Venus Pool - OSPREY take 2

With some great birds about there seemed little reason to stray outside Shropshire and nursing an injured toe, walking far was not a option either! Fortunately, I had a chauffer for the day assuming I wasn't left stranded high and dry for refusing to part with my (very functional / therapeutic actually) socks and sandals!!!

First port of call was Venus Pool and an excellent chance of Osprey again? The water level is now thankfully being lowered - mud is beginning to appear and a wader (Black-tailed Godwit) got the day underway, Yellow Wagtail too. An 8.00 entry by the Osprey stirred up the Gull flock and they gave it merciless stick, after a minute or so it was gone!

A hungry Osprey has to fish though! A question of whether it would search elsewhere or return! By 9.30 We had just about given up and left the hide with Black Redstart now on the agenda when I spotted something large and very distinctive gliding in over the hide - the Osprey!!!!

The light was much better that the previous day so without wishing to overdo the flight shots - here's the best three as it manouevred into position.....










To plunge and catch a fish! Yet again, a small 'Rutilus' but who cares, more frequent fishing is the likely outcome! Slightly into the light, a small image does not do justice to this capture of the Osprey leaving the water!






It was then off to find a dead tree somewhere (haven't worked out exactly where yet!)








The Titterstone Clee Black redstart proved to be anything but 'easy'. It had been seen on the main radar station perimeter fence but not for us..... After a check of all the radar balls, we returned to the original search area and eventually, it flew briefly onto the fence.... then disappeared again....






Plenty of Wheatear about and we did hear a Ring Ouzel in the quarry down below but the Ouzels were left in peace and not on the itineray today!






Pole Cottage was almost birdless and my quest to see a Shropshire Red Kite in 2010 also continues, can you believe that! We dropped down to the wooded stream at Bridges...

A male Pied Flycatcher was singing near the entrance and we found at least another one at the upstream bridge. An elusive male Common Redstart and pair of Dippers soon followed....






Yvonne spotted a really unusual pale white raptor over the nearby hill. The upperwing was brown but check out the 'ghostly' white underwing and body of this pale morph Common Buzzard!






A Yellow Wagtail to finish at VP, completed a pretty fine day but as you'll all know before reading this - Sunday was destined to be much better - including a patch tick at Venus Pool (and they don't come that often!!)

Venus Pool - OSPREY!!

There are some birds which no matter how many times I see them, draw me like a magnet! Persistence paid off too after doing the 'Osprey hour' four evenings at VP this week! What a moment too. I was chatting to a guy (Pat) who watches VP regularly and he casually asked me.....

(It was 6.25pm, some birders are on the reserve, they think it's all over ......)

.....if I'd seen an Osprey this year? It was one of those Wolstenholmesque moments!

I looked up and even before I had time to say 'no', it was a case of "I have now!!" Bloody Hell, or something like that...






Ever closer and eventually down the middle of VP in front of the hide!








This was an experienced bird! There would be no messing about - another circle over the pool and fishery and then it was down to business.....






No dramatic dive from height. Just a casual stepped hover - here are the two stages....








The splash and take off were a momentous blur in the gloom of the pool.






A medium sized Roach for supper....








Finally, against better light as it departed, a decent shot I'm more than happy with!






Oh well, Lucky Jim proving that timing and persistence pays off!

Not long after, six gorgeous Yellow Wagtails dropped in too! A record shot of three of them....






If past experience is anything to go by - there was a good chance of a repeat performance first thing in the morning. Check back to see what happened......

Venus Pool - Spring migrants

A bit of patchwork planned for this weekend and with a hunt for LesserPecker on Haughmond not surprisingly proving fruitless, I spent quite a bit of the day in the hope of an Osprey dropping in at VP.

No joy with that either of course but there are a few Spring arrivals now. First up, a Willow Warbler singing outside the main hide....










With an equally obliging Chiffchaff nearby (Chiffs aren't averse to Willow either!)...










The water is at a ridiculously high level for the time of year and if this is maintained then I think we can all look upwards rather than down for waders as they fly over??. The scree island is in danger of collapsing too as erosion takes it toll. Nevertheless, I counted three Little Ringed Plover on the reserve (although only one was visible from a hide!)












And finally, the bird which I eventually caught up with at the end of the day... a pristine male Yellow Wagtail....










More Warblers in soon no doubt.....

Shropshire - Corn Buntings

After sessions concentrating on Ring Ouzels recently, it was back to Buntings and with Cirl in the bag, I realised our local big billed relative had somehow eluded me this year, That is until today.....

The Crudgington area is a local hotspot for Corn Buntings and it wasn't long before a singing pair were picked up.....






Getting a picture can be quite another matter - they are very adept at placing themselves behind every bit of twig and foliage available!








Until lured into doing their Crossbill impression that is.... gotcha!!








Wheatears still following me around today - female at Venus Pool and a pair on Isombridge lane....

Titterstone Clee - really Ring Ouzels x 4

This is the real summary of a morning spent on Titterstone Clee on April 1st and I’m not fooling this time!!! Arriving at 9.00am I first checked out the scree where the male Ring Ouzel was on Monday. Within moments, the calls of at least one Ouzel was heard from the opposite side of the quarry…..







I made my way over and soon found the culprit on the cliff face.....








Seeing movement nearby , I suddenly realised there was another bird – much paler – a female!












Rob Stokes joined me and as we were watching them, another male appeared (all three in the field of the bins!)






Calls were heard to the right and sure enough yet another bird flew in to join the group making indisputably FOUR Ring Ouzels! Two seen here....






Rob had to go but Yvonne turned up to savour the scene, regrettably the birds had moved near the top of the quarry ridge but the sight of three of them perched within a couple of metres of each other was quite something to finish on!






A few more Wheatears were about today but of little consequence (no rings seen) to the star turns.






A snow storm brought an abrupt end to proceedings (just before the storm of erroneous sightings blerwup)……

APRIL 1st 2010 - The wind up

What started off as an April 1st wind up backfired a little bit…….

With Polar Bears, Eagles and Unicorns turning up all over the UK – it didn’t occur to me that anyone would find a Ptarmigan and Snow Bunting ousted by the Scottish snowfall, turning up in SHROPSHIRE credible??? My mistake was to mention the ‘Summer plumaged’ Snow Bunting first and ‘hook line and sinker’ the rest is history and took quite a few phone calls to clear up…

First Birdnet, then RBA and finally Birdguides perpetuated the scam – I got them to update sightings as ‘erroneous’. All this, while I was 100 miles away in Sheffield looking after Gemma performing in the UK national swimming champs – so no birding tomorrow….

Finally, fao all the bird news services (apart from April 1st 2010) everything you see / read about here is genuine with no strings attached! (Honest…..)

If you look here some familiar birds may appear......

Titterstone Clee - what the **** APRIL 1st Post!!

Unbelievable - I never ever would have thought it !! Having nailed Great Grey Shrike and Ring Ouzel on the Shropshire heights, I was hoping for something special today!

The weather was holding as I got to the summit and lo and behold a male Snow Bunting - storming bird too going into Summer plumage..






The weather in Scotland is vile, spare a though for the folks up there.... and of course the birds!! Many reports of Ptarmigan flying south and with hopes high I couldn't believe my luck - just below the trig point....







Could Shropshire birding ever get any better, I'm still pinching myself - an amazing start to the month of April!!