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!