Pete getting the Ticks.

Pete has been visiting the Moors on a regular basis and the ticks are steadily building up. Pete will soon be working out the January count and it's looking pretty good.

Pete's recent sighting of a Barn Owl hunting is great news. I look forward to crossing paths with it myself. Should I be lucky enough to get pictures, I will put them on here.

I have to say, Pete is getting a real feel for the Moors now. As he is spending more and more time there, he is becoming more familiar with its inhabitants and when and where to find them. I am hoping he can put me onto the Barn Owl soon.

Pete's records are on this blog, just click on the photo below.

Pete on the Moors click to read his January accounts.

 

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More Local Flooding

Koi and I attempted to visit Whitemoor Haye today. Need Little Owl for a year tick and Whitemoor has been my banker venue for the last two years. Set out from home at 7.30 and at 7.40 I was heading back towards Tamworth. My Whitemoor Haye visit being postponed. Bloody floods! The road near Catton Park was well  submerged and i just wasn't risking a big repair bill. So, back to Tamworth and some more local birding.

We met up with John at Shuttington and left the cars in Laundry Lane. We walked up the lane and around the fields. To be honest, it didn't look good for a year tick. There were plenty of thrushes about, but they didn't allow a close approach for good pictures. Took this one through my scope, again holding the iPhone to the eyepiece.

Fieldfare and Redwings

The ground was sodden, but at least the fast thaw and rain overnight had cleared the snow. Hence the floods. The local rivers were rising fast and already in flood so yet again much of the locality was going to be underwater again.

John left us and Koi and I headed for the bridal path. I know a good area for Siskin and hoped there may be some about. No such luck! We decided to stop and have a coffee. Flask out, coffee poured and we started scanning the adjacent trees and woodland.

Koi spotted a tit he wasn't sure of. He pointed it out to me. I eventually got some good views of it and, a year tick in the form of a Willow Tit. In the next ten minutes, two more year ticks with Treecreeper and Nuthatch putting in an appearance. It had turned into a rather eventful morning. Three year ticks a good walk and a good laugh.

Its a great way to start a Sunday.

It was then home, a quick tidy up and out with the family for lunch.

A nice pub lunch along with a decent pint and all my family. Its what Sundays were made for.

Willow Tit!

A great tick for the Moors. Pete will no doubt put an account together of his sighting that can be seen on the Moors count page of this Blog. Pete has told me he noticed the Willow tit near our feeding station. He said it hung around the vicinity for a while without actually visiting the feeders. It obviously knows there is a source of food there, and I hope to see it myself soon. On the feeders would be great. If so, I will try for a picture. A lovely little bird.

 

 

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Snow Day. Tamworth Moors

I found out on Sunday evening that my place of work was closed on Monday due to the weather, so I had a bonus day off. Now, I hate snow with a passion, but today, I could live with it.

 

I donned the thermal stuff and boots, popped the binnies in my rucksack along with a flask of coffee, grabbed my dog Taz and headed for the bus stop. The roads still didn't look great, so again I left the car at home. Off the bus at Bolehall, a 5 min walk and we were on the Moors. Pete was waiting there for us and we set off.

 

The snow was undisturbed and deep in places, it did however look great. It's just a shame that every day it covers the ground is literally a life and death struggle for our wildlife.

 

 

As expected, the birding was very quiet. We did however glimpse a large female Sparrowhawk which was the highlight of the day. We filled the feeders again and the Blue and Great Tits were on them in seconds. At least some of the bird life will get an easy meal. Pete and I watched for a while and enjoyed a nice hot black coffee from the flask. Taz, she just pointed at things she found interesting?

We set off again looking for anything avian to interest us.

As unexpected as it seems, after wandering along the edge of the river Anker, we managed to get a new year tick for the Moors in the shape of a male Goosander on the river. We were both pleased. The effort had been worthwhile after all. Then as we approached the next field, we saw a flock of smallish birds drop into a small area where the snow covering was sparse. We crept along the hedgerow to get closer and had some good views of another Moors year tick. A flock of Skylarks working hard to find some food on the frozen ground. Also, mixed in with them were a few Meadow Pipit. I looked up Winter Skylarks online and found this. Looks like we had a text book sighting.

When to see

Skylarks can be seen all year round. In winter they form flocks - often with other species such as meadow pipits.

That concluded our Moors walk for the day. We had been out for about three hours. Had a great morning and got a couple of new year ticks for our Moors list.

I am hoping now for a fast thaw. Although the snow is thawing as I write this, it is also snowing again. Can't wait to see the back of it.

 

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Tamworth. Tameside Nature Reserve

Another winters morning and a quick decision on where to go? The main roads are fine, the side roads treacherous. I have not moved the car since returning from work on Friday afternoon. Hence yesterday's birding by bus. I decided to take the car and stick to main roads and five minutes later was parking near Tameside NR.

 

A friend was fishing on the river, not for the faint hearted in this weather. He was hoping a winter Chub would cooperate and make a great picture in the snow. He had been there since 6am, I arrived at the reserve at 7.00am.

I had just left the car when my mobile rang. My fishing mate had just had an Otter swim past him and it was heading downstream at a leisurely pace. A big dog Otter by the sounds of my friends description. He has seen many Otters and can be relied upon to give accurate information.

I had just set foot on the reserve and was well downstream of my friend. I rushed to the rivers edge and slowly walked upstream hoping for a glimpse of the Otter, no such luck I'm afraid!

What I did see, was a count of 48 Cormorants! Most were low flyovers, a few were working the river and a few were seen drying their wings on the islands of the lake. A result of many stillwaters being frozen over no doubt. At least 20 Goosander were also sighted in similar situations to the Cormorants.

Depending on your perspective, this could be viewed in two ways. A great morning for the naturalist, or a nightmare scenario for the angler.

We, (Taz and I), reached my friend and stopped for a chat. As expected, he wasn't as pleased with the abundance of fish predators on the river this morning as I was! Then, another predator put in an appearance and gave some good views hunting through the now falling snow, a Sparrowhawk.

The snow started to get heavier and visibility poorer. I walked upstrem to the aqueduct but the only interesting thing I could see, was a massive icicle hanging from the arch, almost touching the river. At least 4ft long I would estimate.

I decided to head back to the car and make tracks for home. Tameside looked very nice in the snow, but visibility was too poor to carry on.

On way back to the car, I noticed the reserves feeding station feeders were all well topped up and a nice willow observation area has been erected since my last visit. The feeders were being used by a large flock of Reed Bunting. They will certainly make the most of this food during our arctic snap. Personally, I can't wait to see the back of it. I hate snow!

 

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Moors Debut

Sunday 13th Jan saw my first visit to the Moors. With a combination of work, darkness before 4pm and floods, conditions until now have been against me.

I managed some ticks on our "Patch" year list (see Moors list page on this blog.) and had a great morning out. I also managed, at last, to investigate the "Oak Line."

This row of Oaks has long intrigued us, as we felt there may be another Badger Sett dug at the root base of one of the Oaks. As the fields that surround the Oaks have either held crops or been a muddy quagmire, conditions have not been right to walk across to them.

There is a decent sized Sett already on the Moors and Young badgers do occasionally dig outlying single holed or "blind" tunnels some distance from the main Sett.

Large Sett entrance.

Bedding dragged out to air and freshen up.

As this morning was cold and the previous night freezing, the usually muddy ground was frozen and firm. I arrived at be Oak Line to find there are indeed excavations. Not the work of Badgers though. Just busy rabbits.

I left the Moors and called in at Alvecote pools, where I not only enjoy the birding, but I am also bailiff. I enjoyed a chat and a cuppa with angling friends and the second kestrel of the morning put in an appearance. I, (Taz actually), also found some Otter tracks along the river bank complete with the classic tail drag mark between them. This area really provides some excellent habitat for a real diversity of wildlife.

Cooperative Kestrel

Taz as usual had a thoroughly great time.

A great end to a nice morning. Looking forward to next weekend to do it all again. Maybe in the snow?

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