Sunday 8th May 2011 - Shenstone

I only had a quick whistlestop tour of Shenstone this morning so I could get back to watch the football.....wish I hadn't have bothered now! 

Anyway back to the patch.  Things were very quiet along Stanklyn Lane this morning all though there was a flock of 63 Starlings feeding in the one paddock.  A single Swallow over the paddocks was the only other bird of note.

There were 3 House Martins over Heath Lane but as with Stanklyn it was all very quiet.

I then headed over to the south side of the patch and checked out Witch Lane.  There were good numbers of gulls on the ploughed field, with 68 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 8 Herring Gulls and a 2nd Summer Common Gull.  I was really pleased to pick up the Common Gull as this is only my 2nd one on the patch and only the 3rd recorded to my knowledge.  You may think "Common Gull that doesn't sound very exciting"...well they aren't that common in North Worcestershire and relation to Shenstone they are a patch scarcity.  Also present in this field were 2 Stock Doves and a single Lapwing which was inbeteween the polythene sheeting. 

I've attached a somewhat crappy record shot of the Lapwing below (well it was a bit distant!).

Lapwing - 8th May 2011:

4 comments:

  1. An awful lot of my shots are distant ;) anyway I don't think it's crappy at all.

    I agree with you Jason, in my experience the Common Gull isn't common at all. I think the Black-headed is much more common.

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  2. Cheers Shy. I sometimes feel that it is worth getting some shots for your records even if you know full well they wont be great.

    I totally agree with Common Gull...a bit of an inappropriate name really!

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  3. Haven't had any Common or Blackheaded Gulls here for a month Jase - or a Lapwing come to that!

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  4. Well I would quite happily swap you a Lapwing for a Nightingale or Turtle Dove!

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