Birding In Staffordshire (15 Viewers)

[Gronk08]

Hi All

Had a look around for the Clayton Waxwing but not a sniff.
Did manage to see a few other things though, on the corner of Dartmouth and Suntherland we had a flock of Red Wing tagging along with them were a group of mixed finches, consisting of a single male Brambling, Goldfinch and Chaffinch.
Also on one of the tree trunks was a Tree Creeper.

After missing out yet again o seeing any Waxwing at all headed out to Madeley to see the Hawfinch as the wife had yet to see these little fellows. Had no luck in the church yard, but found them in the poplars just round the back by the bridge over the stream. As I dashed back to get my scope 6 apeared but by the time I got back this was just down to 2. The link below is a few shots I diggy scoped.
http://timsphotocollections.fotopic.net/c1653933.html

Tim.

 

[phil jones]

Doxey Bittern

great photo phil, where was it showing?
rob,
did you look for the peragrine up hanley, it been seen mostly at the top of clough street on the old b.t. building just above the high peak store.
s.g.

It was on Boundary Flash,it seems to favour the reeds directly oppsite the
bench,if you get the goal posts in the background that is the area to scan.

 

[terryeyre]

garden

40 house sparrows 12 lt tits 6 great 8 blue 2 coal tits 6 dunnocks 4 robins 3 collared doves 1 fieldfare 1 treecreeper 5 blackbirds 1 goldfinch and 1 starling in the garden this morning

 

[Rob1991S-O-T]

radial park

horrid day produced the goods :t:

Canada Goose 35
Mallard 13
Sparrowhawk 1
Buzzard 1
Coot still present
Golden Plover 77
Black-headed Gull 23
Lesser Black-backed Gull 4
Woodpigeon 105
Kingfisher 2
Fieldfare 52
Song Thrush 5
Redwing 2
Mistle Thrush 6
Long-tailed Tit
Willow Tit still about
House Sparrow 24
Greenfinch 11


out of intrest anybody know what this ring means it was on 1 of the lesser black backs a black ring on left leg with white numbers/letters on??

plus can meds and bh gulls interbreed cause found a gull with charateristics of both today and it had 1 leg aswell :smoke: ??

black redstart was flycatching this moring fanning its red tail about

 

[Steve Turner]

out of intrest anybody know what this ring means it was on 1 of the lesser black backs a black ring on left leg with white numbers/letters on??

plus can meds and bh gulls interbreed cause found a gull with charateristics of both today and it had 1 leg aswell :smoke: ??

black redstart was flycatching this moring fanning its red tail about

Hi Rob

The colour ring on the Lesser Black-back you saw has a unique combination of letters/numbers which allows an observer to basically track the movements of a bird - did you note the combination of letters/numbers? If so we should be able to trace where it was ringed originally, which could be anywhere in Europe where Lesser Black-backs occur...imagine, a Lesser Black-back from Germany in Stoke!!

Yes, Med and Black-heads do hybridise, although it's not that common. What did your bird look like, and where did you have it?!

Here's a link to an example of a hybrid;

http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/default.asp?search=1&mode=search&sp=103&rty=0&v=0&off=138481

And here's a 2nd winter Med Gull for comparison;

http://www.birdguides.com/pictures/...rch&sp=61035&rty=0&off=188844&loff=191607&v=0

Cheers
Steve

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Doxey Marshes

No sign of Bittern at Doxey this afternoon but 4+ Water Pipits on the scrape, 34 Y-fronts still, 13 Barnacles, 650+ Lapwings, 1 Kingfisher and 5 Water Rails at least calling from the Boundary Flash.

 

[Rob1991S-O-T]

there was small group of gulls settled on the grass by the canal just into trentham part of the canal SJ8841

couldnt see the lesser black back that close so couldnt make out numbers or letters
just the colours i noted

the hybrid seemed to have mixture in its wing of bh gull and med it might have just been partial albino bird also it had med head markins of 2nd winter not sure will be intresting see it stick around might go back up tomoz see if any are there

 

[Adam M]

great day out today with john and neil. started at endon sewage works to look at the chiffchaff, showed well but distantly plus it was through a fence. neil tried to get a photo but the rain prevented him from doing so. plenty of meadow pipits and pied mags there as well.

then on to tittesworth, not a great deal from the hide, shoveler, snipe, gs woods was the pick of the bunch. common gull from the carpark and pochard from by the visitor center, including a female who was a possible hybrid.

swallow moss was far to foggy to see anything so we carried on to ashbourne, then onto jcb lakes. can someone please tell me which of the following can be put on my list and which ones are introduced.
egyptian goose
red breasted goose
barnacle goose
bar headed goose
red crested pochard
mandarin
black swan

thank you

thanks for a great day out lads, shame about the fog up swallow moss, but theres always next time. john was writting things down all day so im sure he'll fill in any details i missed.
adam

 

[John Sherratt]

Endon

Adam,

I think you covered the main things there. Good day out with you and Neil, and thanks due to Neil for the driving.

It's a shame the poor light, wind and rain conspired to stop Neil getting a photo of the Chiffy there. It did show quite well for a good period, and although it was some way off to me, it did look "duller" than others I've seen, and while Neil can confirm, I think he did see a distinct but faint wing bar when he managed to get closer to it. There was certainly lots of birds around there, it looks a good spot to me, was my first visit. As Adam says, plenty of Meadow Pipits, lots of Pied Wagtails and a few Grey Wagtails among them too, and a flock of approx 100 Lapwings flying over.

I can also add to the list at least two Common Gull at Tittesworth (thanks for pointing them out Adam) and a Goldeneye, it was also interesting to see 3 Goosander on the main lake at JCB I don't recall seeing them here before. Quite a few Great Crested Grebe here, including 2 coming quite close into the shore.

It's a shame Swallow Moss was "fogged in" but there's always another day.

A good day out certainly. Cheers, John

 

[Neil-T]

Glad you enjoyed it guys, it's always an enjoyable day when out birding with friends. We will have to do Swallow moss and surrounding areas when the weather improves a little. There were good views of 2 GS Woodpeckers form the hide at Tittesworth, also plenty of Chaffinches, a solitary Bullfinch, lots of LT Tits and a lovely little Treecreeper which came within 3 feet of me.
Great day and great company. Neil.

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Year List

Adam - Egyptian Goose yes, the rest are all part of the collection so it would be best not to count them.
Nick

... then onto jcb lakes. can someone please tell me which of the following can be put on my list and which ones are introduced.
egyptian goose
red breasted goose
barnacle goose
bar headed goose
red crested pochard
mandarin
black swan

thank you

thanks for a great day out lads, shame about the fog up swallow moss, but theres always next time. john was writting things down all day so im sure he'll fill in any details i missed.
adam

 

[NickPomiankowski]

Uttoxeter Quarry

Saw Rockbirder yesterday whose PC is out of action. Said he'd finally put Coal Tit to bed at Uttoxeter Quarry (2 present Saturday) and 2 Oystercatchers there on Sunday.
Nick

 

[phil jones]

Gyp Goose

Adam - Egyptian Goose yes, the rest are all part of the collection so it would be best not to count them.
Nick

If you want to sleep soundly in your bed at night I would also think long
and hard about putting a JCB Egyptian Goose on my list aswell !! saw
Red Throated Diver there years ago the only genuine bird on there that day.

 

[phil jones]

Y Fronts

No sign of Bittern at Doxey this afternoon but 4+ Water Pipits on the scrape, 34 Y-fronts still, 13 Barnacles, 650+ Lapwings, 1 Kingfisher and 5 Water Rails at least calling from the Boundary Flash.

Can I have directions for the Y Fronts please I checked the washing line
in the garden of number 87 but no sign on saturday afternoon ! ;-)

 

[Rob1991S-O-T]

garden birds today
goldcrest
2 coal tits
2 blue tits
grey wag only things of intrest

14 linnet on back warehouse near me and 20+ mpipits
and 24 redwing

 

[ScottPetrek]

Doxey update

Bittern showed reasonably well today on north shore of Boundary Flash. Lots of birders out looking for Water Pipits on the scrape but don't think anyone saw them. Solitary White-fronted Goose on Creswell Flash but 35 reported by another birder on site. 2 Water Rails calling from Boundary Flash too.

Nearby were 130+ Waxwings on St. Alban's Road near the refuse collection for Stafford. The birds were showing very well opposite Howden's building, trying to feed on the orange rowan berries, but spooked by passing trucks. If your going go quickly as there aren't many berries left for the number of birds!!! They'll soon be on the move :flyaway:

 

[Adam M]

my dads just told me he saw hundreds of swans in a field down by the train line coming out of lichfield heading for derby yesterday. he didn't get a good enough look to see what species they were and cant remember how far out of lichfield he was, but i would guess it was near whitmore haye.

i was hoping to go doxey on friday but my car is going for it's MOT tomorrow and might not be back in time. 3 water pipits were reported from there today, 6 yesterday.

 

[JimMorris]

Red Kite flying over Dimminsdale at 3.30 this afternoon heading towards Uttoxeter.

 

[russell toon]

After a few weeks absence I am now back out birding and have got to work hard to catch up with you guys out there.

Berryhill

A treck round the local patch produced 2 Jack Snipe in the brownfield area,probably the same 2 that were in this spot about 5 weeks back.
About 8 Skylarks have so far returned with some singing,they must think Spring is in the air.
3 Stonechats have survived the cold snap.

Parkhall afternoon

105 Golden Plover
3 Yellowhammer
1 Brambling
5 Willow Tit
30 Redpoll
25 Siskin
1 Woodcock

The Barn Owl is still showing here.
Have been told by CS that a Short eared Owl was present last week.

Russell

 

[wolfbirder]

25 Crossbills on Cannock Chase ths afternoon, but mobile!

Found them at their usual haunt behind the Cadet Huts, in the tops of the tall belts of pines a few hundred yards behind the huts. Take the path to the left and they were flitting from one belt to another before clearing off back towards the direction of the main road. Of the 25, 23 were males interestingly.