Earlswood housing development risk update

My last two posts on here were about potential housing development taking place within the Earlswood recording area and unfortunately this post will be a third, to provide an update on current state of the matter. There have been several "Call for Sites" undertaken by the councils covering the Solihull borough and Stratford district parts of the Earlswood area since I've been birding it, and the latest for the Solihull Local Plan Review has recently been publicised with many blocks of land on patch submitted by agents and landowners for consideration:

These areas include one of the two main areas for breeding Skylark and the main area where singing Yellowhammer have been recorded. It also encompasses pockets of woodland, scrubland, permanent pasture and farm ponds. Indirect effects such as increased numbers of people, dogs and cats putting pressure on the wildlife and habitats in surrounding areas including Clowes Wood and New Fallings Coppice SSSI and the lakes would be likely too. On a positive note though, the former location of the heathland that gave Fulford Heath its name hasn't been proposed this time, raising some personal hope that this field, currently permanent pasture surrounded by woodland shelterbelt, might be restored to heathland one day.

In the Stratford district part, which falls under the South Warwickshire Local Plan area, there were a good many areas in Earlswood proposed for that "Call for Sites". Somewhat fortunately, the next stage of the plan has seen no areas in this part of Earlswood taken forward for the "Preferred Options" consultation. However, there are three very large areas near the boundary which are being considered further, again likely to put more indirect pressure on the wildlife and habitats of Earlswood:

Lastly, the Tanworth Neighbourhood Development Plan allocated the field along Earlswood Common by the nursery as a site for a small-scale housing scheme, and a planning application for 11 houses was submitted this winter. I put in an objection due to the lack of consultation with Natural England despite the site's location close to the River Blythe SSSI, potential impacts on the SSSI meadow which has held Common Snipe numbers of county importance and attracted other notable bird species, and the loss of semi-improved grassland and mature hedgerow used by amber- and red-listed bird species, when there are numerous other fields nearby with less wildlife interest. The application is still pending consideration.

More threat of development in and around Earlswood

My last post on here was about a threat of development in the Solihull Borough part of Earlswood, and unfortunately this one will have the same theme as it appears that the Stratford District part of Earlswood now faces a similar risk. Stratford and Warwick District Councils are working together to produce a new South Warwickshire Local Plan to cover their combined geographic area. This plan will determine where, when and how housing and other development will occur up to the year 2050. It is at an early stage and currently a consultation is being undertaken on a number of options including the creation of new settlements and expansion of existing settlements.

Some of these options will affect the Earlswood area if taken forward. In recent weeks, since the consultation started, there has been much discussion on social media regarding Wood End being considered in the Local Plan as a possible site for a new settlement. The indirect effects of this are obvious for those of us who've witnessed changes in the local area since the Dickens Heath, Tidbury Green, etc developments over the last few decades.

There has been a "call for sites" that has resulted in several areas of land within the Earlswood area itself being put forward, mainly by developers. There is also a second "call for sites" currently underway alongside the consultation. These sites have yet to be assessed by the local authority for suitability for inclusion in the Local Plan as development locations, so are less concerning at this stage, despite covering a very large portion of Earlswood. For the latest details on these sites, see this page on the Local Plan website.

Call for sites up to early February.

More concerning is another option being considered for development around the edges of existing settlements (Issues S4 and S7 in Chapter 4), as the list of such settlements includes Earlswood. There are 22 "Small Settlement Locations", of which Earlswood is one, that have had analyses done "for intermediate scale, chiefly residential, development for between 50-500 homes in any one location". The analyses for Earlswood are in Appendix 2 of the South Warwickshire Settlement Analysis. Delving further into this, in the Technical Evidence documents, it appears that land at Earlswood under consideration in this option is a sizeable area to the east of Shutt Lane and Earlswood Common, which includes the National Trust's Old Moathouse Farm estate and Earlswood Moathouse Nature Reserve. The kind ladies who gifted their land to the National Trust for preservation as a "bird sanctuary" would be turning in their graves! The land to the east of Earlswood Common is known to have a population of Great Crested Newts.

"Small Settlement Location" at Earlswood

There is also mention of "M42 Widening – land either side of Junction 3a to help reduce congestion where the M40 joins the M42". There are ancient woodlands that adjoin the motorways there.

The consultation can be viewed at https://www.southwarwickshire.org.uk/swlp/issuesandoptions. If you have any comments to make on it, be sure to send them in before the deadline of March 6th!

Property developers seeking to build at Fulford Heath

Property developers are currently trying to get the Fulford Heath area of Earlswood included in the Solihull Local Plan as an area designated for future development, which would then make it easier for them to get planning permission. The draft plan is due to be independently examined by planning inspectors from September 27th, and there is a possibility of the land being added to the plan if the inspectors agree with other local authorities that the plan is short of a few thousand homes for house-building requirements.

The developers are seeking to change everything, even the placename as they're promoting it as "Fulford Green"! More houses would put more pressure on the lakes, woods and local wildlife in general. This is something to keep a watchful eye on...

Further info at:

https://summix.com/projects/land-at-fulford-hall-farm/?fbclid=IwAR1bnPZ2Wt8lqPVB2_LtCEpKOW8czCJQwUJfMjO1bBWD3Rm60WePh0b57Yg

https://ldn-collective.com/insights/fulford-green-a-21st-century-garden-village

https://cllrkenhawkins.co.uk/2021/08/06/land-at-fulford-hall-farm-promoted-as-fulford-green/ 

A facebook group for discussing the Fulford Heath development has been set up at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/368528731424491

Earlswood all-dayer - Spring 2021

Well, with the easing of COVID restrictions, this year's Earlswood spring all-day birdwatch went ahead, which was a massive relief after we weren't able to do one last spring due to the first lockdown. The all-dayer took place last Saturday (May 1st), and I'm very pleased to say that we set a new record for the highest number of bird species found during a single day at Earlswood, with a total of 78 bird species found by the team! A fantastic result, and following our highest ever autumn total on patch last year! Our previous highest total ever was 77 species during the all-dayer in spring 2016.

Species totals for previous spring all-dayers have been as follows:

2019 - 64 spp

2018 - 64 spp

2017 - 65 spp

2016 - 77 spp

2015 - 65 spp

Like the autumn all-dayer last year, a large proportion of Earlswood's birders took part. Also, at the lakes, the habitat is excellent at the moment with a lot of exposed shore at all three pools (including Terry's Pool for the first time in living memory), plus there are some path and road closures which appear to have reduced human visitor numbers in general to the area, coupled with the easing of national travel restrictions allowing people to go elsewhere, encouraging birds like waders to stick around. I think these are the main reasons why we got such a brilliant result, despite there being limited signs of bird migration!

The star birds on the day were two long-stayers, both of which had been present for some days: a female Ring Ouzel at Manor Farm and a Greenshank at Engine Pool. Other highlights included a very late flock of 27 Fieldfare at Springbrook Farm, a female Wheatear at Engine Pool, up to 6 Yellow Wagtail at Windmill Pool, and a Hobby over Earlswood Common. Probably for the first time ever on a spring all-dayer, we didn't record Mute Swan as the local pair are nesting outside the patch area. Another miss was Sedge Warbler, one of which had been at Spring Brook Scrubland for some days prior.

A great effort by the team, which comprised John Bishop, Jon Chidwick, Brian Earl, myself, Ash Grove, Yvonne Heward, Bill Ingham, Janet James, Mike Jeeves, Pete Morgan, John Oates, Joe Owen, Tony Philp, John Sirrett and Jim Winsper - thanks to all for their participation in the field. Further thanks to John Sirrett for collating the species list on the day. The full list was as follows:

1. Black-headed Gull
2. Blackbird
3. Blackcap
4. Blue Tit
5. Bullfinch
6. Buzzard
7. Canada Goose
8. Carrion Crow
9. Chaffinch
10. Chiffchaff
11. Coal Tit
12. Collared Dove
13. Common Sandpiper
14. Common Tern
15. Common Whitethroat
16. Coot
17. Cormorant
18. Cuckoo
19. Dunnock
20. Feral Pigeon
21. Fieldfare
22. Garden Warbler
23. Goldcrest
24. Goldfinch
25. Great Crested Grebe
26. Great Spotted Woodpecker
27. Great Tit
28. Green Woodpecker
29. Greenfinch
30. Greenshank
31. Grey Heron
32. Grey Wagtail
33. Greylag Goose
34. Herring Gull
35. Hobby
36. House Martin
37. House Sparrow
38. Jackdaw
39. Jay
40. Kestrel
41. Kingfisher
42. Lapwing
43. Lesser Black-backed Gull
44. Lesser Redpoll
45. Lesser Whitethroat
46. Linnet
47. Little Egret
48. Little Ringed Plover
49. Long-tailed Tit
50. Magpie
51. Mallard
52. Marsh Tit
53. Mistle Thrush
54. Moorhen
55. Nuthatch
56. Oystercatcher
57. Pheasant
58. Pied Wagtail
59. Raven
60. Reed Bunting
61. Ring Ouzel
62. Robin
63. Rook
64. Sand Martin
65. Skylark
66. Song Thrush
67. Sparrowhawk
68. Starling
69. Stock Dove
70. Swallow
71. Tawny Owl
72. Treecreeper
73. Tufted Duck
74. Wheatear
75. Willow Warbler
76. Woodpigeon
77. Wren
78. Yellow Wagtail

Greenshank, Black-headed Gull and Tufted Ducks at Engine Pool, 01/05/2021 (Brian Earl)

Within the West Midlands as a whole, a total of 33 sites participated in the all-dayer on the same day. Earlswood fared quite well again! Well done to all who took part, and thanks to Phil Andrews who has once again collated the following results:

103 - Branston GP

103 - Ladywalk

101 - Middleton Lakes

  97 - Grimley

  93 - Belvide

  91 - Upton Warren

  91 - Chasewater

  84 - Marsh Lane

  83 - Dairy Farm

  81 - Sandwell Valley

  81 - Venus Pool

  78 - Earlswood

  76 - Coney Meadows

  76 - Doxey Marshes

  75 - Alvecote

  75 - Whitemoor Haye

  75 - Stoke patches

  74 - Coombe CP

  73 - Highgate Common

  73 - Sutton Park

  69 - Coventry patches

  67 - Morton Bagot

  67 - Puxton Marsh

  67 - Salford Priors GP

  63 - Wyre Forest

  63 - Northwick

  62 - Smestow Valley

  62 - Edgbaston Reservoir

  60 - Halesowen patches

  57 - Little Aston

  54 - Avon Meadows

  50 - Babbs Mill

  48 - Kings Norton

Further details for each patch may be posted later on.

Matt

Earlswood all-dayer - Autumn 2020

This year's Earlswood autumn all-day birdwatch took place on Saturday 5th September, and it was a day to remember with a total of 71 bird species found by the team - our highest ever autumn total on patch! Previous autumn species totals have been 63 in 2019, 69 in 2018, 63 in 2017, 57 in 2016 and 56 in 2015. It was also our second highest all-dayer total ever, the spring 2016 all-dayer total of 77 species remaining Team Earlswood's best.

Everyone enjoyed it and I thoroughly did, I think particularly as we weren't able to do an all-dayer in the spring this year due to the COVID-19 restrictions. I put in about 9.5 hours of effort and some of the other team members put in several hours each too, this along with the slightly higher than usual number of participants contributed to our excellent result. Water levels at the lakes were falling but weren't particularly low on the day, with only small amounts of shoreline, and despite the pleasant weather there was still small amounts of bird movement evident.

Personal highlights for me included finding a female Redstart along Springbrook Lane, the first Meadow Pipits (5) of the autumn over Manor Farm and a Green Sandpiper flying over the lakes. I also saw a Teal on Engine Pool and a late Common Whitethroat in Spring Brook Scrubland. A Spotted Flycatcher at Springbrook Lane found by John Oates, a Peregrine over Windmill Pool seen by Joe Owen, and a couple of sightings of Yellow Wagtail (firstly by Ashley Grove) were amongst the other birds of note seen over the course of the day. Ashley also had a possible Arctic/Yellow-browed Warbler along Gypsy Lane but didn't get enough on it and it wasn't seen again unfortunately! Our most surprising omissions were Mistle Thrush and Kingfisher. Nevertheless, a great effort by the team!

Many thanks to Jon Chidwick, Ashley Grove, Yvonne Heward, Harry Hopkins, Janet James, Mike Jeeves, Peter Morgan, John Oates, Joe Owen, Tony and Barbara Philp, and John Sirrett for their participation in the field, and extra thanks to John Sirrett for collating the species recorded during the day. The full list was as follows:

1. Black-headed Gull
2. Blackbird
3. Blackcap
4. Blue Tit
5. Bullfinch
6. Buzzard
7. Canada Goose
8. Carrion Crow
9. Chaffinch
10. Chiffchaff
11. Coal Tit
12. Collared Dove
13. Common Tern
14. Coot
15. Cormorant
16. Dunnock
17. Feral Pigeon
18. Goldcrest
19. Goldfinch
20. Great Crested Grebe
21. Great Spotted Woodpecker
22. Great Tit
23. Green Sandpiper
24. Green Woodpecker
25. Greenfinch
26. Grey Heron
27. Grey Wagtail
28. Greylag Goose
29. Herring Gull
30. Hobby
31. House Martin
32. House Sparrow
33. Jackdaw
34. Jay
35. Kestrel
36. Lesser Black-backed Gull
37. Linnet
38. Long-tailed Tit
39. Magpie
40. Mallard
41. Marsh Tit
42. Meadow Pipit
43. Moorhen
44. Mute Swan
45. Nuthatch
46. Peregrine
47. Pheasant
48. Pied Wagtail
49. Raven
50. Redstart
51. Reed Bunting
52. Robin
53. Rook
54. Sand Martin
55. Siskin
56. Song Thrush
57. Sparrowhawk
58. Spotted Flycatcher
59. Starling
60. Stock Dove
61. Swallow
62. Swift
63. Tawny Owl
64. Teal
65. Treecreeper
66. Tufted Duck
67. Whitethroat
68. Willow Warbler
69. Woodpigeon
70. Wren
71. Yellow Wagtail

Within the West Midlands as a whole, a record-breaking 32 sites participated in the all-dayer on the same day, producing another record of 140 bird species observed. Earlswood fared quite well, finishing on a higher or equal total compared with other patches that normally score higher than us, and probably coming as close to Upton Warren's total as we ever will! :D

Well done to all who took part, and thanks to Phil Andrews who has once again collated the following results:

104 - Belvide

  96 - Branston GPs

  94 - Ladywalk

  90 - Grimley

  90 - Middleton Lakes

  89 - Venus Pool

  85 - Chelmarsh

  85 - Sandwell Valley

  82 - Bittell

  82 - Chasewater

  79 - Salford Priors GPs

  76 - Alvecote Pools

  73 - Upton Warren

  71 - Dairy Farm

  71 - Earlswood

  71 - Marsh Lane

  70 - Coney Meadows

  70 - Whitemoor Haye

  69 - Doxey Marshes

  68 - Sutton Park

  63 - Draycote

  63 - Morton Bagot

  63 - Stoke patches

  60 - South Coventry

  58 - Highgate Common etc

  54 - Avon Meadows

  54 - Blithfield

  53 - Edgbaston Reservoir

  51 - Sheepwash

  49 - Plantsbrook etc

  46 - Little Aston SWT

  46 - Halesowen (2)

  42 - Halesowen (1)

Further details for each patch have been posted by Phil here.

Fingers very much crossed that the spring all-dayer next year will be able to go ahead...

Matt

Advice on Earlswood birding during the COVID-19 lock-down

Posted 24/03/2020
Updated 26/03/2020
Updated 18/04/2020

New guidance issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council has been posted on the facebook page of Alcester Police, regarding travel for exercise. They say:

"The NPCC guidance below sets out a range of 'likely' and 'unlikely' reasonable excuses. It is worth reading the statement on the first image to get a better understanding of how the excuses are to be interpreted."

All three pages of guidance as follows, but those relevant to exercise/birding are on the first two:

Much of the below is still applicable though, particularly in terms of risk of coming into contact with infected people at the lakes and woods during nice weather, and the need to suppress rare/scarce bird news to discourage twitches/gatherings.

Birders should not be driving to Earlswood to exercise during the lock-down since this involves non-essential travel. The following is addressed to birders who live within walking distance of the areas of Earlswood they can legally exercise at.

Hi folks,

In light of the nationwide coronavirus (COVID-19) lock-down announced yesterday evening, please follow government guidance first and foremost when going about local birding. The government are still permitting people to leave their home for "one form of exercise a day" (including walking) alone or with members of their household, exercise starting and finishing from their home.

A number of Earlswood birders live within the patch recording area and will still be birding from their gardens or whilst out exercising during this time. Recognising this, and following some discussion between local birders regarding patch bird news dissemination over the course of this pandemic, we would like to recommend the following:

• If you wish to post updates and photos about Earlswood birds publicly on social media, please do so only for regular bird species and only after nightfall. Regular birds are residents and annually-occurring visiting species which are unlikely to cause a twitch or other gathering of birders. These reports and photos provide interest and pleasure to those of us who are no longer able to visit the patch, and help us to keep in touch and feel less isolated. Posting after nightfall will help to reduce the likelihood of birders acting upon instant news.
• Please do not share news or photos for rare/scarce bird species at Earlswood publicly on social media, until the lock-down is officially over. Rare/scarce birds are any species which do not occur every year, or which are annual but infrequent or particularly popular with observers, and can hang around, i.e. twitchable, such as Black Tern.
• Exceptions to this might be posting news/photos of untwitchable rare/scarce birds, such as those flying over or in nocmig recordings on patch, on social media. For example, a repeat of the 2 White Storks that flew over last year.

The key point here is to use some common sense and consider the consequences of putting news out, to prevent non-essential travel and potential gatherings. If in doubt, please drop me an email or DM.

Since the start of the lock-down, there have been reports of angling, picnicking and large numbers of walkers around the lakes still during the nice weather. Therefore, exercising at the lakes (and probably the woods) has a higher risk for coming into contact with infected people than other accessible areas. 

Anyone exercising at the lakes or woods should also consider the following:

• In places around the lakes and woods, it will not be possible for people to pass each other at a safe 2-metre distance apart, due to some paths being narrow and/or very muddy.
• The wooden fishing platforms around Engine Pool are potentially useful for avoiding close contact with other people, but some of them are rotting in places and potentially unsafe to walk on.

These recommendations are open to further discussion and amendment. The situation in terms of birders using Earlswood during the lock-down will be monitored, in case there is a need for full news blackout.

Wishing everyone to stay safe and well.

Matt

Earlswood all-dayer - Autumn 2019

The Earlswood autumn all-day birdwatch took place earlier this month, on Saturday 7th, and the team recorded a total of 63 bird species over the course of the day. This was our joint-second highest autumn total, last year's result (when the habitat at the lakes and especially Engine Pool was excellent) being the highest to-date. Previous autumn species totals have been 69 in 2018, 63 in 2017, 57 in 2016 and 56 in 2015.

Despite the fairly high water levels and scarcity of terns at the lakes so far this year, we noted Oystercatcher, Green Sandpiper and Common Tern, which were amongst the most notable species found, along with a fly-over Yellow Wagtail. Also, 13 Shoveler at Engine Pool was a high count for the patch, the most I'd personally seen at the lakes since 13 way back in 2008! A new element of the all-dayer this time was the use of a nocmig recorder by John Oates to detect birds calling as they fly over the area, which might otherwise be missed by observers, particularly at night-time; this picked up Tawny Owl, which was also reported by Yvonne in the evening, but still it was worth a try and will hopefully be used in future all-dayers!

There were a few species which were likely around the patch but missed, including Pheasant, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Skylark, Mistle Thrush, Linnet and Reed Bunting. Unfortunately I had to throw in the towel mid-afternoon, as I got a bad headache; otherwise I'm sure the list would've gone up by a couple at least. ;)

Many thanks to Jon Chidwick, Yvonne Heward, Janet James, Mike Jeeves, John Oates, Tony and Barbara Philp, Jenny Renowden, John Sirrett and Jim Winsper for participating. Many thanks to John Sirrett also for collating the species recorded during the day, the full list was as follows:

1. Mute Swan
2. Greylag Goose
3. Canada Goose
4. Teal
5. Mallard
6. Shoveler
7. Tufted Duck
8. Little Grebe
9. Great Crested Grebe
10. Cormorant
11. Grey Heron
12. Sparrowhawk
13. Buzzard
14. Moorhen
15. Coot
16. Oystercatcher
17. Green Sandpiper
18. Black-headed Gull
19. Lesser Black-backed Gull
20. Herring Gull
21. Common Tern
22. Feral Pigeon
23. Stock Dove
24. Woodpigeon
25. Collared Dove
26. Tawny Owl
27. Swift
28. Green Woodpecker
29. Great Spotted Woodpecker
30. Sand Martin
31. Swallow
32. House Martin
33. Meadow Pipit
34. Yellow Wagtail
35. Grey Wagtail
36. Pied Watail
37. Wren
38. Dunnock
39. Robin
40. Blackbird
41. Song Thrush
42. Blackcap
43. Chiffchaff
44. Willow Warbler
45. Goldcrest
46. Long-tailed Tit
47. Blue Tit
48. Great Tit
49. Coal Tit
50. Marsh Tit
51. Nuthatch
52. Treecreeper
53. Jay
54. Magpie
55. Jackdaw
56. Carrion Crow
57. Raven
58. Starling
59. House Sparrow
60. Chaffinch
61. Greenfinch
62. Goldfinch
63. Bullfinch

It was very nice to have a few drinks with John Sirrett, Jim Winsper and Mike Inskip in the Red Lion at midday, and I think we should make a pub meet a regular part of future all-dayers! :)

Within the West Midlands as a whole, a record-breaking 24 sites participated in the all-dayer on the same day, but Earlswood didn't fare so well from this perspective. Some of the patches are smaller than ours, and I can't help wondering how much better our total might be if our bits of farmland were better for wildlife (no Yellowhammer records so far this year!). Still, as they say, it's the taking part that counts! Well done to all who took part, and thanks to Phil Andrews who has collated the following results:

100 - Belvide Reservoir

  99 - Middleton Lakes

  95 - Branston GP

  92 - Ladywalk

  92 - Grimley

  88 - Sandwell Valley

  84 - Upton Warren

  81 - Chasewater

  77 - Bittell Reservoirs

  74 - Brandon Marsh

  74 - Dairy Farm NR

  73 - Marsh Lane

  72 - Venus Pool

  70 - Salford Priors GP

  69 - Alvecote Pools

  69 - Sutton Park

  66 - Doxey Marsh

  65 - Elmdon Park

  64 - Shustoke Reservoir

  64 - Morton Bagot

  63 - Earlswood

  63 - Whitemoor Haye

  60 - Saltwells / Fens Pool

  55 - Draycote Water

Till next year...

Earlswood all-dayer - Spring 2019

A total of 64 bird species were recorded at Earlswood during the West Midlands spring all-day birdwatch yesterday. When putting this into context with our previous spring all-dayer totals, it's interesting to note that, with one exception, we seem to have a tendency to record a very similar number of 64-65 species each year! Previous totals as follows:
2018 - 64 spp.
2017 - 65 spp.
2016 - 77 spp.
2015 - 65 spp.

The weather conditions yesterday weren't great for migration at this time of year really, with a cool northerly wind, and apart from good numbers of hirundines at the lakes there appeared to be few other new arrivals. The most notable birds reported were Lesser Whitethroat, Cuckoo, Raven, Skylark and Common Sandpiper. All of the resident species were recorded, but amongst the visitors that weren't, Common Tern was the most surprising. The full bird list in alphabetical order was as follows:

1. Black-headed Gull
2. Blackbird
3. Blackcap
4. Blue Tit
5. Bullfinch
6. Buzzard
7. Canada Goose
8. Carrion Crow
9. Chaffinch
10. Chiffchaff
11. Coal Tit
12. Collared Dove
13. Common Sandpiper
14. Coot
15. Cuckoo
16. Dunnock
17. Feral Pigeon
18. Goldcrest
19. Goldfinch
20. Great Crested Grebe
21. Great Spotted Woodpecker
22. Great Tit
23. Green Woodpecker
24. Greenfinch
25. Grey Heron
26. Grey Wagtail
27. Greylag Goose
28. Herring Gull
29. House Martin
30. House Sparrow
31. Jackdaw
32. Jay
33. Kestrel
34. Lesser Black-backed Gull
35. Lesser Whitethroat
36. Linnet
37. Long-tailed Tit
38. Magpie
39. Mallard
40. Marsh Tit
41. Mistle Thrush
42. Moorhen
43. Mute Swan
44. Nuthatch
45. Pheasant
46. Pied Wagtail
47. Raven
48. Reed Bunting
49. Robin
50. Sand Martin
51. Skylark
52. Song Thrush
53. Sparrowhawk
54. Starling
55. Stock Dove
56. Swallow
57. Swift
58. Tawny Owl
59. Treecreeper
60. Tufted Duck
61. Whitethroat
62. Willow Warbler
63. Woodpigeon
64. Wren

Three of the team including myself went for drinks at the Red Lion, and I wonder if others might be interested in doing this at a local pub in future all-dayers? For me as a lightweight, a couple of pints meant that birding for a couple of hours afterwards was, erm, interesting but at least now I know Rosie's Pig and Doom Bar taste good! 😁 Here's a few members of Team Earlswood at the causeway!

Left to right: John B, Janet, Jim, John S, Jon C

Earlswood came 15th out of a record total of 23 sites across the midlands that participated, which was pretty good considering most of the patches with better scores are managed nature reserves or gravel pits. Sites and species totals for the day as follows:
  1. Ladywalk - 102
  2. Middleton Lakes - 97
  3. Branston GP - 91
  4. Brandon Marsh - 90
=5. Belvide - 89
=5. Grimley - 89
=7. Upton Warren - 84
=7. Chasewater - 84
=7. Salford Priors GP - 84
=7. Sandwell Valley - 84
 11. Marsh Lane - 82
 12. Doxey Marsh - 70
 13. Venus Pool - 69
 14. Dairy Farm NR - 65
 15. Earlswood - 64
 16. Morton Bagot - 63
 17. Elmdon Park - 60
 18. Avon Meadows - 58
 19. Halesowen patches - 57
 20. Edgbaston Res - 55
 21. Sutton Park - 51
 22. Fens Pool / Saltwells - 50
 23. Trittiford - 47

My thanks to John Sirrett for collating the bird species reported at Earlswood over the course of the day, to Phil Andrews for collating the site totals for the all-dayer overall, and to the following 11 birders who made up the rest of Team Earlswood this spring: John Bishop, Jon Chidwick, Barry Durman, Paul Fitzgerald, Yvonne Heward, Janet James, Mike Jeeves, John Oates, Joe Owen, John Sirrett and Jim Winsper. The next all-dayer in the autumn will probably be in early September.

Earlswood all-dayer - New Year's Day 2019

For the first time ever, some midlands patches including Earlswood competed in a winter all-day birdwatch on New Year's Day this year, like those we've been doing each spring and autumn in recent years. The results with species totals were as follows:

1. Belvide - 77
2. Middleton Lakes - 76
3. Sandwell Valley - 74
4. Upton Warren - 70
5. Doxey Marshes - 66
6. Whitemoor Haye - 61
7. Morton Bagot - 58
8. Earlswood - 56

So we came last, but with a superb adult male Common Scoter being found at Engine Pool, who can complain?! A great start for hopefully another productive year. Earlswood day list with initials for single-observer records and scoter as follows:

1. Mute Swan
2. Greylag Goose
3. Canada Goose
4. Mallard
5. Shoveler
6. Tufted Duck
7. Common Scoter (JM et al.)
8. Goldeneye (JJ)
9. Goosander
10. Little Grebe (JK)
11. Great Crested Grebe
12. Cormorant
13. Grey Heron
14. Sparrowhawk (JOw)
15. Kestrel (JD)
16. Moorhen
17. Coot
18. Golden Plover (JHS)
19. Common Snipe (TRP)
20. Black-headed Gull
21. Lesser Black-backed Gull
22. Herring Gull
23. Feral Pigeon (TRP)
24. Stock Dove (MPG)
25. Woodpigeon
26. Collared Dove
27. Tawny Owl (MPG)
28. Green Woodpecker (JJ)
29. Great Spotted Woodpecker
30. Grey Wagtail
31. Pied Wagtail
32. Wren
33. Dunnock
34. Robin
35. Blackbird
36. Fieldfare
37. Redwing
38. Song Thrush
39. Mistle Thrush (JJ)
40. Long-tailed Tit
41. Blue Tit
42. Great Tit
43. Coal Tit
44. Marsh Tit
45. Nuthatch
46. Treecreeper
47. Jay
48. Magpie
49. Jackdaw
50. Carrion Crow
51. Raven
52. Starling
53. House Sparrow
54. Chaffinch
55. Goldfinch 
56. Bullfinch (JJ)

Thanks to John Bishop, Jon Chidwick, Judy Donath, Harry Hopkins, Janet James, James Kenny, Joe Martin, Joe Owen, John Sirrett, Rob Strong, Tony and Barbara Philp for their reports and/or offering to fill in gaps in the list. Rematch in the spring!

Proposal to close Braggs Farm Lane to traffic

Solihull council have proposed to close Braggs Farm Lane to traffic by installing a gate in the middle of its length. Further info is in the screenshots below, kindly forwarded to me by John Sirrett.

I must admit I rarely drive along the road, and the reduced number of vehicles using it could benefit wildlife and make it more pleasant to walk along. However, in case any readers were unaware of this proposal and would like to comment to the council about it, I thought I'd post the information here. Consultation ends on Friday this week.