Grimley and Holt (4 Viewers)

[Isaac2]

Monday morning , I will start with the bad first ,only saw 1 Mute swan in my walk around and this one did not look in good condition, 50+ last year , hopefully there feeding elsewhere. 4 Pochards were my first of the Autumn 3m 1 f, Stonechats were in several places and 2 Little Egrets South end.
Wagon Wheel pits 70+ Wigeon 30+ Gadwall , 25+ Shovellor and a Common Gull over. River levels at the moment are up by 300mm and rising.

 

[Dick-E-Dipper]

Monday morning , I will start with the bad first ,only saw 1 Mute swan in my walk around and this one did not look in good condition,

Could this, which seems likely, be Bird Flu. The Midlands TV News today showed cases in Stratford on Avon. They gave a Defra Tel. Nr . (03459 335577) It maybe worth reporting if you feel this Swan had the symptoms so as to prevent potential spread to other wild fowl
Richard

 

[Isaac2]

Could this, which seems likely, be Bird Flu. The Midlands TV News today showed cases in Stratford on Avon. They gave a Defra Tel. Nr . (03459 335577) It maybe worth reporting if you feel this Swan had the symptoms so as to prevent potential spread to other wild fowl
Richard

No it wasnt swimming around in circles just standing in the field with its head down as if asleep but with the head forward .

 

[Isaac2]

Friday morning a few more Swans around today, along with 2 Shelduck , 5+ Pochard an increase in Shovellor to over 70 and Wigeon to over 120.

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday morning not too much change , 2 Cettis Warblers and calling Water Rail CLP and Stonechats and Green Sandpiper Church Farm . 46 species .

 

[Isaac2]

Friday morning, overcast ,calm, the old workings Island Pool , difficult to see all the area at once but the totals are the maximum i could see from one place . 5 Great white Egrets ,19 Little Egrets ,2 Eygptian Geese and 33 Goosander. A flock of 10+ L. Redpoll in Alders and 1 possibly 2 Marsh Tits , thank you again Patch in the woodland .
Of interest a wasp nest was built into the bird box on the outside of the bird hide .---> more to follow .

 

[Isaac2]

Continuing from last post ,3 Cattle Egrets where with the Beef herd Wagon Wheel pits .
Stonechats, a single Shelduck , 6 Pochard, 80+ lapwing and water rails calling CLP. , and at the South end Otter.

 

[Isaac2]

22 Egrets is the highest count at any 1 time Ive had at the Grimley area, so i am sure the total will be bested at Island Pool in the near future especially if a group of people can count as it is difficult to see very much of the pool from 1 location .

 

[Isaac2]

Sunday morning Church Farm 2 Blackcaps in Copse . Only saw 1 male Pochard CLP . Sun low and bright making observations challenging but could see no other new arrivals . Fishing pools at the South end had 3GW. Egrets and a kingfisher the former birds probably displaced from Island pool area due to a bike riding event.

 

[Steve Newland]

Plenty of wigeon at Camp Lane and the female goldeneye. Being late, the starlings started to murmur and I reckon about a thousand dropped into the reeds by the causeway. That seems a likely place to be disturbed, so I wonder if they settled.

 

[Steve Newland]

Monkwood isn't really here but it's close and I didn't want to start another thread. Last month I defintiely had a couple of bramblings in with the siskin flock, just preening at the top of an alder (I think). That confused me because I take brambling to be a ground-dwelling bird but that doesn't mean to say it can't perch way up high. Today I had another individual with a redpoll flock but this time actively feeding in the crown of the tree (alder again, I think). Is this likely? All the birds were ferociously backlit and a long way up, so I might have been getting some colour aberration and I'm not sure that redpolls show a reddish bib at this time of year. This bird was larger and much paler underneath than the rest of the flock.

 

[Woodchat]

Yes - Bramblings can also feed in trees - I've watched a few doing that this week 👍

 

[Isaac2]

CLP Friday morning ,have not posted for a while i have been going but there was little change . Goosander female on the main pit but towards the South end . Well over 200 Lapwing but difficult to count with any accuracy [tend to be landing on the East side amongst bales of hay left to rot]. There was a distant Egptian Goose on rain flooded field at the end of Wagon Wheel lane .
The river itself is still 1.5 metres from overspilling and may not flood the fields so often now as its got the Salmon /Char passage to run through as well . Adds about25% to the total capacity. If so it puts more water to Upton further downstream ,lets hope not .

 

[Isaac2]

Wednesday morning there was a Water Rail on the North causeway and 2 Stonechats in the reeds , however most of the birds were on the flooded field at the end of Wagon Wheel lane . 600+ Canada Geese, 800 + BH Gulls, 300+ Lapwing and 100+ assorted ducks which included MF Pintail ,2M,+F Mandarin, 4 M + 2F Goosander ,Mallards, Shovellor, Wigeon ,Teal ,Gadwall and 2M Pochard.

 

[Phil Andrews]

A belated report of a Guillemot (photographed) - a first for Worcestershire - on Camp Lane Pits on the 1st December

 

[Isaac2]

A quick visit Monday afternoon on a dull cloudy day a Bewick Swan off the North Causeway a first for me at Grimley. Always expect the unexpected.

 

[Isaac2]

From yesterday ,in the excitement I forgot to add that there was also a Great White Egret present .

 

[Isaac2]

Friday morning foggy, Male and female Goosander on main pit , a few fieldfares present . 20+ Reed Bunting along West shore hedgerow. Mistle Thrush singing .

 

[Isaac2]

Monday morning , not much of an improvement in weather conditions from last time but at least the visability was better. 2F1M Goosander main pit as well as a male Goldeneye. I missed the female from a couple of weeks earlier and have only just caught up with the male which has been there for nearly a week i think. River well up but not over the banks ,however flooding at the end of Wagon Wheel lane has brought in about 450 Canada Geese, 5 Little Egrets and a few regular ducks . There would of probably been more but a large probably female Peregrine was sat on the distant fence line

 

[Isaac2]

Quick recap to end the year at Grimley ,125 species seen of which Rock pipit , Channel Wagtail, Blue- Headed Wagtail, Ruddy Shelduck and Bewick Swan were all firsts for me . Snow Goose although not a first not seen for at least 4 years.
Waders had a poor year with things like Ringed Plover and Dunlin only seen on 1 occasion , normally these 2 species would have multiple records . I dont think any bred at all or even tried to breed and that applied to common Tern as well. Autumn wader passage was non existant unless i missed it . The heron family on the other hand seems to be on the up with Little Egret 19 , G.W. Egret 5 Cattle Egret 3 at the same time . 3 species of Owl still present but getting less frequently seen.
Hope everyone is well, keep safe and have an enjoyable 2022.