1st new birds for February

Took a break from sorting the garage out this afternoon, was stood at the kitchen window with a brew when a female Blackcap visited.

She is my first February tick and puts me on 102 species for the year but more importantly she is species number 48 for Patchwork Challenge 2015.

When I took the kids home tonight, I had a brief glimpse of a Barn Owl in the headlights in Brierly, Herefordshire, reminded me that next weekend I need to visit Salford Priors GP at dusk to search for the Barn Owl that I saw in December.  I didn't need to worry though, as I was driving past Pophills the Barn Owl flew up and along the hedgerow, I pulled up and thanks to the moonlight, got to watch it for about 5 minutes flying up and down the hedgerows of the road and the hedge between Pophills and the adjacent field.

That puts me on 49 species for Patchwork Challenge 2015.

Salford Priors GP - Rain, Rain, Rain

A brief visit to Salford Priors GP this morning as it kept raining, getting wet doesn't bother me but trying to look through rain splattered binoculars and telescope is something my patience will only take for so long.....

I arrived on site about 08:00, parked in the usual spot on the corner and climbing over the earth mound, I could already hear gunshot but couldn't see anybody out shooting in the vicinity, Ragley is quite a large estate with a number of shooting areas from what I can see.

I didn't walk down the narrow path as the ground is covered in low brambles which I kept tripping on during my last visit, I decided to walk along the field margin for a change.  The field contained the usual Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge.  A medium size bird then shot up about 5 meters in front of me, flew low over the scrub and into the wood - gone.... My initial thought was female Merlin, certainly flew like one and was of brownish colouring but it was a fleeting glimpse at best.

I had a quick scan between the blind and hedgerow, always a lot of Pheasant and RL Partridge, there was a good handful of Blackbird and a single Redwing.  A small finch like bird was in the top of the oak tree but I couldn't make it out with the binos, as I got the scope onto it, off it went... a female Yellowhammer.

I had a quick scan of the woodland which contained a small number of Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit and a Green Woodpecker, I decided to put the possible Merlin down to this, about the right size and flew up of the floor...?

I scanned over the Main Pit, nothing out of the ordinary. I counted 67 Mallard, 47 Coot, 22 Tufted Duck, 10 Teal and 4 Little Grebe.  There was a single female Reed Bunting and a Dunnock in full song.  I walked up to the Little Owl tree but he wasn't there, hoping he's still around although the area looks more flattened that last weekend, I wonder if I'm going to be able to get a full year out of this site before it's all crops again...

The skies opened up so I headed back to the car, a Jack Snipe was flushed as I passed the Main Pit.

I stopped at Pophills and had a quick scan, it yielded 16 Coot, 24 Mallard, 3 Tufted Duck, 2 Little Grebe and 27 each of Canada Goose and Greylag Goose.  There were hundreds of Woodpigeon with a lot of Carrion Crow and Jackdaw in tow in the fields to the rear of Pophills, the small trees held 3 Buzzard between them.  I found the Common Sandpiper on the small island/spit again.

So nothing exciting although when I got home I was treated to some cracking views of a beefy male Greenfinch on the sunflower feeder, he looked nice and healthy and is the first in the garden this year and for some time.

The Greenfinch puts me on 101 for January/year list and 47sp for 48 points for PWC2015.

Time to take the wife out for a run now, training her to complete a half marathon, still early days but up to 6 miles today.

Patchwork Challenge 2015

One of my goals this year is to try and work a local patch, this will still be limited as I work and live in London during the week so am only home (most) weekends.  Every 2nd weekend my children stay over so I won't be able to visit every time they are visiting as it's not fair on them - they unfortunately do not share my passion for 'Geeking'.....

As I live in Bidford, the perfect local patch for me has to be Salford Priors Gravel Pits, I don't think they are watched a great deal although I believe a few local birders visit once a week.  Salford GP are still working pits, actually I believe the majority of the quarrying has been completed and unfortunately they're being returned to agricultural use.  Such a shame really as they site appeared not to have been touched for a good 5 years and already had the potential for a great reserve.

@NeilDuggan80 had also registered Salford GP for PWC2015 so we decided to cover as much ground between us to see what the area produces whilst maintaining our own PWC2015 lists.

Neil had already marked his territory and chose to cover the GP and the area to the West and North:

Neil's Patch - GP's bottom left.

 

So that left me with the South and East, which suited me fine as I live to the East and wanted to cover a few areas in this direction, obviously I've still included the GP's in my PWC2015. I included my garden as Tawny Owl pair visit in the evenings, the filed adjoining has 'stop-over' Turtle Dove most years so here's hoping:

 

My Patch - GP's centre left.

 

I believe Neil is off to a flying start however this was my first time home since Christmas so this was to be my inaugural visit.  This was a kids weekend so the wife kindly stayed at home with 2 of them whilst my daughter Rosie came along for the hell of it.

 

It was absolutely freezing at the GP's with a biting wind. Access was difficult as the path leading up to the main pit had been blocked by a huge mound of earth.  None the less we made our way round instantly being treated to some deer which we inadvertently spooked.

 

Our first species was a flock of Long-tailed Tit flitting around the small plantation, these were followed by a large number of Carrion Crow and Jackdaw feeding in the field to the right of the path.  Among them I found 1 Raven when they were flying between the tall trees of the plantation and the field.  Next was a Common Buzzard crying overhead, this then spooked a couple of hundred Woodpigeon also making use of the tall plantation trees.

 

We arrived at the Main Pit, I was hoping to see the Scaup Neil had reported the week before but I searched the water over and over and scrutinised the Tufted Duck time and again but I was unable to locate it.  The water held a small number of Eurasian Teal, Mallard, Coot and Little Grebe but not much else.

 

As we made our way to the Little Owl tree a few Meadow Pipits went up, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch and Wren were also seen.  We didn't find the Little Owl which didn't surprise me in that biting wind, must have been hunkered down in his nesting hole.

 

I didn't go any further as Rosie was feeling the cold so we headed back and added Mute Swan and Canada Goose to the list whilst having another futile search for the Scaup.  Our timing was spot on as a tractor and trailer were crossing the field across from the main pit, the trailer full of shooting folk. We got back to the car and drove up to Pophills Pit where we added Red-legged Partridge, Black-headed Gull, Reed Bunting and Bullfinch and a bonus Grey Wagtail.  We stayed for 5 minutes to watch the shot but Rosie wasn't comfortable with it, she didn't like seeing the birds falling out of the sky.  She asked me "how do they know what they are shooting" to which I replied "Exactly". Coincidentally a story running on Twitter was of a shooter boasting of his 'Bag' in which he had Snipe, only the photo was of a Jack Snipe, just about answers Rosie's question really.

 

We headed home them were I added Dunnock and Collard Dove to the list from my garden.  Then last night I added Tawny which was sat in the tree 'kewicking'

A New Year - A New Challenge

I can't believe I haven't posted since April last year, however it has been a very busy year spent wedding planning, getting married, new job and house renovation....

I've also been posting on Twitter rather than here, I suppose it's quicker, easier and more interactive but that's no excuse and this year I aim to make more of an effort.

I've signed myself up for the 2015 Patchwork Challenge and selected Salford Priors Gravel Pits as my 'patch', I'm sharing this with another local birder, so it should be interesting what this under watched site produces between the both of us.  I fear Neil may be visiting a lot more than me as the patch is at home and I work away during the week so can only bird it the weekends I'm back.

I've also signed myself up for a home study level 3 Diploma in Environmental Sciences.

I'm going to make the effort to get out birding more this year and really need to connect with the fabled (in terms of my life list) Long-eared Owl..... plus I'm going to try to record my sightings on BirdTrack but we'll see how that goes as this can easily take over your life.

That said, I'm going to keep my 1st year list for moths which, all in all should keep the wife happy, she has zero interest in birds or moths and thinks I already spend too much time geeking...

Oh, the wife has decided we are going to run the Southampton Half Marathon in April and I'm her training partner.

I was extremely fortunate to be able to visit the Galapogos Islands and Ecuador a few months back (honeymoon) so I should attempt to write up my birding encounters too.

Happy New Year and here's hoping you have a bird (and moth - if that's your thing) filled year, and that I have something to write about......