Local life & Little Histories

Heron - the lakeside sentinel

Most mornings I try before the work day starts on the country park to take a walk around a couple of the pools camera in hand just in case something should catch my eye.

This morning while walking around Willows pool the electric blue of a kingfisher flashed by to alight on an overhanging branch of a willow on the opposite side of the pool, far too far to even contemplate a photograph.

However as trusty as ever the heron was there. The heron is there pretty much every morning, normally at this time of day before the people arrive out in view and on the nearest bank. Herons always seem to be there by pools and lake sides, like prehistoric sentinels watching over the water. Somehow everything seems to be right just by their presence.

The ordinary out of the blue

 

 

 

Sometimes it's the ordinary that catches your eye not the rare or exotic.

Woodpecker Treat, Rangering, and RSPB Celebrations

Since the last entry Spring has marched on, the evenings are lighter, the rain has descended with the odd bout of thunder and lightening thrown in and time at the local reserve has become rarer.

Time outdoors has not decreased but rather increased however it is now mainly spent gaining experience as a Ranger at the nearby Country Park and also spent as a volunteer at a nearby but not local RSPB reserve and at events around the county and neighbouring counties. All of which opens up a whole new world and the knowledge of the Rangers I am working alongside at the country park and nearby reserves is staggering and a little daunting at times. I feel that a patrol or a leisurely walk around the sites will never be the same with eyes that can look around a little more discerningly at the habitats and signs of the past that the lay of the land can tell if you know what to look for. And I'm only at the tip of that iceberg of discernment which is an exciting place to be.

Today however I did manage to get back to my local patch where I feel on more familiar ground and can to some extent be the one with some small smattering of knowledge. Since the last entry the Swift have come back with their aerial antics joining the Swallows, Sand & House Martins (I spent a good half an hour on one of the paths a couple of evenings ago with forty or fifty Swifts swirling around my head, a perfect way to end a day), the Hobby have returned with their chases, banks and dives over the water, the Common Tern are back stopping to hover over the fields at times their elegant profile's gliding over the water and one morning a couple of weeks back even provided the plaintive minor third call of the Cuckoo from the woods.

Of course fluffy bundles have been abundant; ducklings and goslings and the trees are full of parents - beaks full of wholesome goodies for those securely held in nests. Today as I walked past one of the dead old trees I heard something calling and realised that it had to be a Woodpecker from inside, and indeed it was as I watched the parents making trip after trip bringing food to an ever demanding mouth as can be seen from the photographs from today (above and below) taken just after a thunder storm. A cracking close sight to spend a few moments watching and listening to.

On a slightly different note the birds are not the only ones that have been nest building. Last weekend saw the 25th anniversary of the RSPB reserve at Sandwell Valley and along with all the fun activities provided on the day was a 'giant bids nest' built by the volunteers including myself the previous Friday. The kids on the day helped to finish it off with those all importantly placed last twigs and then lined it with 'dry' grass ready for our brood of rather large eggs to hatch. The day even though it was sodden underfoot and bucketing from the heavens proved to be great fun with a good turn out to celebrate the centres 25th anniversary and we just couldn't get the children out of the nest. The 'dream team'  (as we like to call ourselves, myself and two other chaps from the larger volunteer force) manned the giant birds nest and at one point Jelly from CBBC came over to see what it was all about as can be seen below with Jelly being the good looking Green one just below me in the centre of the picture.

One of the really enjoyable aspects of the work I have been doing lately, apart from learning a lot and being a part of good teams both with the Ranger Service and the RSPB is how happy people seem to be to see a Ranger and how they relate to you. It has been great also working with school kids both young and in their teens with the Ranger Services seeing their enthusiasm and willingness to get involved with the natural world and through the RSPB with kids and parents on the reserve and areas such as the event last weekend.

It also nice when you find people are asking after you. Last week I was on a site working with a group of kids with a Roving Ranger who works across a number of sites and with a lot of schools, however this week on the same day I was working in another area and yet the group from the previous week asked where I was. It all good stuff.

Today I enjoyed the time down on the reserve being able to watch the wildlife for myself and catching up with friends I don't see as often now, tomorrow it's back to the RSPB reserve and then a two day Bat course, then back into the week day rangering and RSPB volunteering and then shortly stints at a couple of RSPB events; the Peregrine Project in Worcester and a Water for Life event.

Morning for Birds, evening for the Bats

The early mornings are still as usual my time to be down at the local patch, but the late evenings are once again now time for the bats. So early mornings with binoculars as the sun rises and the mist if any burns off and late evenings as night settles in with head torch, lantern and bat detector.

The sounds on the reserve that greet you in the morning have now changed a little. The Cetti's that heralded your entrance onto the reserve although still calling are not the first sound that assails (in the best possible way) your ears. It is rather the sound of the Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers that greet you and follow you around the reserve. The Sedge seeming to be everywhere and nowhere all at once, with often the only visible sign being the wagging of reed tops as they move about further down on the stems. The Chiffchaf also seem less vocal, maybe they have decided that they just can't compete with the Sedge.

Of course a photo of a Sedge would be nice but rather than putting up a photo of the top of some reeds with an arrow pointing down to the base saying 'somewhere down there if you look hard', I thought I would instead pop on a photograph of a much more obliging Reed Bunting from this morning.

Nest sites seem to be popping up all over the reserve and at the moment it is a case of 'spot the mallard' as they all seem to be hunkered down on nests. So far little broods of three, nine and thirteen Mallard Chicks have been out and about with their respective moms. Well come on, no one can resist those little fluffy fellows... including the Heron - but not quite in the same way unfortunately. Even a hardened chase off around the country on the edge of a seizure from dipping 'twitcher' must be able to raise a smile at those bundles of cuteness.

Less cute but rather more elegant, the Avocet seem to be the casual visitor to the reserve pleaser, with a couple in the hide at the Flashes today spending quite a long time being delighted by these striking, if not 'Little Ringed Plover friendly' birds.

I have to admit that I would rather watch the Goosander and Wigeon over at the Moors than the Avocet, which is a good thing as the Flashes hide gets busy enough as it is. The Avocet are a striking wader but in a 1980's Black ski pants and White high heel shoes kind of way to me, I almost expect a handbag to be whipped out from under a wing at any moment..... and now you will never look at an Avocet in the same way again will you!

The reserve is also once again abundant in butterflies with more Peacock and Orange-Tip than you could throw a stick at - which of course you wouldn't want to - well I hope not at any rate, and the odd Speckled Wood - as in the occasional one not a single rather bizarre one.

I did have the rather wonderful experience this morning of taking a very slow walk around the North Moors path and on standing stock still for a while I had two of the diminutive Wren chasing around in a circular route around me only inches away on part of their circuit and to the point where they actually flew in between my legs as I stood there watching them. That's what it is all about to me, being that close and a part of it all and being accepted as just part of their environment not a stomping clumsy human being to be avoided at all costs

I read somewhere, I think it may have been in Bill Oddie's autobiography, that apart from making lists of all you see on a day what you should do is make make little notes of things that happen on those nature outings as they are far more important than those lists. Those little notes on something such as those Wrens in years to come will bring back an image that will allow a moment to be re-lived and will brighten a day and he is so right.

And finally to the evenings. Well we (the bat walks are a 'we' - while the birds are mine in this household), we went off on our first Bat Walk of the season this last weekend. It turned out to be something of a quick march around for a couple of hours unfortunately so rather than nice long views of the bats that were around it was more a case of 'Soprano Pip' off at a pace, 'Common Pip' off at a pace, 'Daub... hmm maybe' off again and so it went on. But never the less it was nice to out on the first bat detecting session of the year. These weren't our first bats of the year, our local little Common Pip is back and has been for a couple of weeks now flying around our garden at dusk before setting of elsewhere for the nights foraging.

It was nice on the bat walk however to meet up with a couple of people we hadn't seen for a while from a bat group that we were previously members of before moving to Worcestershire and hopping across bat groups. I have to admit to hanging at the back having a good old chin wag on the way round with rather less bat detecting and a lot more yakking - and a good old chin wag it was too... it was nice to see you again if the other guilty party happens to check in the site and read this.

And that's it for now, so I'll leave with another Reed Bunting photograph.

Upton Warren Arctic Tern April 2009

I was kicking myself this morning, for once I wasn't down at my local patch early in the morning. After performing the initial scan around I opened the hide log book and entered there in the book with the time recorded for when I would normally any other day be there was, 'three yellow wagtail'.

I felt somehow cheated. All the early morning hours and I missed them when they decided to drop in. Of course I hadn't actually been waiting for them to appear, no one could known that they would drop on to the reserve, they weren't expected, but even so I drew my breath in and silently sulked a little.

Even turning around to see the great spotted woodpecker hanging off a branch down low not 10ft behind the hide didn't cheer me up. But then all of a sudden things turned around, not anything yellow... but there on the island were 7 dunlin and in amongst them not one of the usual little ringed plover but rather a ringed plover, two birds that I hadn't as yet seen at Upton Warren this year.

So now I am feeling somewhat happier. A family come into the hide and in conversation they mention that there are 3 common term over by the Flashes and not having seem them this year on the reserve I decided to make my way over to have a look. On arriving at the boating lake a couple of the reserve regulars are stood binoculars in hand scanning over the water. I join them only to be informed 'arctic tern aren't they fantastic'!

I couldn't believe my luck, this just about made my day. I am also extremely glad the regulars were there, especially one who specialises in gulls and terns, otherwise I might have taken a quick glance and thought 'yep, common tern'. Well lets be honest I would have. The vagaries between the common and arctic would have swooped right over my head unless I had one of each side by side about 4 ft away from me posing as they do side on in the Collins Bird Guide on the same page. Slightly shorter bill on the arctic, red rather than orange bill, shorter legs and other little differences - but as it says in the guides 'very similar to the common tern'. So lets be honest, with a pair of binoculars and the terns way out over a lake whirling around it's not that easy and I would have gone home with common tern written in the note book and I would have been happy too. As it was arctic they were and I spent about an hour on the waters edge just watching the terns performing acrobatics over the lake while around 20 swallows perched twittering on the overhead cables just above my head. Lets face it the yellow wagtail no longer entered into the equation.

Photo 'Arctic Tern'' from today.

The perfect way to spend the early morning

The last few early mornings down at the local patch have been overcast, dull and cold, but on Sunday morning yes it was certainly not short sleeved shirt weather but the morning was bright and sunny as my regular companion from around the East hide proves below.

The Chiffchaff were in good voice around the reserve as were around 4 Cetti's Warblers. It becomes a regular, familiar and comforting routine as on entering the reserve the Chiffchaff sound around you and you wait to hear the first Cetti's of the visit (which you don't have to wait long for), although it takes a while longer to spot the fellows. Then in the distance you hear the drumming of the Great Spotted Woodpecker which most likely will be seen on a large dead tree on the path to the hide and you take a look into the distance where a Green Woodpecker has his favourite spot while a pair of Jays give their harsh calls from the trees over the field. As you walk along the Blue, Longtailed and Great Tits, Bullfinch, Greenfinch and Chaffinch dive and flit around from tree to tree while the Blackbirds hang around near the path head cocked on one side looking as though at any moment they might open a wing to display a line of wrist watches..'want to buy one mate?'.

On entering the hide you take that initial scan around spotting off the regulars and the expected; the Mute swan nesting on the opposite side of the water, the Snipe blending in at the waters edge on the islands, the Oystercatcher piping bright red bills swaying purposely back and forth. The Greater Crested Grebe will be gliding along maybe pairing up to display, the shoveler will be dotted here and there along with the Mallard and diminutive Teal. The Cormorant will be sunning wings spread on the island, the Grey Heron will be intently stalking its prey around the margins, the Canada Geese will be honking and the Black Headed Gull will be squealing. Closer inspection provides a Little Ringed plover starting back and forth in sudden jerks and runs like a leaner driver amongst the Lapwing and a pair of Little Grebe pop like corks to the surface of the water where sixty seconds ago there was nothing. Maybe a flash of Blue and Orange will herald one of the Kingfisher speeding along the reed margins or maybe a flash of Blue or Red overhead will herald one of the Swallow and a scan of the trees and posts may well find a Buzzard or Sparrowhawk perched. The reeds will provide the reed Bunting and little piles of debris will have their own Wren perched atop. Then you can scan around to find the pair of Gadwall and the Goosander and scan and listen to see if you can pick up the Redpoll or the Backcap or maybe the Willow Warbler that someone has reportedly heard that morning.

And every day brings something different; Sunday had it's Redshank and Little Ringed Plover on the Islands along with the expected. Monday in addition brought a Mistle thrush up in the tree at the car park, a party of around six Redpoll on one side of the tree lined paths leading to the hide and three Blackcap on the other side and on the Islands a Common Sandpiper. Tomorrow I might see the Sand Martin and Swallows instead.

It just depends on when and where you are and if you chance to coincide.

It's not a bad way to start a day...

Photographs top to bottom; Grey Heron, Goldfinch, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, ChiffChaff, Common Snipe, Tufted Duck.

Tree Sparrow Treat

No, the Tree Sparrow Treat isn't some delicacy made from tree sparrows (that certainly wouldn't make me popular with the RSPB...now four and twenty Blackbirds, that's a different matter....), or even a treat for them (which might make me popular with them), but rather just a treat to see them.

Tree Sparrows once widespread and familiar have totally disappeared from many areas putting them firmly on the Red List. Their populations in the last quarter of the 20th Century declined by around 95%, the probable result of changes in agricultural practises - changes in the time of year crops were sown and the use of herbicides. The former reducing stubble fields in the winter and major impacts on insect numbers in the latter case.

Largely absent in many Southern counties and North West Scotland, rare in Wales, the North West and South East England and elsewhere patchy in their distribution it was rather nice today to watch around six of them busily feeding outside one of the hides at Venus Pools in Shropshire. Rather handsome little birds and probably with 'Sparrow' being the first bird name learnt by me and children of my generation and generations before rather sobering to have them on the Red List.

In fact most of the visit was spent in the hide overlooking the shaded and sun dappled feeders with the comings and going of large numbers of Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Dunnock, the Tree Sparrows and an occasional visit from a Great Spotted Woodpecker, oh and two Nuthatch. My first encounter with these colourful characters as I have only really been seriously birding for the last year and tend to also stick mainly to 'my patch', so even a shot on a feeding station was a welcome opportunity.

We did wander around the site and visit the other hides but without event and the one event that did happen - an Osprey flying over the reserve - we firmly managed to miss as we were in the small bird hide at the time. Of course people that asked 'Did you see the Osprey?', changed tack on our reply of 'No!' to 'well it was only there for 30 seconds or so..', as if that would make us feel better..'Oh 30 seconds, not worth the effort really then eh...'.

So rather than an Osprey in flight I will leave you with a far more exciting picture of a Chaffinch and the news that I spotted my first Swallows of the year at the local patch early this week.

and finally finally something from the bird feeders at home which when I was a lad was seen as rather a pest in most areas (the bird not the feeders) resulting in large scale actions to reduce the numbers but that is now just like the Tree Sparrow on the Red List... the Starling. Not a name that immediately conjures up images of an appealing bird but they are very handsome in fact with their Lemon Yellow beaks and striking feathers and we have our own adopted little group of about 15 of them that eat us out of fat balls and squabble for the best position on the coconut shell.

When not to 'Hide'

Just recently down at the local patch I have been getting the urge not to spend a lot of time in the hides. Something about crisp sunny mornings and the comings and goings in the trees, bushes and reeds along the paths around the reserve that have made the insides of the hides seem like gloomy places compared to outside.

In the hide you sit there (admittedly seeing more species) in the dark cocoon looking out into slits of bright warm sunshine and somehow as soon as you enter the hide you have removed yourself from nature and become a mere passive spectator from your closeted surroundings.

So on the last few visits and especially this morning I spent very little time in the hides and while my note book pages for both these days may be a little sparse in species in comparison to entries from days spent in the hides it feels a whole lot more satisfying to me, and is it really about the numbers anyway?

I did drop into the West hide for half an hour just to see what was around, but with two chaps talking about what was where around the country at the moment and 'have you seen this and have you seen that at such and such a place', which is fine, but it all sounded like busying everything up too much and that's not for me. Maybe I'm a plodder in my own locality but chasing off to see something for 5 minutes or as is more often the case 'not to see it', is not my bag thank you and I daresay on the flip side some would go stir crazy in my chosen limited space.

The Green Woodpeckers seem to be following me on my strolls around the reserve with their characteristic 'laugh' probably when they see me looking for the Redpoll and a couple of Jays seem to follow me around with their harsh rasps. The Great Spotted Woodpeckers are everywhere with their hammering and every path has it's own ChiffChaff and Cetti's calling, while the trees are full of the comings and goings of Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Green finch and all the Tits. Blackbird hop across the paths beaks stuffed with nesting material and robin perch red breasts resplendent to proclaim their territories. I didn't get to see the Redpoll again this morning and they will be off soon but I did see four or five Sandmartin speeding over the water on the East side which made up for it. Of course the visit there passes too fast and it is time to leave all to soon, but at least it wasn't all spent in the dark interior of a hide and while my list may be shorter and my photographs of nothing out of the ordinary, I feel good...

The day of the Green Woodpecker

The day of the Green Woodpecker? Quite common but in around a years worth of visits to Upton Warren I hadn't seen a Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted yes, Green no. It simply came down to my choice of hide to spend most of the time in and the last few days I have heard the Green Woodpecker a number of times while walking along the path the the West hide. Yesterday while hearing the fellows I though what I want is to see the Green Woodpecker here.

Today on an early morning visit they obviously had listened to my thoughts (or maybe it was the fact the area in front of the hide had been worked on.. slightly more probable), but there they were two Green Woodpeckers posing as good as gold for two snap happy guys in the hide. So below is one of the beady eyed chappies digging for ants.

The ChiffChaff have been in good voice in a number of places around the reserve and recent comments from fellow birders you meet walking around the reserve is 'Have you seen the ChiffChaff, I have heard them today but haven't seen one?', and indeed that was the case today. However today we could honestly say 'yes we have seen them as well as heard them', as proved by the non too great photograph on the left as one decided to perch and sing away in one of the trees on the path.

The morning started extremely misty and on reaching the reserve I though it was going to be somewhat of a misadventure. Looking out the window at home it had been bright and sunny, perfect for some snaps I had thought. On driving the mile from the house the picture was a very different.

To be honest it took me by surprise, otherwise I would have stayed tucked up in bed, which as it transpires would have been a very bad choice indeed. Although misty initially with the  islands shrouded from view, the mist in front of the hide burnt off enough for some lovely close views of both the two Green Woodpeckers and a solitary Snipe on the water margins. As the early morning progressed the day turned into a gloriously sunny affair.

A walk later along the paths to the East hide while allowing the ChiffChaff opportunity above also gave the chance for again a non too brilliant shot, but a snap never the less of a Green Finch sitting high on the trees. The Green Woodpecker also seemed to be following us back along the paths to pose on a tree stump over across the fields by the North Moors path.

I'm still wading through a pile of shots of the Snipe so one of those might appear later.

Shenstone & Upton Warren

An early morning start saw a trip to the area around Shenstone, Worcestershire with a fellow birder Stuart from Bromsgrove which while photographically unrewarding proved to be a nice few hours in the fresh albeit hazy morning air wandering around the lanes and scanning the fields and hedgerows. In fact a nice change from being in more or less one spot down at the reserve, although by the time I got the the reserve later in the day I was glad to plonk my backside down on a bench for a while.

The visit yielded, Redwing, Fieldfare, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Blue / Long tailed / Great tit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Grey Wagtail, ChiffChaff, a solitary Kestrel and 5 Buzzard. Attempts were made to get some shots but the best of the bunch for my part was a non too good shot of the Yellowhammer.

After some refreshment I made my way down to my usual patch of Upton Warren and headed initially for the Moors for a while, giving the Bittern a miss as I have seen it the last two days running and even though soon it will be off on its travels. I then made my way to the Flashes for a quick visit that ended up being a little more prolonged than I had planned.

The trip this time yielded Kingfisher, Buzzard, Avocet (5), Little Ringed Plover (3), Curlew (2), Snipe (5), Redshank (2), Lapwing, Teal, Chaffinch, Bullfinch (3 pairs), Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Robin, Blue / Great / Longtailed Tit, Wren, Shell Duck, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Canada Geese, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Pheasant and Black Headed Gull.

A reasonably long day by the end with the bins but a pleasant day all round, even if the photographs weren't forthcoming but it isn't just about being able to get some pics (although a nice in focus and not behind a twig photograph of the Yellowhammer wouldn't have gone amiss). Below one of the Redshank in the failing sunlight at the end of the day's birding.