Grimley hits the spot

When JK text on Saturday morning suggesting a cheeky trip over to Grimley, I knew what he was thinking and took up his offer of a ride. I was thinking the same myself, Top Barn does great bacon and I wanted to stock up for Christmas, and their hot sausage rolls make a welcome birding snack !
There was also the possibility the recent meteorological events had produced a bit of bird movement so with a list full of incentives we headed over.
The first site we dropped in on produced immediate results. Usually it's a bit of a speculative stop off, but today, the Sling Pool floods were heaving with birds !
Over 100 Lapwing and dozens of Fieldfare were in the fields. On the water we noted Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, Little Grebe and Tufted Ducks. Snipe were strolling around brazenly in very good numbers. However the highlight was getting onto a couple of Black-tailed Godwits that JK picked up in the scope on the far right side. I had only seen them at Slimbridge and Norfolk this year so it was a nice county year tick and a good record overall. Showing well in the scope, I didn't even bother trying for a pic, winter conditions negated that. A Green Sandpiper showed a couple of times too but remained in an area hidden to us.
From there we headed on to the other usual sites, where it was all a bit quite by comparison, save for the female Goldeneye at the New Workings. This was another county 'rareity' for me, not having seen any within Worcs since late 2010.
Before checking the Old Workings, we visited Top Barn Farm shop to raid the fridge of Bacon. A large sausage roll was also partaken of and eagerly dispatched while checking over the Old Workings ( which was pretty quiet ). However, the Sling Pool site alone was worth the trip, and the addition of any pork/pastry product can only enhance the experience.

 

Goldeneye ( record shot from 2012 )