The Wyre Forest

On 11/05, we had a very pleasant family day out in and around Bewdley, Worcestershire, on a glorious sunny day.

Of course, I managed to shoehorn in a walk in the Wyre Forest in the hope I might bump into of it's specialities.

Pied Flycatchers were the overwhelming highlight, with a number of singing males showing excellently well in their favoured areas. Also managed to encounter a couple of Redstart, Tree Pipit and a newly arrived Spotted Flycatcher, plus a surprise SLow Worm. All in all a successful walk, particularly as we didn't venture too far!

To finish the day, we enjoyed dinner by the River Serven in Bewdley itself, joined by a very showy female Goosander and lots of Sand Martins zipping about!

Spring birding

With consistently clear weather throughout much of the spring, birding highlights were relatively limited in these parts, with only the bigger, more reliable sites elsewhere, pulling in anything of real interest.

Still, spring is always a joy to encounter once again and reaquaint yourself with all the summer visitors.

Two of the most notable highlights were both at Bicester Wetlands, with the discovery of a lovely pair of Spring Garganey on 21/03 that hung around for a few days. My first local spring gargs for a few years and frankly, the most stunning duck in my humble opinion!

The second, was the surprise find of a rather skulky female-type Black Redstart on 09/04, that spent most of it's time buried in a hedge, calling. It did though make a couple of brief appearances before melting away into scrub, never to be seen again. A site first for the Bicester Wetland Reserve, no less!

Generally, migrants were quite a bit earlier this spring. Swallow and House Martin on 23/03, were my earliest yet at Grimsbury Res, while I scored my first ever March Sedge Warbler at Bicester Wetland on 31/03.

Other notables through April / May included Barnacle Goose, Marsh Harrier, Black Tern and Oystercatcher at Foxcote Res, Sanderling, Caspian Gull and a good run of Ringed Plover at Ardley quarry, Firecrest and Spotted Flycatcher at regular, local breeding sites, Grasshopper Warbler at a couple of sites, and Mandarin at Grimsbury Res. Wader and tern passage were almost non-existant, while chats were very hard to come by, missing out on both Redstart and Whinchat. 

I didn't do much birding away from close to home, however I did venture out, deeper into Oxon a couple of times. Firstly, to enjoy the opportunity of hearing a singing Nightingale on 27/04, just outside my 12 mile area - sadly such a scarcity in these parts nowadays.

Secondly, I made it over to Otmoor on the evening of 31/05, in an attempt to see / hear the recently discovered Savi's Warbler. A longish wait, but eventually it sang beautifully late on. Like the other three I'd previously heard in the UK, I failed to see the blighter! A Glossy Ibis, Bittern, Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Great White & Cattle Egret and a sizable flock of Barnacle Geese made for a very decent supporting cast!

Others pics through the spring:

A tale of two Teals

Was great to get going on a new local year list as 2024's total slowly ground to a halt through December! 

Thrown in with the fun of new year listing, there were some interesting birds to be found, with a bit of effort.

Undoubtedly, the stars of the show, during January and February were the remarkable occurance of not one, but TWO Green-winged Teals, both within 15-20 mins from home - at Ardley Quarry and the Mid Cherwell floods, near Aynho. Both are sites I regularly bird, so I was unlucky to not fimd them myself, however chuffed to enjoy them both, with the Ardley bird far easier to see, reliably sticking to the lake adjacent to the main quarry.

As well as the Teal, the Mid Cherwell has once again provided some wonderful birding, with the consistent presence of large areas of floodwater and mud. This has included brilliant numbers of Lapwing and Golden Plover, as well as a strong showing of wildfowl consisting of larger than normal number of Teal, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler and Gadwall. Other notable sightings for me here, during the early part of the year also included 4 Ruff & 3 Dunlin on 28/02, good views of Barn Owl, Great White Egret, up to 6 Stonechat and a couple of Peregrine.

Other notables during the period included a couple of Caspian Gulls at Ardley Quarry, Egyptian Goose through Grimsbury Res, a couple of stunning adult Med Gulls in the Boddington Reservoir gull roost, plus Yellow-Legged Gull, Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Grey Partridge and several Peregrine sightings.

The big north east dip!

During the first half of January, the north-east had somewhat of a purple patch with Ross' Gull, Grey-Headed Lapwing and a wonderfully confiding White-billed Diver all on offer - a mouth-watering trio!

Myself and birding pals Kieran, Johnny and Dan hatched a bit of a far-fetched plan to get up there, including an overnight AirBnB on the weekend of the 11/01 & 12/01. As it turned out, I managed to negotiate a pass from the Mrs and suddenly it was happening!

Despite the excitement of our impending adventure, Kieran unfortunately couldn't make it, having being tied up with work last minute, however myself J & Dan pressed on - despite the concerning news that all three birds had gone AWOL - a situation that unfortunately failed to improve!

We began at Creswell Beach on what was an insanely cold early morning - the first time I've seen frosty sand on a beach! A scan looking for the WB Diver (reported on the sea the previous afternoon) produced a good selection of waders on the beach, plus Eider and RT Diver offshore. The area around Creswell Pool held several sizable flocks of Pinkfeet, a Peregrine, a couple of small groups of Whooper Swans moving south and a trio of Ruff amongst a flock of Lapwing stood on the ice.

Slightly further north, a thorough scan of the sea from Druridge Pools produced at least 3 Velvet Scoter amongst a number of Commons, 2 Black-Throated Divers, Red Breasted Mergansers and more Eider, as well as a group of c25 Twite over and a couple of Marsh Harriers over the pools.

We took a look at Widdrington Moor Lake, a short drive inland. A nice spot but viewing a bit tricky. Anyways some underwhelming views of some good birds included female Ring-Necked Duck, 2-3 redhead Smew and a 1st-winter drake Scaup amongst large numbers of duck. A ringtail Hen Harrier also gave nice scope views, up on the hillside beyond the lake.

We popped into the Druridge Bay Country Park, where just a day ago the WB Diver was showing it's nuts off. But sadly not to be for us. A scan of the sea did produce a surprise in the shape of a small pod of Bottle-Nosed Dolphins moving north.

With time ticking, we decided before the long haul drive south, to stop off in South Shields to scan for the Ross's Gull and perhaps a Glauc or something. As it turned out we saw neither, digging out a 2w Med Gull, a few Turnstones and a very distant Purple Sandpiper!

A final stop at the not so idyllic setting at nearby Jarrow, on the River Tyne for a scan of more gulls. This did produce distant views of both the reported Long Tailed Duck and Green-winged Teal, to further enhance the day's impressive duck list! But again no Ross's or white-wingers.

It was then time to draw a close to the birding. Really great impromptu catch up with the guys, but from a birding point of view, it wasn't what we were hoping for, but nevermind! Probably scuppered by the short-sharp cold snap that hit over the weekend, encouraging the birds to move - certainly the case with the Diver, whose lake had become almost completely frozen over. It's a mugs game twitching!