Upton Warren (1 Viewer)

[midlands birder]

i thought wild birds were colour ringed
but how much i would love it to be wild

 

[timmyjones]

Not all wild birds get colour ringed could just be a silver bto style ring. But if anyone sees a gap in it then it's an escape but no gap in the ring then its a wild bird, don't see why it shouldn't be wild pink foot was there few days ago and white front eariler in the year...

 

[midlands birder]

that white front was brilliant
ive learned something new,never knew about the gap in the ring indicates plastic and no gap is wild,could come in help some day

 

[timmyjones]

No I've got it wrong! If there's a gap its wild if there's not its captive!

This is because captive birds are rung when young and a closed ring can be pushed on over the young birds foot before its grown whereas wild birds are generally rang when older and so an open ring are used and bent around the adult birds leg.

 

[Sy V]

Off work today - using up annual leave.
Thought it might be quieter than a weekend day (won't have JB banging on about Vis Mig in the background ) , so I'm going to try and get some video of the views from the hides.
Haven't got a Scooby's what to do with the resultant imagery though... (Leave It!)

 

[Duck_Pond]

If it's as misty as it is here in Leamington, you won't get much of a view!

 

[Sy V]

I wasn't trying to see Leamington!

OK, the light was crappy and it was as misty as hell, but that was made up for by the Bittern, Little Egret and Goosander that were on the Moors.
Uploading imagery as I type, got panoramic video from Lapwing, Water Rail and Avocet hides. But, I don't know whether it'll be up to much...
Update: The video (whilst watchable and usable) is less than brilliant and a tad underexposed. So I now know what I have to do to rectify it, next time.

I also got a mixed bag of results photo-wise too.
But here are a few anyway...

 

[Sy V]

And another couple - I am really chuffed with the Water Rail shot...

 

[timmyjones]

Went to Upton this afternoon after college and dropped into the flashes first where there were a lot of redwing and blackbird flying around. On the water there wasn't much counted 448 Lapwing and 17 Snipe.

Over at the moors had the Bittern fly into the reed bed in front of the west hide at about 3:30pm and then poked his head for a while where I grabbed a few poor photos. Also 1st Winter Male Goldeneye, little egret and female goosander flew off towards the flashes at 3:20pm. Also had a count of the shoveler and had 118 quite a high count, also 30 Curlew and 5 Little Grebe.

Also of note had a mink in front of the West hide in the sedges in front so might need some more traps setting!

 

[upstarts1979]

Hi SY
I promise not to mention Vis Mig. We'll settle into a bit of winter birding and a little 'hard weather movement'. BUT come March 'VIS MIG' will be back.
Looks like you had some good birding today.
Down all day Saturday
see you soon
Cheers John

 

[upstarts1979]

Also had a count of the shoveler and had 118 quite a high count,
Also of note had a mink in front of the West hide in the sedges in front so might need some more traps setting!

Hi Tim
A very good count of Shoveler in fact the 7th highest ever for the reserve.
A count of 100 used to be of National Importance ie 1% of the British wintering total back in the 80's.
I'm not sure if that number still stands on a national basis these days.

The mink might be the one that caught and killed a grey heron in that area a couple of weeks ago. The trappers have returned not sure how successful they have been though.

I saw your comments about the Barnacle goose ring(well noticed) - interesting to find out where it came from. Might be worth putting a note in the Log books to try and get someone to read its number.
On a ringing track there are a few good sites, I'm sure Simon will be interested so I'll post the Links later.

cheers John

 

[timmyjones]

Thought there looked like there were a lot around and once i'd counted them I realised that there were indeed!

Lets hope the mink gets caught soon. The Barnacle wasn't present this afternoon but there weren't a lot of Canadas around so maybe it was somewhere else.

 

[upstarts1979]

Hi Tim /Sy

here are those links re - ringing
www.cr-birding.be/
once in the site go to main option, then 'report a recovery' , then 'English'
this will then open up all the different types of rings - and then go from there

We have a good few Med Gulls during Autumn several with coloured 'darvic' rings, the following site will give you info on the different coloured rings used for each country.
www.southendrspb.co.uk/medgull.htm

I'll try and collate this years ringing recoveries from this scheme.

cheers John

 

[upstarts1979]

the flashes nearly 5 years ago

The 3 pictures show the flashes viewing from the north to the south of the 2nd flash.
for those who visit the reserve Note how the phragmites has spread in the last 5 years. I will upload more recent photos later, these were taken in March 2005
cheers john

 

[Sy V]

Yes, it is noticeable in these photos, compared to present day, John.
I suppose this gives you a bit of a management headache, as the Phrag provides cover/roosting/nesting sites for a number of species, but nobody would want to see it all 'round the perimeter of the Flashes, would they?
What are your views on its management?
There's an interesting Wikipedia article outlining its pros and cons here.

Sy

 

[Sy V]

Hi SY
...BUT come March 'VIS MIG' will be back...

I reckon you'm reading aloud out of a Viz Mag, matey!

 

[upstarts1979]

Yes, it is noticeable in these photos, compared to present day, John.
I suppose this gives you a bit of a management headache, as the Phrag provides cover/roosting/nesting sites for a number of species, but nobody would want to see it all 'round the perimeter of the Flashes, would they?
What are your views on its management?
There's an interesting Wikipedia article outlining its pros and cons here.

Sy

Hi Sy
interesting article. Yes if it is allowed to proliferate scrub might follow such as blackthorn - which is good stuff but not along the shoreline of our prime wader habitat. I have just dug out some photos from 1999 and there was no sign of any phragy then.
Last work party we had to dig out clumps of the stuff in one of the channels to the right of the hide - believe me it is hard work, chemicals are the only answer (BUT that is for the WWT to sort out).
Like you say the water rail and reed warbler population have quadrupled, so a certain amount is desirable.
Were the ringing sites any use.
as for vis mag always got a copy
cheers John

 

[Sy V]

Yes the ringing sites are fascinating. I'm working through them during lunchtimes at my desk. Cheers matey.

Sy

 

[upstarts1979]

First for the reserve

An all-dayer yesterday from 7.45am - 5.15pm.
Strong winds and heavy showers until 2.45pm didn't bring any of the wind swept vagrants that appeared further south in Gloucestershire.
Although the Bittern performed admirably in the top of the reeds in the Broadmeadow pool for 30 minutes or more.

There was a little southerly movement of passerines early on which involved Fieldfare, Redwing, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting, Pied Wagtail and the ubiquitous Meadow Pipit all in modest numbers.
So I confined myself to more detailed counts of the water birds than I would normally do (no thats a lie I'm always counting - all in a good cause for this years annual report). Continuous counting and checking the flocks is the way I bird trying to find something different.
The numbers were as follows:
GCG 12, Little Grebe 6, Teal 69, Shoveler 104, Goosander female, Tufted 52, Pochard 25, Coot 335, Lapwing 120, Snipe 38 and Curlew 20.
Other birds of note were Peregrine, Water Rail (3) Kinfisher (3), Cettis Warbler 2 singing.
Throughout the day the Black headed gulls numbered 100 to 150. But at 2pm there was a noticeable influx joined by 120 Lesser Black Backed all resting on the pool (photo to follow) not a frequent event for upton by any means.
After a good few hours at the Moors I decided to go onto the flashes to check out the roost. On my way to the 2nd flash hide I was greeted by a twittering sub song that caught my attention. Subsequent views and flight calls revealed a new bird for the reserve - Twite (three birds). Two other birds joined them as they unfortunately dropped the otherside of the hedge and couldn't be relocated.
cheers John

 

[midlands birder]

very well done with you first for the reserve,shame i couldent make it to upton saturday night,i would have been with you.
had a great day at slimbridge today though,a total of nearly 9000 birds seen:eek!: