Birding In Staffordshire (7 Viewers)

[Rob Swift]

I had to look them up in my rspb handbook,and they were the same as picture,light coloured wings with black wing tips? Maybe i am wrong,i don't profess to be an expert.

That's a lot of YL Gulls Ted or were they gulls with Yellow legs ? or may be they were Lesser Black Backed Gulls or they were yl gulls if so that's a good count. col

Hi Ted, Col has a good point, in respect to L.B.B Gulls.

Many Gull species have black tips to the primary wing feathers and even Lesser Black Backed Gull's mantle & main part of the wing will look lighter from a distance in comparison with the black tips.
If the wing colour was very pale e.g paler than battle ship grey, then they could have been Herring Gulls.

Several good plumage I.D features for adult Yellow Legged Gulls at this time of the year are a clean white head (with no/little streaking) and a mantle colour which is lighter than L B B Gull, but darker than Herring. (this is easier too see in a roost when you have comparison species).

Check out the Chasewater web site, for details/photo's from avid Gull watchers.

cheers
Rob

 

[terryeyre]

walk around fields near dimmingsdale and then on to the ramblers,20 goldfinch,5 bullfinch.1 greenfinch,30 redpoll,8 siskins,1 buzzard,1 raven,1 kestrel,3 lapwing,2 goldcrest,2 fieldfare,1 mistle,2 song thrush,1 treecreeper,2 goldcrest,3 flocks of 20-30 long tailed tits,many robins and wrens,plenty of redwings and blackbirds in berry bushes.had a flock of 300+ starlings over the garden heading towards croxden quarry at 4.00 pm

 

[Adam M]

That very interesting Col, who would have thought garden feeding could have that effect. I think it's difficult to decide on the two birds except the cap on last years bird does look blacker than this years.

Did a little digging and found that article to be really bad reporting. Notice how they never directly quote the researcher saying that feeding garden birds is directly responsible, where they give a quote to that respect that have edited it (hence the......) which can take it massively out of context. In fact the abstract available from that article states;

"Although we found that migrants from Britain arrive significantly earlier on German breeding grounds than migrants from the Mediterranean region, we also found a considerable overlap in arrival times. In a resampling model, the mean probability of assortative mating of birds wintering in Britain is </=28% in both years. These results suggest that allochrony alone is not a strong isolating barrier between the two subpopulations. Migrants from both wintering locations did not differ in terms of body mass, mass-tarsus residuals or mass-tarsus ratio and arrived in a similar reproductive disposition. Thus, blackcaps wintering in Britain do not gain an apparent fitness advantage on spring migration due to carry-over effects in body condition. Future studies should explore additional factors such as differences in song quality and habitat that might contribute to the rapid microevolution of the blackcap."

Assortive mating is mating with partners of similar characteristics, in this case over wintering in the UK.
Allochrony is difference in time, in this case arriving back at breeding grounds at different times.

It's amazing what stories you can get from mis-quoting scientific research and the media do it all the time. I also dislike their use of the word 'adapted.' It implies a chosen change of behaviour or anatomical charcteristic, which isn't how any kind of evolution works. But it would be massively time consuming and off topic to discuss the definition of evolution. Mind you I think most of this would be classed as off topic anyway, but never the less, it is quite interesting, IMO of course. Might get the full article for a read when I get a spare 5 minutes.

Take home message - never believe anything you read from any media source.

Adam

 

[keith clowes]

My Feeding Station Today

Look what turned up at my feeding station today,I thought their was only one buzzard but i noticed the different plumage,just wonder how many will turn up with all this meat about

 

[coloz]

Look what turned up at my feeding station today,I thought their was only one buzzard but i noticed the different plumage,just wonder how many will turn up with all this meat about

It wont be long Keith before you get a Red kite at your feeding station col :t:

 

[coloz]

Did a little digging and found that article to be really bad reporting. Notice how they never directly quote the researcher saying that feeding garden birds is directly responsible, where they give a quote to that respect that have edited it (hence the......) which can take it massively out of context. In fact the abstract available from that article states;

"Although we found that migrants from Britain arrive significantly earlier on German breeding grounds than migrants from the Mediterranean region, we also found a considerable overlap in arrival times. In a resampling model, the mean probability of assortative mating of birds wintering in Britain is </=28% in both years. These results suggest that allochrony alone is not a strong isolating barrier between the two subpopulations. Migrants from both wintering locations did not differ in terms of body mass, mass-tarsus residuals or mass-tarsus ratio and arrived in a similar reproductive disposition. Thus, blackcaps wintering in Britain do not gain an apparent fitness advantage on spring migration due to carry-over effects in body condition. Future studies should explore additional factors such as differences in song quality and habitat that might contribute to the rapid microevolution of the blackcap."

Assortive mating is mating with partners of similar characteristics, in this case over wintering in the UK.
Allochrony is difference in time, in this case arriving back at breeding grounds at different times.

It's amazing what stories you can get from mis-quoting scientific research and the media do it all the time. I also dislike their use of the word 'adapted.' It implies a chosen change of behaviour or anatomical charcteristic, which isn't how any kind of evolution works. But it would be massively time consuming and off topic to discuss the definition of evolution. Mind you I think most of this would be classed as off topic anyway, but never the less, it is quite interesting, IMO of course. Might get the full article for a read when I get a spare 5 minutes.

Take home message - never believe anything you read from any media source.

Adam

I know Adam they are trying to say European birds called blackcaps follow a different "evolutionary path" if they spend the winter eating food put out for them in UK gardens. PS they do like those pink lady Apple's though, i think thats what's keeping them here in winter col

 

[Rob Jones]

I had a Blackcap in my urban garden last year feeding on Apple, but that was late winter. It hung around for weeks.

 

[coloz]

sheepwash wood caverswall

Had a nice walk today in the snow not a lot of birds about though 3 Buzzard 1 pale looking bird, 1 Sparrowhawk , 2 Mistle Thrush , 2 Song Thrush , 7 Redwing
2 Goldcrest, a few mixed Tit flock's. 1 Tree creeper , 1 Common snipe, 2 Bullfinch , 1 GS wood pecker a few Chaffinches. cheers col :t:

 

[Nick Smith]

Westport Lake

Temperature was -9 C on the car park this morning at 0730. Can't remember it that low for a while and last winter it was only as low as -7.5 C. It was cold there first thing! Weekend sightings - three Goosander flew over yesterday, three Shov present, Poch dropped today down to 5 from 31 yesterday, but Tufted up to 60 now. One Teal in the back this morning and up to 9 Common Gulls and two Herring Gulls. Also had 12 Lapwing and two Mipits over yesterday.

 

[Charlie Sargent]

Look what turned up at my feeding station today,I thought their was only one buzzard but i noticed the different plumage,just wonder how many will turn up with all this meat about

OMG Keith, that's some bird table. What other raptors do you get?

Charlie

 

[Rob Jones]

The outside temp of my greenhouse went down to -9.8c last night. Tonight at 7pm it was -4.5 and falling fast. I hate winter!
The road up to Hanchurch was a no no because of ice so had to drive around to Stableford to get up there. The lane is very bad and I guess will be a low priority with the gritters, so beware! Made it though eventually.
Lots of birds around the water tower feeding on seed that had been left. Lots also down Bents Lane. Chaffinch, Greenfinch mainly with a few Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings. 20+ Lawings. Fallow Deer laying up in the sun off three mile lane.

 

[Gronk08]

Garden & Doxey

Hi

Did a spot of garden birding this morning and turned out well worth it, the feeders are bring in quite a few birds.

High light being a Great Spotted Woody, get the odd one but this cold weather is meaning its a regular visitor now. Also the usual stuff such as Nuthatch and Willow Tit.
One surprise and a garden first was a Goldcrest on the gorse bush, have seen them in the hawthorn behind the back fench but never before in the garden.

On to a cold and frozen Doxey in the pm.
The pool close to the car park is nearly frozen over. Walking along the path we were shadowed by a couple of Stone Chats and Meadow Pipits.

From the hide we managed
Common Gull
Fieldfare
Black Headed Gull
Less Black Back
Lapwing
Teal
Heron
Plus a single fox.
The strange thing was seeing Moorhen climbing the hawthorn to I assume feed on the berries.


On the note of garden feeding Garners garden centre in Silverdale has a value pack on 10 fat blocks for £10.

Tim.

 

[bull's birder]

Mr. Low just messaged me on Facebook to say there was a Waxwing briefly up Westbury Park earlier today

Cheers
Craig

 

[Steve Turner]

Mr. Low just messaged me on Facebook to say there was a Waxwing briefly up Westbury Park earlier today

Cheers
Craig

Obi-Wan Low on Facebook :eek!: Wonders will never cease

Steve

 

[ScottPetrek]

Hi

Did a spot of garden birding this morning and turned out well worth it, the feeders are bring in quite a few birds.

High light being a Great Spotted Woody, get the odd one but this cold weather is meaning its a regular visitor now. Also the usual stuff such as Nuthatch and Willow Tit.
One surprise and a garden first was a Goldcrest on the gorse bush, have seen them in the hawthorn behind the back fench but never before in the garden.

On to a cold and frozen Doxey in the pm.
The pool close to the car park is nearly frozen over. Walking along the path we were shadowed by a couple of Stone Chats and Meadow Pipits.

From the hide we managed
Common Gull
Fieldfare
Black Headed Gull
Less Black Back
Lapwing
Teal
Heron
Plus a single fox.
The strange thing was seeing Moorhen climbing the hawthorn to I assume feed on the berries.


On the note of garden feeding Garners garden centre in Silverdale has a value pack on 10 fat blocks for £10.

Tim.

Thanks for Doxey records, I'll add them to the database if I may?

 

[jackhaye]

Tunstall Park Waxwings

23 Waxwings in Tunstall Park this afternoon - feeding on yellow-berry rowans at the south end of the park. Plenty of berries still left on several trees here so might be worth a look if anyone's passing, they flew in from Tunstall town direction and 3pm. Also a single snipe flushed from the little ornamental stream running into the park lake-an unusual location but everywhere else frozen up I guess.
Andy

 

[namron]

That's a lot of YL Gulls Ted or were they gulls with Yellow legs ? or may be they were Lesser Black Backed Gulls or they were yl gulls if so that's a good count. col

Hi Col I was watching the gull movement this morning from my bedroom window 9 till 10am. They were overhead 5 and 6 at a time but I just had them down for LBBs.

 

[Adam M]

23 Waxwings in Tunstall Park this afternoon - feeding on yellow-berry rowans at the south end of the park. Plenty of berries still left on several trees here so might be worth a look if anyone's passing, they flew in from Tunstall town direction and 3pm. Also a single snipe flushed from the little ornamental stream running into the park lake-an unusual location but everywhere else frozen up I guess.
Andy

Might have to give these a look. I had them down for being in the rowans by the library, just a few hundred yards from the ones they are actually at.

Adam

 

[Rob Jones]

Might have to give these a look. I had them down for being in the rowans by the library, just a few hundred yards from the ones they are actually at.

Adam

None there when I took a look Adam. The Rowens in the park are heavily guarded by thrushes.

 

[Rob Jones]

Look what turned up at my feeding station today,I thought their was only one buzzard but i noticed the different plumage,just wonder how many will turn up with all this meat about

Awesome pictures Keith. :t: