30th June 2013
– Overcast start, progressively becoming more sunny, south-westerly wind.
Today’s more unusual birds were firstly an unseasonal Siskin that appeared from behind Railway Hide at 10.30 appeared to go into the back gate copse followed by a thermaling Red Kite over at 12.15 which then drifted off north-west.
An estimate of Reed Warbler pairs this year suggests a minimum of 23 with 17 around the Reedbed and the causeway, two in Car Park Pool, at least two between Oak and River Hide and two in the ditch west of the railway.
An estimated 13 pairs of Reed Buntings are also on site. Still plenty of song from warblers today including a particularly vocal Garden Warbler on the causeway. There seems to have also been an influx of Mallard overnight with 36 on Railway Pool and at least 24 on Car Park Pool. There was also a female Pochard on Railway Pool and a drake Shoveler there as well.
The two fledged Oystercatcher chicks were following their parent around the margins of the islands on Railway Pool and the three younger ones on Car Park Pool were all present still.
In the small group of Lapwings on the bank opposite Car Park Pool, at least two fledged juveniles were amongst 30 adults.
As the temperatures warmed up around lunchtime and into the early afternoon (despite an increasingly brisk south-westerly wind) the first Emperor Dragonflies were on the wing (four) around the Dragonfly Pond, with Ringlets by the back gate enclosure together with aBrimstone there and a Large Skipper on the causeway.
152 young Black-headed Gulls were counted on Railway Pool in the afternoon with an additional 54 on car park pool. A pair of Teal and two Little Ringed Plovers fed around the margins of the islands in front of Railway Hide and there were 32 Rooks on the flood plain including several juveniles. A Hobby was apparently seen though not recorded in the book
29th June 2013
– Mostly overcast but warm, south-westerly wind.
The first Ringlets of the year were seen both on the causeway and by Railway Hide and there was also a Meadow Brown on the causeway. Today’s counts were as follows: three Heron, five adult Great Crested Grebes and now only two juveniles on Car Park Pool, plus a chick on Railway Pool. At least three adult Little Grebes and two chicks on Car Park Pool, four adultMute Swans and two cygnets, 18 Greylags and 18 juveniles, six Canadas and seven juveniles, 37 Gadwall and a brood of three on Railway, 35 Mallard and ten juveniles (five plus five on Car Park Pool), a pair of Shoveler, 35 Tufted Ducks, a female Pochard, 32 Coot, sixMoorhen, four Redshanks and a fledged juvenile on Car Park Pool, six adult Oystercatchersand three juveniles on Car Park Pool (a two and a one), 28 Lapwing with two fledged juveniles on Railway Pool and three part grown chicks there, the Black Swan, two Little Ringed Plovers on Railway Pool, six Cormorants, three Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 96 Black-headed Gulls and at least 160 juveniles, seven Common Terns and four juveniles.
Later in the day a Gadwall brood of ten young was on Car Park Pool as viewed from River Hide. In the evening a third calender year Herring Gull flew over.
28th June 2013
– Overnight rain persisting into the morning, slowly clearing, light westerly wind.
A pair of Oystercatcher with two young were showing well in front of Car Park Hide this morning and there were again two Little Ringed Plovers on Railway Pool along with twoRedshanks, a single drake Teal and Shoveler.
Earlier in the year there were lots of frog Tadpoles in the Dragonfly Pond and today there were numerous Froglets on the concrete road by the Dragonfly Pond gate, noted in the log as “too numerous to count”.
A Collared Dove has taken up territory on the Old Road, just north of the car park, and has been in song regularly over the last few days.
27th June 2013
– Overcast am., wet pm., and overnight south-westerly wind.
Two Little Ringed Plovers and a Ringed Plover were on the island in front of Oak Hide this morning and a male Black-tailed Skimmer hovered around the car park. Five Swifts went over and Sedge Warblers were in song in front of Oak Hide and either side of River Hide.
26th June 2013
– Sunny, light north westerly
The Guelder Rose on the Old Road is in full blossom now and the perfume was carrying up the Old Road on the light breeze this morning.
Whitethroats have got young by the horse paddock gate and Blackcaps were also feeding young there.
On Railway Pool there were two drake Teal and two drake Shoveler and as temperatures got over 20 degrees, despite the north-westerly breeze, a Brimstone was seen on the railway embankment and the first Meadow Brown of the year was on the wing by the car park.
25th June 2013
– Warm, sunny
During a half hour period this morning between 8.15am and 8.45am, the Black-headed Gullsdrove off a pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a male Sparrowhawk and a Heron and shows the strength in numbers. The dense vegetation on the islands is also helping to hide young birds.
A minimum of 59 fledged Black-headed Gulls were counted on the point of Tern Island. Three part grown Lapwing chicks were also there. The pair of Oystercatchers from Railway Pool were feeding on the margins but without any young in tow.
Whitethroats behind Railway Hide, on the river side of Railway Hide, and along the central stream were in good song as was a Garden Warbler to the rear of Oak Hide and a song flighting Sedge Warbler in front. Both singing Goldcrest and Nuthatch were much in evidence between the south west pond and the railway bridge. Whether there are still twoBlackcaps in the back gate copse or only one, is unclear.
There are now only two Mute Swan cygnets left on Railway Pool. The juvenile Redshank, which is nearly fledged, remains on Car Park Pool along with the four Oystercatcher chicks. At least six Lapwing young were visible on Railway Pool along with six Tern chicks and the threeGrebe young on Car Park Pool are now fully grown. Broods of four and eight Gadwall were still visible and, in the evening 200 Starlings came into roost in the Reedbed. A flock of 11Long-tailed Tits were feeding in the vegetation by Oak Hide.
24th June 2013
– Overcast, light north westerly
Very little change. Three Linnets, a pair of Bullfinch and two Goldfinches were by the Old Road gate with Skylarks over the Tip Field and the 27 acre to the north. Plenty of Warblersong still but no obvious movement.
23rd June 2013
– Mostly overcast, brisk north-westerly wind, showery.
A Hobby flew over Car Park Pool and away west over Siden Hill Wood at 10.30 a.m., and at least 20 Swifts were feeding over the Old Road before moving off south at about the same time. At least 30 Sand Martins fed over Car Park Pool in the blustery conditions.
Three broods of Blue Tits were freshly out of nesting cavities with one in the back gate copse and two on the Old Road. Pairs of Linnets were around the crop field and probably the same pair along the causeway with five on the opposite side of the A452 from the Reserve. At least one Nuthatch was calling from opposite the Lorry Park gates.
22nd June 2013
– Brisk, north-westerly wind. Periodic showers, mostly overcast.
With no change in migrant Duck numbers (still three Shoveler, two drake Teal and a femalePochard) attention again focussed on young birds with at least 11 Lapwing chicks present on the Railway Pool islands. There were, however, no sign of any Lapwing chicks or adults in the crop field and the final tally of fledged young from there is unclear. However, there were four well grown chicks up until last week and it seems likely that at least some of those fledged. It seems probable that the size of the Black-headed Gull colony, together with a reasonable supporting cast of Terns and Lapwings is sufficient on many occasions to drive away the main predators such as Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Herons and Magpies.
The two Oystercatcher chicks on the Railway Pool islands appear to have fledged, but the four chicks (three plus one) on Car Park Pool are still present.
There are still two young Redshanks on the Railway Pool islands and the single remaining chick on the Car Park Pool islands is nearly fledged.
At least three Gadwall broods were counted this morning, with eight ducklings on Railway Pool, four in the Marsh and a significant 12 on Car Park Pool. A new brood of eight youngMallard chicks was also counted on Railway Pool. The Mute Swan family is down to three. The three young Great Crested Grebes on Car Park Pool are nearly fledged.
Many warblers are back in song after the first broods, presumably have been hatched or been unsuccessfully raised and both Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler were in good song on the causeway today.
21st June 2013
Records to follow.
20th June 2013
– Overnight rain, persisting into the early part of the day, mostly overcast thereafter but humid with a light easterly wind.
A few more returning wildfowl appeared today with three Shoveler from Oak Hide and a female Pochard on Car Park Pool. There are still two drake and a single female Teal. There were two Little Egrets present in this afternoon, one flew into the drainage ditch west of Railway Hide and the other was in the reeds towards Oak Hide.
19th June 2013
– Mostly overcast, light north-westerly wind.
The suspicion that Yellow Wagtails were breeding nearby (following periodic sightings of a male around Car Park Pool), was confirmed today when a pair with at least two fledged juveniles were noted on the Berkswell side of the A452 in the grass fields south of the road. As an increasingly uncommon breeding species this is good news.
18th June 2013
– Humid, south-westerly wind. Periods of hazy sun, interspersed with overcast stretches.
Clearly the Lesser Whitethroats are completing their first broods and the males are again in song. The male on the Old Road sang at 12.50 opposite the car park gate and with birds also in song on the railway embankment and on the west side, there are at least three and probably four pairs on site.
A male Yellow Wagtail flew from the Car Park Pool area east towards Berkswell at 2.15 p.m.
In the rushes just to the west of Patrick Farm, the single Lapwing young is now nearly half grown and the remaining Redshank chick on Car Park Pool is also well grown.
Teal numbers this evening had increased from three to five with two females joining the three males. The first brood of Gadwall young were also noted today with four ducklings seen on Railway Pool. At least three well grown broods of Mallard were also counted, a five and a six on Car Park Pool and two on Railway Pool.
Other wildlife sightings were helpfully provided as follows. Roy Ledbury has helpfully checked out all the Alder Buckthorn around the car park and unlike a poor showing last year, found at least 17 Brimstone Caterpillars on the Buckthorn leaves. The Caterpillars eat around the leaves and disguise themselves against the veins and can be less easy to find.
Two to three Burnett Companion Moths were also recorded, which are a small yellowish daytime flying moth.
Orange Tips, Speckled Woods, four to five Brimstones, Black-tailed Skimmers, Four Spotted Chasers and various damselflies were also recorded.
The other notable wildlife sighting were a count of the orchids to the rear of Oak Hide by Paul Johnson and Graham Rowing. They counted 480 Southern Marsh Orchids and 75 Common Spotted Orchids. The former certainly a record.
17th June 2013
– Drizzly rain, overcast, slowly clearing in the afternoon. Variable winds, mostly south-westerly.
The Lesser Whitethroats by the Pumping Station car park have bred successfully with at least two young present and another Lesser Whitethroat was singing on the railway embankment in the afternoon. The Garden Warbler on the causeway was in song again, aGreen Woodpecker showed well from the Oak Hide. In the poorer conditions there were, at any one time, about 20 Swifts, 20 Sand Martins and a single House Martin and, in the evening, 450 Starling were feeding or perching around the Dragonfly Pond before roosting in the Oaks around the causeway and central streamline.
16th June 2013 – Mostly overcast, cool south-westerly wind, occasional light showers
15th June 2013
– Sunshine and showers, brisk south-westerly wind.
Very little change over the weekend from the previous few days or between Saturday and Sunday. Action is pretty much limited to monitoring of breeding birds. Still no Gadwall orTufted broods, which is a surprise.
Of the breeding waders:
Oystercatcher – three broods with two nearly fledged on Railway Pool, one brood of three and then one brood of one on Car Park Pool. On Sunday, the two pairs on Car Park Pool were interacting noisily which led to what were presumably the two males having a fight. This extended into the water and immediately afterwards one of the birds, again possibly a testosterone fuelled male attacked a Black-headed Gull chick. After pinning it to the ground for some time, it let go and the chick went back to its parents. Bizarrely, the Gull parents made no effort to intervene.
Lapwing (crop field) – final totals in the crop field are difficult to ascertain because of the increasing height of the crop but there are at least two well grown young in there and, on Railway Pool, there are two broods of three relatively young chicks and at least two well grown young on the island in front of the hide.
Redshank – there seems to be only one well grown chick now on Car Park Pool, but there is still a pair and two young wandering around either Tern Island or onto the shore below Railway Pool.
Other counts over the weekend were as follows: six adult Great Crested Grebes and still three now fairly well advanced chicks on Car Park Pool, four Dabchicks, three Herons, eightCormorants, four adult Mute Swans and four cygnets, a Black Swan, 24 Greylags and 23 goslings, six Canadas and seven goslings, 35 Mallard and broods of three and five on Car Park Pool, 39 Gadwall, two drake Teal, 42 Tufteds, 29 Coot, three Moorhen, single adultLittle Ringed and Ringed Plovers, 30 adult Lapwing, 162 Black-headed Gulls and at least 75 chicks (but counting is so difficult now that the vegetation is well advanced), five Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 11 Common Terns and at least two chicks (but the same applies as for the Black-headed Gull chicks).
On Sunday afternoon at least 16 Swifts moved through, south-west, (surely not yet returning birds?), one House Martin and about ten Sand Martins.
14th June 2013
– Sunshine and showers, brisk south-westerly wind.
No records.
13th June 2013
– Mostly overcast, south-westerly wind, some heavy showers.
No records.
12th June 2013
– Generally overcast and periodic showers.
Eight attended the Work Party and despite the inclement evening a lot of useful tasks were achieved, included the strimming of the paths to River Hide and through Siden Hill Wood, continuing emergent willow and alder removal and the cutting back of the reeds in front of the south causeway screen.
Less usual birds noted this evening, all by those on the Work Party, included a pair ofNuthatch and four fledged young in Siden Hill Wood, a singing Lesser Whitethroat by the Pumping Station car park and possibly the same bird two hours later 100m to the south, and aShelduck on Car Park Pool.
11th June 2013
– Overcast, drizzly, light south-easterly wind.
The Gadwall and Mallard are now beginning to look “scruffy” whereas the two male Teal on Car Park Pool this morning still look in good condition. They are presumably failed breeders from elsewhere.
There are at least 12 pairs of Whitethroats actually on the Reserve, with a further three including those just north of the top gate around the Horse Paddock. Possible pairs behind Oak Hide and at the east end of the causeway have yet to be verified.
A detailed count of birds in the evening by Graham Rowling and Paul Johnson is as follows: All three Oystercatcher pairs now have young with the two older chicks on Railway Pool being close to fledging, whilst on Car Park Pool the three young from the first pair to hatch are still feeding well and at least one young has been hatched by the last pair that was still sitting. There are still at least two broods of Redshank, two on Car Park Pool and two on Railway Pool. Of the various Lapwing broods, there are still four large chicks in the crop field and three smaller ones, possibly with others obscured by the crop. On Railway Pool there are three broods, two times three and a single. A detailed count of the Black-headed Gulls yielded at least 137 young and there are now at least five Common Tern chicks.
Three Mallard broods were counted this evening, with a well grown brood of six on Car Park Pool and young ones of four and three on Railway Pool. 11 adult Greylags and 17 goslings and 25 adult Canada and seven goslings were also counted along with four adult Mute Swans and four cygnets, six adult Great Crested Grebe and three youngsters on Car Park Pool with two pairs now sitting on Railway Pool.
At least 50 Starlings were counted in the crop field oaks, comprising a mixture of adults and young.
There are now three male Teal on site, presumably relatively local non-breeders. Only a singleRinged Plover was visible and along the Old Road, less usual birds included two Mistle Thrushes on the mown grass at Patrick Farm and, opposite, at least one Yellowhammer, aSkylark and two Whitethroats.
10th June 2013
– Overcast morning, sunny afternoon, cool light north-easterly wind.
Unusual birds were limited to a Lesser Whitethroat on the railway embankment, four House Martins and a Swift over the pools, two Ringed Plovers and a Little Ringed Plover on Car Park Pool. A Muntjac was feeding on the shoreline opposite Car Park Hide in the afternoon.
9th June 2013
– Overcast start, cloud slowly burning off by mid-day, cool east, north-easterly wind.
Continuing passage was limited to the odd Swift and four House Martins at mid-day and young that could be seen were limited to two Oystercatchers on Railway and three on Car Park Pool, a single Redshank on Car Park Pool, three young Lapwings on Railway Pool and still some young Redshank in the Marsh and at least one nearly fledged Lapwing on the crop field with the others probably hidden in the crop.
The Great Crested Grebes are now sitting on Railway and Whitethroats were feeding at least two juveniles by River Hide. Willow Warblers were food carrying on the Old Road as well.
At about 1.50 a Second World War bomber took off from Birmingham Airport. There are various theories about its identification as to whether it was a Lancaster or a Blenheim.
8th June 2013
– Initially overcast, clearing to another sunny day but with a continuing cool, north-easterly wind.
Today’s less usual or more noteworthy birds included a male Yellow Wagtail on Car Park Pool, a new Lapwing chick on the floods just west of the farm, Nuthatch and Goldcrest on the Old Road, two male Teal (one on each pool) and a good selection of Odonata around the Dragonfly Pond with the following recorded: one female Broad-bodied Chaser, three Four-spotted Chasers, five Black-tailed Skimmers, two male and a female Banded Demoiselle, fourLarge Red Damselflies, five Blue-tailed Damselflies and 20 Azure Damselflies.
In addition to the Odonata, Graham Rowling and Dave Scanlan produced the following counts: five adult Great Crested Grebes and three chicks, seven Little Grebes, 12 Cormorants, four adult Mute Swans and four cygnets, the Black Swan, 18 Greylags and 25 goslings, sevenCanadas and give goslings, 28 Mallard and a single well grown duckling, eight Gadwall, 51Tufted, 23 Coot, three Moorhen, seven Oystercatchers and three chicks on Car Park Pool (the young on Railway Pool were not visible but are still present), seven adult Redshank with at least one chick on Car Park and probably two still in the Marsh, one adult Little Ringed Plover, two adult Ringed Plovers, 19 Lapwing and ten chicks including at least four in the crop field and two lots of three on Railway Pool, three adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 204 adult Black-headed Gulls and 70 chicks, 14 adult Common Terns and four chicks (two on Car Park and two on Railway Pool) and, last but not least, a Kingfisher flew across the Railway Pool.
7th June 2013
– Sunny, light north-easterly wind.
One of the pairs of Redshank with young first found yesterday have moved to the Marsh where at least two young were present. A family party of Long-tailed Tits were by the car park gate.
A male Banded Demoiselle hunted around the railway car park on the west side.
6th June 2013
– Misty, cold morning. Sun through by mid-day and rapidly warming up, light north-easterly wind.
At least one pair of Common Terns are feeding young in front of Railway Hide, and at 12.15 a pair of Lapwing escourted three newly hatched chicks from the crop field, across the Old Road and into the tip field where only two could subsequently be found. There are still eight well grown Lapwing chicks in the crop field. A detailed assessment of recently hatched chicks by John Belsey indicated two new Lapwing broods of four and two on Tern Island, together with a new brood of three Redshanks and on the shore in front of Railway Hide, a single Redshankchick. On the main island in front of Railway Hide, there are still three, now older Lapwingchicks and, on the island behind, the large island, the Oystercatchers and two chicks are still present.
In front of Car Park Hide there are still two broods of Redshank, altough it appears that there are only two singles now remaining. One of the two Oystercatcher pairs have now hatched out three young. Finally, in the crop field, there are still eight young, probably from three broods, a four, a two and a two.
A Ringed Plover pair are also present but the young seen with them appear to have beenRedshank or Lapwing. A total of at least 45 adult Lapwings were counted and a pair ofRavens went over.
A few Swifts continue to drift north but in smaller numbers than yesterday.
A female Banded Demoiselle showed well at the top of the ride above Lower Siden Hide and a Fox hunted out in the open in front of Tower Hide.
5th June 2013
– Cool, overcast morning, light north-easterly wind.
Swifts continue to arrive on the south coast and it was therefore no surprise that at 8.15 24 dropped in to feed over the central streamline and, just as quickly, departed to the north. In watching the Swifts, a dot in the distance transformed itself into a singing Skylark, high and well above Siden Hill Wood. A further 16 Swifts appeared just after 10 a.m. and carried on north.
The summering Teal remains and there is still plenty of warbler song with singing Garden Warblers, for example by the car park and on the causeway, and an unsinging bird showed well by the south west pond. The pair of Chiffchaffs by the car park had gone silent during breeding but the male is now singing again.
A pair of Green Woodpeckers were feeding in the grass by Railway Hide.
4th June 2013
– Sunny, light north easterly wind.
A female Goosander roosted on Car Park Pool from late morning into the afternoon and was still present at 15:40 hrs. Although relatively unseasonal, with birds breeding north of the Reserve on the Tame, summer records are becoming more frequent.
A detailed assessment of young birds this evening revealed the following, ten Greylag adults and four broods totalling 19 young, five adult Canadas and a brood of seven, four adult Mute Swans and a brood now down to four, five adult Great Crested Grebes still with a brood of three, four adult Oystercatchers and a brood of two, seven adult Redshanks and two broods of three and one, eight large Lapwing chicks in the crop field and still three young on Railway Pool (the two singles that were on the Car Park Pool islands have not been seen for a few days), Common Tern two broods including a single on Railway Pool and two on Car Park Pool, 24 broods of Black-headed Gulls with at least 42 chicks, one of which was taken by theLesser Black-backed Gull.
The male Yellow Wagtail was again in front of Car Park Hide and the summering Teal lingers on.
A Holly Blue was a new addition to the years butterfly list today.
3rd June 2013
– Sunny, light north easterly wind.
No records.
2nd June 2013
– Mostly sunny, cool north-westerly wind.
Neither the Black-tailed Godwit nor the Mediterranean Gull were seen today but theYellow Wagtail was again present, along with the male Teal. Six adult Oystercatchers fed around the pools with the two juveniles remaining intact on Railway Pool.
A roving Lesser Black-backed Gull predated one of the Black-headed Gull chicks on Car Park Pool.
Two Muntjac were again feeding on the edge of the crop field. There were plenty of Whitebutterflies on the wing today, again including mostly Small Whites and Green-veined Whites with some Orange Tips and the occasional Large White. Even in the evening there was still a few damselflies around the Dragonfly Pool, together with one Four Spotted Chaser.
1st June 2013
– Sunny, cool north-westerly wind.
After initially proving elusive, both yesterday’s Black-tailed Godwit and the second summerMediterranean Gull were seen during the morning and the Yellow Wagtail was feeding around the Dragonfly Pond. Almost as unusual as any of those, was a first-summer Common Gull which flew over at 3 p.m.
Today’s full counts were as follows: five Great Crested Grebes and a brood of three, fourDabchicks, seven Cormorants, the Black Swan, four adult Mute Swans and a brood now down to four, five Greylags and a brood of two on Railway Pool, 19 Canada and a brood of seven on Car Park Pool, 24 Mallard and two well grown broods of two on each pool, 21Gadwall, 66 Tufted, 19 Coot and three broods of two each on Railway Pool, Reedbed and the Dragonfly Pond, five Moorhen and a brood of four on the pond by the car park, 21 adultLapwing and five broods (three, one and two in the crop field, one by Car Park Hide and two at Railway), an adult Ringed Plover, eight Oystercatchers and two young on the Railway Pool, six adult Redshank and two broods (three and one on Car Park Pool), 260 adult Black-headed Gulls and 34 broods with 57 chicks, 18 Common Tern adults, four Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and one adult Herring Gull.
