Staffordshire Start

Days go by; plans go awry.

 



Much of last Saturday 10 May] was spent in travelling from the Isle of Mull to Rugeley in Staffordshire.  The weather was terrible which precluded any decent birding through the windscreen.

 

Keith had suggested that we consider heading out to Stirling [via the A9] rather than returning along the route we had originally taken out to Oban; Loch Lomond presents a picturesque backdrop but the road itself is a narrow corkscrew with a seemingly endless array of road works and traffic lights.  The Stirling detour, while longer, offered less stress, hence lower blood sugar levels.  In the end, according to "Tomasina" [our borrowed GPS unit] the deviation cost us only a mere seven minutes in time!

 

Once the A9 filtered seamlessly into the M9 it became motorway driving [M80, M73, M74 and M6] all the way Stafford - and from thereon in we were in our former "backyard."  To avoid the usual rush hour traffic we simply navigated our way around lesser used country lanes, reaching Rugeley a little after 1700 hours. 

 

The fact that Jayne wasn't expecting s until the following day was a minor hiccup.

 

While perhaps not as early as we would have preferred but nevertheless earlier than Jayne [or indeed most of the neighbourhood as far as we can judge] arose, Fay and I were up on Sunday [11 May] heading out to our former stomping grounds at Blithfield Reservoir.  It was time to start some serious birding in Staffordshire.

 

Our planning could have been a little more precise.  We'd left the telescope and tripod behind; we'd forgotten to bring the Collins fieldguide and the only "app" we had brought along with us was warning of "low battery.  As if to add injury to insult it started to rain and we had no flask or hot coffee to compensate.

 

Not that any of these philosophical adversaries prevented us birding.  Even before we had traversed the causeway there were dozens of Common Swift Apus apus hawking the skies above us.  We pulled up in the parking bay to scan these "wall gliders" [as their German name suggests].

 

Magic!

 

Among the myriad of Common Swift we spotted several Common House Martin Delichon urbicum and mong those we isolated a small handful of Sand Martins Riparia riparia [te American Bank Swallow; the South Asian Collared Sand Martin].

 

Then it rained.  The rain eased off.  Then it rained.  The rain eased off.  We were beginning to detect a distinct climatic pattern: rain, no rain, rain, no rain, etc.  The lack of hot coffee was beginning to to tell but we persevered.

 

By mid-morning we conceded defeat and retuned home.  The Black Tern Chlidonias niger and Red Kite Milvus milvus reported in Staffordshire Bird News must have appeared some time after our capitulation.

 

Following lunch and with no indications f rain in the overcast sky, we ventured forth to Brocton.  No sooner had we stepped through the entry gate than Fay noted a pair of Eurasian Treecreepers Cathia familiaris scrambling up a nearby tree.

 

From the hide overlooking the pool we had cracking views of Canada Goose Branta Canadensis.

 

The rain returned; we returned home.

 

 

 

 

 

Clear Day Birding

What a difference a day can make.  Yesterday was marred by frequent squalls of rain although never heavy enough to bring birding to an end; the urge to try a new red played a more prominent role in that decision.   In contrast, today started with clear skies and sunshine, albeit rather weak by Queensland standards.   It continued in that vein through to the late afternoon, by which time we were in dire need of more red wine, although the local beers [by the bottle] with names such as "Iona Monk," "Terror of Tobermory" [based on an actual historical figure] did much to  appease a pair of male near-alcoholic birders.

 

As has become our norm during the week, Fay and I, accompanied by Les, took a morning stroll along the road to Gorten.  The village is a simple ribbon development skirting the banks of Loch Don.  A few birdfeeders makes it a top stretch for birding: European  Greenfinch Chloris chloris, both European Blue Cyanistes caeruleus  and Great Tits Parus major, the ever-present Common Blackbird Turdus merula and Song Thrush Turdus philomelos, along with European Herring Gull Larus argentatus , Eurasian Oystercatcheru Himatopus ospraleg, Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata and Red-breasted Merganser Mergus serrator on the water itself.

 

Earlier in the week we had taken note of the Aros Park turn-off, signposted as being the source of three good walking tracks.   We opted for the Lochan Trail, leading around Lachan a Ghurrabuin, an inland loch fringed with tall, moss-laden trees.

 

There was the usual array of small woodland birds: European Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis, Winter Wren Troglodytes troglodytes and Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita but coming across the mating Blackcap Sylvia atricapilla pair  was noteworthy, topped moments later by the totally unexpected, spectacular, views of the delightful White-fronted Dipper Cinclus cinclus.

 

 

 

 

RAINY DAY BIRDING

It rained, then it rained some more, 

 

It started as a mild drizzle but built up to almost a minor downpour.  That was in those few minutes around 0500 hours.  By 0600 hours the sun poked through the grey clouds; by 0604 hours the drizzle was back.  That seemed to establish the climatic pattern until well into the afternoon when the sun forced its way through and seemingly established a clear victory. 

 

By 1700 hours we dared a small venture to bird the road to Grasspoint and to buy a 2kg bag of freshly harvested mussels at one pound per kilogram.  And what mussels!  It's going to be hard to ever enjoy ordinary Australian mussels again.

 

In between spats of rain we explored the northwest corner of Mull.  We eventually ran into a hardy English birder, camped out in a small tent on the banks of a loch [one of many on and around Mull, let alone the rest of Scotland] who put us onto our second Mull [third, world] White-tailed Eagle Haliaetus albicilla. 

 

Nearby we spotted our first Common Kestrel Falco tinnunculis .

 

Back at the cottage, overlooking Loch Don, the Eurasian Bullfinch Pyrrhula pyrrhula  of the first day again failed to re-appear but the Yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella  was pleased to announce its arrival at the feeder.  It was soon joined by the European Robin Erithacus rubecula, Song Thrush Turdus phiomelos  and Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs.  They were, however, all overshadowed by the Eurasian Siskin Carduelis spinus .

 

On reflection [and a bottle of good Italian red is conducive to a lot of reflection] the sighting of the day has to be the small flock of Dunlin Calidris alpina in full breeding plumage.

 

 

IONA NKLINGS

IONA INKLINGS

 

Two down, one to go.

 

While the Golden Eagle was always the primary objective of targeting the Isle of Mull, at least part of the motivation to include Mull during our first week in the United Kingdom was the close proximity of the even small island of Iona with its medieval monastery, the home of St Columba [surely the patron saint of pigeons, especially of the original Rock Dove Columba livia  The unexpected presence of the almost equally ancient nunnery was aflan added bonus.

 

The sudden appearance of the Twite Caduelis flavirostis was another unexpected Lifer.  Along with the Go5.05.2014]lden Eagle and Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus [both "ticked" with Richard Atkinson on 05.05.2014] the more humble Twite was also on the trip's Wish List, albeit scribbled somewhere less prominent.  To find it while scanning a bed of flag irises in an attempt to locate the source of the Corn Crake Crx crex call [a potential Lifer for both Les and Sandy; originally recorded by Fay and I back in the 1990s during our trip to Ireland] was an unlooked for turn.  It took some time and studied perusal of the Collins BIRD GUIDE and the RSPB's BRITISH BIRDS app before we duly added the Twite.

 

Sadly, Sandy dipped on the Corn Crake as only Les and Fay actually caught fleeting glimpses of this most elusive of birds.

 

On retuning to Mull we had our second, far better,  sighting of Golden Eagle and added Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus to he Trip List.

 

The drizzle re-appeared to bring effective birding to an end.

 

 

 

 

 

Mulling on Mull-2

Such is life.  One moment you seem to have it all under control, the next some gremlin sneaks in under the radar and sets the cat among the pigeons.

Adam had kindly offered me the use of his Tablet; to join the 21sr century and use an electronic recording system rather than persevere with my norm of hand writing all bird entries.  It would also be useful in blogging on a day-to-day basis rather than waintg until I returned home to write up the entire trip weeks after the event itself.

Great idea!

We arrived on schedule; we explored the immediate vicinity, recording birds.  Yesterday we went out with Richard Atkinson, a professional Isle of Mull wildlife guide.

We saw the Hen Harrier [Life No.2] and [following much hard work] we saw the Golden Eagle [Lifer No.3].

It rained but it did not deter.