Friday 23rd September - Shenstone

Today Bev & I decided to pop to the WMBC reserve at Belvide Reservoir (Staffs).  We hadn't heard of anything particular that we were trying to see but its a nice place and you can easily lose half a day or more there.

We checked out the woodland feeding station first where a ♂ Bullfinch, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch and Long-tailed Tits were all noted.  They all went up when a Sparrowhawk went over.

We then headed to an empty Andrew Chapell hide where on arrival at mid-day we had great views of a Grey Plover on the mud in front, a new arrival to the reserve that day, which I believe we were the first to pick up.  There was also a Greenshank showing well here and 2 Arctic Terns could be seen out over the water.

At the West hide were treated to good views of a Black-tailed Godwit.  A juvenile Shellduck was also seen from here.  There were good numbers of wildfowl present including Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall, and Shoveller.  The resident Great Black-backed Gull, Ted Bundy, was again present today.

On the walk back we dropped into the Gazebo hide to check the feeders there.  As usual there were good numbers of Tree Sparrow on the feeders there.

The real highlight of the visit though was when we bumped into a couple that Steve Nuttall had put onto the Long-eared Owl.  It wasn't long before we were enjoying views of this bird that was fairly well concealed in a Hawthorn bush.  This bird has been seen 3 times over on the past 3 weeks...each time on a friday in the same bush on the same branch...mad eh!

All in all a very enjoyable day out...just a pity the car started playing up on the way home.

For more info on Belvide and the West Midlands Bird Club:

http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.com/

For latest sightings information:

http://www.surfbirds.com/blog/Belvide84/

Grey Plover

Greenshank

 

Tree Sparrow

 

   Click on video to enlarge