Dispelling the winter blues - Cattle Egret, Ring Ouzel and other local birding gems

 

April and May are officially my favourite months of the year. My two hobbies, or as my wife would say obsessions, gardening and birding combine to produce an intoxicating level of delights guaranteed to dispel the winter blues. Or at least that is theory. Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the weather gods and winter has returned to Worcestershire, as to the rest of the country, with vengeance. Last night it snowed heavily for a while and when I looked across to the Malverns this morning the snow had turned the hill tops back into a dazzling Christmas scene. This morning I dug out my winter clothes again and walked the dogs up the north hill of the Malverns. It was truly artic at the top with little sign of any birds except for a few Meadow Pipits looking totally bemused by the return of winter. Deep frosts have hit the early spring growth in the garden and I have had to protect vulnerable plants again.

 

Winter back on the Malverns

Yesterday I decided to defy the wintery weather and spend the day birding locally. My first stop was the small village of Grimley just 12 miles from home. A number of other birders had recommended the site to me but, strangely and for no apparent reason for a site so close to home, this was my first visit in the six months we have lived in Pirton. The attraction of Grimley is a series of small fishing lakes spread-out over a large area. Some of the lakes have bare wader friendly margins while others have naturalised reed and sedge beds down to the shore line. The current star attraction is a long staying Cattle Egret. The village is quite small and easily congested so I parked my car in a layby a mile or so away and walked across a footpath between two of the fishing lakes. I scoped both lakes but could only see common waterfowl and a pair of vocal Redshank.  I  scanned the other distant lakes by eye and saw a small white blob on the shore of one near some cattle which looked promising. A scope view then confirmed that this was indeed the Cattle Egret hunkered right down in the vegetation sheltering from the piercing cold northern wind. Being unfamiliar with the lay of the land and not wishing to trespass it took me a while on OS locate to work out how to get close to the Egret using the various footpaths that crisscrossed the farmland and fishing lakes. I carried on walking on the footpath and soon found myself in the quite delightful Grimley village. I walked through the village to the Church and followed another footpath across the graveyard and on towards the fishing lake where the Egret was. This lake was quite naturalised with lots of marginal vegetation. The poor Egret had deeply embedded itself in the shore vegetation; I could almost imagine it shivering in the bitter north wind. Through the scope I could make out a hint of rusty orange breeding plumage on its crown and I settled down by a tree at a reasonable distance to see if it would come out for a photograph. After 15 minutes my attention was diverted to a pair of Swallows, my first of the year, who had arrived at the pond and were busy sweeping low over the water picking up insects. My first Swallow of the year, as I know it is with many other birders and non-birders alike, is a very special moment and I stood enchantedly watching the graceful aerobatics of these most welcome of African returnees. After some time, I’m really not sure how long I had been day dreaming, I turned around and the Cattle Egret was gone! It had obviously flown off while I was hypnotised by the Swallows. I walked slowly back to the church checking for other arrivals in the trees and hedgerows while secretly hoping that they had delayed their journey and hence avoided the very challenging cold weather. As I walked back to the first two lakes I saw the Cattle Egret again, this time out in the open, where another birder was watching it. I decided to risk going back to my car for my bigger lens and extender and then hurried back to the still present Egret and got some shots of it feeding in the grass. It’s feeding technique was to wiggle its feet in the grass hence disturbing insects. I have often seen Great White and Little Egrets adopt this technique in marginal water but never on dry land. Its effect was quite humorous, almost like a participant in Monty Python’s famous ministry of silly walks! A small flock of Sand Martin appeared and started hawking over the lake. I tried to pick out my first House Martin of the year but there was not one to be had. I made my way back to the car content with my Cattle Egret views and had my sandwich lunch while planning my next stop.

 

Cattle Egret

I decided to try for a Ring Ouzel that was being reported in a field behind the church in a village called Romsley some 15 minutes away.  These are passage migrants best seen at this time of the year as they head north from their African wintering grounds towards the mountainous terrain where they breed. This is a comparatively scare bird which I would none the less expect to see every year in the early spring although I had missed out in last year’s lockdown and so was doubly keen to connect with one this spring. On arrival there was plenty of parking by the church and as I got out of the car another birder came through the church gate. He told me that the thrush was showing well, albeit a little distant, and gave me good instructions of how to find it. This was very fortunate as again the map reference on RBA was at least 1 km wrong. The actual location was along a hedge line below a ridge two fields behind the church. The footpath seemed to end at an electric fence from where I had been advised to view the bird. After a few minutes I found the bird, a stonking male, close to the hedge line again sheltering from the howling wind. I rattled off a few record shots and then settled down to watch this elegant thrush through my scope. The viewing ridge was quite exposed and the howling gale and birds distance made scoping quite difficult as the whole tripod and scope assembly vibrated in the wind. After 30 minutes or so I was chilled to the bone and so decided to make my way back to the car for a warming coffee before heading off to my final destination of the day at Upton Warren.

 

One I did earlier - Ring Ouzel in Gloucestershire 2 years ago

Very heavily cropped record shot of the Romsley Ring Ouzel

The attraction at Upton Warren is the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust’s reserve which is essential split in two by a sailing lake. On one side is a wetland and lake on the other side is another lake and a series of scrapes. The actual reserve is closed and only viewable from one of the two footpaths which run around its edge. I must confess I find it hard to relax and be at one with nature at Upton Warren, its close proximity to the M5 mean, to me at least, that the traffic noise is most distracting and makes it hard to pick out bird song and calls. The hides also seem to be predominantly very high  and not particularly conductive to photography. I walked both footpaths and spent some time watching the Avocets and Med gulls of the scrape. The somewhat obscured view from the footpath made counting difficult but I would estimate  there were some thirty Avocets, mainly in pairs feeding in the shallows. The pairs will soon be nest building but I guess the return of winter has probably and very wisely put their parental duties on hold. Scoping the margin also revealed a Little Ringed Plover, my first of the year again hunkered down and sheltering from the inclement weather.

 

Avocet

A distant church clock struck 6’o’clock and I decided it was time to embark on my 20 minute journey home with a quick stop off at St. Peters Fish bar to pick up our fish and chip tea. The day left me thinking I would spend much more time at Grimley but less sure of Uppton Warren.