Saturday 7th September

THE ALL DAYER

I decided that I would participate in the West Midlands Bird Club “All Dayer” covering Shustoke Reservoir and surrounds.

I started at 7.00am and it was a damp start although the weather did improve during the course of the day. From the car park I saw an unexpected Shoveler, whilst a pair of Hobby spend the next two hours trying to catch one of the near 200 hirundines.

In no particular order I saw Kingfisher, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Common Sandpiper before heading off towards Hogrills End near the Tamworth Road to check the fields for Wheatear, Redstart, Whinchat etc., were I saw none of said birds. The damp meadow alongside the river at Furnace End produced my first unexpected species whilst checking out a roving tit flock I picked up a Spotted Flycatcher, my first on site for the year. Bixhill Lane didn’t produce the expected Meadow Pipit or Skylark.

I arrived back at the car at 11.00am on 50 species, I went home for breakfast/lunch and watched the cricket for an hour. At 1pm I headed out again checking the roads behind Hogrills End where I picked up Kestrel, House Sparrow and Starling! None of the fields held much at all and I was surprised not to find any Rook amongst 100s of Jackdaw and Carrion Crow.

I then drove to Shawbury Lane and followed the footpaths down to Shustoke and back. I added a few species including my first Yellowhammer for the year, I also added Green Woodpecker, Sparrowhawk and a Herring Gull. I also found another Spotted Flycatcher which was unexpected.

I finished on 62 species but still hadn’t seen a number of regular birds. I got home and watched a little more cricket before heading out hoping for a few species of gull at the Reservoir. Unfortunately the gull roost was poor but I did pull back Bullfinch and Greenfinch so I ended up with a reasonable total of 64 species, which considering I was on my own I was happy with.

I then arranged to meet Steve Haynes at the Griffin to swap notes and have a well earned pint.

It was feasible to have added, Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Rook, Pheasant, Swift, Treecreeper, Little Egret, Common Gull and maybe another wader or wildfowl species so it was quite possible to have reached 70 species.