Shropshire - 23 - 24th Feb

Whilst in Shropshire for the weekend and prior to my trip across the border for Red Kites, I made an early morning jaunt up on to the Long Mynd in search of Red Grouse. The roads up were pretty icy and its always reassuring when the road signs read something along the lines of don't use in winter. But my new car powered its way up and around the single track bends on quite a steep accent no problem, and I reached the top in no time.

The temperature at the top was a good 4 or 5 degrees colder than in the bottom of the valley and a keen wind blew across the moorland, window down I drove at a crawling pace, ears pricked to pick up the call I was hoping for. Within about 50 yards of the gliding club entrance I soon heard the distinctive 'chut!chut!chut!chut!chut!chuttt....' call. A quick scan an I could see a Cock Red Grouse stood upright against some very similar coloured heather. A stealthy approach on foot didn't allow me any closer as the bird rocketed off from the heather with its fast-whirring wingbeats. 

Giving up on the foot approach I stuck to the car, seeing and hearing 13 or  14 cocks calling from fairly near the roadside. One did come close enough to the car for a shot through the window, but I left via the Church Stretton end feeling pretty unfulfilled  Plenty of Meadow Pipits and Skylark also on the top with the occasional Pheasant popping up out of the heather.

Red Grouse

After visiting Gigrin on the Saturday, Sunday morning we headed up towards Shrewsbury, to Venus Pool, the weather was bitterly cold and overcast so we never spent to long in the hides, the highlight being a pair of Great-crested Grebe displaying and sharing weed not to far from the hide. A pair of Shoveler slept on one of the islands along with c.40 Lapwing and c.60 Snipe, several pairs of Gadwall and Pochard on the water.

The woodland hide and feeding station was very busy as it was on my visit earlier in the month, plenty of Chaffinch, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinch and a couple of Great Spotted Woodpecker all visiting in the short period we sat watching.

All in all a fairly productive if not frustrating weekend with the weather.

Blue Tit

Great Tit

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Great Bustard - 17th Feb

So if you read my previous post from Saturday the 16th Feb you would know that I was hot on the heels of a wintering Great Bustard on a nearby estate. And that although I saw the bird the previous day it was miles away and I couldn't really photograph conclusive proof. So with some nicer weather on Sunday and a call from the local Keeper to say he had seen the bird heading back to its favoured spot, I headed off again just after lunch determined to get a photograph.

I found my way into position a lot stealthier than the day before, and instantly I could pick out the bird huddled down on the far side of the Stone Curlew Plot. Bingo some rather distant grainy pics at 500 yards or so, but definitely a Great Bustard. A couple of times over the next hour or so the Bustard stood up went for a short wander grazing a couple of times before heading back to the one large tuft of grass on the open ground.

It was clear to see no wing tags, Having seen the bird earlier in the week the estate called the Great Bustard group out from Salisbury Plain to see if they could shed some light on its being here. The guy came out pretty quickly and having located the bird with the landowner seemed to think it was one of their released birds and around 2 years old, having lost both wing tags. Although this seemed most definitely the most plausible explanation as Salisbury Plain birds have showed up in Somerset from time to time, North Hampshire being the same kind of distance away. It seemed strange to me that a bird this big that is tagged with some pretty large wing tags would just so happen to loose both. (Maybe I just hoped it was a wild one and I had the discovery of a lifetime)

The one thing that was clear to me however was, I wasn't going to get any closer to the bird. It appeared so skittish, every time it did venture out from behind its tuft, a slight noise, movement from the nearby Roe Deer and even on one occasion a Woodpigeon sent it strutting back to its tuft. Whilst savouring the Bustard a falcon shaped bird darted quickly over my head and landed out on the ploughing, having my lens focused on the Bustard it took me quite a while to find the bird in flight and missed out on a good angle. It landed on a furrow and sat and sat and sat. It was still perched there by the time I left, and I concluded that it was juvenile Peregrine, slightly browner in colour than any I had seen before. Another awesome patch tick to go with the weekends Bustard.

Eventually the Roe Deer rose up from the furrows they had been led down in, making their way towards the fresh foliage atop the curlew plot. The Bustard didn't appear to be too tolerant and was soon up on its giant drumsticks and wandering across the top of the field to a nearby plantation. This allowed me my only decent-ish ID shot I was happy with as the bird kept to the skyline. The below pic is quite a heavy crop but beggars cant be choosers right?

Satisfied I headed back to my car parked out on the road, leaving the Bustard heading for new cover, and the Peregrine perched motionless on the furrow. I got some great views of fleeing Skylark, Reed Bunting and Linnet in the warm afternoon sun as I head back down a game cover crop topping off a cracking afternoon.

You just never know what might turn up on your doorstep! Wild, released or totally unexpected.

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Woodlarks & Sunshine (Amended)

With the night off from moving, once home from work at 5pm  I headed out around the garden and the field beyond in some gorgeous late afternoon sunshine to see what was about. Loads of Blue Tits visiting the feeders at the moment, along with a couple of rather huge Great Tits. The House Sparrows seem pretty happy to be making so much noise as well at the moment, Only a few seen but dozens heard.

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

I was however pretty surprised to see a pair of Woodlark (First thought they were Skylarks but after a very helpful comment and some google-ing I can see in my identification ignorance that they were Woodlark) dusting by the side of the road on the rough area we use for car parking. They soon joined others in the freshly worked down field in-front of our cottages. I counted 6 Woodlarks in total from the comfort of my car, joined by 13 Yellowhammers the cock birds almost luminous in their plumage ready for the breeding season.

Woodlark

Woodlark

Yellowhammer

Exmoor & Back Again

As I mentioned in my last post, I had a little trip down to Exmoor planned, unfortunately not specifically for Wildlife Watching, and wasn't able to take the camera out and about. The location the Orchard Wyndham Estate about 6 or 7 miles from Minehead on the Eastern outskirts of the Exmoor National Park.

Orchard Wyndham Estate

The first encounter of the day a small murmuration of Starlings coming off of roost as it got light over the Illchester to Taunton road, I've never been lucky enough to encounter such a sight, and although it was only a small number (a couple of thousand) it certainly wet the appetite too see the birds heading to roost in all their glory.

After arriving during a rather sudden Downpour, which came rolling in from the Bristol Channel in a mere matter of minutes, the hopes of a dry day wasn't looking good. However it soon cleared, leaving clear blue skies and beautiful golden light. The wind mind, was pretty much gale force so standing still in one place without being blown 15-20 yards proved to be a little tricky.

Although I was soon pleasantly supprised an a little amazed with the species seen and the numbers in which they were present. Flocks of Bullfinches & Goldfinches were present in the Ash Trees on the edge of the Estate, with the Bullfinch numbers way into double figures, the males striking pink underside highlighted by the bright morning sun as they flew from tree to tree.

Now my next sighting questioned my birding knowledge a little bit, there I was in the middle of the rolling Somerset countryside, no real major watercourses around other than a smallish stream, and the customary ditch alongside every hedgerow. 5 or 6 Reed Bunting perched in the nearest hedge row, A somewhat unusual sight I think to myself, but all was to be revealed, or its the reason Im giving. The other side of the hill alongside the B3190 stood several hundred acres of cover around 7ft in height, which on closer inspection appeared to be Reed used for Thatch. Would be logical right?

Other species I noted around this area, Hundreds of Pheasants, 4 Woodcock, Rook, 6 Buzzard, Carrion Crow, 5 or 6 Wheatear, Blue Tit, Magpie, Great Tit & Blackbird.

The afternoon brought a walk across some set aside Wheat stubble fields, the abundance of bird life rising from the ground was pretty incredible to be honest. Huge numbers of Skylark, Yellowhammer & Corn Bunting. All species I'd feel lucky to see at home.

The wind drew the weather in pretty fast, and it was pitch black by the time I made my way back along the A303, so no late afternoon Starling spotting. But a most enjoyable day, unfortunately I sit writing this post at my desk this afternoon, gazing out of the window at the dreariest grey wet day for a long time. But its nice to reminisce even though it was only yesterday.