Venus Pool - Goldeneye and Mute Swan

The duck count and range of species at Venus Pool has been steadily on the increase in recent years and I wonder if we will soon be considering Goldeneye as 'regulars'? Two females have been present since the 20th November (plus a male which they couldn't hold on to!)

Here they are in their usual area - as far away from the hides as is possible!

And is this the reason they are happy! Worms galore, I know they are the 'bowels of the earth' but does that includes pools too?

And they did come close (ish) today....

But no nearer than they needed to!

Every swan flying in at this time of year gets my attention - a Whooper or even Bewick's maybe?
Another Mute swan drops in (there were 42 present at first light on new years day)

And given the glorious light, was well worth firing a landing shot burst!

The problem with head on landings is.... they soon exceed the frame!

Now what I need is a few wild swans to make my day, hmmmm maybe the floods at Melverley?

New Year cruise

A familiar start to the new year with a cruise around some of the 'cool spots' of Shropshire. Where the shire is concerned, caution where the term 'hotspot' is advised! A 7.30 start, teaming up with Yvonne and Venus Pool first stop....

A dependable location for a kick start to the local year and 47 species were duly ticked in a lazy first 90 minutes. Mostly 'usual suspects' so no long list to bore you. No real highlights, more about disappearing acts with the long staying Pintails having an away day (or just plain gone!). The two female Goldeneye were still loving the place! A single Brambling near the gate in the top field was the highlight of a subdued finch flock with plenty of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting in evidence. Several Redwing and Fieldfare feeding in the meadow but where's a Song or Mistle Thrush when you need one! A single Brambling eventually gave itself up as we neared the car park and a Nuthatch there reminded us we hadn't ticked Treecreeper by the feeder station but a revisit put that to rights! With 47 species in the bag, we headed off, stopping a short way down the road for an obliging Goldcrest plus VP trickies - House Sparrow and Collared Dove!

One of the bogey birds of any bird race is Jay and in the next 30 minutes we had four individuals from the car plus the first Kestrel.
Shirlett was pretty quiet except for the occasional call of Crossbills and a group of 12 flew overhead to make the diversion here worthwhile.
Chelmarsh produced a few easy birds we needed: Bullfinch, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Raven plus a pair of Green Woodpecker. Amongst the 1,000 + Lesser Black-backed Gulls were single figure figure Herring Gulls and a couple of 1w Great Black-backed Gulls. The tally now on 62....
After adding Red-legged Partridge en-route to Telford, Priorslee lake provided a few Pochard, fly over Stock Dove and then a single Yellow-legged Gull at the crem (thanks Kriss!)
The short day meant an extensive search in the North of the County was not an option and what a disaster the Mere proved to be with just Common Gull added. Nothing new was added at Wood Lane or Whixall floods so there we go.... 67 species to start the year. Could have done better but a pretty enjoyable day which wasn't the usual wash out it's been for the past couple of years!

Oh and congratulations to this Corncrake picked as the favourite from the December poll

Here's to a few more decent images during 2016 and wishing a brilliant years birding to you all!!

Stubbers Green - consolation YLG

Gulls have been pretty low on my radar of late but with two adult Caspian Gulls putting in an appearance the previous day, I thought it was worth a look see? Guess what, not a sniff in fact very few large gulls and never more than 60 counting the Black-heads as well! Freezing wind toowhich always seems to be in your face here!
Mind you there was a sort of consolation with this 1st winter Yellow-legged Gull, quite a stunner :-)

Better than nowt!

Venus Pool - Christmas travellers

Not a lot happening at Venus Pool apart from the impressive duck presence: 172 Teal , 96 Wigeon, 24 Shoveler, 10 Pintail, 2 Gadwall, 2 Shelduck and 2 female Goldeneye.....

There were two Canada Geese - snoozing and not mingling with the regular locals. I could see they were sporting darvic rings and just to prove these things 'work' you could read the letters from nearly every angle!

So, where have CAVP (how appropriate) and CATL come from.....

They are part of a project in the lake district and were ringed at Lake Windermere whilst in moult 178 days ago! And they have flown 197km to spend some time in Shropshire! It's an interesting project, raising lots of questions: How long they will stay? Are there others here? Where do others go? Will they return to Windermere (for the tourist handouts) ?
They are not everyone's favourite bird although thee was a huge outcry which stopped the intended cull in 2012.  I had assumed the feral flocks stayed faithful to one general area but these two are clearly serious travellers!

So, don't ignore the geese and while checking though them all, Greylags 'n all - you might even pick up a Barnacle, White-front, Pink-foot or Bean!

Read more about it here..... Goose ringing in lake district

And if you spot one here's a quick link to report colour ringed birds! Link to BTO colour rings return

Wall Heath - Hoopoe

Hoopoes are fantastic birds but I hadn't rushed to see this particular arrival, sensing it would be hard work in the long grass - how right I was!
After a couple hours wait, I decided to abandon a stake out of the area it traditionally favoured (but didn't today) and joined the gallery up the hill where it was showing on and off in thick grass. Well at least a couple of record shots were achieved!

And eventually, just before 4 o'clock it did return to the enclosure posts (with light fading bady). Making a statement on behalf of the anti-dog fouling community!

And a single shot as it briefly perched on the barbed wire across the field!

Oh well, better than nothing after a freezing 4 to 5 hours vigil....

Bird / Image of 2015

Here are a few favourite pictures of mine (in no particular order) taken during 2015.  A bit of a mixture - favourite birds and images. For various reasons, its been my quietest year for such a long time!
You will find an voting box to the right, to keep things simple, check the FIVE pictures you like most! (click thumbs to open a larger image) FIVE votes maximum only please- any more wont be counted!  (Only one voter is possible per PC!)

I will let this poll run until December 31st and then YOUR No 1 Picture of the Year will be declared the following day....

Have a fantastic Christmas everyone and here's wishing everyone great birding in 2016! With batteries recharged I shall be out and about in the field a lot more!! Not yearlisting tho :-) 

Picture 1 - Hen Harrier - Venus Pool Shropshire (February)

Picture 2 - Red-throated Pipit - Ludworth Moor (May)

Picture 3 - White-tailed Eagle - Mull (May)

Picture 4 - Corncrake - Iona (May)

Picture 5 - Red Grouse - Lochindorb (May)

Picture 6 - King Eider - Ythan estuary (May)

Picture 7 - Cretzschmars Bunting - Bardsey Island  (June)

Picture 8 - Melodious Warbler - Hampton in Arden (June)

Picture 9 - Puffin - Farne Islands (July)

Picture 10 - Arctic Terns - Farne Islands (July)

Picture 11 - Red-footed Falcon - Chatterley Whitfield (July)

Picture 12 - Great Skua - Isles of Scilly (August)

Picture 13 - European Storm Petrel - Isles of Scilly (August)

Picture 14 - Fea's Petrel - Isles of Scilly (August)

Picture 15 - Great Shearwater - Isles of Scilly (August)

Picture 16 - Pectoral Sandpiper - St Marys (October)

Picture 17 - Red-flanked Bluetail - St Agnes (October)

Picture 18 - Hudsonian Whimbrel - Tresco (October)

Picture 19 - Northern Wheatear - St Marys (October)

Picture 20 - Rose-coloured Starling- Lands End (October)

Picture 21 -  Kingfisher - Venus Pool (November)

Picture 22 -  Brambling - Venus Pool (December)

Picture 23 - Egyptian Goose - Venus Pool (December)

Venus Pool - Egyptian Goose

Not a lot happening at Venus Pool with the higher water levels attracting a good number of duck and as usual, even more geese! A surprise was in store however when a lone Egyptian Goose sneaked in, landing on the middle island. It snoozed for about 40 minutes, had a quick preen before emerging from the vegetation....

Wandered down to the waters edge....

Before heading downwind......

Something rather surly about these characters!

So everything else kept their heads down!

I could see what was going to happen, so got ready to catch the flight shot out (having missed the flight shot in!)

Here we go.....

Skipping the water.....

Settling into level flight in front of me!

Before climbing high and heading south east, I don't think a return is on the cards!