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.

18 August 2011

Ok so I've gone a bit mad with the above photo's showing that Autumn is well and truly upon us, but it really did feel very very Autumn like today, as you can see there are now plenty of berries about and the Nettles and Great Hogweed is really dying off, the latter are over 7ft tall in places, you could even see your breath this morning with the temp at 11c, wind was none existent with a light fog over the main lake first thing, visit from 06.00 til 08.50.

On the main lake 80 Tufted Duck, the family of 4 Mute Swans, new in were 6 Teal which left northbound after about an hour, 4 Great Crested Grebes, the Shoveler is still present from yesterday and the 'semi' resident Pochard was sat with the Mallards on the lake edge until the dog flushed it!

Over the main lake 12 Swifts were present with around 30+ Swallows over the lake but no House Martins today, 2 Willow Warblers were part singing today on either side of the lake, 9 Chiffchaffs were calling with a couple also part  singing, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were around the park, , 3 Willow Tits and a single Blackcap, by the top pool, a single Coal Tit and 2 Bullfinches, on the gas works the Stock Doves have increased to 2, a single Jay and 2 Collared Doves were on the sewage works, along the canal side of the main lake 4 Pied Wagtails and lastly 2 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls arrived on the main lake as I was leaving.

17 August 2011

This morning Nick Smith had the following, singles of Shoveler and Pochard, on the top pool a family of Reed Warblers, a single Kingfisher and 12 Swifts over the top of the main lake.

16 August 2011

After overnight rain it was a damp start to the morning, brightening up later after a light shower, temp a cool 15c with a light SW breeze, visit from 05.50 til 07.30.

55 Black-headed Gulls were on the playing field, the usual 4 Mistle Thrushes around the visitor centre, on the main lake, the family of 4 Mute Swans, 66 Tufted Duck and 3 Great Crested Grebes, a couple of Pied Wagtails were on the grass bank, over the trees at the top of the main lake 10 Swifts with around 50+ House Martins as the morning progressed these increased to over a 100+ with a few Swallows among them, a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over the boating lake, 5 Chiffchaffs were heard around the park with just 1 Willow Warbler, a couple of Willow Tits were along the reserve side of the main lake, on the top pool a single Reed Warbler could be heard, the gas works had a single Buzzard and a single Stock Dove, a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over the sewage works with a further 2 on the main lake later, a Kestrel flew across the sewage works which also had 2 Bullfinch and 2 Collared Dove, lastly back on the main lake while looking through the House Martins I picked up 2 Yellow Wagtails flying around the main lake.

15 August 2011

Some late news for Saturday and also a bit of a surprise count from today, on Saturday Nick Smith had another Gadwall this time on the boating lake, that's 10 so far this month, not bad a a 'puddle' hey.

Today Nick had 15 Swifts this morning, but Pete Lunt had a massive count of 70+ later in the day showing good numbers moving south at the moment, he also saw Bullfinch, 2 Willow Warblers, 2 Willow Tits, 72 Tufted Duck and Song Thrush.

Finally a big Get Well Soon to George Smith (Nick's Pop's) who took a bit of a tumble while rocking away to the Bloodstock festival at the same time as birding at one of our regular Saturday 'local' Staffs sites. How this guy gets about like he does at 77 is beyond me and he puts most of us too shame, get well soon George.