Saturday January 28

Well I did my duty today and spent an hour staring at the back-garden in order to take part in the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch.

I recorded a typical seven species; 2 House Sparrows, 2 Blue Tits, 2 Great Tits, 1 Robin, 3 Blackbirds, 2 Dunnocks, and 2 Long-tailed Tits.

The rules, as I understand them, are pretty strict. You can only count birds in your garden at any one time, so although I saw two females and a male House Sparrow during the hour I was obliged to record them as two birds because I never saw them all in the garden together.

Also, I saw Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, and Grey Heron flying past during the hour, but couldn't count any of them as none landed in the garden.

Just after the hour I saw two Robins together, but they missed the cut.

Whether the other many thousands of observers are following these rules I cannot say, but the results suggest possibly not. Common Gull seems surprisingly frequently recorded in peoples gardens for instance.

Mind you, Patchwork Challenge now also gives the option of seeing what fellow competitors are scoring and while the majority look fine, a few make my eyebrows raise, such as putting Common Gull on every list but no other species of gull.

I also saw my first insect of the year, some kind of blowfly. I have no idea what it was so I am calling it a Common Fly. Roll on Insect Patchwork Challenge.

Friday January 27 - The January twitch

I promised myself at the start of this year that in addition to opening up a second front, East Redditch, on the patch birding scene, I would also twitch something within easy reach once a month. In truth there hasn't been much locally to get excited about since my new year resolution but missing the Glaucous Gull at Arrow Valley Lake has concentrated my mind. Up the three had been roosting at Bartley Reservoir and I decided I would go to try to see them.

However before I get to that I should say that during a day of domestic jobs, and our attendance at the funeral of Suzanne, our next-door neighbour, I did add Common Buzzard to my patch year-list.

The first challenge was actually getting to Bartley Reservoir. I drove past Bittell Reservoir only to discover my way blocked by some serious roadworks at Barnt Green. Consequently, I drove over the Lickey Hills, across the M5, and then back towards Birmingham via a second diversion to finally arrive at 16.15. I was pleased to see about five car loads of birders already there. Patch birding is a rather solitary occupation and I've missed the craic of chatting to other birders.

Soon after I started scanning, Steve Roberts got out of his car to give directions to a first-winter Iceland Gull he had spotted. I got on it quite easily and, as the light wasn't too bad, tried a shot with the trusty bridge camera.

Iceland Gull

A couple of other birders were looking through scopes on tripods, and they were joined by another face I recognised, Ian Ricketts. After a bit of banter, he spends a lot of time on the Hebridean island of Barra and is planning to move there permanently later this year, he showed me the photo he had taken of the same bird through his iPhone which he had clamped to the end of his scope. All I could say was wow, and to show why, I took a photo of the image at the back of his camera.

Ian's photo 

At around this time someone spotted my target bird, a first-winter Glaucous Gull, which I soon located. The light had faded to the extent that even Ian didn't bother trying to get a shot. At this point another character I hadn't seen for a while appeared from his car, Terry Hinett. He always has plenty to say and it was interesting to hear that all the main Worcestershire tips have now closed and as a result Westwood Pool no longer has a regular gull roost. I am acutely conscious that I have never twitched a Caspian Gull in Worcestershire, and it's now apparent I had better make an effort sooner rather than later. In fact, a second-winter Caspian Gull was apparently somewhere on the reservoir tonight, but I couldn't find it and no-one else seemed keen to get back on it.

Apparently I had picked the right night because yesterday had been pretty poor, with just the Iceland Gull present, and that hadn't appeared until 16.45 when it was quite dark.

Thursday January 26

A bitterly cold cloudy day with, perversely, a light southerly breeze. I decided to continue my exploration of my new patch by heading towards a plantation of poplars at the eastern border. The area abuts the A435, and beyond that farmland. A few horse paddocks adjacent to the plantation give a feeling of countryside, a contrast to the suburbia of the rest of the patch.

The plantation

Unfortunately a sign next to the footpath at the southern end of the plantation makes it clear that it is strictly private, so any birds in there will need to be observed at some distance if I wish to avoid trespassing.

My first year-tick was, surprisingly, seen from our front drive as I was pulling on my wellies, and comprised a party of seven Stock Doves which flew south. I have seen them from the garden before, but not very often. In oaks by the paddocks I spotted two more hiding in the branches.

Stock Dove

From here I back-tracked and walked through Winyates Green to the path which circumvents Ipsley Alders nature reserve. A little way along I spotted a style which seemed to be the gateway to the back entrance to the reserve. I was immediately faced with a field of sedge, and decided to walk across it in the hope of flushing a Snipe. It was too dry and I saw nothing until I approached the black marshy mud under some alders. Suddenly, from the edge of the field, a Woodcock took off and lumbered away across the field allowing ample time for a photograph if only I hadn't forgotten to remove my camera from my bag. Sorry.

I walked back across the field, camera now at the ready, but the only birds to come within range were a few Siskins.

A camera-shy Siskin

However, the reserve had one more tick for me, although I only heard it. A Redpoll was calling from the other side of the bush containing the Siskins.

I went through another gate and then blundered across the marsh seeing only Wrens and hearing a singing Stock Dove before exiting the reserve and heading home past a cotoneaster which is still only attracting Redwings.

Finally, back home, the new feeder which Lyn tells me has been devoid of birds all week, scored its second species.

This Woodpigeon balanced amusingly on top of the feeder as it tried to think of a way of getting at the seeds and fat balls dangling tantalisingly below it. It eventually flew off muttering "bugger this for a game of soldiers" in pigeon language, or so I believe.

Sunday January 22

Although no real birding took place here yesterday or today, I still want to record that I bought and set up a feeding station in the front garden yesterday. This morning its first bird arrived to grab a couple of seeds. Not one you might expect either. A Magpie.

Awaiting its first taker

A trip to the newsagent got me a photograph of a Goldfinch yesterday.

Goldfinch

This afternoon a curious shape at the top of a distant sapling, seen from the kitchen window, proved to be a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

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.