Early morning visit with Steve Burke, Simon Gough and Chris Chandler.

Myself and Simon put our exceptional bird identification skills into action straight away.

- Iberian Chiffchaff
Well seeing as though this one is deemed to be the real thing then this one is the Lifer rather than last week's atypical Chiffchaff.
Bird was heard singing straight away and was notably different, being much quicker and almost warbling towards the end of the song. Quite elusive despite being vocal but it did stop in a few visible locations but only briefly.
It was noticeably a tad greener / yellower, the underparts were clean looking, the yellow on the supercilium was very obvious again, and it's bill was indeed quite fine, more obvious when singing.

Other birds of note...
- Chiffchaff at least 5 others seen
- Willow Warbler 2
- Blackcap 1 male
- Treecreeper 3
- Bullfinch 1 male
- Lesser Redpoll 4
- Nuthatch heard only
- Jay 2
- Song Thrush 1
- Common Buzzard 4 with 2 Sparrowhawk all circling
- Coal Tit 2
- lots of usuals



-- Edited by Rob Creek on Monday 18th of April 2016 12:12:13 PM

Doc Brewster wrote:

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Just a quick post to reiterate what has been said in another post, albeit not in the sightings section hence the duplication, just in case folk are looking here for news

Popped the short distance down to Donnington Wood on the outskirts of Telford today and on arrival I immediately heard the Iberian Chiffchaff that has been present here for a few days. Very quickly I located it flitting about feeding and singing in the trees not far from the road.........

The bird is at SJ716123, (or TF2 7NB), drive down Granville Road and there is a layby opposite the pond, walk in through the gate and the area around the wooden owl sculpture is where the bird was seen when I was there. 

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Similar experience to us yesterday Paul, we stopped the car on the road between the two kissing gates and with the window open we immediately heard the bird singing.  John being the driver also had a brief glimpse.  Talk about armchair birding eh 

With a free afternoon popped down the A49 for 30 miles to a place we have a permit for, Whixall Moss in North Shropshire. We normally head there for insects but a Spoonbill had been reported for a few days so we decided to go and have a look at that and do a bit of birding in the area.

On arrival we stopped in the layby on the approach road to Whixall Moss 'proper' and could see the Spoonbill was present, very distant and behind a tree/bush line left of the road on the floods that have now been purchased for conservation purposes The views were so bad we decided to walk along the canal towpath and over the bridge to view from the other side, closer and much better views as the bird mainly slept but occasionally preened and showed pretty well in the scope. From the canal towpath we saw the hybrid Blue-headed x Yellow Wagtail (nicknamed 'Channel' Wagtail), a smart looking bird but as a hybrid not tickable! Also in the same area were 3 White Wagtails, 3 Little Ringed Plovers and a Green Sandpiper. Not a bad little haul for this new wetland area.

A walk on Whixall Moss produced little other than lots of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, 2 pairs of Shovelers and a displaying Snipe.

At Dearnford Lake today,mid-day:

Great crested Grebe x1
Little Grebe x5
Mallard 20+
Tufted Duck 18
Shoveler x2 pairs
Coot
Moorhen x8
Canada Goose
Kestrel x1
Buzzard x1
Black headed Gull

Had an overnight stay in Bishops Castle and watched a Red Kite come in to land in a Freshly ploughed Field.
As I followed it in with my Bins, there were some Buzzard already on the ground, 18 in total!!!

Thanks Henry, can't believe I'd forgotten the temperature differential in desert regions and its survived a few frosty nights so far! Cheers, Peter

Went to see the Desert Wheatear this weekend - very instructive bird and also good numbers of Raven displaying in the quarry above and a pair of stonechats near the car park. Was bloomin cold and reminded me of the likely fate of some of these vagrant birds...it was a bit cooler than I imagine it was used to.

A last minute decision saw John Barber and myself heading down to Shropshire this morning to have a look for the Steppe Grey Shrike that has been at Wall Farm, just off the B5062 near Newport, since the weekend.

We arrived late morning and in a gusty wind with little sun we had several good but distant views of the bird.

The overall impression was that it showed more white than a Great Grey Shrike but whoever found it must be congratulated on their powers of observation given it's distant and remote location - a lifetime first for both of us.

We also had a couple of overflying Crossbills.

I went to see the crane last night at dusk and it was down in the grass wings unfolded and forward - reminiscent of a falcon shielding prey - not sure if it was injured or whether they roost laid down. Anyway as four of us took our eyes of it for a second it disappeared - don't know whether it flew to roost on the moss or dropped further down into the grass or just moved quickly? Not seen any reports from today.