UPTON WARREN RESERVE

 Without giving myself too much pressure to increase my year total, last Saturday (12th Oct)  I decided to re-visit a Worcestershire wildlife Trust Reserve just south of Bromsgrove. Upton Warren is divided into two halves, with different habitats, freshwater and saline, each part having a number of hides. 

On my last visit, it was a cold, frosty morning with fog which never lifted during my visit, so I was interested to see what the reserve really was like. After an uneventful hour or so drive from home, I arrived to find just one other car present in the smallish car park. It was sunny but slightly colder than of late which made for a pleasant visit. 

The first hide I visited overlooked a largish lake known as Moors Pool and was accessed via some wooden steps.  I could immediately see a little egret fishing below the hide, and much further away, a great white egret and grey heron were also present. Other birds included the usual species of ducks - shoveler, teal, and mallard -  and a family of mute swans. I watched the little egret as it made its away across in front of the hide.    Another hide overlooked a small reed bed and also had some bird feeders but all that I saw today was blue tits and great tits. The hoped- for water rail didn't appear although had been seen recently. 

I had to walk down a hedge lined path to the hides on the opposite side of the lake. This had some beautiful coloured bushes and berries and I spotted a wren flitting about about amongst some of them. A flock of linnets were twittering loudly at the top of another tree, but hard to see amongst the leaves. Cettis warblers could be heard from time to time all round the reserve and I did get a brief glimpse of one amongst some bushes. I missed a quick glimpse of a kingfisher but did see a female reed bunting. 

The area known as the 'Flashes'  is accessed from an Outdoor adventure Centre  carpark just down the road. I didn't actually get to visit this part on my last visit so was keen to see what sort of birds were attracted there.  The first two hides  were small and overlooking some reeds and a small stream with a few mallards present. The third was much larger and overlooked a bigger area of water dotted about with islands. It had potential for waders but the only one I saw was a single lapwing today.  Someone said that they had seen 5 curlew but they were no where to be seen. A few smaller birds such as pied wagtail, meadow pipits, linnets and goldfinches were feeding on the mud. Shovelers and teal were amongst the ducks and swans. 

The area known as the 'Flashes'  is accessed from an Outdoor adventure Centre  carpark just down the road. I didn't actually get to visit this part on my last visit so was keen to see what sort of birds were attracted there.  The first two hides  were small and overlooking some reeds and a small stream with a few mallards present. The third was much larger and overlooked a bigger area of water dotted about with islands. It had potential for waders but the only one I saw was a single lapwing today.  Someone said that they had seen 5 curlew but they were no where to be seen. A few smaller birds such as pied wagtail, meadow pipits, linnets and goldfinches were feeding on the mud. Shovelers and teal were amongst the ducks and swans. 

AUTUMN MORNING IN THE CWP AND A NEW PERSONAL RECORD

 There was a definite chill to the air this morning when I visited the Cotswold Water Park. In particular I was looking for whinchats at Blakehill nature reserve, as that would give me   a personal record of 175 bird species seen in a year. Whinchats are migratory and last year I didn't see any at all  but today I was hopeful as there had been some recorded there recently. Blakehill is an old airfield which can become very windy but today there was very little wind and with the sunshine it became quite pleasant as the air temperature warmed up. 

The main track is bordered by post and wire  fencing and I kept my eyes focussed on these, as birds are  more easily seen when they fly up to perch on the fence posts. After a while, I noticed several birds on some posts and wire a bit further on.  I couldn't make out if they were  stonechats or whinchats or something else but, before I got close enough to identify them,  frustratingly, a vehicle came down the track and disturbed them so they flew  off. However,  I continued to walk down the track to a wooden seat  which is often a good point to stop and look. I spoke to a couple of people sitting  there, but disappointingly, they said they had seen several stonechats but no whinchats. I kept walking and it was quite a while before I saw any further  sign of any birds  but eventually I could make out the shape of a bird on a post which was further away, but accessible down a path between some cattle fields. As I got nearer I realised that there were three or four birds perching on the fence and then dropping down into the grass before flying up to the posts again. 

I stopped at a convenient point, so as not to disturb them, and through my binoculars  realised that amongst a few stonechats, there were  whinchats too. You can tell the difference by the white 'eyebrow' that the whinchat has. I had reached my target 175th species, with a few more months in the year, still to go !  I watched them for a time, hoping they might come closer, but only a stonechat came and perched briefly in a  tall bush nearby.  

Next I headed over to Lower Moor Farm nature reserve, Oaksey, where  I was hoping for butterflies, in particular Painted Ladies  which might have been attracted to some buddleia bushes.  However, I only found a large white and a brimstone. By way of compensation I did get  a distant view of  two of the resident otters though and a nice view of a Southern Hawker dragonfly. I did the circuit of the lakes but it was pretty quiet on the bird front.  With limited time I had to resist the temptation to visit the rather attractive Dragonfly cafe,  and instead,  headed home for a late lunch.

stonechat

whinchat

stonechat

 

southern hawker

large white butterfly

Brimstone butterfly

otters

AFTER THE RAIN AT FARMOOR

 Farmoor Reservoir often hosts some 'good' birds at this time of year and earlier this week, there were sightings of greenshank and a little stint. Yesterday's heavy rain also brought in rarities such as Arctic skua and scoters. Sadly I couldn't arrange to get there until today. It had been raining and thundering earlier but looking at the forecast I quickly realised that it was due to dry up midmorning, with rising temperatures and little wind. 

I therefore quickly packed a lunch and headed over to the reservoir to see if anything had turned up. The water was very calm and the air had  a greyness to it, despite  feeling fairly warm.  I picked out a yellow legged gull on one of the buoys to add to my year list. On enquiring, I was told that there were a couple of little terns around, and I soon spotted these, twisting and turning over the water as they flew from  one side of the reservoir to the other, passing fairly close. However, as the weather brightened they disappeared.

I took my time to cross the causeway, looking out for anything unusual. There were many geese (greylags and Canada geese) all along the shoreline and coots, tufted ducks and mallards in the water. There were also good numbers of great crested grebes, now mostly turning to winter grey and white plumage. However, I didn't spot any waders. 

I decided to follow the path all around the larger part of the reservoir, known as F2, I saw a group of common sandpipers, but these were very flighty and I did not get close enough for any photos. There was a raft of cormorants, some little grebes and today the regular flock of  approx 50 feral snow geese was also present. 

Rather than go back to the car, I decided to  go up the causeway again, to see if anything else had turned up. Near to the far side, I caught up with a lady I recognised  who was photographing a turnstone off the side of the causeway. It was very confiding and eventually decided to sit down and rest in front of us! Whilst chatting to her, she expressed an interest in seeing some dragonflies, but was unsure where the ponds and hides were so I offered to show her. From the Pinkhill hide we spotted an emerald damselfly, before being confronted with a group of horned calves who appeared amongst the trees and reeds and waded into the water to munch away at the vegetation. 

Moving to the Shrike Meadow hide along the Thames Path, I showed her the areas of water separated by a little bridge which was a popular area for dragonflies.  We were pleased to see both migrant and southern hawker, together with brown hawkers and ruddy and common darters. Having spent a while there, we headed back to the reservoir and whilst my companion continued around F2, I went back via the causeway once more.  I   saw someone photographing some small waders, and realised that they were juvenile ringed plovers. Although they did not yet have the orange bill or  bright orange legs, they  also did not have the yellow eye ring which distinguishes the little ringed plover. They were feeding alongside the turnstone and seemed unworried by my presence as they ran along the water's edge below me. 

I'd spent longer than anticipated at the Reservoir, but had added 2 more species which brings my total to 174. I'm close to reaching my 175 target  and personal record. Maybe I'd better increase that to 180...

CATCHING UP WITH SOME WATER BIRDS

 With little likelihood of reaching my 'usual' butterfly yearly total of 47, ( I still have only 41, my most recent being a brown hairstreak at Otmoor) , I decided to pursue my birding target of 175. I've failed to reach it by one or two in the last two years but I was on 166 ( including my first chough when on holiday in Pembrokeshire) before I visited my sister last week. We made a trip to Frampton Marsh rspb which is very good for waders and often hosts some unusual species during peak migration times. We didn't arrive till mid- afternoon but with a fine evening ahead decided we'd stay until 6  - 6.30 p.m. and avoid the rush hour/bank holiday traffic which  held us up a bit on the outward journey. 

There were a lot of birds close  to the visitor centre window and I quickly picked out a bar headed goose (escapee?) amongst the greylag flock. We could also see several spoonbills and little egrets.  Out on the reserve there were the expected water birds, and from one of the paths I noticed a single swan. But its bill was yellow and I was able to add a whooper swan to my year list, a species I had missed in the new year. 

Further on, we could found a few yellow wagtails feeding on the mud, again, a pleasing tick for the year. Another birder with a 'scope also pointed out  a curlew sandpiper. 

After the visitor centre had closed we walked round the side and watched a few little ringed plover. 

whooper swan

cattle egrets and spoonbills ( and other species)

little ringed plover

Pleased my list was now increasing a bit, once back home, I decided to visit Slimbridge on my last free day of the school holidays. It was a warm day with variable amounts of sunshine - and although the Centre was busy with families, the hides were very quiet. In the Rushy someone quickly pointed out a greenshank which was calling from one of the islands. Other birds of note here included redshanks and spotted redshanks together with black tailed godwit (some still in breeding plumage) and a juvenile garganey. Birds of note seen from the other hides included a green sandpiper and a couple of snipe together with teal and mallards, also avocets and ruffs.

greenshank

snipe

green sandpiper

black tailed godwits