If you go down to the reedbed tonight...

Well, afternoon and early evening I guess.

Whatever time you prefer to call it, come 2:30pm a few friends from my our ringing group, Brewood Ringers, gathered at Belvide Reservoir to set some nets for the reed bunting and starling roost.  Now starling don't get a great press, raiding bird tables, making a racket and a right mess when they murmurate and roost in urban areas, but up close they are awesome birds.

Far from black, they are a mix of iridescent black, green and purple!  For good measure they also have creamy markings thrown in, and its these which are part of the criteria you need to check for ageing a bird.  If the markings are dagger shapped, the bird is an adult whereas if they are more blotchy the bird was born in the last 12 months, and so a juvenile.  Combined with the shape and pattern of the tail the species is relatively easy to age.

Did you know you can also sex a starling based on the bird's eye colour?  If there is no contrast in colour across the eye, its a male as females have a contrast in colour, sometimes quite an obvious difference in colour.

So any thoughts on the bird below?

First reebu roost of the autumn

Several years ago we had a very successful autumn and early winter catching reed bunting (aka reebu) at a roost site at Belvide Reservoir.  This year water levels once again allow us access to the reedbed so we'll be ringing every few weeks as long as conditions allow.

The last time we caught at this roost we had several hundred new birds over the course of the season, with an astonishingly low number of retraps, suggesting that the majority of the birds were merely stopping off at Belvide to roost before heading off elsewhere.  So sitting in the hide every evening you could be forgiven in thinking that all the birds dropping in are the same as the week before.  Just another example of how valuable bird ringing is!

The evening ended with 35 reed bunting and 2 starling from a small flock which also roosted in the reedbed.  More to come over the coming weeks, we hope!

A birdy breakfast

This morning I was out on Cannock Chase with Brewood Ringers to catch birds at a feeding station as they arrived for breakfast.  After setting the nets it was evident that a huge number of redwing had clearly arrived in the last few days, with several hundred passing over us during the morning.

The session ended with a respectable 39 new birds including 3 great spotted woodpeckers, 14 goldcrest, 7 lesser redpoll, 2 coal tits and a single nuthatch and redwing.  All in all, a lovely way to spend a morning.

Fungal foray

Today I've been up on the Roaches Estate with local fungi expert, John Stanney, to survey for fungi as part of our Natural England higher level stewardship agreement.  A survey in 2012 found many interesting species of waxcap and Staffordshire Wildlife Trust are keen to see how they're doing.

Its not been a great year for fungi.  September was the driest since records began in 1910 with, on average, just a fifth of the usual amount of rain.  As a result the amount of fungi we managed to record was greatly reduced, but we still managed to record 11 of the 14 species we're monitoring.

However, star of the show was the 'Caterpillar fungus'.  The species identified was the Scarlet Caterpillarclub Cordyceps militaris.  This fungus is reasonably colourful but that's not the reason its so amazing.  This fungus is parasitic on the pupae or larva of butterflies and moths, which is effectively mummifies and keeps alive just long enough to produce the fruiting bodies we see above ground.  That's right, fungi aren't all feeding off dead wood.  Some are murderers!

Above ground, a colourful little fungus

Below ground, a murderer!  You can just make out the mummified creature

Other species recorded included blackening waxcap, parrot waxcap, meadow coral, scarlet waxcap and several mosaic puffballs.  The final treat of the day was a skein of 150+ pink-feet which flew over, a true sign of autumn!

Meadow waxcap

Mosaic puffball

Meadow coral

Parrot waxcap

Can you see the pink-feet skein?

Portugal report

I've been away in the Algarve ringing birds with Brewood Ringers for nearly two weeks at the Parque Ambientle near Vilamoura (hard life I know).  There've been some great birds, great weather and great company.  Here is my brief take on the events and star birds, I'll post a link to the full report when its out.

We arrived on 30th September and around the apartments there were some great birds, most of them seen or heard from the balcony.  Azure-winged magpies, red-rumped swallows, hoopoe, cetti's warbler and sardinian warblers.  On our walk to the restaurant we also encountered several flocks of cattle egret going into roost, a glossy ibis and a calling tawny owl.

A great start
Day 1 kicked off well with over 100 birds ringed including a 2 western bonelli's warblers (right photo below), but star of the show was a paddy field warbler (left photo below).  Check in Collins Bird Guide (other field guides are available) to see how far off course this bird was.  We believe it is the 5th record for Portugal.

Paddyfield warbler (left) and western bonelli's warbler (right)

'The V'

On an afternoon off I decided to walk around the local area to try and get some photos of the large number of cattle egret and hoopoe we'd seen along the road verges on our travels between the apartment and the nature reserve where we were ringing.

As well as a few awful photos I discovered an amazing place for birds, a seemingly bird-less manicured path between two apartment blocks.  Little did I know it would produce some great birds including crested larks, azure-winged magpies, several wheatears, a pied flycatcher and three, yes three wrynecks!

Later that week a few members of the team set out to ring a few of the birds present, and succeeded in catching a wryneck and a cattle egret amongst a few other birds.

Bird of the trip, a humble blackcap

With some great species ringed, including a 5th for Portugal in the paddyfield warbler, it might seem surprising that a blackcap was the star bird of the trip.  However, hear the story and you'll soon know why.

A few days into the trip, Dave pulled out another blackcap from the net and noticed it was already ringed.  Checking the ring he saw it was a British ring, not that unusual as we'd already caught reed warblers from Holland and Sweden, but close inspection and Dave thought he recognised the ring number.  A quick phone call home to his wife revealed that it was a bird that he originally ringed back in Staffordshire at Blithfield Reservoir less than a month earlier.  Amazing to think that the two of them were in the same place at the same time after 3 weeks and over 1000 miles travelled!

Out into the dark

Along with ringers from Brewood Ringers we were joined by three great guys from Shropshire, Paul, Kevin and Martin.  Paul had bought along a spot light and hand net in the hope of heading out at night to catch red-necked nightjar.  The evening was great and we succeeded in catching one bird (on the second attempt), along with a crested lark.

Red-necked nightjar

Crested lark

And finally...

At the end of our 10 day trip we caught and ringed 930 birds of 49 species, not one of the highest totals of individuals but a great mix of species to make up for it.  Collectively the group recorded 106 species, including those ringed.  They were:

Gadwall, shoveler, mallard, ferruginous duck, pochard, red-legged partridge, little grebe, gannet, cormorant, little bittern, cattle egret, little egret, squacco heron, great white egret, grey heron, white stork, glossy ibis, greater flamingo, short-toed eagle, booted eagle, black-winged kite, marsh harrier, kestrel, montagu's harrier, buzzard, water rail, moorhen, coot, purple swamphen, little ringed plover, lapwing, sanderling, turnstone, green sandpiper, common sandpiper, greenshank, whimbrel, snipe, arctic skua, black-headed gull, lesser black-backed gull, yellow-legged gull, mediterranean gull, feral pigeon, collared dove, little owl, tawny owl, barn owl, short-eared owl, red-necked nightjar, swift, kingfisher, hoopoe, green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker, wryneck, crested lark, thekla's lark, swallow, sand martin, red-rumped swallow, house martin, yellow wagtail, white/pied wagtail, grey wagtail, bluethroat, redstart, stonechat, whinchat, wheatear, song thrush, mistle thrush, blackbird, zitting cisticola, garden warbler, blackcap, whitethroat, sardinian warbler, subalpine warbler, sedge warbler, reed warbler, cetti's warbler, paddyfield warbler, grasshopper warbler, melodious warbler, willow warbler, chiffchaff, western bonelli's warbler, spotted flycatcher, pied flycatcher, great tit, crested tit, penduline tit, short-toed treecreeper, azure-winged magpie, jay, spotless starling, spanish sparrow, house sparrow, linnet, goldfinch, greenfinch, serin, common waxbill, black-headed weaver, corn bunting.

Grasshopper warbler (left) and short-toed treecreeper (right)

 Penduline tit (left) and pied flycatcher (right)

Hoopoe

Little bittern

A tale of two halves

Over the next couple of years I'm taking part in a Wildlife Trust training programme, with sessions taking place all over the north of England.  Today's course was in Kendal at the Cumbria Wildlife Trust HQ, tantalising close to Leighton Moss just over the border in Lancashire.

So close in fact I was up and out the house at 4am, determined to fit a few hours birding in at Leighton Moss before the course started at 9:30am.  The first stop on your visit should always be Lillian's Hide, not least because its the closest to the car park.  The RSPB are currently undertaking some management work in the reedbed and have dropped the water level in the pool in front of the hide leaving a vast expanse of mud, and as such many waders are being seen.

It was still dark when I arrived, but I could just make out flocks of little egret leaving the roost and heading out to the saltmarshes to feed for the day.  Along with the little egrets, two great white egrets left the roost and dropped on to the pool in front of the hide.  As the light improved a large flock of black-tailed godwits became apparent, as did a group of ruff busily feeding along the water's edge.  Whilst watching the ruff I noticed two smaller waders following them, little stint!  Gorgeous little things.

Before I had to leave other birds of note seen included wigeon, pintail, snipe, water rail, gadwall, teal, shoveler and a marsh tit.  I then proceeded to Kendal for the rest of the day.

With the course finishing at 4:30pm there was still plenty of time to make another visit to Leighton Moss for a few hours and take in the spectacle of the egret roost.  Revisiting Lillian's Hide new species included marsh harrier, house martin, bullfinch, chiffchaff, bearded tit and treecreeper whilst a flock of 25 pink-feet flew down the valley.

I also increased my count of several species, including pintail up to 26 and water rail to 3.  Just before leaving the hide there was a sudden rush of coot, the perfect indicator for the presence of an otter.  Sure enough one of these great mammals swam around the edge of the reedbed before disappearing into the vegetation.

The best place to view the little egret roost is actually from the road from the Visitor Centre back towards the village of Yealand Redmayne.  The roost is in a group of trees on an island at the north end of the reedbed.  Over the course of an hour and a half I counted 125 little egret and at least 3 great white egret drop into the roost.  A great end to a very long but productive day!

If you've never been to Leighton Moss, I can't recommend it enough.  For me, its definitely one of the top 5 nature reserves in the UK.  Find out more here - http://www.rspb.org.uk/leightonmoss

Greenshank and chips

Today I headed off up to the Wirral coast for the afternoon to see what delights were around Parkgate Marsh.  Previous visits have produced hen harrier, short-eared owl, peregrine and merlin hunting over the saltmarsh.  It's still a little early in the year for that excitement but the birds present didn't disappoint.

In between showers I clocked up a personal best of 28 greenshank, 17 lapwing, 4 snipe, 6+ little egret, 2 black-tailed godwits, 3 little grebe, 1 redshank and several curlew out across the marsh in between the showers.  There were small groups of swallows passing through, eventually totalling 24 birds.  As well as the birds, its customary to visit the local chippy and ice cream shop to top off the experience!

If you've never been to Parkgate Marsh for the high tides I'd thoroughly recommend it.  The tide completely covers the marsh and hits the seawall when its over 9m in height, flushing everything up just in time for the raptors!  Its not that uncommon to see thousands of waders, geese and ducks take to the sky along with the odd water rail.  You might even see a few mammals caught short.  I've personally seen fox swimming back to land and a mole disappear up a drain pipe trying to escape the rising water.

Keep an eye on the Dee Estuary blog to see what has been around, and the dates for the next high tide over 9m - http://www.deeestuary.co.uk

Treading new ground

Its a very rare occasion when I get to explore a part of Doxey Marshes that I've never been to before.  Today was one of those days, so I was more than a little excited.

The area in question was an area of phragmites reedbed, probably the biggest area on the reserve.  Sadly its a section of the reserve that isn't open the public, Cadbury Pasture.  Armed with my mate Jack and a pair of waders each we searched around the reedbed trying to find a way in.  Easier said than done as the reedbed is some what of an island, completely surrounded by ditches, ditches that appeared to be too deep and wide to get across.  Luckily we found a route into the phragmites, but not before we pushed through several hundred metres of reed-mace and sedge.

Before entering the phragmites I recalled a piece of research that showed that reed warblers tend to nest within 2 metres of an edge.  Sure enough, no sooner had we entered the phragmites than we found a reed warbler nest, and to our surprise it contained 3 abandoned eggs.

Long before we'd even started our assault on walking through the reedbed it was another warbler that caught our attention, a cetti's warbler.  A couple of birds have been recorded on the reserve over the course of this year, and previous years, but this was my first bird on Cadbury Pasture.  A brief burst of song in alarm was the first give away, before a brief sighting of the bird investigating the disturbance in a world where no person has ever ventured before.

All in all it was another great day, and a rare one as there are very few areas of the reserve I've not explored before.  Unfortunately access is very difficult on foot so getting any machinery in there is pretty much out the question.  It always been my dream to expand the area of phragmites as it could one day host some fantastic reedbed birds.  However on my return to the office my colleague Jeff announced he had a plan...

Here's hoping!

Planning the future

Today I was out at a meeting with Aggregate Industries as part of their Biodiversity Benchmark Partnership meetings.  The quarry at Barton-under-Needwood and Branston sits in the Tame Valley, a river corridor with huge potential.  Much of the land along the valley is either actively being quarried, restored quarry or farmland.  Most days there are reports on Staffordshire Bird News of birds and other wildlife seen at Branston gravel pits.  Little egrets, ducks and waders galore make this site and the whole valley an exciting prospect for wildlife, and people watching it.

Check out the Staffordshire Bird News blog here

In the valley the Trust have two nature reserves, Croxall Lakes and Tucklesholme, whilst the Central Rivers Initiative scheme covers the area between Burton-upon-Trent and Tamworth.  Heading south from Tamworth there is another Living Landscape scheme, the Tame Valley Wetlands.

Find out more about the Tame Valley Wetland Living Landscape scheme here

Find out more about the Central Rivers Initiative here


After the meeting I had a look around part of the restored quarry, where the Trust is helping to manage the land.  Eventually there will be public access to the fields where there is a field managed for breeding lapwing, and a newly created hay meadow I'll be working on this autumn.  To top it all off there will be views across the main lake and a woodland walk.

On the lake today were 9 little egret, many tufted ducks, great crested grebes and a few teal.  By far the most surprising thing were the huge number of little grebe, 44 in all!  Never have I seen so many.

My final sighting was a knot grass moth caterpillar, a brilliant little fluffy thing with great colour.

If you don't try, you'll never know

I definitely got a lesson in how this saying can apply to bird watching today.

The day started with another ringing session at Belvide with Brewood Ringers.  Sadly it wasn't as productive as the previous session, although there was a noticeable arrival of goldcrests to the site, of which 3 were caught.  Along with another 20+ meadow pipits the only other species of interest were chiffchaff, with 9 caught.

There seemed to be a distinct lack of birds around, so reluctantly I called in at Doxey Marshes on my way home.  I wasn't hopeful, I told myself there'd be nothing to see, but I was already out I couldn't face spending the rest of the day indoors.  Little did I know that this would be a great decision.

Whilst playing another round of passerine peak-a-boo (if you have no idea what I mean by this, see an earlier post), a bird of prey caught my eye on the other side of the hedge.  Instantly it looked different from the initially expected buzzard.  Marsh harrier!  A female type was quartering the grassland near the river before flying off up the valley and out of sight, being pursued by a few black-headed gulls.  The bird reappeared briefly some half an hour later, but again flew out of sight.

Cue terrible photo taken hastily through binoculars...

As I headed around the circular walk, a flock of lapwing flew up from the scrape and began circling.  Three ruff were flying around too, a great treat and sadly a sometimes less than annual species on the reserve, at least from the reports we get anyway.  Another bird then caught my eye, a small wader was in amongst them, a very small wader.  I am still trying to decide what that bird was, possibly a stint?  It looked too small for a dunlin.  In my attempts to find out just what the bird was I found myself crawling through the field towards the edge of the scrape.  Yes, crawling...

The scrape was a feast of birds.  Around 200 lapwing sat around the water's edge whilst at least a dozen snipe could be easily seen feeding.  A few teal and mallard drifted back and forth, dabbling away.  Then two of the ruff appeared from behind a clump of rushes and eventually passed right by me just 20ft away.  A dunlin then appeared from behind the lapwing, and two green sandpipers were  busy chasing each other around the uncut patches of vegetation.

Along with another good helping of chiffchaff, a male blackcap, 15 wigeon and what seemed like a swarm of migrant hawker dragonflies, all in all it turned out to be a great day on the reserve.  Just goes to show that if you don't try, you'll never know...