Captains Pool & Shenstone:
The Great Crested Grebe chicks are really developing well with all 4 juvs looking fit and healthy. At Stanklyn Lane paddocks the late summer flock of 19 Mistle Thrush were feeding. There was little else of note on the patch today and still not a sniff of a Wheatear or Yellow Wagtail so I decided to head up the road to Woodrow.
Woodrow:
As with Shenstone we drew a blank at Woodrow with the passage chats. This however was soon forgotten when we were treated to superb views of a Red Kite that proceeded to circle fairly low over the woodrow area for 5 minutes or so before heading north. This was so pleasing as these magnificent raptors are not breeding in the county as yet and personally I only tend have 1 or 2 sightings in Worcestershire a year.
There were good numbers of Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper butterfly present along the footpath and we even recorded 2 Essex Skippers.
Tanwood:
Next stop on the magical mystery tour was Tanwood. The previous day TMH and I had seen a ♂ Redstart there and 2 imm. Northern Wheatears. Today there was no sign of these birds but there was another Wheatear present. This was a different bird however and had much more of a buff flush to its chest. Also noted at Tanwood were 4 juvenile House Sparrows on the wires and 2 Yellowhammers (1 adult & 1 juv).
Northern Wheatear
Holt & Grimley:
The last part of our tour was to Holt and Grimley. We stopped off at Holt Sling Pool first where 1 Common Sandpiper and 4 Green Sandpipers were noted.
It was then onto Camp Lane pits at Grimley. The Great White Egret was still present and showing well but now there were also 3 Little Egrets present....the size difference is incredible. Also of note were 9 Common Terns and 2 eclipse drake Wigeon. The Wigeon were a bonus as it's unusual to see them at this site during the summer months.
To round off the day we headed back to the garden terrace at Tony's Cafe and enjoyed another brew. A fitting end to an enjoyable day out.
Jase,
ReplyDeleteIts as hard going on my patch as it is yours at the moment, makes me very despondent, especially feeling crap like I do !
Well done on the Red Kite Jason. I have seen them reasonably close to me but not actually on patch yet. When we went to Aston Rowant last week there should have been lots but surprisingly only one was seen on the approach and none on the reserve!! A good job I went for butterflies on this occasion!
ReplyDeleteThat egret is quite a sight!
Hi Jason,
ReplyDeleteSaw a flock of Mistle Thrush from my garden on Monday morning, heading in the direction of Spennells/Captains. Did not have chance to count them, but thought there were about a dozen. Probably would not have seen them at all if they had not been making so much noise.
Saw a Goosander (male) below Bewdley bridge the other day. The local fishermen hate them with a passion.
Warren - I think we are all in the same boat this year mate!
ReplyDeleteJan - Cheers. I think Red kites are a welcome addition to the local area. Hopefully they will be breeding in the area in the near future
Mike - It's a bit of a perculiarity with Mistle Thrushes that post breeding they form these summer flocks yet they don't tend to flock together in the winter months