Return of the kestrel

31st May 15            mid afternoon               mid section

mostly cloudy,cool,after rain am,  9-11°c, 1006mb, WNW 12

A sad day for midland birders, Eric Phillips (EGP) passed away last night. A top midland & national birder and a very good friend. RIP.

An afternoon visit just incase the rain had forced any birds down, but no. A female kestrel hunted over the Barleyfield for 10 minutes before leaving to the SE. Plenty of young birds now being seen,

Mallard	♀+ 8-9 chk (prob WL family) N of Meadow View,   ♀+3 chk Wetlands,
Kestrel	1♀  hunting over Barleyfield, left to the SE hunting all the way,
Moorhen	1	Wetlands
Stock Dove	1	Wetlands Field
Swift	3+ over	Barleyfield
Wren	6 singing	mid section
Dunnock	2 singing	Station Paddock
Robin	6(5 singing)	mid section
Blackbird	7 singing	mid section
Song Thrush	2 singing	mid section
Blackcap	9(5 singing)	mid section
Chiffchaff	4 singing	mid section
Magpie	2-3 juv	Meccano Br
Chaffinch	2 singing	Station Paddock
Goldfinch	2	Hanging Grds
Bullfinch	1♂	Compton Field

Roosts in Valley

Given the dearth of bird movements in desperation for something to report here is a bit on daily movements of corvids.
The black members of the family seem to be quite flexible in their choice of roosting place.  It seems to vary dependent on the use of the racecourse and aldersley stadium.
The number of birds is around 400 most obviously Jackdaws which are the most vocal but including Crows and Rooks.  Site choices are Aldersley canal junction, the racecourse by the pool, the stadium poplars or the water bridge copse.
The Magpies are more picky always choosing the trees and bushes around Oxley bank, height varying a bit with wind strength but generally lower than their monochrome cousins.  A few days ago I went down about half four and counted 81 already there and then another 50 arriving singly from the West over the canal.  returning to the roost I counted 133 which must be an underestimate because they arrive from all directions.  Yesterday noted 15 in a pre-roost by Water bridge, where there were two contrasting Little Grebes one in full summer plumage the other still in full winter.  Wonder if it has anything to do with age of the bird?
Finally I found the finch flock(50ish) which usually graces the stadium just north of Autherley junction; mainly chaffinch , goldfinch and lesser redpoll with at least one siskin.

wintering birds

Walk to pool hall this afternoon supplemented by sightings earlier in the month
Best bird was a male Goosander which flew from the direction of Pool Hall over my head as I passed under castle Croft bridge and headed north up the valley.
There seem to be at least 4 Little Grebes maybe 5 as per Geoff.
Two Juvenile Grey Wagtails again one around Compton and one around the water bridge.
Fieldfare were close to 100 at castle croft bridge but only handful of Redwing.
No kingfisher today but previously seen anywhere between castlecroft and the smestow at horern rd, set me wondering if two different birds?
Pool Hal held 17 tufted duck 40+coot and another little grebe.
17 was also the number of Canadas line astern at wightwick on the canal with the last bird being noticeably smaller with a smaller white face patch.
last week treecreeper on railway by hordern rd and plenty of Jays
other corvid news was of roosting with 200 jackdaw at the canal junction and a mixed group including rook and crow by water bridge which may have also been 200 strong but hard to count because of vegetation.  Similarly could only see 60 magpie in their roost at Oxley because of the leaves. (up to 150 in past)
Finally a summer sighting I omitted from last round up on the last thursdayu in August just as I left Racecourse drive and turned onto gorsebrook rd a Hobby flew overhead went across racecourse circled lake and disappeared.

Early Morning Barleyfield Watch

Thursday 1st August 2013
Dry after light overnight rain, set to be warmest day of year, cloud clearing from dawn, Light Southerlies
Barleyfield: 05:00 -07:00

Barleyfield - looking East an hour or so after dawn

My first dawn watch for months really was a great experience as Compton Park and The Barleyfield were alive with bird activity.

30+ Magpie were congregating around the back of the existing St. Edmunds Buildings.
On the pitches by meccano Bridge there were 115 Black-headed Gulls, including 10+ juveniles and 12 adult Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

My intention was to head to the top of the Barleyfield and start a skywatch for a short while. I knew it was too early in the year for visible migration, but I was still a bit inquisitive as to what would be noted, including a possible early movement of Swifts.

However my walk up the Western border became quite involved as I was amazed at the number of warblers that were around. They were literally everywhere and, without disturbance many were flying into the Barleyfield itself to feed on insects sheltering on the umbel flowers (parsleys and hogweeds):

Beware of Morning light!!! - looks a bit Willow Warbler due to strong light,
 but the black legs give it away - Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler - longer wings and pale legs.

The vast majority were Chiffchaff but I was surprised to see 2 juvenile Willow Warbler near the Barleyfield crossings, with an adult singing on the railway walk nearby. A territory had been maintained nearby, but I havn't been down often enough to monitor it.

I decided to attempt a count from the central scrub at the top of the Barleyfield down the Western border to Graisley Culvert and the area by Meccano Bridge. I counted at least 15 Chiffchaff (including two family parties of 5+). It was just so hard to tell whether these were all local birds or whether there was an element of early post-breeding movement involved.

The highlight of other sightings were 2 Yellowhamers, that were picked up by their calls as they headed low South over the top of the Barleyfield. I had seen a single Yellowhammer over this site on 9th August last year.

Other highlights were:

4 Starling SW

6 Greenfinch at the top of the Barleyfield, as numbers start to swell.

Green Woodpecker

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Coal Tit - by Compton Hill Drive entrance

3 Goldfinch

just one Common Whitethroat

4+ young Bullfinches

North of the viaduct

Following Kevin's report of a Tawny gave me a reason to check the isolated plot of land between canal and Oxley golf club.  It was late tuesday afternoon and windy and dull and unsurprisingly no Tawny altho I suspect I was a bit early.  What did see were three lesser redpolls and male sparrowhawk.
This area and even more so on the other side of the railway holds a winter Magpie roost.  Today the wind was giving them a hard time but they were coming in singly from all directions.  by the time I left at 4.20 there were in excess of 35 birds present but with many more birds to come in I would expect the roost to exceed 100.  Magpies seem to roost later than other corvids and arrive in ones and twos.  Since I became aware of this roost 3 winters ago every time I have stayed until it becomes impossible to see properly their are often as many as 150 birds present but to count properly would need to co-ordinate both sides of railway.
Otherwise the walk back to Newbridge produced a coot and 3 little grebe on the canal none of which I had picked up on the way.  Just shows how easy it can be for birds to hide even in winter vegetation, still probably the council will come and clear it all away!

Sunday 16th December 2012

Light SW, dry, clear with light frost.

Skywatch from Barleyfield till 08:00 then count between the road bridges at Newbridge and Compton, including canal, railway, most of the barleyfield and Compton Park.

Skywatch:
1 Canada Goose - West
4 Goosander - NE along ridge
Kestrel - from roost SW over St. Edmunds
34 B H Gull - SW
56 LBB Gull - South
Adult Herring Gull - South
7 Pied Wagtail - Presumably from City roost - South (Anyone know where roost is this year after the traditional roost trees were cut back last year by Ann Summers!!!)
94 Magpie - ex Roost at Compton Park
At last Corvids!!! Must have heard my plea on Saturday!!!
c100 Jackdaw and c25 Carrion Crow - North over at 07:30 in one large spread flock
4 Starling - SW

Count results for mid-section (excluding skywatch figures):

18 Mallard, 3 Little Grebe, 1 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 14 Moorhen, 1 Coot, 107 B H Gull, 5 LBB Gull, Adult Herring Gull, 64 Woodpigeon, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 G S Woodpecker, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 10 Wrens, 14 Dunnock, 30 Robins, 27 Blackbird, 1 Redwing, 1 Song Thrush, 4 Mistle Thrush, 3 Coal Tit, 20 LT Tit, 13 Great Tit, 33 Blue Tit, 1 Nuthatch, 11 Magpie, 2 Jackdaw, 8 Carrion Crow, 2 Starling, 5 House Sparrow, 45 Goldfinch, 10 Chaffinch, 7 Greenfinch, 20 Siskin, 8 Bullfinch.

5 Robins, 3 Wrens,1 Dunnock (Newbridge), 1 Mistle Thrush (Newbridge), 1 Great Tit, 2 Blue Tit and 1 Coal Tit (Station Paddock) were singing during count.

Total 40 SPECIES

23/11/12  Dry,cold,light frost, light SW

Dawn watch from barleyfield.
07:00 - 08:20
1 Greylag Goose SW
1 Buzzard left roost at Eddys Alders
46 LBB Gull South
577 Woodpigeon North
Green Woodpecker
2 Grey Wagtail ex wetland
1st Song Thrush singing Waterdale
75 Redwing SW
7 Fieldfare West
2 Mistle Thrush SW
1 Nuthatch
137 Magpie ex roost
10 Jackdaw N ex Peasley
10+ Chaffinch
10 Goldfinch
2 Siskin at  EA