Great Grey Shrike

Today I had planned on spending the morning at Titterstone Clee in the hope of an early Ouzel, then maybe Bury Ditches later. News of a Great Grey Shrike near Hopesay changed that. I decided I may stand a better chance of seeing this bird, than the elusive little so and so at Whixall!

Bit of a sad start, driving through Aston Eyre, there were lots of white feathers about and a body in the road - I assumed it was a Barn Owl. On stopping I saw it was actually a female Mandarin Duck! Then a male 'fell' down the sloping verge and into the road! It was in a panic to get away and was obviously injured or at least stunned as it couldn't fly and kept falling over. I thought I might try and catch it, but he had other ideas and disappeared through a hedge.

On to Hopesay and after a quick chat to the postman, I found the church! The walk up to the hill fort was longer than I'd imagined and I was relieved I hadn't taken my scope as the camera stuff was more than enough to carry. Yellowhammer, Raven, Red Kites and numerous Buzzard were seen on the way up.



So there I was, near the top, just me and a Marsh Tit, when someone suddenly shouts 'Get off my land!' Somewhat shocked(!!) I turned to see someone the other side of a hedge. It seemed like forever (but was actually only a few seconds!) before he started laughing and said 'It's Andy'...... phew!! Seems he and Paul had arrived sometime after me and taken a shorter but much steeper route up!

At the top we started checking the tree tops and it wasn't long before it appeared.





It showed really well and after a while we were joined by Paul and Dawn - see Paul's blog for a rather funny account of how much he enjoyed the walk up this nice little hill! ;-) Perhaps that shorter steeper route wasn't such a good idea!

Not close enough for good pics but great views and really good to see one, my first for two years.











After a while I headed off for the Titterstone. Quite a few cars and people about including the police keeping an eye on the place and some kids on quad bikes fleeing the scene. I had a look around all the usual areas but didn't see anything other than about 14 Wheatear, Meadow Pipits and 2 Raven above.

Stopping at Chelmarsh on the way past (ages since I've been!) - nice to see the scrape area drained and all the new mud looks great for waders. Just 2 Oystercatcher today though and a few Teal. A quick stop at Cranmere too where the Pink footed Goose was still present, this time on the pool as the farmer and her Collie were doing their daily 'walk around the fields scaring away the geese' excercise!

Three more new birds for the year came in the Telford area including a very smart drake Ring necked Duck! Only the second RND I've seen and the first drake. I won't bother posting the record shots!

A very short post!

A Pink footed Goose was with the Greylag and Canadas at Cranmere Bog this evening...

Slavonian Grebe

A small pool at a watersports centre near Grimley in Worcestershire has been home to a Slavonian Grebe for the past week.



Less than thirty miles from home, close views and photos likely, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

On arrival he had just caught a fish and returned to the centre of the pool to digest it. After around twenty minutes he was heading back to the shallows for more...










Feeding close to the banks gave great views of it catching and eating the fish...













Fantastic to see a Slav so close, only the second one I've seen.

It's that time again!

The monthly bird race with Jim began, as usual, at Venus Pool where a good number of species is always possible. The pool and feeders added most of what we expected, Tree Sparrows and Bullfinch were near the hide and a few more like Fieldfare, Redwing and Linnet were found in the general area. A very good start and the pair of Dippers showed well at Longnor making 38 so far.

Then on to a few places we hadn't included in the previous months, starting at Shirlett. Here we added Crossbill, Redpoll, Siskin, Raven, Goldcrest and Nuthatch. In the Bridgnorth area - Little Owl, RL Partridge, Little Grebe and a couple of others. At Shifnal the 200+ Golden Plover were exactly where I'd left them a few days earlier!

A quick stop at Priorslee found a pair of Gadwall plus LBb Gull, Herring Gull and GC Grebe. On the way to Isombridge we added Shelduck and Jim found a Dunlin! The fields where we usually see plenty of Buntings and Larks were really quiet. Not a wasted journey though - whilst scanning a field for signs of life, I found a Grey Partridge! The first of the year for both of us.

With several hours of daylight left, we headed north to the meres. Common Gull, Goosander and Goldeneye were on Colemere and 9 Curlew at Wood Lane. There were several hundred gulls on The Mere so we stopped to scan for GBb Gull. None found but Jim spotted something even better - the RB Merganser! Good to see it's still around after no reports of it for a few weeks.

Whixall was to be the final destination for the last hour and a half of light where Pintail were quickly found on the floods. There had been no sign of the Crane since the morning but we were hopeful it may go onto the Moss to roost again?

It was still really light when, before we had even reached the Moss, we saw the fantastic sight of a Short Eared Owl hunting ahead of us! Whilst we waited for the Crane and hopefully Hen Harrier, the SEO showed really well for the hour we were there. Easily one of my favourite birds, it was amazing to watch it hunt and get great views of it perched on a post. A perfect end to the day!

We smashed the previous months tallys with 81 species including some hard to see ones. Shame the Crane didn't wish to join the list, wonder where it'll turn up next?

A Surprise at Whixall!

With reasonable weather forecast, I decided it was about time I had another go at seeing the SEOs, Hen Harrier and maybe even the Shrike on Whixall Moss.

Arriving at 2.00pm, I was just getting my wellies on, when I happened to glance over at the bungalow by the car park..... and what did I see, but a huge pair of grey wings flying low over the field towards the bungalow! My bins weren't nearby and I only saw it briefly, but surely that was way too big for a Grey Heron!!

It appeared to land, just out of sight. Thoughts of 'Crane' were gathering as I hastily gathered my stuff and rushed to the bungalow with three other birders. We all couldn't believe our luck when we saw that it was a Common Crane and it had landed in a nearby field amongst some Canada Geese!

Record shots were quickly taken by all four of us...







A while later I went onto the Moss to look for the Harrier but soon decided I'd much rather by photographing the Crane! I saw the pair in 2008 a few times but missed them last year and these were some of the best views I'd ever had of the species.










It called whilst in the field (and my what a call!!) and again later as it was flying to roost.

Another walk around the Moss from 5.00-6.30pm found nothing but a Sparrowhawk on a post and we saw the Crane coming onto the Moss to roost by one of the pools at 5.50pm.

Owls and Peregrines

Today I'm really pleased to have found my Little Owls again. I hadn't seen them in their usual place for several months! Seems they've moved from the very rotten trees, to a new, not so rotten home half a mile away.

Excuse the poor pic, they were high up and I couldn't get a clear view through the branches. This'll just have to do for now (yes I know, I should have used manual focus!)



Recently I also got a few more shots of a Peregrine who had just finished a meal...















The Tawny Owls have been very vocal recently and should have started nesting by now. Hopefully there will be an opportunity for pics in the next few weeks.

A High Tide, Waders and Lifers!

The highest tide of the year was predicted at Parkgate, 10.2 metres! Jim and I were hopeful that the raptors would come a little closer than they had last time, perhaps close enough for some pics?

There were the usual Curlew, Redshank, Snipe and Oystercatcher moving around as the tide came in. A ringtail Hen Harrier was the first raptor to be seen shortly followed by a female Marsh Harrier.

The water came right up to the wall, covering the last 50m at an incredible speed!









A Peregrine spent over an hour perched on a distant post and two Merlins were busy chasing the pipits. There was obviously a lack of rodents for the raptors after the high tides of the previous few days as we didn't see any Short-eared Owls at all.

Seeing the speed the water covered the marsh was perhaps the highlight?! Although just before we left, a Water Pipit was spotted with three Rock Pipits feeding not far in front of us. Also nice to see a pair of Little Owls nearby, perched in an ivy covered tree enjoying the afternoon sun.

We then headed off to Wallasley where close views of waders are possible at high tide. Peering over the wall down to the rocks just below, there was the wonderful sight of around two hundred small waders sleeping.

There were Dunlin, Turnstone, Sanderling, Redshank and at least five Purple Sandpiper. I've never seen any of these species so close!






















The tide was retreating fast and after just fifteen minutes or so of watching them, they all left to resume feeding on the newly exposed mud.







An hour west along the coast, in Llandudno, some Twite had recently been coming to feed on seed put out by locals. We arrived to find them doing just that...







On the cliffs of the Little Orme there were many Fulmar, Guillemots and Cormorants. A Shag flew off the cliff onto the sea, where there were also some Red-breasted Merganser.

Water Pipit, Purple Sandpiper and Twite added to my life list today!