A poor morning, very wet, again just a brief overview of what I saw, Grey Wagtail, 6 Pied Wagtail, 68 Tufted Duck, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 5 Mute Swan, 100+ House Martin, 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Sand Martin, Stock Dove, Bullfinch, 2 Swift and 40+ Starling.

Just a quick overview of the morning visiit due to me running out of internet allowence and having to use by mobile phone.
2 Shoveler on boating lake, on main, 70 Tufted Duck, 2 Gadwall, 3 Great Crested Grebe, 4 Mute Swans, Pochard, over lake, 100+ House Martin, 4 Swift, around rest of park, 15 Starling, 6 Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler, Mistle Thrush, Stock Dove, Grey Wagtail, Jay, Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

27 August 2011

A rather wet morning with rain, heavy at times, during most of the visit, temp was 13c, wind from the W, visit 06.20 til 08.00.

A Grey Heron flew off the boating lake, the first I've seen at Westport for a while, a Great Spotted Woodpecker could be heard calling nearby, on the main lake, 68 Tufted Duck was a slight drop in numbers, 1 Pochard, 3 Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans are back to 4 and 2 Shoveler flew in later, a mix of 100+ House Martins and Swallows were over the lake with a single Swift, 7 Chiffchaffs were around the park also 3 Blackcaps, on the sewage works 2 Collared Doves, a single Jay and Buzzard, 3 Cormorants flew over the gas works which also had a single Stock Dove and Pied Wagtail, a Coal Tit was among the Tit flock in the nature reserve and along the canal side of the main lake, a Willow Tit and Willow Warbler.

Later in the morning Jeff Jones had a Shelduck on the main lake.

26 August 2011

A rainy morning at Westport very often produces something at this time of year and this morning gave us what will probably be bird of the month, almost the first bird I saw when arrived was a Black-tailed Godwit stood with the Canada Geese by the side of the boating ramp, with no sign of Nick and my camera at home panic set in that it would go before anyone else saw it, I needn't of worried as it stayed for nearly 2 hours with most of the Westport regulars getting down to see it, this is the 2nd record this year and my 2nd record at Westport, but my first on the ground as most are just flyovers, this bird was rather tatty as it's in moult and seemed very tired. The photo below is from Nick Smith it looks like the bird has a odd ring on its right leg but we think it may just be some weed/plant rapped around its leg, any thoughts?

Also present, 43 Black-headed Gulls on the playing field, 7 Swifts overhead with over 35+ Swallows over the main lake, on the main lake 4 Teal were new in, 77 Tufted Duck, 2 Great Crested Grebe, a single Pochard and the 4 Mute Swans were joined by another adult which flew into the boating lake, a couple of Blackcaps were around the park, just 4 Chiffchaffs, 2 Willow Tits and 2 Bullfinches, a single Stock Dove on the gas works, 3 Whitethroats were on the sewage works, a Grey Wagtail flew over the top of the main lake, 3 Pied Wagtails on the playing field, 3 Mistle Thrushes by the visitor centre, as I was leaving a Common Sandpiper flew around the main lake and a Willow Warbler was singing from the canal side.

25 August 2011

A bit of excitement at Westport this morning when one of the regulars found a Ruddy Shelduck, however disappointment was too follow when photo's revealed it has a blue band on the right leg showing it to be an escape and was then re identified as a Cape Shelduck!!

Photo's below from Westports regular photographer Pete Lunt which clinched the ID are below, note the blue band on the second photo.

23 August 2011

News from Nick Smith & Pete Lunt fro Sunday, I should of been down there myself but was suffering from a hangover from the night before, something I'm not really use too as I don't normally drink these day's and like we all say, that will be the last time, honest!

Anyway back to Sunday's birds, from Nick, 31 Swifts was a good show of migration, 94 Tufted Duck on the main lake, Pete had, 24 Swifts, Swallows, House Martins, 3 Willow Warblers, 2 Whitethroats, Great Spotted Woodpecker, 77 Tufted Duck, Bullfinch, a good count of 5 Buzzards & 3 Blackcaps, on the Butterfly front he saw, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood and one I haven't seen at Westport this year in a Small Copper.

Below are a few photo's from Pete Lunt.

20 August 2011

A slightly warmer morning at 14c with a bit of mist over the playing field but none over the lake, very still with no wind, high cloud coverage with a good amount of sunshine, visit from 05.50 til 08.30.

At least 18 Swifts were flying around this morning with small numbers of Swallows and House Martins going through, probably around 30+ of each, also 2 Sand Martins went through with them, small numbers are now resting on the telephone wires on the sewage works and you can expect these to build up over the coming weeks.

3 Willow Warblers were heard singing, 1 near the bottom gate to the nature reserve and 2 along the canal side of the main lake, on the main lake, 90 Tufted Duck which are building up nicely now, just 2 Great Crested Grebe, the 4 Mute Swans and the single female Pochard, 2 Pied Wagtails were along the grass bank, someone on Birdforum recently mentioned a large increase in the numbers of Mistle Thrushes around Staffs, just 5 seen around Westport this morning with 2 near the visitor centre and 3 on the gas works, however although not Westport I did have 13 at the side of my house yesterday which is very close too Westport and a noticeable increase from the 4 that have been resident here for a while, Lesser Black-backed Gulls continue to drop in numbers with just 3 seen this morning, 6 Chiffchaffs were heard/seen around the park, 2 Stock Doves were on the gas works, around the top pool, 2 Bullfinches plus another on the sewage works and 2 Reed Warblers, on the sewage works, a Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Tit and a family of 4 Whitethroats, lastly a Collared Dove flew over the boating lake as I was leaving.

Finally I took a photo of a flower at Westport the other day that I hadn't seen before, thanks to the help of Tim on Birdforum, it was identified as a plant called Mullein which apparently is common on open ground especially close the railway lines were it's spread from the moving trains, as it happens these photo's are taken about 50 yards form the main line, it's also known for a Moth called the Mullein Moth although you only normally see it's Caterpillars, I checked this morning and although the leaves are being eaten by something there was no sign of any Caterpillars. Thanks to Tim and Nick Pom for your help and info.