12/10/13 Garden Sightings. INFLUX OF REDWING CONTINUES.

With the redwings still flooding up the river our house got some decent numbers and even to make it more great we had a few fieldfares mixed in as well. They were all flying into the wind and calling a lot o each other.

Trees

• 2 blue tits
• House sparrows
• 2 robins
• A blackbird heard
• 1 wren- new individual
• Collard doves
• Gold finches
• 8 REDWING- (5,3) including a 1st winter individual showing great plumage.

Opposite house

• 1 lesser black backed gull
• 2 pied wagtails
• Feral pigeons
• 30+ starlings
• Collard doves
• Wood pigeons

Flying over (non migrants)

• Corvids- 2 magpies, carrion crows, jackdaws and rooks
• Black headed gulls
• Starlings

Vis Mis flying over (visible migration)

• 20+ gold finches
• 200+ common gulls
• 10+ pied wagtails
• 2 grey wagtails
• 6 meadow pipits
• 591 REDWINGS- 308 sighted in the morning with flocks ranging from 2- 40+ with most of the flocks being large.
• 5 FIELDFARE- 1st of the Autumn with the Redwing flocks.
• A few wood pigeons.

11/10/13 sightings. An Influx of REDWING.

With a change in wind direction from the north now there have been a lot of redwing but fewer fieldfare pouring into the Old Avon Area and Gloucestershire area with  9000 being sighted at Slimbridge WWT and thousands being sighted at Weston Super Mere- Aust cliff and another 14500 sighed downriver from Slimbridge around Aust.


My Redwing sightings

• 2 REDWING- over Dursley
• 3 REDWING- Over Cam Woodfields church
• 35 REDWING- Over Berkeley- (30+ and 5)
• 6 REDWING- flew over the house

Other rarer Migrants in the area

• 2 Snow buntings flew over Aust Warth (the 1st of the autumn for Severnside)
• 2 Jack snipe at Aust Warth with snipe
• 2 Ring ouzels at Aust Cliff

Clapton (South of Severn house Farm) 8/10/13 sightings- WRYNECK Still

With the WRYNECK still being down at Severn house farm on the seawall for it's third day now. I went to see it as I didn't get a good photo last time. On the fifteen minute drive down a very low flying raven was calling as we passed the Deer park and a wood pigeon was on one of the wires. When we got there, there was a lot of gulls feeding on the low tide and 3 grey herons squabbling over the best feeding places.
When we started walking down the sea wall going south I couldn't see the Wryneck until a small bird popped up on the fence. Although it wasn't the wryneck it was a Chat species. It was either a whinchat or a stonechat but with the sun right in our faces indentifying it was difficult so we walked on further. Even further than where the bird was reported on Sunday.
Suddenly we heard a meadow pipit on the lower bit of the sea wall and noticed there was two of them. I tried to get the opposite side of them to get a decent photo but when I got passed them another bird shot out from feeding and flew to where the two meadow pipits were. After taking a photo of a bird which walked differently from the pipits I said "WRYNECK." It was feeding with the pipits but then the pipits flew south and another bird shot out from the group of  birds and luckily it was a Whetear. She flew north.
The wryneck was surprised by our presence and flew onto a post. Then, as if it was a miracle, it came back down and started feeding on the lower part of the sea wall only about 2 metres away from us. We fell silent and watched as he came closer and closer until he was staring right into our faces. The cameras made noises as many photos were taken of this magical bird.
Two other birdwatchers arrived and the WRYNECK flew between the fence and landed in a few plants hidden from everyone. As a result, we walked back and heard a curlew, saw a black tailed godwit feeding distantly out on the estuary and even a redshank which were all nice to see. The chat species, or a new one, landed on the post on the fence. I was a Stone chat. I haven't ever seen one down here  before and it looked quite nice. Then, two whetears landed on the sea wall and watched us as we walked closer before flying down to the muddy rocks to feed.
The sun was shining and another three birdwatchers arrived at the scene bringing the total up to seven including us. It was fantastic and we shared our photos when we got back home. Surprisingly, his house is on the opposite side of Berkeley and on the roofs of the houses on his road I counted a total of eight pied wagtails all feeding in different places.

 What's that with the meadow pipit (infront)

 On the fence

 WRYNECK feeding extremely close

Whetear (male I think)



6/10/13 garden sightings.

Not as much as yesterday but still a very nice 31 species sighted.

Trees

• Great tit
• Blue tit
• 10+ house sparrows
• Magpie
• Corvids
• 2 robins
• 2 blackbirds- male and female but no continental birds just yet but they should be on their way with one being sighted yesterday with 6 blackbirds and even a RING OUZEL at Oldbury Power Station.
• 5 gold finches
• 1 Chiffchaff-in song for much of the morning but minimal in the afternoon and showing quite well in a few trees.

Opposite house

• Feral pigeons
• Corvids

Flying over

• 5 chaffinches
• 6 gold finches
• starling flock
• Common gulls
• Black headed gulls
• Lesser black backed gulls
• 1 cormorant
• Sparrowhawk
• Buzzard
• 2 mistle thrushes
• 1+ Canada geese- 1 sighted but calls sounded like there was more.
• 24 Pied wagtails (1,1,1,1,1 possibly same individual, 2, 8,9)
• 13 meadow pipits (1,1,2,2,2,1,1,1,1,1)
• 2 linnet
• 2 skylarks
• 2 REDWING- together

Clapton (Berkeley) south of Severn house farm. WRYNECK.

After seeing a report of a WRYNECK in Berkeley I looked on twitter and found out a local birder had sighted this bird at Clapton near the Berkeley Power Station. After about  10 minutes of the report I shot off down to the farm and started heading south. I accidentally scared a whetear which was also feeding along the sea wall and it flew down onto the mud of the River Severn. There was also a grey heron,  but he flew down river and rooks and jackdaws from the farm flew together looking for a good place to feed.
 Unfortunately, I scared the wryneck from the path about half the distance from the sighted place but didn't realise it was actually the bird as I've never seen one before so I thought it was just a meadow pipit. I walked on a little further an was pleasantly surprised that a common sandpiper flew from some of the mud and flew on a little further. This was quite unusual as in past years there have been winter records of these birds in the pill but this individual was probably a late migrant. I walked on until I found the birdwatcher who had sighted the bird but said that it flew into the hedge.
 Half an hour later, I was still there. The birdwatcher had long gone and another birdwatcher came who I recognised. "The Gloster Birder." After another quarter of an hour an oystercatcher was sighted and black headed gulls, a flock of 10 wigeon, a cormorant and 4 mallards a flew past with at least 15+ meadow pipits and 10+ linnets overhead.
 I walked back and saw the whetear again but then from the small bushes on the sea wall the WRYNECK flew up. He was very wary and after taking some awful shots, because of my batteries, he flew into the crop field and I ran back to the Gloster Birder and we walked up back to the spot where I saw this amazing bird. He phoned some other birdwatchers, took some digiscoping photos as the bird flew up onto the fence from the field. At this point I really had to go and as I walked closer to this great bird it flew up on to the post and flew back down south. I called to the gloster birder and he walked back down to where the bird had landed. Fortunately the bird was sighted on the last corner before going to the car and that had meant he'd amazingly flew unseen North to where I refound him. I passed two other birdwatchers and got in the car and went home. Two buzzards which I saw on the way up had gone and I felt quite relieved with what I had just seen.
This evening I went back down at about 17:00 but this time I cycled. On the way down herring gulls were feeding in a field but when I got there, there were only 50+ black headed gulls with a few common gulls. I cycled a little further down and a curlew flew from the mud,  a cormorant was drying his wings out and the sun was right in my eyes. I hadn't seen the wryneck but when I cycled back I passed a birdwatcher and sadly still didn't see the wryneck so I feared the worst and believed it had flown off.
On the way back I heard a chiffchaff in the bushes but as I passed a few fields I could hear meadow pipits and pied wagtails. When I went passed the Berkeley deer park a buzzard flew quite close and landed in some trees but the best bird I think was a coal tit calling in the little village of Ham near Berkeley. 
When I got home I sighted a few species of gulls flying over but the light was fading and to summarise the day it was very good with some excellent encounters.      

 Whetear

Awful record shots of the WRYNECK but showing extremely well with sightings down to 2 metres but due to my cameras batteries the photos came out awful.

Clapton- Berkeley power station brief evening walk sightings 5/10/13

I usually go down the path at high tide to see the variety of birds especially waders but today it was low tide and there weren't too many birds

Whetears

1. 5 teal
2. 2 wigeon
3. 2 WHEATEARS- one stage we had 4 but they migrated off after a few weeks, then we had another two different individuals but they only stayed for about two days and then there were these two individuals.
4. Black headed gulls
5. Common gulls
6. Lesser black backed gulls
7. Greater black backed gulls
8. 2 curlews
9. 1 grey heron
10. 15+ starlings accidently spooked from the reedbed which they started roosting in
11. 2 reed buntings
12. 4 mallards
13. 10+ meadow pipits
14. 1 cormorant
15. 1 robin 

5/10/13 Slimbridge WWT sightings

Very nice to see so much variety of birds.

Holden Tower

• 100+ feral banacle geese
• 30+ small waders
• 50+ meadow pipits in one flock
• 50+ greylag geese
• 8 WHITE FRONTED GEESE- Extremely close at one stage as they flew in together from the Zeiss hide lake/pool and joined the greylags when no other birdwatchers were about but were very wary and ended up flying out onto the estuary which was quite distant.

Knott pool

• 1 NUTHATCH- I think they are quite rare on the reserve but could be wrong

Tack piece

• 50+ greylags
• 50+ teal
• 3 shovelers- 2 male and a female
• 1 buzzard
• Black headed gulls

Zeiss hide

• 100+ black tailed godwits
• 50+ lapwings
• 1 Ruff
• 10 pintails
• Other ducks
• 10+ Canada geese
• 100+ rooks
• 1 COMMON CRANE- wild, unringed and has been here for a few weeks now.

Rushy pool

• 30+ teal
• 10+ pied wagtails
• 1 grey wagtail
• Morhens
• Coots
• Cormorants
• Corvids

Bird feeder hide

• 5 chiffchaff
• 1 female blackbird
•  5 blue tits

Photos

 Teal

 Shoveler

 White fronted geese

 Pintail female

WILD COMMON CRANE