30th April 2009

100th post, apparently!
Cycled to Earlswood during the early afternoon. From the causeway, I saw up to 13 Common Terns and 5 Swifts at a time, as well as 2 Grey Wagtails; however, without doubt the best bird that I saw there was a Yellow Wagtail! It landed on one of the wooden rails along the causeway, before dropping down on to the road but was quickly scared off by a vehicle (grr!), flew off over Windmill Pool and left the lakes, heading southeast - an Earlswood tick for me, but would've been nice to have seen it at rest for more than 30 seconds. Also seen were a Canada Goose pair with 5 goslings at Terry's Pool, and 1+ Common Whitethroat and 2 Reed Buntings at the scrubland south of Windmill Pool.
M.P. Griffiths

P.S. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening cycling along roads near Earlswood. In the Box Trees area, I saw 2 Red-legged Partridges (lifer!) and 3+ Skylarks. At Blythe Valley Park, I saw a Kestrel and 2 Reed Buntings, and heard a Cuckoo and a warbler (Sedge/Reed, in a reedbed).
Once again, I had bad luck cycling home - it was dark and I was in a hurry to get home because my bike has no lights, and I had a bit of an accident. Basically my one leg is a little painful to walk on now, so I probably won't be visiting Earlswood during the next few days at least (unless of course there is a report of a bird there that I've just gotta see). Still, at least the bike seems okay ;-)

28th April 2009

An afternoon visit produced 8 Common Terns, 30+ Swallows and 6 Mallard broods at the lakes. Saw a Kestrel hovering over fields southeast of Terry's Pool. At the scrubland south of Windmill Pool, I saw a Common Whitethroat and a possible Garden Warbler, as well as a Swift over Earlswood Common gardens heading towards the lakes.
Rain, hail, thunder and lightning forced me to leave, and I got soaked to the skin cycling home.
M.P. Griffiths

27th April 2009

I was at the lakes for a short time during the early afternoon, and from the causeway (which I didn't venture from) I saw 12 Common Terns, 2 Swifts (my first this year), 1 Common Sandpiper and 1 Kingfisher.
M.P. Griffiths

26th April 2009

Cycled to Earlswood during the late afternoon, and met one of the regulars who said he'd had 2 Cuckoos (scrubland south of Windmill Pool and over Terry's Pool), a Swift, and a Common Sandpiper (Terry's Pool) earlier on.
I had 8 Common Terns, 12+ Swallows and 2 House Martins at the lakes, with a Kingfisher seen flying over Windmill Pool and 1 (or 2) Common Sandpiper at Terry's Pool on the islands.
M.P. Griffiths

25th April 2009

During the morning, John Yardley had 5 Common Terns and 1 Common Sandpiper at Windmill Pool.

Later, 2 Swifts were reported on Worcester Birding (per John Yardley).

24th April 2009

Spent most of the morning at the lakes, though I also had 1 Skylark, 4 Lapwings and 5 Stock Doves at the field around the Hungry Horse. Up to 7 terns at a time were seen at the lakes, though of these I only managed to positively ID 5+ Common Terns. Of these, one had a shorter, darker beak than the other bird it was associating with, which made me wonder if it was an Arctic, but all of its other features indicated that it was a Common - I wonder though if someone without a scope would've identified it as an Arctic, especially as the leg length of these birds seem to vary depending on their posture (at least that's what I find). There were also 2 Common Sandpipers and a female Mallard with a brood of 11 at Windmill Pool.
M.P. Griffiths

23rd April 2009

John Yardley went around the lakes this evening until just before dark, and at Windmill Pool saw 3 Common Terns, as well as 1 Common Sandpiper on boards by the sailing club; and a second flew up from the back of Terry's Pool. Not much else apart from the usual birds.

22nd April 2009

B90 reported seeing 2 Arctic Terns and 2 Common Terns at Windmill Pool during the morning.

On the way back from an outing, I had an opportunity to do a few minutes birdwatching at the Hungry Horse car park during the early afternoon and was pleased to see 8 Linnets there. Later, I cycled back to Earlswood, hoping to hear a Cuckoo along Wood Lane but didn't despite going along that road twice. There were no terns about when I reached Windmill Pool at c. 4:50 pm. The most notable sightings were 3 Grey Herons, and along the north side of Terry's Pool a Mallard pair with 15 ducklings (saw a female with 16 on the 19th though).
M.P. Griffiths

21st April 2009

Had a pretty good time at Earlswood again during the afternoon. At Windmill Pool, I saw 5 definite Common Terns and 1 Common Sandpiper (over water). At Terry's Pool, the 2 Mute Swans were still present; and along the northernmost side I saw what must've been a Grass Snake (didn't see its upper half though) and possibly heard a distant Cuckoo in the direction of Wood Lane. At the scrubland south of Windmill Pool, saw 1 singing Common Whitethroat. Up to 8 Swallows were counted over the lakes at a time whilst I was there. At c. 6:20 pm, 4 House Martins and 2 Sand Martins arrived, but didn't stay long. Going along Wood Lane on my way home, I saw a Muntjac Deer in a field at the edge of New Fallings Coppice at c. 7:00 pm.
M.P. Griffiths

19th April 2009

Still tired from all my recent birding activities, I needed to go to the lakes today regardless because it was a WeBS "priority date". Terry's Pool was quiet, but at Engine Pool I saw 2 newly arrived Mute Swans (the other 2 must've been hiding or gone), 2 Greylag Geese and 5 terns fly over very briefly. An experienced birder I met at the causeway thought they were all Common Terns, as did I (I assume he'd been watching them for longer than me). At Windmill Pool, saw 4 terns on the buoys, but seeing the sailing boat club gates open and people there, I was anxious to finish the pool's counts before the boats were put out; I was really pleased to locate a summer-plumaged Little Grebe amongst the vegetation along the west side (perhaps only the second record of this species at the lakes this year). With the counts over, I passed Terry's Pool on the way home and saw that the male Pochard was there (damn boats!).

I'm getting to really dislike fishermen. I've seen piles of litter left by them, and fishing line on the ground and dangling from trees on numerous occasions. You might remember I once found a Wren dangling from a twig via fishing line, but I don't think I've mentioned that I've also seen a swimming duck (rather than a fish) get caught at the end of a fisherman's line, and a gull and a Woodpigeon in flight with fishing line trailing behind them. Also, some fishermen leave their gear on the path, which is particularly annoying if I'm pushing my bike, and most seem to ignore anyone at the lakes who isn't fishing. I once had a fisherman who back casted as I was cycling behind him along the road and obviously hadn't checked for people beforehand, though luckily for me the hook missed me by a few metres. Anyway, this morning as I was trying to count the waterbirds at Engine Pool, I heard a loud, obviously man-made "koh" behind me and turned around to see a bunch of chav "fishermen" walking passed, grinning. One of them mockingly said something about "a fine specimen", causing the others to laugh. I felt like telling the mindless yob that "specimen" is not a birding term, and to go back to McDonald's, but I said nothing. Hopefully he caught the turtle and got a finger bitten off!!! I can't stand people who spoil other people's enjoyment, and thought it was bad enough birding along roads with the idiot drivers who sound their horn just as they pass.

Apologies for the lateness of this post, and the posts for the 16th, 17th and 18th. Lately, I've been feeling pretty drained and haven't been at my computer much.

M.P. Griffiths