The Birding Month - April 2010

Like March, April has been another relaxed affair, but there have been some superb spots along the way.

Taking the foot off the birding pedal this year has meant that certain sightings have been all the more rewarding due to their unexpected nature. My first swallow of the year seen on the way to work on 6 April was one such example. Also heard my first blackcap of the year that morning.

The butterfly sightings started to roll in at the start of the month too. Peacock, small tortoiseshell and comma were all seen for the first time between 7 and 10 April.



Peacock in the garden



Comma in the garden

Finally, a bit of proper birding on 11 April. My Dad and I went to Titterstone Clee Hill to have a look for ring ouzel. A bit of a bogey bird this one for me. I had rubbish views of one on top of Caingorm in May 2008 and a few unsuccessful forays for it since. I'm pleased to say we had great views of it and had bonus spots of black redstart, peregrine and wheatear. A fairly terrible record shot of the ring ouzel taken with my phone follows.



Ring ouzel at Titterstone Clee Hill

Later that day, Mrs Reg and I paid a visit to Upton Warren. Mrs Reg has just purchased a new Canon camera and was keen to try it out. Birds seen included avocet, little ringed plover and green sandpiper. Unfortunately, Mrs Reg neglected to extend her zoom lens properly, so didn't end up with many decent shots. What a silly billy!

Still, Mrs Reg's blunder meant I was able to persuade her to accompany me to Earlswood Lakes for a second bite at the cherry on 16 April. We had a nice walk around the lakes, seeing common tern, willow warbler and also my first treecreeper of the year. This time the other half got some nice photos and I bagged a few decent shots of the terns.





Common terns at Earlswood Lakes

Also, these great crested grebes getting all lovey-dovey.



Grebes - amorous

Saturday 17 April proved to be a mega day on the patch. I hadn't planned to go out, but it was such a lovely day that Mrs Reg and I decided to take advantage of the weather and have a walk to Weatheroak Hill. At the magic field we enjoyed views of the lapwings and a skylark - all very nice, but regulation stuff.

Before long, the ante was well and truly upped when a pair of ravens turned up. Great birds. I amused myself by calling to them using a slight variation on my Chewbacca impersonation, though it wasn't long before Mrs Reg told me to shut up. Spoilsport.

However, even the ravens paled into insignificance on this fine day as I had heard a lesser whitethroat in full song not too far away. This was a first for the patch and with a lot of patience and a fair amount of pishing, I was eventually able to track down the bird. Mrs Reg kindly lent me her camera again and I was able to get the following shots. None of them are perfect, but I don't care. This is one of my favourite birds and there was much fist-pumping on the way home.







Lesser whitethroat - hell yes!



Another peacock, snapped by Mrs Reg

Also spotted a female orange-tip in the magic field. It was distant, but I was happy with my diagnosis.

To top off a good weekend, I saw a pair of peregrines high over the house on Sunday afternoon, and a willow warbler was heard in the trees behind our garden. Another was heard at work the day after.

The first speckled wood butterfly of the year was seen at work on 20 April, and I managed to clap eyes on a willow warbler there the day after. Not technically on the premises, as it was just on the other side of the fence on Kings Norton golf course, but the first I have ever seen at work.

On Friday 23 April it was my 40th birthday. Mother Nature's present was a male orange-tip in the garden. It turned up at about 4.30pm and settled on the ornamental grass. I dashed upstairs to get the camera to take some pictures, one of which follows, but I needn't have rushed - it remained in situ until Saturday morning, not flying off until nearly midday. Lazy beggar!



Orange-tips - sleepy!

Obviously, there are several days left until we are into May, but I am now off to Scotland on holiday. Hopefully there will be a few more decent observations before the month is out. I will include these in my next round up, which should be in about five weeks' time.

The Birding Month - March 2010

A quiet month on the whole, with one or two highlights.

Kicked things off in good style with a visit to the Forest Of Dean, which I have not been to since 2008. Target bird was goshawk and we saw several from the New Fancy View watchpoint. Half a dozen common crossbills were also noted.

Later on at Boys Grave we had exceptional views of two displaying goshawks at relatively close quarters. Brilliant stuff. Also saw my first butterfly of the year here - a red admiral.

The following week, my Dad and I paid a visit to the Wyre Forest, which was uncharacteristically quiet. Of all the birds that we hoped to see, I think we only clapped eyes on a dipper. Actually, Dad didn't even see that, come to think of it!

We consoled ourselves with the Slavonian grebe at Grimley on the way home. We also stopped off at Upton Warren, but this was also devoid of birds. The avocets were nowhere to be seen.



Slavonian grebe at Grimley

Aside from that, I have been out on the patch the last couple of weekends. The lapwings are back in the magic field and I will be keeping close tabs on them over the next few weeks. This time next month they should be rearing their young.



Lapwing in the magic field



Lapwings



Digi-binned lapwing

I heard my first chiffchaff at work on Friday 19 March, but had to wait until Friday 26 March to see one. Two meadow pipits dropped into the grounds on Thursday 25 March, and a sparrowhawk was seen the day before that.

Yesterday afternoon a brimstone butterfly turned up in the garden, and later on there were visits from a goldcrest and a great spotted woodpecker.

A good month with the emphasis on quality, not quantity.

Casps, kites and shrikes

Some additional photos of the Caspian gull seen near Stubber's Green a few weeks ago, the red kites at Gigrin Farm, and Morton Bagot's great grey shrike. These were all taken by my Dad.



Caspian Gull



Red kite at Gigrin Farm



White morph red kite



Great grey shrike at Morton Bagot

March has got off to a good start, with my first butterfly of the year seen in the Forest of Dean last Monday - a beautiful red admiral. More about that outing in the next post.

The Birding Month - February 2010

The first day of the month saw me return to the Wyre Forest for the first time this year. Another dusting of snow didn't appear to be an obstacle initially, but proved troublesome as the day wore on. More of that later.

Three goosanders on the River Severn opened the day's account quite nicely, and a very vocal marsh tit as soon as I stepped out of the car gave me hope that this was going to be a productive day. Having set eyes on the marsh tit, I continued along the old railway line before heading into Knowles Coppice in the hope of a lesser spotted woodpecker.

Sadly, the forest was very quiet. A few great spotted woodpeckers were seen, but not their more diminutive cousins. After a lengthy walk around the forest and along Dowles Brook I had little to show for my troubles, save for a second marsh tit near Lodge Hill Farm, a dipper, a single lesser redpoll and this attempt at an arty-farty picture of icy leaves.



Leaves - rubbish

Heading out of the forest, I encountered a traffic jam on the A456 heading into Bewdley. Not being particularly keen on joining it, I headed instead in the direction of Cleobury Mortimer. This turned out to be a wise decision, as the traffic stretched back some four miles or so! I had to negotiate some rather nasty roads in tricky driving conditions in order to get back to Bewdley. A pair of ravens and Eddie Stobart truck Aimee Leigh seen along the way did little to console me.

My next destination was Trimpley Reservoir, where I spotted a large siskin flock, several goldcrests and heard another marsh tit. Six Mandarin ducks were noted on the River Severn behind the reservoir, but not much else.

I had planned to hit a few more sites in the afternoon, but a combination of some dreadful navigational skills worthy of Mark Thatcher and a lack of news flow on Birdguides rendered the remainder of the day a write-off. I had hoped to visit the Lickey Hills in search of the common crossbills that had turned up there at the weekend, but I just didn't have time.

All in all, a frustrating day.

Gulls Just Wanna Have Fun

There was a complete turnaround of birding fortune the following Saturday, however, when my Dad and I paid a visit to Stubber's Green. I have been keen to tick Caspian gull for some time now, and being aware that Iceland and glaucous gulls were in the area, it seemed a good time to have another bite at the cherry.

The first hour or two bore similarities to previous visits - in other words lots of fruitless searching through the assembled gull flock, punctuated by the occasional bit of excitement when a gull with a beady eye or pear-shaped head was spotted. Sadly, every time we thought we had a candidate for Caspian gull there was always some other evidence to rule it out - wrong shaped bill, short legs, streaky head and so on.

We were pleased when we were joined by Paul Jeynes a little before midday. We've met Paul here a few times previously and it's not too much of an exaggeration to say that he is he on first name terms with most of the gulls that frequent the area. He had a quick scan of the birds and declared that he couldn't see anything other than the usual suspects, so he suggested we pop down the road to have a look at the nearby landfill site.

With Paul's help we were soon ticking Iceland gull [lifer!] and yellow-legged gull, and after a while we had a Caspian gull [lifer!] and a glaucous gull too [another lifer!]. Now, I don't claim to be the world's biggest lister, but I have reached a stage where bagging three lifers in a day is something of a champagne moment. Sadly, we had no champagne to hand, so the ubiquitous Islay malt was produced instead.

Setting off for home, we stopped again at Stubber's Green so that I could relieve myself in the bushes. As luck would have it, the Iceland and glacuous gulls had also arrived, giving me a few photo opportunities. A tremendous bit of gulling in my opinion, though probably just a normal day in the life of gull-meister Mr Jeynes!

Thanks to Paul's master class, I think that I would now be able to recognise a second-winter year yellow-legged gull in the field [or at Stubber's Green!], even though Caspian will still probably remain something of an enigma to me!



Second-winter yellow-legged gull



Iceland gull



Glaucous gull

Monday 8 February saw siskins in the garden and a raven in the field opposite the house. The siskins continued to put in regular appearances throughout the month, though numbers never got above five.

On Sunday 14 February I paid a visit to Morton Bagot to see the great grey shrike that had turned up there on the preceding Thursday. I was able to locate the bird quite easily and had good views for ten minutes or so. Unfortunately, it took flight whilst I had my eye off it and I was unable to relocate it.

Whether I'm year-listing or not, I think a great grey shrike is a bird that I will always be happy to put the leg work in to see. A real stunner.



Great grey shrike at Morton Bagot

Time for a big, unashamed twitch on Monday 22 February - a visit to Gigrin Farm with my Mum and Dad, to see if we could connect with the juvenile black kite that has been around for a few weeks. The spectacle of so many red kites promised to me memorable in its own right, but even so, it would have been pretty galling to come away without seeing the black kite. Fingers were duly crossed.

Before we reached Rhayader, we had already seen a good number of kites patrolling the hills and mountains of mid Wales, plus a few common buzzards and a healthy sprinkling of ravens.

We killed half an hour or so at nearby Gilfach, but didn't really have time to do the place justice. Fantastic habitat though, worth a visit in its own right one day perhaps. Could be something of a butterfly haven too later in the year.

Come 2.00pm we were safely ensconced in the hide at Gigrin Farm. The meat was strewn across the grass and the kites descended upon it, along with a good number of corvids, some common buzzards and even a grey heron or two. Silly devils!





Red kites at Gigrin Farm

After ten minutes or so, the black kite showed up and, to my delight, proved easy to pick out from the crowd [lifer!]. It stayed in the vicinity for a while then disappeared, returning later on for a short encore.

It was certainly worth the effort to go and see the bird, and I can heartily recommend the Lamb & Flag Inn in Rhayader for a pint and a spot of lunch if anyone is thinking of going. Roast beef with all the trimmings for less than a fiver, and a black kite for dessert. Not a bad day, all in all!

Looking ahead, let's hope March brings with it some better weather. I'm excited about the imminent arrival of birds such as chiffchaff and wheatear. There is a little spot close to home where I think the latter might be worth hunting for. It would be great to see one on the patch.

I'm also hoping to see a few butterflies on the wing. I've been doing plenty of research in this area and I have high hopes of seeing several new species in 2010. I've even set up a spreadsheet to help me keep tabs on what to see and where to see it.

Spreadsheets and butterflies. Utopia!

The Birding Month - January 2010

I think it's fair to say that January 2010 will be remembered mainly for The Big Freeze. As a direct result of the snow and ice, I was unable to get out and do any serious birding until the middle of the month, but despite this I had a number of good ticks from the warmth and comfort of the house.

I've already talked about the unexpected double whammy of sparrowhawks that opened my birding account for the year, but New Year's Day also brought goldfinch, redwing, nuthatch and jay my way, and a house sparrow was a rare visitor to the damson tree in the back garden, albeit for a matter of seconds. As the first day of the year drew to a close, I had 18 birds on the list.

Over the next few days there was a steady trickle of decent sightings, no doubt aided by the cold snap. Mistle thrush, long-tailed tit and goldcrest all fell, and walking to and from work on 6 January added a wren and a kestrel to the list. Feral pigeon was duly noted, but won't be counted this year. Having seen the real McCoy on Islay last year I just don't have the appetite to tick them in 2010.

A picture taken at work with my phone follows. You can now click on my images to open a larger version in a new window.



A white-out at Pearl Group plc

On 9 January I had a rare song thrush in the garden and another sparrowhawk flew over the house. This turned out to be a mega weekend for garden birds. The snow brought a few redwings down and a couple of siskins turned up in the alder later that day. But it was Sunday 10 January that brought the biggest surprise. Whilst sat in the study, I noticed a large bird drifting over the A435. Quickly ruling out common buzzard, I watched as the bird passed across the field opposite the house - red kite! Amazing!

I finally clocked a common buzzard whilst having my lunch at work the following Tuesday. Sparrowhawk the first bird on the year list? Red kite before common buzzard? A chance of honey buzzard and Montagu's harrier in Norfolk in the summer? This is turning out to be a raptor-tastic year, I thought to myself! That evening, my Dad rang and proposed a trip to Upton Warren on the Sunday. As the week wore on the snow finally relented and we made it out into the field as planned.

Before heading for Upton Warren, however, we paid a visit to Bredon's Hardwick to look for the red-crested pochards that had been seen there the previous day. I wasn't exactly sure where to view from. I understand most people scan from the B4080, so I did a bit of research and with the aid of Google maps I identified a spot that looked promising.

On arriving, we set up the scopes and had a look down towards the sailing lake. A few more year ticks were noted, including fieldfare, wigeon and great crested grebe, then before I knew it, several red-crested pochard appeared in the scope [lifer!]. I think we were a bit lucky to see them as we were only able to scan a limited part of the lake. If I pass that way again I shall have to see if there are any better places to view from.

I suspect these ducks are part of the feral population from Cotswold Water Park, which I believe have been pushed northwards into the Midlands due to the freezing conditions. I'm sure Martyn Yapp will have an opinion on their plasticity! Either way, they have been ticked and added to the life list. I hadn't been particularly excited about seeing them, but I actually found it much more enjoyable than I thought I would. In fact, I can honestly say it was duck-mongous!

Upton Warren produced excellent views of a bittern, both on the Moors Pool and the North Moors Pool. A record shot taken by my Dad as the bird ventured out onto the ice follows. An even better picture taken by Pete Walkden now graces the Worcestershire Source blog. Thanks, Pete.



Bittern at Upton Warren

Also seen at Upton Warren were bullfinch, water rail, snipe, shoveler, teal, pochard and reed bunting. On a negative note, we didn't see or hear any Cetti's warblers. I hope these charismatic little birds have survived the inclement weather. We abandoned plans to visit The Flashes, opting instead to pay a quick visit to Shenstone where we thought the birding opportunities might reap better dividends.



Water rail at Upton Warren

Despite our optimism, we had slim pickings at Shenstone, but great spotted woodpecker, stock dove and skylark were added to the year list. Sadly, there were no sign of any corn buntings or grey partridge, Shenstone's jewels in the crown so to speak. I did have a probable yellowhammer, but not good enough views to warrant a tick.

We bumped into a couple of birders who had spotted a single brambling, but despite a quick search we couldn't relocate the bird. Heading home, we passed through Hopwood to have a look for a little owl, which posed obligingly for my Dad whilst he took a photograph. A good morning's birding, with three Eddie Stobart trucks life-ticked too!



Little owl at Hopwood

On 25 January Mrs Reg and I paid a visit to Brandon Marsh and Ryton Woods, the latter being an intended venue for a bit of butterflying later in the year. I was keen to suss it out in advance, which proved to be a good idea as the country park, Ryton Pool and the woodland all cover a sizeable area. I'll definitely have to get some good gen before I think about returning in the summer.

Brandon Marsh added a green-winged teal to the year list and I had good views of a bittern in flight, thanks to Mrs Reg's quick reactions. Perhaps we'll make a birder of her yet! Cetti's warbler was heard, but remained hidden in the reeds. At Ryton Woods I connected with at least one lesser redpoll amongst a large flock of siskins and goldfinch, plus a couple of common gulls on Ryton Pool.



Green-winged teal at Brandon Marsh

The last hurrah of the month was a trip to Pitsford Reservoir in Northamptonshire with my Dad, Dave 'Leapy' Lyons and my burgeoning birding chum Boyley. Before heading east we paid a quick visit to Leapy's local patch to bag red-legged and grey partridges. These birds were lifers for Boyley, as were a lot of the goodies that fell later in the day.

The main quarry was great white egret, which we were able to spot within five minutes of arriving [lifer!], but the reservoir held a wide range of good birds. These included year ticks for me in the shape of [I must stop saying that!] goldeneye, goosander, yellowhammer, tree sparrow [loads of them!], ruddy duck, smew, marsh tit and redshank.



Dreadful record shot of the great white egret

On the way home we took a detour through Grandborough to have a go for a great grey shrike that's been there for a while, but alas, the bird hadn't been seen since 11.00am. A nice flock of linnets provided another year tick, but was scant consolation for dipping out on one of my favourite birds. I had really wanted Boyley to see it too. Oh well, I suppose there'll be others.

A nice soak in the bath was just what the doctor ordered after a long day out in the chilly conditions. Even as I write, I am safely enveloped in my jim-jams and dressing gown, looking forward to a nice Islay malt to celebrate the lifer, and an evening in front of the telly with Mrs Reg and Holly Willoughby. Read into that what you will!

Looking ahead, February should see me return to the Wyre Forest. There's always a good range of birds to see there and it's a beautiful place to walk around. Who knows, I might even run into a naked lady again?

I'm particularly keen to catch up with a lesser spotted woodpecker again after missing this elusive species in 2009, and the Wyre seems a good a place as any other to start looking for them. I don't think I can rely on one turning up on my peanut feeder again!

Until next time, enjoy your birding.

The List Begins ...

Well, 2010 has got off to an unbelievable start! The first bird that flew over the garden this morning was a sparrowhawk, closely followed by ... another sparrowhawk!

It's not that often that I see sparrowhawks from the house, so to see two together on the first day of a new birding year is pretty special. Maybe a good omen for the year to come? Hope so.

Second bird on the list? A magpie. Normal service has been resumed!

Hope you like the new look Eye To The Telescope. I'm signing off now, as it's time for breakfast and a bit more list-building from the comfort of the kitchen.

Happy New Year to all my followers.

The Perfect Year

So here we are, almost at the end of another birding year. If you've been reading my blog regularly, you'll know that my approach to birding this year has been fairly laid back. Despite this there have been many highlights. Self-found lifers are always remembered fondly, so adding Arctic skua and short-eared owl to the life list in 2009 was particularly rewarding. Finally putting snow bunting to bed in Norfolk in February was also a highlight, so thanks to Steve Jones for finding them for us.

Sticking with self-found birds for a bit, there were many more during the year, including willow tit, marsh tit, tawny owl, brambling, Mediterranean gull, lesser whitethroat, grasshopper warbler and common crossbill, but none of these were lifers. Still great birds though.

Other highlights were two red kites seen in and around Wythall, most of the birds seen in Islay in May, the Slavonian grebe seen in breeding plumage in Devon, the hat-trick of black tern, American black tern and white-winged black tern at Farmoor Reservoir in August, and the Sabine's gull at Upton Warren.

Most of 2009 was dedicated to walking the patch. In doing so, I clocked up 110 miles and saw a grand total of 79 different species. As usual, I was birded-out come November, which meant that I didn't get out as much as I would normally. If I had, I think I could have bagged another few birds for the list. It might be something I try again in a few years though.

Despite all this top-notch birding, I think I will remember 2009 mainly for the butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies. The week I spent in Devon was a real eye-opener in this respect. Watching a female golden-ringed dragonfly ovipositing on Aylesbeare Common was both fortunate and brilliant, as was finding a pair of azure damselflies in a nearby pool just moments later.

Pearl-bordered fritillary, large skipper, marbled white, common blue and grayling were amongst my favourite butterflies, but I couldn't summarise the year without mentioning the influx of painted ladies to the UK, which never became boring no matter how many times I saw them.

What next?

Normally I would now be considering a few goals for the coming 12 months, but I have decided to take something of a sabbatical until 2011. That's not to say that I won't be out and about doing some birding here and there, but I think it will be very low key. I will continue with the blog, which I really enjoy doing, but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me quite so often. The plan is to update the blog on a monthly basis, with the occasional trip report thrown in for good measure, and perhaps an ad-hoc newsflash here and there if I've seen something particularly good.

With this fresh approach to things, I think it's time to give the blog a bit of a facelift. Look out for that in January.

Finally, I would like to wish a Happy Christmas to anyone who has read the blog this year, or those that I have met out in the field in 2009. I hope 2010 brings you everything you wish for.