A new look for the New Year

The New Year always inspires lots of new affirmations and ideas. I have a good few about how I want to progress  my birding and natural history journey this year, and I hope to share it via the blog. Lets see what 2013 brings !

Wetland ticks and Patch Winter Thrushes

With the weather not exactly inviting me for a walk Saturday, I decided to do a couple of pit stops at the local wetland patches, ostensibly to see if the cold front had brought in anything of interest, but failing that to a least wrack up a few more year ticks.
Sling Pool floods Grimley had very good numbers of ducks and Canada Geese. Wigeon and Gadwall were abundant, as were the Lapwings too. Unfortunately no Golden Plover but a nice Siskin flock showed well with some corking males.The new workings were similar but colder, and a there was the odd snow flurry as I left, unable to locate a Goldeneye that had been about recently.
I then popped to Upton to see if I could connect with the Jack Snipe that has been about for a while now. There were 30 or more Common Snipe showing pretty well, and after about half and hour of on/off looking I picked up Jack the lad, a species I didn't connect with last year, so pretty pleasing( but no pic possible ).A pair of Shelduck was a year tick to.

                                                     Bit of Wetland action
A flock of Lesser Redpolls showed well on the east track, and I managed a snap in the poor light.

Lesser Redpoll, Upton

As is my mantra until things pick up later in the year, the car was rested on the Sabbath  and I undertook a 3 hour walk around both sides of the patch.A bit of BTO survey work was in mind.  The frost had hardened up the mud, making it much more pleasant underfoot. The leading impression from the walk was that there was a significant influx of winter Thrushes onto the patch. Redwing, Mistle Thrushes and most importantly, a few Fieldfare in 2 of the 3 groups on the paddocks gave me the only addition to mt patch year list.

Mistle Thrush and Redwing, missed the pesky Fieldfare !

 Also of note was a party of Goldcrests in the adjacent plantation and the Meadow Pipit flock was up to double figures and came quite close.

Meadow Pipit on Paddocks

Over on the North side of the patch, again, Redwing Flocks feeding on the ground. The first I have seen over there this winter, making me think this was related to the predicted bad weather of the next few days. In the Mill Garden, a large garrulous flock of birds , mainly Siskin, but associated with them,Tits, a Nuthatch and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. A very lively and colourful end to a most enjoyable patch tour.

Patch Thrashing, green birding

I reason that there is no merit clocking up miles at present for the odd tick. I am keen to get some exercise and resolved to send more records into the BTO this year, and when I came across the idea of Footit recently I decided that a weekend thrashing the patch was the way to go. So the car stayed on the drive all weekend and I walked a fair few miles.
Even better, I saw a fair few species. On Saturday I teamed up with fellow local birder Glenn H for a thoroughly enjoyable 5 hours out and about. It couldn't have started better when I picked up a Brambling near the village green. Moving on the the fishing pool, we were delighted to see a pair of Kingfishers zooming towards us ! It took me all last year to nab a view of one there, and yesterday they showed really well, I even managed a distant  first ever patch record shot.

 Not long afterwards, another surprise, a Grey Wagtail popped up by the sluice, never had Grey Wag on that part of the patch. The area also gave us Lesser Redpoll, Siskin and Redwing.
Down on the brook a Goldcrest was quite showy, insect feeding,and over towards Mount Segg a pair of Ravens appeared. One of the Ravens was obviously under orders to get the nest started, and proceeded to borrow some wool from a few of the sheep, buy jumping up on their backs and helping himself ! I managed to get a bit of video.

The final real goody of the walk was a small flock of Meadow Pipits on the paddocks helping to get a total of 44 species for the day.
On Sunday I did a different route, but started over at the Pool, as this always needs to be checked. I added Stock Dove to the list but otherwise it was quiet.
I then walked over to the north side of the patch, via a very muddy bridle path that skirts the golf course. Along here I encountered a very nice tit flock, containing 3 very showy Goldcrests and a Treecreeper.
With a Kestrel on the wires over the stubble fields the year list ended on 52, with no fuel used, only a good few calories burnt.Interestingly my patch total for January last year was 50.

 Total Species 52
Footit Target 59 ( seen 88% )
Total Miles c12..4 visits

Brambling on the patch yearlist

Final opportunity to Bird until the weekend.Really poor light today. The fishing pool was very quiet, being busy with fishermen, but I quickly picked up a Nuthatch to add the the year list. After yesterdays Redpoll flock I was rewarded again, this time with a mixed flock of containing Siskin aswell.
I then headed to Woodrow hoping for a few Fieldfare, but instead found good Redwing numbers, and a very large but flighty finch flock, comprising c200 Chaffinch. I love a finch flock. I scanned and scanned and eventually when many went up into a tree, I picked up a Brambling by scanning with the scope. Result. I moved a couple of mile back down the road onto my own patch and immediately chanced upon another promising flock of finches. This flock was smaller but much more mixed, including good number of Yellowhammers.A bit of patience again with the scope and I winkled out 2 Bramblings, a great start to birding on the patch this year.

Redpoll and Siskins welcome in 2013

With a sunny welcome to the New Year, I resolved to immediately thrash the patch and take the advantage for a much needed long walk. Taking in the less visited north side of the patch proved rewarding, with c10 Yellowhammers around one of the Stubble fields and at least as many Skylarks.
Back over on the more frequented side, it looked like a flock of c30 Siskins feeding at times quite low and close was going to be the main reward.
 With the fishing pool devoid of much avian action, I turned my attention to the adjacent stubble field where a dozen or so Chaffinch were scrutinised. I then realized deeper into the field there were 14 Redwing and an among them an equal number of Mistle Thrushes. These Redwings were a real bonus,I  just don't get decent numbers like this on the patch often. I then became aware that some Goldfinches had put down in the tree overhead, but when I investigated further, I was chuffed to see that there were 16 Lessser Redpoll among them, actually making up the bulk of the flock ! With these being pretty low in number locally this winter, the fact they showed so well, and in good light was a real bonus, just a shame I had left the camera at home ! 30 species seen, with the pool being deserted and only 1 raptor seen. Still a quality start to the birding year on the patch though

2012, Year of the Dragonfly (and happy blog birthday)

Doorstep Birding is a year old today, and it seems fitting this is the 100th and final  post of 2012. It's been a year of rain, poor for bird passage,and  Lepidoptera . I am grateful for what I have seen and had a good few birding, moth and butterfly highlights. Thankfully too, another species group has really made my nature year.
 I set out this year with an increasing interest in Odonata, and my first goal was to see as many of the species that occurred locally to me.
This turned out to be a most enjoyable quest and mini challenge to which I couldn't help notch it up a peg by trying to photograph every species I saw also, especially all the Worcestershire (VC37) species..
It started on a parky Bank Holiday Saturday in the Wyre on the 5th May, with the Zygoptera (damselflies) , a Large Red Damselfly, and continued over that weekend with Beautiful Demoiselle next day at Upton Warren, and Banded Demoiselle there on the 12th.

Having been well and truly bitten by the Dragonfly 'bug' (they don't actually bite or sting ) I had arranged to visit a specialist site in Staffordshire on the 26th May, Chartley Moss. Emergence was a bit behind now, but fortunately the target species, White-faced Darter was seen, though they were still a bit teneral. I also saw my first Four- spotted Chaser ever and added Broad-bodied Chaser to the year list. I only managed to photograph one of these species, but thankfully it was the Darter, the others could wait and made up my VC37 challenge.

June was 'the' month in retrospect ! The biggy 'target' at the start of the month was Common Club-tail, not as common or particularly easy as it's name may suggest. However, towards the end of my second attempt, on what turned out to be a magnificent Bank Holiday Monday, I spied upon my one and only of the year, down on the slippery banks of the River Severn. During my search, I had also come across Common Blue, Blue-tailed and White-legged Damselflies. Azure Damselfly was the one highlight of an Upton outing two day's previously  so despite the poor weather, I was motoring on nicely at the end  Bank Holiday Monday morning.

 However things went from superb to brilliant when responding to a text from a local birder, I went to try and twitch a sighting of a dragonfly vagrant that warm sunny afternoon. Down at Grimley, I had my first of a few encounters with Red-veined Darter, a pretty rare beast in Worcs.

The following Saturday, it was relatively warm and rain free, and I found myself mooching down in the Wyre, ostensibly trying to catch up on the poor Fritillary Butterflies that had been so rain affected and hard to come by. It was here I had one of my most satisfying and rewarding encounters of the year, when I spotted a large determined looking dragonfly enter the clearing and settle. Tracking it down I was awestruck to see a stunning Golden-ringed Dragonfly obligingly resting up, a female.

Scarce Chasers were a surprise package of the year, turning up well away from their usual stronghold, with a population found by JK ,saving me much fuel having to go hunting them down. Along with them, Large Re-eyed Damselfly was seen for the first time by me on the same day, a very good day in which I also observed Black-tailed Skimmers at a separate site.

At this point I went off to America for a few days, but even in the heart of the New York metropolis, I managed to see  two species, one remains to be identified during the coming winter nights, but I have managed to ID, I think, the tiny Eastern Amberwing seen at Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
Back to Blighty and June held two more species for the year, Common Darter was always a given, but Emperor was most pleasing, with a record shot to keep the challenge alive.
The next worry was Emerald Damselfly.I believe they had been scarce locally the previous year, and the pools I was hoping to nab them at were dried out the previous year. They overwinter as and egg, and conveniently can withstand desiccation  Anyway, this year they appeared, and I was pipped to the post by an hour or two by fellow nature nerd JK one Saturday who phoned to advise me he had seen them, just as I was approaching the site !
The following day, 8th July at Upton I had a unexpected surprise, stumbling upon a perched up fresh Brown Hawker. It was nice and settled, and with this in the bag, there were only two species I was worried I may not see, Small Red-eyed Damselfly and Common Hawker, but it was too early to worry about the" tricky 2" they probably hadn't emerged yet ! In the meantime I added Southern Hawker on the 21st, and enjoyed what was about, studying the jizz and getting better pictures where possible of what was about.
By the 10th August I had seen and photographed Ruddy Darter and Migrant Hawker. I had all the Worcs species now bar the " tricky 2", and it suited me I had seen them all withing the ethos of the 'doorstep'  as well, my sort of 20 mile radius of home. I wasn't even sure if Common Hawker had been seen, it's not at all common, infact I think it has only been sighted in 1 10 km in Worcs during the current survey. Anyway, I did one slightly off doorstep trip to Croome Park for a gratuitous tick of Small Red-eyed Damselfly, it was a place worth a once over, and I picked up Brown Argus and Common Blues which had been so rare this year.

So that was it for Worcestershire Dragonflies and me, 23 species seen and photographed, plus the White- faced Darter in Staffs, I was more than pleased.
I was even more pleased, when on the 15th September, whilst at Titterstone Clee birding, I saw and recorded Common Darter !

 A couple of days away in Seville and a visit to the Alcazar, I was hoping I might see something there, and  I saw a couple of stunners, Orange-winged Dropwing, and Violet Dropwing
It's been a great Dragonfly year, I hope to do it all again in 2013, and possibly add a couple of  species if conditions prevail. I also hope to study more of the life cycle of this fascinating group of invertebrates. Thank you for reading... Happy New Year !

Hawfinch, Merlin and more lift the post Xmas gloom

The rainy weather is getting beyond a joke, and with the effects of Christmas indulgence abating a little, and the rain likewise, I jumped in the car determined to get a couple of hours fresh air, exercise and birding under my increasingly tightening belt.
The birding got off to a good start at least today when I spotted  female/immature Merlin over the fields near the A456. The bird flew across the road right in front of me, continuing it's low passage over the field to the left. It's not my first of the year, but it's the first sighting I have reported on the blog.
  With my mood boosted, I came over all "goodwill to all men", and befitting that festive time, when it's more about giving than receiving, I even extend that to some baggies. So on a whim, I phoned JK to see if he was coming out to play, and with the answer in the affirmative, I collected him on the way to the Wyre.
It was another dismal day, with little light and the constant threat of rain. As we left the car we met a couple of Birders who reported it was "pretty dead" ( as The Wyre can be at times ), however we pushed on, ever the optimists.
Within a few minutes walking we had picked up on Nuthatch and a pair of Greater Spotted Woodpecker's, the first of quite a few.  The next notable sighting was 4 flyover calling Lesser Redpolls, a species I had not even seen this winter, seemingly low in numbers in my part of the county.Thankfully 2 were seen later on perched up, much more satisfying. Then at last, a 2012 Wyre Marsh Tit  ! all sightings are gratefully received of this locally diminishing species.
So, finally, the highlight of the foray, a stunning male Hawfinch showed after a patient couple of hours. The bird showed well for a few minutes, and we later connected very briefly with 2 other birds. But the first bird was a show stopper, despite the poor light it showed up much better in the optics that the camera. Been nearly 2 years since I had last seen one, but well worth the wait. The video is the best that could be managed, given the lack of light and relative angle to the sky, but it acted as a more satisfying record that a grainy picture.A very enjoyable late December bit of birding