Three Greylags over
The usual Warblers including a couple of singing Lesser Whitethroats

 

[Rob Williams]

Grasshopper sang once at Coney Meadow
Lots of Blackcaps
Willow Warblers
Good views of Sedge Warblers

 

[Woodchat]

Quite an extensive walk today:

3 Cuckoos
1 Snipe
Female Peregrine
Kingfisher
3 Gadwall
7 Greylags plus individual flyovers
4 Lapwings
2 Ravens
Meadow Pipit
Reed, Sedge, Com Wthroat, Les Wthroat, Blackcap, Ciffchaff, Cetti's Warbler, Swallows, Yellowhammers, Linnets, Coots, etc.

Brown Hare

.

 

[Triturus]

Morning all.

I know most of you will be looking upwards as many of our migrant birds return but it is equally exciting if we look down as many of our native plants are developing fast. Check out these learning and ID resources for plants https://www.speciesrecoverytrust.org.uk/resources
I know Dom who does the grass ID video and he is not just a top botanist but a great communicator. It is a great learning aid for beginners or refresher for those of us who have gotten a bit rusty on our ID.

Did a very quick and informal survey of a very small garden pond in Salwarpe last night and got 29 great crested newts and similar numbers of smooth newts.

 

[Woodchat]

Generally very quiet on the patch:

2 Cuckoos
Peregrine
2 Willow Warblers
2 Lapwings
3 Gadwall
Coot
Cetti's Warblers
Common and Lesser Whitethroats
Sedge, Reed Warblers, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Goldcrest, etc

 

[Woodchat]

No signs of fresh migration today:

1 or 2 Cuckoos
Snipe
Gadwall
Singing Yellowhammer near Salwarpe
Raven
3 Lesser Whitethroats
Common Whitethroats, Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, 3 Swallows, 3 House Martins, Grey Wagtails, Grey Herons, Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, Reed Buntings, Coal Tit, Goldcrests, Treecreeper etc.

 

[Woodchat]

A better day on the patch with some signs of migration:

1 Red Kite
7+ Swifts
4+ Cuckoos
1 Wheatear
1 Yellow Wagtail
6 Sand Martins
6 Lapwings
Better numbers of Swallows and House Martins
All the commoner Warblers (RW, SW, LWT, CWT, CC, BC)
5 Gadwall

Brown Hare

.

 

[rollingthunder]

Good stuff - nice to see somebody else not only out and about but willing to post it with or without a Tin hat

Laurie:t:

 

[Woodchat]

Good stuff - nice to see somebody else not only out and about but willing to post it with or without a Tin hat

Laurie:t:

I'm lucky Laurie - I can walk to all my local sites as part of my daily exercise. Since the lockdown I've only driven to go to the supermarket once a week plus I did have to visit the bank yesterday. Many people are much less fortunate and are missing their visits to their regular patches as this would entail a trip in the car to get there.

 

[rollingthunder]

Agreed but it does highlight the reliance on a car to do what people describe as ‘local’ birding which in reality is anything but. I personally describe ‘local’ birding as 2 miles radius of the house pushing it to 5 from time to time. Mine is obviously accessed via pushbike as i have never driven a car and eschewed 40 years of motorbikes 5 years ago. Our friend from Warley is a regular visitor to the Goldfish Bowl - that must be a 40 mile round trip. I will be glad when this is all over and he can get back to being just a hypocrite

More birds would be found if people went out and birded ‘notspots’ rather than the usual well-known sites imho.....

Good birding -

Laurie:t:

Oh and while i think of it i had a re-read of the Eilat trip notes you very kindly sent me a few years ago. I will reciprocate when i finally ‘bucket list’ the place

 

[Woodchat]

.........

More birds would be found if people went out and birded ‘notspots’ rather than the usual well-known sites imho.....

.........

I'm lucky as I'm pretty much retired now so I've got all the time in the world and it doesn't matter if I get several days in a row where there's very little happening on my 'notspot'. I can understand people who are much busier and, in normal times, want some instant gratification by visiting a decent reserve which may require a drive.

I had planned to go on a 2 month campervan tour of France and Spain this year (originally planned to go on 26th April) but that's obviously on hold due to the virus. Luckily the ferry company will issue a travel voucher up to the value of the original fare. Hopefully this will still happen next year.

Israel is a great place and definitely a must do.

 

[Birder Gladys]

I'm lucky as I'm pretty much retired now so I've got all the time in the world and it doesn't matter if I get several days in a row where there's very little happening on my 'notspot'. I can understand people who are much busier and, in normal times, want some instant gratification by visiting a decent reserve which may require a drive.

I had planned to go on a 2 month campervan tour of France and Spain this year (originally planned to go on 26th April) but that's obviously on hold due to the virus. Luckily the ferry company will issue a travel voucher up to the value of the original fare. Hopefully this will still happen next year.

Israel is a great place and definitely a must do.

Are you counting these countries as part of Coney adjoining areas?

 

[Dick-E-Dipper]

I personally describe ‘local’ birding as 2 miles radius of the house pushing it to 5 from time to time. Mine is obviously accessed via pushbike . Our friend from Warley is a regular visitor to the Goldfish Bowl - that must be a 40 mile round trip. I will be glad when this is all over and he can get back to being just a hypocrite

Laurie:t:

Talk about being a hypocrit "2-5 miles from time to time" more like 20-30 miles every day. We share cars on our occasional trips out. We certainly dont fly 1000`s of miles to watch birds overseas!!!

The Royal `I` you call yourself is the biggest hypocrit.