I started my visit around the patch today at Captains Pool. This time of year it pays to check out even small bodies of water. There were no fishermen on the pool today and it showed. Whilst scanning from the dam I saw a small duck sat at the edge of the water on the right hand side...it was a drake Teal. This is a patch lifer for me...result! Teal, I here you cry...a patch lifer!!!! Well, Captains Pool is little more than a park pond that is wooded on on side and regularly fished. When there are no fisherman there then it can pay dividends. The last Teal recorded there was some 4 years ago by Tony Smith...so they are not thick on the ground here.
I then headed over to the lanes.
Stanklyn was desperately quiet but Heath Lane paid dividends. The buntings and finches were starting to flock together here and there was a large mixed flock just past the paddock. This flock included 5 Reed Bunting (3
My final stop was Witch Lane. I decided to walk the public footpath towards the Droitwitch load and photographed an array of fungi...although so far I have only confidently identified Scaly Wood Mushroom (Agaricus langei). During this walk a Little Owl was heard calling, a Common Buzzard was up soaring and 2 Cormorants flew over heading East towards Willow Marsh Fishery.
Teal - Captains Pool
Click on image to enlarge
Stanklyn was desperately quiet but Heath Lane paid dividends. The buntings and finches were starting to flock together here and there was a large mixed flock just past the paddock. This flock included 5 Reed Bunting (3
♂), c.100 Greenfinch, c.100 Linnet, 11 Goldfinch and 4 Chaffinch.My final stop was Witch Lane. I decided to walk the public footpath towards the Droitwitch load and photographed an array of fungi...although so far I have only confidently identified Scaly Wood Mushroom (Agaricus langei). During this walk a Little Owl was heard calling, a Common Buzzard was up soaring and 2 Cormorants flew over heading East towards Willow Marsh Fishery.
Teal - Captains Pool
Click on image to enlarge
Good to get the Teal, esp given the disturbance around the pool. Just off your patch I Teal on a regular basis on a small wooded pool immediately SW of Dunclent Farm viewable from the footpath.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Gary
ps - have you thought of a Twitter account to tweet sightings and link to the blog when it gets updated ?
Just out of interest what does take your patch list onto now?
ReplyDeleteA nice Teal in the first picture and second, is a Wood Mushroom, um, tasty.
ReplyDeleteWell done with the Teal Jason. Nothing like a lifer for raising the spirits!
ReplyDeleteYour pool sounds much like the ones on my patch Jase, can turn up suprises when they are left in peace :-) hope your Teal doesn't come to the same end as the one here did!
ReplyDeleteOh by the way did you see the comments on my blog after your use of colourful Language ? Only one prat made a fuss!!
Gary - I know that pool well as it was on one of the tetrads I did for the Bto Bird atlas survey back in 2007-2008. As for twitter...my mobile is ancientand doesnt connect to web so its not an option at the mo.
ReplyDeleteTim - My patch life list is now on 110 ...which for an landlocked area of arable land on the edge of Kidderminster its not too bad. There are still some birds on the patch list that I'm yet to have that have been previously recorded...including Common Snipe, Gadwall, Mandarin, Pochard and Waxwing!
Bob - cheers...I had read it was one of the edible ones
Phil - Thanks mate...even birds that can be common in other areas can really raise your spirits when they are a lifer on your own patch.
Warren - it does sound very like the pools on your patch...infact the similarities on our patches in terms of habitats are scary. As for the comments mate, yeah I read them...Its always been a problem of mine (or a positive depending on your point of view) but I always call a spade a spade and say exactly what I think!!!
Don`t knock it, Jason. We`ve all got common species missing from our patch lists.
ReplyDeleteAlways good to get an addition. Well done.
Jase it seems not only our patches that are similar, I also tend to call a spade a spade, no offence caused to me mate! :-)
ReplyDeleteNice one indeed with the Teal on your Patch Jason!
ReplyDeleteAs you may have read on my Blog I try to regularly walk around Brake Lane, on the 29th October just gone I had 4 Goosanders (2 seperate pairs on the water and I reckon the males were in eclipse) and a Little Grebe on the lake/pool. Goosander I have seen there before but that was the first Little Grebe I have seen there! Always good to see a new species in an area frequently watched.