Still no change after a week off

8th August 15          morning                 mid section

warm & sunny,    14-20°c,  1023mb,    variable 4-6 mph.

A good day for butterflies but not birds.All the bird song has now dwindled to nothing and still waiting for the robins to begin their autumn song, ( Ian had a couple of robins singing in the week.) Autumn passage should begin in earnest soon, the few summer visitors were seeing now could be passing through ( the willow warblers I had last week were almost certainly passage birds ) or could be local breeding birds with their young, we just don't know.

Local birds like tits and goldfinches are beginning to form flocks.

Black Headed Gull	50+	Compton Field
Lesser Black Backed Gull	odds over	mid section
Ring Necked Parakeet	calls	Barleyfield
Green Woodpecker	calls	Barleyfield, the Paddock
Whitethroat	2	Shrike Bushes
Blackcap	3	mid section
Chiffchaff	6	mid section
Goldfinch	c10	Shrike Bushes
Bullfinch                    Butterflies	3+	mid section
Peacock	1	Barleyfield
Small Skipper	plenty	Barleyfield
Essex Skipper	2+	Barleyfield
Comma	1	Barleyfield
Meadow Brown	plenty	Barleyfield
Gatekeeper	2	Barleyfield
Ringlet	2	Barleyfield
Small White	few	Barleyfield

Mud and snipe may have vanished,

but for swans the lake's spot on . . .

Dunstall Park

Saturday, November 9th, 10.00 to 11.30, dull, drizzle, clearing later.

Miserable morning, but fresh air better than staying in, so on with the rain gear and off to check the racecourse lake.  The water level's as high as it's been all year, the mud margins are minimal, so no sign of Snipe (there were at least 20 present at the beginning of October), but some stately visitors have already found the depth to their liking, a group of Mute Swan, feeding and preening quietly.  There are three adults and six grey-brown juveniles, difficult to say whether it's one family or two, but one adult distances itself somewhat, suggesting that the other two are a pair.  Two youngsters feed on their own for while, but then glide back to the group, so maybe all six are siblings (seven cygnets hatched at the lake in 2004.  The last successful nesting was in 2005).  Certainly it's the largest swan group seen here since six adults and six juveniles flew in on 2/11/2008.  Floating gently near the shoreline, a pair of Gadwall preen and sleep (they were first seen on  November 4th), at least eight Teal forage along the margins, while six male and one female Shoveler up-end near the beds of aquatic grass, bright red legs pushing backwards as half-submerged the birds feed from the lake bed.  Some of the males, most likely winter visitors from north western Europe, are now resplendent in black, white, chestnut and black-green breeding plumage.  At least six Coot busy themselves back and forward across the water, an adult and two juvenile Moorhen pick their way along the shoreline, and an adult Grey Heron calls harshly as it glides low over the lake, only to drift up over the trees and disappear down on to the Staffs & Worcs Canal.  Along the north western edge of the site all is quiet, just the glimpse of  a brown-backed Buzzard flapping noiselessly away from trees near the canal junction.  A flock of at least 200 Starling slants and slides low over the central grass area, feeding momentarily before being harried by a single Crow which forces them to fly as soon as they have settled, two adult and a second-winter Herring Gull look down from floodlight pylons, and at least 200 Black-headed Gull and 23 Lesser Black-backed Gull rest and preen on the grass.  Close to the hotel reception doors a male Pied Wagtail scurries under the parade ring railings.  What's the betting he'll be breeding here next year . . . 

                             

(Dunstall Park is a closed commercial site.  Access is strictly controlled)

PS

At Wightwick canal lock on Thursday 9th in calm, warm late-morning sunshine, wasps, flies, bees and a perfect Red Admiral butterfly feed on compact banks of sweet-smelling flowering ivy.  Nearby in the lock cottage hedge, red and pink roses are fully open.  It might as well be spring . . .       

News Round Up

Brief Highlights of recent visits to the valley (vis mig info is from top of Barleyfield):

21/8/13 - Calm dry overcast light SW

24 Greenfinch SW
1 Swallow
9 Swift
Collared Dove South
2 Stock Dove Barleyfield
5 Adult and 2 Juv Pied Wagtail Meccano Bridge Playingfields
Nuthatch Graisley Culvert
Willow Warbler singing SW corner Barleyfield
Blackcap fledged at top of Barleyfield, as had Common Whitethroats but apparently left nest site area immediately
31 Jackdaw S. Peters Playingfields

22/8/13 Dry calm morning, light Southerlies

57 Canada Geese SW
14 Greenfinch SW with 6 local birds at top of Barleyfield
FEMALE/JUVENILE REDSTART, seen briefly as it moved up the Western Border of the Barleyfield. It then flew off South over Compton Hill Drive
5+ young Bullfinch Graisley Culvert area
6 Swallow feeding high over the Barleyfield for over half hour in the warm calm conditions
2+ Coal Tit at Prefab Weir
Common Whitethroat calling Graisley Culvert

Painted Lady sunbathing near Compton Lock

29/8/13 Cool calm, dry clear Light SW increasing

89 Canada Geese SW
23 Greenfinch SW
2 Swallow South
3 Swift South plus 1 South over The Paddocks later
2 Starling SW
Adult and Juvenile Nuthatch Western Border of Barleyfield (dispersal birds, since Nuthatch have been scarce/absent in mid-section this Spring and Summer)
3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers around South end of Barleyfield
Female Sparrowhawk over top Barleyfield
3+ Blackcap at The Barleyfield Crossings and 2+ at Hanging Gardens
Common Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Juvenile Chiffchaff at Graisley Culvert area
3 Chiffchaff singing at The Crossings
1+ Chiffchaff singing 2+ juvenile Blackcap, Juvenile Willow Warbler and Juvenile Common Whitethroat in main Paddock
Chiffchaff singing at Tennis Club
Painted Lady in Canopy near Station
Small Copper near The Crossings

1+ Coal Tit at Compton Lock
Kingfisher off the Brook and over Compton Lock with 2+ Goldcrest nearby.
11 Pied Wagtail, mainly juveniles at Artificial Pitch and track at The Academy

31/8/13 Dry, clear cool Light Westerlies

18 Greenfinch South with 6+ local
1 Swallow South
2 Starling SW
Green Woodpecker
Male Sparrowhawk East over top of Barleyfield
Presumed family group of 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers together just SW of Barleyfield, where feeding trips were recorded earlier in the year, with another female calling at the same time at the top of The Barleyfield
3 Grey Wagtail, at least one of which was a juvenile, dropped into Graisley Culvert then SW.
5+ young Bullfinch and 3+ Juvenile Goldfinch at Graisley Culvert with a Coal Tit calling there and a Collared Dove over East
Devil's Coach Beetle under log on Railway walk by Crossings
2 Chiffchaff singing, 2+ young Blackcap, Common Whitethroat and 2 Jays at Hanging Gardens

1/9/13 Calm, dry, light cloud cover, light SW increasing

28 Lesser Black-backed Gull SW
Grey Wagtail NE just after dawn
Green Woodpecker Western Border
243 Woodpigeon SW, numbers increasing presumably as more fields are harvested in South Staffs. Birds consistently fly West to meet the valley then turn SW down the valley and can be seen doing this as far as the bins allow to the North.
Sub-adult Herring Gull SW
19 Greenfinch South with 6+ local birds
Pipit Species SW
Male and Female Sparrowhawk briefly in the air together over the Western border
Nuthatch calling from Eastern Border
13 Goldfinch, over half of which were juveniles at last!!
10 adult and 14 Juvenile Moorhen on canal
1+ Coal Tit calling at Meccano Bridge and 1+ at The Academy
Wasp nests just South of Meccano Bridge on canal towpath and another opposite Tennis Club
Warblers in Paddock as per Ian Phillips update and Nuthatch calling there
Meadow Pipit lifted off Barleyfield then South West
Coal Tit calling SW corner of Barleyfield
11 House Martin South
16 Pied Wagtail and 14 Starling on Meccano Bridge Playingfields
2 Stock Dove at Compton Park Wetland

Welcome back to Gareth Clements who provided this update:

"5th sept at dunstall park , 6 teal, 8 snipe, skylark, 1 prob white wag, 1 yellow wag , 1 grey wag, 35 pied wag, 3 shoveler, 1 on lake plus 14 sw cormorant, kestrel, 51  lbb gull, 200 bh gull, 1 green sand, otherwise quiet
Gareth and angus"

sightings update

Swift 15 circling over newbridge on 21st aug and single over water bridge on 25 flying south
Kingfisher several sightings of single birds between hordern rd and wightwick with 2 different birds on 3 sept
Blackbird many family parties indicating good breeding season but in sharp contrast to our two resident thrushes
reed Bunting single on Oxley bank 22 aug
Willow warbler 4 birds in paddocks on 1 sept (2ad 2juv) 3 the following day and 1 on 4th also 2 barley field 31 aug
Blackcap lots of juveniles but only 1 ad male and 1 ad female barley field and paddocks to water bridge
Grey wagtails seem to be back around water bridge and smestow including ad female aug 31st at water bridge
_Pied wagtails on football pitch at Compton 11 and 12 on first days of sept all but two were juveniles
2 spotted flycatcher and redstart just north of the valley Copley wood area on 25 aug would surely have made their way thru the valley
whitethroat juv in paddock on 1 sept followed by ad on barleyfield next day
lesser whitethroat classic bright juv on 2 sept on western border barleyfield
also on t6hat day small copper and painted lady butterflies

Celebration of Smestow Valley's Butterflies

Under construction......