The curse of summer

Common sense is in short supply. I received a very depressing e-mail from Kev Clements today, an extract from which is as follows:

Ryders Mere yesterday evening (17^th June), three youths with a boat and the usual guy in his canoe put up all the gulls and terns off the island. I challenged the latter, pointing out that he was disturbing breeding birds and exposing their eggs and young to predators, but he said that he had permission off the landowner and had been rowing there for eight years. The youths put their boat amongst the bushes on the point on the sewage works side of the mere and covered it with branches – they seemed to leave because one of their oars broke, but obviously will return.

 

The only good point about this was that I was able to count over 300 adult Bh Gulls on the water or flying around (suggesting some 150 breeding pairs?) and at least 55 young, some of which could fly, but others on the water were being harassed by adult birds. At least a couple of young had drifted with the wind well down the Mere towards the other island and I don’t know if they were able to return – at least one certainly could not fly.  Also, I saw one Common Tern chick on the island being fed by its parents.

 

This morning (18^th June), other adult Common Terns were bringing food to the island, so at least one other pair has young. A drake Gadwall was present and a Cormorant flew northwards. Also, three GC Grebe and 20+ Tufted Duck (plus three on the Marsh) were counted. A Green Woodpecker was on the grassed mounds by Pelsall Road.

 

I have to be honest, I do believe in live and let live but the guy in the canoe is a serious pain in the fundament! He has no consideration for the welfare of wildlife as long as he can paddle his canoe aimlessly around for a while. It is hard to defend his activities in the winter when the birds are struggling to get enough energy to survive the winter nights but in my opinion, to do it during the breeding season verges on the criminal (If the Little Ringed Plover had been breeding on the island as they did on one occasion, it would have literally been criminal)!

 

As for the youths, what can you expect when a recent pole of sixteen year old's found that less than 10% of them felt that wildlife had any value at all?

 

Sorry but I feel that educationalists, the department of education in particular and yes, teachers too have a lot to answer for in this regard. I may be getting on a bit but an interest in and respect for wildlife was an essential element of my  formative school years (anyone else take in things for the nature table?). I am confident that some Teachers do pass on this type of knowledge (when the dictated curriculum allows it) but it is self evident that many obviously don't (or if they do, they do it ineffectively).

 

We can only hope that eventually the economic situation will result in the local authority or someone responsible giving the area the level of protection that it deserves. Until then, I will keep posting these depressing reports whenever they arise.

 

Thanks to Kev for the information and the midweek update - Chaz

And another contributor (with some interesting insects)

Excellent photo of todays Female Broad Bodied Chaser
Peter and Yvonne Moore

Yvonne and Peter also attended today and added some meat to the bones of a Summer Sunday:

 

Many Swallows and Swifts flying low and skimming. Star hirundines were the House Martins (so low they almost collided with Peter's cap!)

 

A few tufted ducks doing very little and some coots with a few young.

 

Canada Goose plus 22 young of various ages in the nursery end.

 

1 Great Crested Grebe on nest

 

3 Oystercatchers in distress flight around the water and surrounding areas - piping loudly. Eventually relocated to the quiet island and seen on the edge and in the greenery. A handful of Mallards doing not much - one very dubious hybrid begging for food from us and 6 Skylarks soaring (I just love the skylarks at Clayhanger).

 

Black Headed Gull colony - very spooked when we arrived - could hear them from the football field. Much circling over the marsh and checking us out on the path. Chicks seen. Later seen mobbing a Buzzard. One Common Tern trying to sleep on the edge of gull island but being pushed by a BHG

 

House Sparrows - one right by the edge of the mere by the first stile with a huge Damselfly in its mouth. quite a few were in the vegetation on the quiet island Seems to be nesting in those bushes. Many other sparrows seen on the walk back to the bridge.Various Robins looking worn out and several male and female Blackbirds along the pathway.

 

Female Blackcap seen and two males heard on the mud path in hawthorn trees

various Crows and Rooks, and a pair of Jackdaws.Two families of Reed Buntings seen clearly (not seen their young before) in the rushes halfway along the mud path on the marsh.

 

 

Kestrel hunting just by the stile that leads to the farm - appeared to be a female

Goldfinches including one juvenile on hawthorn. Three Chaffinches along the path, one Chiffchaff by the bridge and a family of Greenfinches - three young at least - on bush by the stile/ bridge. Three mistle thrushes flew into the vegetation on the quiet island and a Small flock of Starlings around and about. A Jay across the trees from the bridge and several Magpies.

One Grey Heron on marsh on reeds.

 

One Meadow Brown, three Small White, one Peacock, and one Large White.

Several damsel flies - blue especially, some small grey pied looking moths in the thicket of shrubs on the path back to the football field - not sure what from my chart.

A NEWLY EMERGED (FEMALE?) Broad Bodied Chaser in the bramble about 200m away from bridge towards car park

 

Heard Reed Warblers and Willow Warbles but elusive.

 

Wow - quite a busy day then - many thanks to Yvonne as always for an excellent and comprehensive report. Have a good week all - Chaz

Gropper at last - but not on our patch

Sadly missing from the Marsh this year

After a disappointing spring for the Marsh with no records, Gareth has managed to find a singing Grasshopper Warbler today - but on Jockey Meadows (Jockey Fields if we have to tow the official line?). Also present today was a Little Egret on the Marsh as well as a Water Rail with young seen briefly at the Pelsall Road Pools. Here are Gareth's notes:

16th June 13
Clayhanger
 
Little Egret - 1 on swag but dog walker flush and presume same bird seen on ford brook.
Grasshopper Warbler - 1 singing in jockeys field.
GcGrebe - 3 inc nest building
Water Rail-1adult +3 very small young Pelsall road pool
Mute swan - 2adults + 6young
Oystercatcher- 2 regularly feeding 2young worms.
Mallard - 3broods on mere

At present I am working in Walsall town centre and was therefore a bit annoyed not to hear about an interesting bird this week. Apparently someone has managed to photograph an American Kestrel in the Chuckery area on Monday. This has to be taken in context as it is almost certainly an escaped falconers bird but I have to admit I would have put myself out to go and have a look at it if the chance had arisen (lets face it, a wild one will be a major event and is not likely to make its way as far inland as Walsall).

If anyone has any information on this I would appreciate it if you would let me know.

Finally, not wishing to make too much fuss, I had an interesting bird on my way home from work on Friday. I jumped off the bus at Yem's Croft (Between Navvies Bridge and Rushall) to switch buses and a single Swift went over. As far as I can tell this was an aberrant specimen as it appeared to be the same size and structure as a Common Swift but had a very white throat which appeared to extend well down the throat and onto the upper breast. Leucistic and partial albino birds do occur but I have not seen too many Swift showing this feature (although there was a very exciting looking specimen at Belvide back in the nineties that had a few people talking). Anyway, I didn't suppress you, good luck if you can catch up with it. - Chaz

Spring 2013 - a retrospective

The Best species of the spring?
Photo: (C) Western Isles Wildlife

Well its a bit quiet on the bird front at the moment and I don't seem to have been doing much on the blog recently (the curse of having work on I'm afraid) so this is a good chance to look back on the season that has just passed (yes - this IS officially Summer!).

Weather-wise it was a bit of a 'Curates Egg' (that's an old expression young-un's - it means good in parts) beginning with the coolest March for about fifty years, a slightly warmer than average April and a cooler than average May. The belt of very late and lingering snow certainly had an effect on migration and I suspect that analysis of this years migrant records will see average arrival dates significantly later than the median.

Insects have also suffered again with very few overwintering butterflies emerging although bucking this trend seemed to be Peacock which I feel was present in even larger numbers than last year. Apart from that there were a handful of Comma's, Small Tortoiseshells and a report of a Brimstone on one day.

Similarly, our wild flowers were also held back this spring and has been widely reported Bluebells were in flower almost a month later than has been the case in recent years and Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis) is still in full flower at the moment!

But lets get down to it - the bird life is what most of you want to know about! As far as the Clayhanger List goes this has been a pretty good spring, mostly down to the many repeated and lengthy visits by Gareth Clements (Ray Fellows and I have long agreed that the list would increase significantly were someone to do the site with more regularity). But what about the quality of the bird life recorded?

This is where I have to tread carefully as I don't want to be seen to be disparaging of Gareth's hard work but if we are honest, from a rarity point of view, I don't think that there was anything of outstanding quality throughout the period. The closest we got was a potential Woodchat Shrike (also a species predicted by Gareth for the record)  seen by two observers but not really confirmable. The truth is that many of the excellent species that have been recorded this Spring were long-overdue on the site list.

Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Sanderling, Turnstone, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Goshawk and the recent Honey Buzzard are all species that have occurred/probably occurred/possibly occurred before, but perhaps in some cases gone unrecorded. The Spotted Crake was at least a fourth record and the Black Necked Grebes a second. I would contend that the most noteworthy events during the period were Gareth's several encounters with Kittewake, a species which was always possibly an occasional visitor, but not one that has been claimed and not even a species which is easily predictable at Chasewater. What is more these birds occurred without the benefit of any significant weather systems, perhaps suggesting that they may be regular passage birds through the site (I hope so, I didn't see one!) ?

As I didn't see some of these birds I expect my review could seem to be a little mean spirited but I am trying to be objective and although it can not be disputed that the increased coverage has made this an excellent Spring for the Marsh and Mere list, in a real-world context it was probably a pretty average spring (and yes, I would still say that even if I had seen everything recorded). Gareth aside, I suspect that for many people the star bird this spring would be the lingering Ring Ouzel (which as usual turned up on the first day in twelve that I hadn't done the site - Cosmic Joker again - see?) and which I know for several regulars was a first (if often elusive) encounter. The return of Cuckoo in good numbers also deserves a strong mention though and is another highlight from my point of view.

But for me the thing I will most remember Spring 2013 for is not for any particular species but for a three day period in April when Clayhanger became as exciting as an east coast site, bushes heaving with warblers of various species, early arrivals and Chiff/Willows ground feeding and also the fun (!) of chasing Redstarts around the pit mound. Anyone who missed that, I hope you get the chance again (heck, I hope I get the chance again!) so perhaps next year we better pray for heavy and lingering snow again at the beginning of migration (or perhaps not eh)?

Finally thanks again to Gareth for his determined efforts and boundless enthusiasm but also to everyone else who took the trouble to send me their records, without your help much of this activity would not be on the record and it would have been a much less interesting season for all of us - Chaz

In a spirit of compromise...

One of my favourite wild flowers - Dusky Cranesbill
And where did I see it, growing next to a fence as I walked to the canal festival!
Open your eyes you lot!

Ok - I did the Canal festival and the Beer Tent (See the next two postings) but I dragged 'er-indors' across the marsh first.

Not that much to report, a single Common Tern on the Marsh with Sedge and Reed Warbler singing and one Buzzard. Even quieter on the Mere with a single Great Crested Grebe the only bird of note.

Still, had a nice time at the Pelsall Canal Show as you will perhaps appreciate if you read on? - Chaz

Pelsall Canal Festival 2013 - well done Pelsall

What is it with Pelsall? Why can they do this stuff and Brownhills, Bloxwich, Clayhanger and everywhere else can't?

Yes I went along with the misses because she likes to have a mooch and I like a pint, but is there really anything more English than sheltering from the rain in a tent that smells of grass while some Herbert in a miniature Traction Engine roles past making the world smell of coal and sulphur? If there is I can't think of it.

A summer event in June - this is the kind of thing you long for on the dark days of winter and look back at nostalgically.

Here are some images, get down there tomorrow and have an English day out.

 

 

...and the Beer Tent

For Hughie King and other similar sensible people - this looks as good as a rarity

And yes, I tried both of these, and the Original, AND the Bummblehole Bitter, and they were all in excellent condition at £2.50 a pint straight from the cask (so what are you doing sitting here reading this?)