50 Fieldfare flew west over Dovestones Reservoir this afternoon before heading north over Yeoman Hey Reservoir 5 Red-Legged Partridge around Yeoman Hey Reservoir
Very enjoyable, if very wet, day spent around here today. Didn't head up Chew Valley path today, so Binn Green (which was almost silent, just a couple of coal tit here), Yeoman Hey, Ashway Gap, and various plantations through to the sailing club:
1 goldcrest 2 chiffchaff 2 blackcap 6+ spotted flycatcher (family group, adults carrying food) 3 treecreeper 4 nuthatch 2+ lesser redpoll 6+ siskin (others unidentified in mixed flock) 10+ swallow 7 pied wagtail 2 grey wagtail 1 dipper 1 jay 1 raven 1 or 2 grey heron 4 - 6 kestrel 1 peregrine (extremely briefly, sped through high as I was watching a kestrel) 1 buzzard
What was surely a sparrowhawk trying to take a woodpigeon at Binn Green, too.
There wasn't much obviously around but I managed 35 species. Highlights were a juvenile Cuckoo and Spotted Flycatcher. Of note were masses of fledged Meadow Pipits, I also had my best ever view of a Red Grouse which popped up about 10 feet from me, and rather than flying away stared back and then trotted off.
A very late Cuckoo calling from the bottom of Chew Valley path At least six Reed Bunting territories, with one male seen carrying food 4 Stonechat, a male and three youngsters 5 Golden Plover, showing well out on the moor Common Sandpiper on the reservoir 2 Grey Heron over 5 Lesser Redpoll 6 Goldfinch 3 Willow Warblers singing 1 Dipper 4 Pied Wagtails
Then back down, fighting my way through the crowds at Dovestone
1 Spotted Flycatcher 1 alarm calling Common Sandpiper 1 Grey Wagtail 6 Swallows, two parents feeding four fledglings on a wire
6 Curlew 1 Lesser Black-backed Gull on the shoreline, causing great alarm amongst the Curlew 4 Dunlin 2 Buzzards, towards Hoarstone Edge, and Blindstones Moss One pair of Common Sandpiper Pair of Pied Wagtail 2 Skylark singing Mallard with 8 ducklings 1 Kestrel
Long-tailed Tits, Nuthatch collecting food and a Grey Heron along the Brook from The Clarence to the turning to the cottages on Broadbent Lane.
3 Cuckoos in the sheep field by the cottages - all grey birds. Not sure if it was two males trying to court a female or a female trying to see off a courting pair. A male called and flew into one of the hawthorns near the lane as I turned onto it from the footpath by the cottages. While I was failing to digi-bin it a female's bubbling call came from the left, back towards the plantation and the bird flew off. Shortly afterwards a bird flew into a distant tree, there was more cuckoo-ing and bubbling then one bird followed another across to a stone wall where they were joined by the third bird. At that point two birds flew right to a dead tree where one perched normally, with the second bird behind it, facing the opposite way with wings drooped and tail cocked. As I was moving to try to get a better place for a photo the third bird again flew over and two of the birds disappeared behind the sycamores to the right of the track. The remaining bird eventually flew uphill to the southern end of the plantation and cuckoo-ed from there. I'm pretty sure that when the third bird first got involved I'd heard bubbling calls in the direction from which it came, which makes me think the two birds flying behind the sycamore were female.
Also along this stretch 2 male Pheasants, 4 juvenile Mistle Thrushes, a male Sparrowhawk and 9 Lapwings in the fields above Tanner's Business Centre.
Made my way through the obstacle course of the conifer plantation to check on the Bog Beacon. Good showing in its' primary location but only a few specimens in the second spot.
Juvenile Song Thrush in Chew Piece Plantation. Meadow Pipits, Chaffinches, Wood Pigeons, Great Tits and Blackbirds also seen. Several Willow Warblers and 1 ChiffChaff heard.
Followed the old railway bed up Chew Valley, crossing over to the road to head up to Chew Reservoir. 4 or 5 Red Grouse advised against this but I stuck to it and added a male Ring Ouzel, 2 Common Buzzards and a pair of Teal in the stream bed at the top, which probably explains the single duckling piping away several small waterfalls down stream.
The Teal relocated to the reservoir, joining 2 Canada Geese, 2 Curlews, another Cuckoo, male Grey and Pied Wagtails and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. A Golden Plover and a Wren were heard but not seen. On the way down the only bird of interest between the reservoir and Charnel Clough was a sun-bathing Red Grouse. Lower down the old paper dump had 15 Mallard (4 M 1F 10 ducklings) 10 Teal (1 M 1F 8 ducklings) 1 Magpie and 1 Willow Warbler. A male Cuckoo was still calling somewhere around the conifers as I headed back for the bus.
Yeah he was up here filming the breeding waders for Springwatch, with the wardens and site manager. I said hello briefly, but wasnât able to make it up top that day sadly.
I can confirm Chris Packham, roosted at the Old Bell Inn Delph fed by my daughter apparently travelling the length of the UK filming for some new nature programme. Good record!
I can confirm Chris Packham, roosted at the Old Bell Inn Delph fed by my daughter apparently travelling the length of the UK filming for some new nature programme. Good record!
Slightly bizarre day spent around here today; as some may have heard, unfortunately there was more arson here last night, and today, whilst I was looking around Chew Reservoir, someone (the same people?) decided to set fire to a section of the vegetation along the Chew Brook valley. Several engines, and the fire crews earning their corn (and then some), as they always do. Several RSPB volunteers in there with beaters, too; all credit there. One good thing, though, is that they were caught.
Apart from that, it was another fabulous day around here, with some great species seen. Binn Green still mostly inaccessible, with no access to Yeoman Hey from there (hence I didn't make it to that part of the site).
Binn Green (the little of it I got to see):
1 willow warbler 4+ coal tit 2+ lesser redpoll 1 or 2 great spotted woodpecker
1 willow warbler 3 stonechat 14 meadow pipit 2 skylark heard singing 1 raven 5 red grouse 1 teal (trying gamely to swim up the brook) 2 kestrel
Chew Reservoir:
4+ wheatear 22+ meadow pipit 2 ring ouzel (male giving prolonged view, second bird of unknown sex) 1 teal 71 Canada geese 2 or 3 golden plover (my first here) 2 common sandpiper 1 kestrel
Also whilst at Chew Reservoir, a little way off there was a group of RSPB volunteers and a few others with scopes and whatnot; being nosy, I tried to work out what they might be looking for, and one of the men with them was, I'm sure, Chris Packham. A bit too distant for a 100% ID (and it's rude to stare, especially with binoculars; some people don't like that), but looked like him. A definite patch tick if confirmation is forthcoming, that.
An eventful day, all in.
-- Edited by Shannon Llewellyn on Friday 20th of April 2018 10:39:25 PM
Quick bash 'round' the main reservoir today (couldn't do a lap of it as the path between it and Yeoman Hay is closed, as is Binn Green near the feeders, one of my favourite spots!). Among the usual Black-headed Gulls, Mallards and usual songbirds (lot of Robins out today singing) were:
Treecreeper- 1, in the woods by Ashway Gap
Goldcrest- c3, same place
Cormorant- 1, on one of the rafts on the reservoir
Oystercatcher- 1, flew off the reservoir into a field near the sailing club
No access to Binn Green or across the reservoirs at one point, so basically just walked along the paths on the west side of the reservoirs. Despite the dry, if sometime windy conditions, there was not much around, at all. Water levels on the reservoirs and in the overflow channels was high and there was a torrent of water coming down the hillsides at the usual points.
- 1 Common Gull on rafts on Dovestone Res - 100+ Black-headed Gull - c120 Mallard (20 on Dovestone and c100 at the top end of Yeoman-Hay) - 1 Pheasant calling - 1 Siskin calling - 2 Pied Wagtail
7 crossbills 3 male and 4 female in group of mixed finches approx. 14 including greenfinches and goldfinches. Saw twice once at 11.15 and again same group at 13.30
From the road down to reservoir in the larches in front of car park at Binn Green(which is closed to Public due work on Dam commencing this weeks for 3 months!)
Also saw two dark pheasant and a flock of 20+ Goldcrest and Merlin.
-- Edited by Terry Sykes on Monday 6th of November 2017 03:48:05 PM
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Monday 6th of November 2017 04:33:29 PM
Found the attached shot of a Jackdaw taken in the car park at Dovestones on Friday. I didn't notice it was missing a foot at the time. Thankfully it appeared to not be hindered by its disability.
-- Edited by Andrea Wilson on Sunday 5th of November 2017 09:24:41 PM
Thanks for the info and history Rob, there were definitely 2 or 3 individuals on Friday. I've also been told they are classed as a mechanistic mutant of the common pheasant.
Hi Andrea, that dark emerald Pheasant, assuming it's the same individual, has been here since at least November 2nd 2014 (Ref my post on this thread), or at least there was one of the same colour here on that day. You quite often get black ones, albino's, ones with white patches on (Leucistic tendencies?) and a few odd looking ones around Binn Green but it certainly doesn't look like a Mikado, that surely would've been a stunning dark royal blue colour for a start with different plumage markings. Hope this helps. Rob
-- Edited by Rob Creek on Sunday 5th of November 2017 07:34:33 AM
Day spent around here today, not a hugely productive, but a nice day. Lots of coal tits at Binn Green, but very few finches; a couple of goldcrest the pick of the rest.
A willow warbler calling from the copse on Chew Valley path, and a few active chiffchaff here too; a raven high over and a couple of calling red grouse also along the path.
No sign as of 5.00pm, but Adrian one of the RSPB volunteers had a good view from the Sailing Club car park and is pretty certain it was a Cattle Egret. It flew further up the farmers field with all the sheep.
Day spent around here today; pretty windy in the higher areas, meaning less about than normal, but still plenty to see:
Dovestone / Yeoman Hey and surrounds:
3 goldcrest heard singing 1 chiffchaff 15 willow warbler 1 treecreeper (gathering insects) 2 nuthatch 8 lesser redpoll Goldfinch, greenfinch, chaffinch 6+ swallow 10+ meadow pipit 7 pied wagtail 3 grey wagtail 1 dipper (with what looked more like nesting material than food in its beak) 2 song thrush 6 mistle thrush 1 jay Lots of mallard, including the first brood of the year I've seen; maybe 10 very young chicks. 2 black-headed gull 2 peregrine
Chew Valley path:
1 reed bunting 7 meadow pipit 3 grey wagtail 1 mallard with a single chick at the copse
Chew Reservoir:
12+ meadow pipit 6 red grouse 2 Canada geese 2 common sandpiper 2 curlew 1 peregrine
-- Edited by Shannon Llewellyn on Sunday 30th of April 2017 10:16:38 PM
Most of the day around here today; slightly truncated visit due to public transport inefficiencies / personal ineptitude, so no visit to the uppermost habitats (the best bits), ufortunately. Highlights:
Binn Green:
2 chiffchaff singing Lots of coal tit and chaffinch especially, good numbers of goldfinch and a couple of greenfinch. 2 lesser redpoll 8+ siskin 1 great spotted woodpecker heard drumming
no signs of any ring ouzel or wheatear that had been seen in the week. 2-3 dippers plenty of red grouse around 1 brief view of a crossbill, more heard in one of the plantations. lots of siskin around with several redpolls 2 stonechat 1 skylark plenty of meadow pipits around 1 kestrel 1 buzzard 1 sparrowhawk 1 raven 4 grey wagtail 5 pied wagtail 1 oystercatcher mistle thrush sat on nest 3 grey heron 2 golden plover up at chew reservoir plus all the usuals around.
A nice flock of around 10 Reed Bunting, mixed with a few Goldfinch and Greenfinch in the hawthorns at the back of the sailing club yesterday.
Other than that just the usual, no sign of the Pochard, must have been a fleeting visit.
Sun 29th Jan (09:45 - 12:00): Another nice day, with clearblue sky and warm sunshine - at least around the Binn Green area. This time the path alongside the reservoirs was open, despite it still being shooting season (until 1st Feb), however the lack of sightings of Pheasant and Partridge (other than the odd carcass) suggests that perhaps there is not much left to be shot at.
Binn Green - very busy with finches - 2 Mistle Thrush - 2+ Coal Tit - 12+ Siskin - 15+ Goldfinch - 6 Chaffinch - Great Spotted Woodpecker - Pheasant
Later 2 Buzzard to the north. 1 Peegrine on rock face high above Dovestones Res.
Not the best visit but still a beautiful location. A single heron and meadow pipit were the only birds of note. Mallard, black-headed gull and Canada goose were also present on Dovestone. Next time I'll try Binn Green and yeoman.
Binn Green today, approx 3:15-3:45pm
Brambling- 2m, 2f- lifer for me, made the decision to go despite the snow and ice worth while, even though I worried about getting my car out of the car park! As I was leaving someone was struggling to get their car up the hill at the bottom car park...
Mistle Thrush x2- feeding on berries on a bush in the top car park.
Treecreeper- round the feeders.
Other species seen:
Blue Tit
Chaffinch (at least one of each sex)
Coal Tit
Great Tit
Robin