Friday January 20

In a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, I got up early to arrive at Arrow Valley Lake before dawn in the hope that the Glaucous Gull would put in a repeat performance. I imagine it was the bird which has been roosting at Bartley Reservoir lately.

The sky was clear and the lake was partly frozen. The small reed-bed produced a few Reed Buntings emerging from their roost. I couldn't see any gulls to begin with, so I headed down the lake where I was surprised by three Little Egrets as they flew from the island where they must have been roosting. As I approached the island two more flew off, and another remained in view, but distant. I moved closer and saw another one, but wondered whether it might have been one of the two which had apparently flown off. Soon, both egrets went, and I resigned myself to having missed the opportunity to photograph them.

By now I was aware that there were 10 Goosanders swimming in front of the island, including three adult males.

The Goosander flock

I moved closer to get a better view, although the light remained poor.

Adult male Goosander

As I started to head back, a Kingfisher flew in and perched in a perfect spot. Shame about the light though.

Kingfisher

I continued back only to see one of the Little Egrets returning. A hurried backtrack allowed me to get the views I had hoped for.

Little Egret

By now gulls were starting to arrive, and I found a spot from where I could see a lot of the lake. Most were Black-headed Gulls, but there were two or three Lesser Black-backed Gulls as well. I then spotted a distant duck swimming in circles, and suspected a Shoveler. It was curiously dark though.

I decided to head over for a better look, and found this.

Clearly some kind of Shoveler on body and bill shape, but in a very weird plumage. I wondered about Australasian Shoveler, but it lacks a white crescent behind the bill. The narrow pale neck ring is wrong for any kind of Shoveler, so I was left to conclude it was a hybrid ShovelerXsomething (maybe Mallard).

More gulls were arriving on the ice, but by the time I had to go they had only built up to 60 Black-headed Gulls, three Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and an adult Herring Gull.

Adult Herring Gull

Back at home, the journey from the paper shop was briefly halted by a tacking call, probably of a Blackcap, but it soon stopped and I couldn't see it, so I'll wait for better circumstances before I add one to the list.

Thursday January 19

I've been saving the best till last. This morning, in grey misty conditions (again) I made my first visit to what is surely the jewel in the crown within my patch boundary. I refer to Arrow Valley Lake.

Looking down the lake from the north-east corner

Compared to my Morton Bagot patch it has a lot going for it. Deep water for a start, so it should be good for gulls, possibly terns, grebes, and diving ducks. It even has a small heronry. On the other hand it will be useless for waders, having no shoreline and lots of coarse fishermen, and loads of people walking dogs, jogging, and potentially mugging innocent birders (hopefully not). It even has a cafe.

The cafe

So a boost for my Patchwork Challenge year-list was expected today.

First up were the easy wildfowl, 17 Mute Swans, 20 Coot, 13 Canada Geese, and 49 Mallard. Gulls were hard to ignore, the site contained at least 100 Black-headed Gulls, a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and a second winter Herring Gull. A Tufted Duck joined the birds which were obviously used to being fed on bread.

In front of the cafe I could see a Greylag Goose, and further away three Great Crested Grebes, a Goosander, and three Cormorants. The feeders in front of the cafe had attracted two Greenfinches, strangely absent from the streets around our house this winter, and the stroll along the west side added three Moorhens and a Grey Heron.

More Goosanders flew in, two drakes just kept going, but a redhead joined the one already present. I was determined to get some sort of photograph of the species, which is very scarce at Morton Bagot.

Goosander - possibly an immature drake

Great Crested Grebe

Returning along the east side I spotted a Kingfisher sitting on the branch of a tree at the edge of the heronry island. Too distant for a shot. However, a little further on I was surprised to see it again, and this time much closer, though annoyingly a bit obscured. Good enough though.

Kingfisher

 A Sparrowhawk flew by, and nine Redwings were perched in trees at the carpark. I had recorded 37 species on a visit with very little effort invested in it.  Very satisfactory.

Postscript: Just discovered that yesterday a Glaucous Gull was present here. Had I known about it I could have seen it because due to a bout of ill health suffered by Lyn (she appears to have recovered today) I was late into work. I even year-ticked Great Spotted Woodpecker on the way to the paper shop.

Very unsatisfactory.

Saturday January 14

A non-birding day, but I still managed to see a Black-headed Gull from the car-park at Morrisons, count 12 Magpies on the way to the paper-shop (more than the record total at Morton Bagot), and a Nuthatch from the bedroom window.

Overnight I heard a Fox call, reminding me that mammals tend to get neglected on this blog. The recent visit to Isley Alders produced evidence of a mammal which is presumably quite common, but never seen. I refer to the mole hills which are prevalent in the woodland edge there.

I also, finally managed to photograph a Long-tailed Tit on our feeder.

Long-tailed Tit

and got a better shot of a Great Tit for good measure.

Great Tit

The day is expected to descend into farce now, as we are off to see La La Land without having managed to buy tickets beforehand, and West Brom are playing Spurs away, I am expecting a calamitous defeat.

Later: Tottenham 4 West Brom 0. At least I didn't watch it, and we got in to see La La Land.

Friday January 13

We woke up to snow, but not much. Cold snaps are not what they once were. The Blackbirds in the garden seemed grateful for the extra apples I chucked out.

Blackbirds

A cold northerly wind after the snow turned to sleet and then stopped altogether. A couple of short walks produced the only year tick in the form of a Sparrowhawk. Most of the day was spent indoors, so the garden and its surrounds had to be relied upon to keep me interested.

Collared Dove

Starling

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Thursday January 12

After three days of leaving for work before dawn and returning after dusk I was keen to get out this morning. The early morning was cloudy, but rain began from late morning.

The trip to the paper shop produced very little, but I did finally get a chance to photograph a Goldcrest.

Goldcrest

I love Goldcrests, but they are so tiny and fast that they are a nightmare to capture on film.

After breakfast I set off on foot for Ipsley Alders, a Worcestershire Trust reserve just 800 yards from the house which, I'm ashamed to say, I haven't visited for about four years. On the walk along Alders Drive I heard and briefly saw a Treecreeper.

When I got to the reserve the rain was falling steadily, so I settled for some habitat photos.

and a token bird shot.

Chaffinch

I didn't see many birds; a couple of Jays, a few Goldfinches, and some Rooks for example. The place seemed asleep, but I am sure the wildlife will come into its own as the year develops.

Back home we were eating lunch when a Jay appeared in the Silver Maple beyond the garden. It looked to be on a mission, so I grabbed the camera. Sure enough it flew into our apple tree and presently arrived on the lawn where it dug up an acorn.

Jay

Presumably it had cached the acorn earlier in the autumn and had remembered where it was buried. It flew off immediately.

Sunday January 8

Despite not birding here today, I managed to hear a Pied Wagtail through the fog as I returned from the paper shop.

Also, lunchtime was enlivened by the sight of two Great Tits bathing in the recently relocated bird bath. I have put it further away from the kitchen window, which obviously makes the bathers feel safer. The disadvantage for me is that it is now rather hard to see through the masking branches of the shrubbery.

Great Tit having a bath

Saturday January 7

Another cloudy day with hardly a breath of wind.

The nearest I came to birding was my visit to the paper-shop, remembering to take my camera this time. I spent several minutes observing the birds taking cotoneaster berries close to the shop, but was eventually forced to conclude that the best of the berry-eaters were several Redwings.

Redwing

However, the good thing about the first ten days of the year is that you can add year-ticks accidentally. So this morning I noticed a Jay as I drove to Morrisons, and later clocked a Mallard from the kitchen window as it flew past. Easy peasy.

Less satisfactory were my attempts to photograph various tits and a Goldcrest in the back garden. It didn't help that for much of the time I was cooking the dinner for Lyn and my parents. The results were all disappointingly fuzzy.