The Standlake Birder

        On Wednesday I visited Chew Valley Lake hoping to see an American Spotted Sandpiper. Chew Valley Lake is a reservoir near Chew Stoke in Somerset and is the fifth-largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom, with an area of 1,200 acres. The lake was created in 1950 and now supplies most of the water to Bristol and the surrounding area. It is unusually shallow creating an excellent habitat for birds, with some 260 species recorded to date, and is designated a Site of Specific Scientific Interest  (SSSI).   The Sandpiper was located at Herriott’s pool adjacent to the main reservoir where it had been present for two days alternating between feeding on the shoreline viewable from a layby and resting up on a much more distant wooded island. Only part of the shoreline is viewable from the layby with the rest obscured behind a thick hedge.   The Spotted Sandpiper is the American cousin of our Common Sandpiper and in non-breeding plumage they are quit...

        Wood Warbler With the exception of one failed twitch, see here, I’m still sticking with my pseudo local spring birding and thoroughly enjoying it. For an infinitesimal small period of time I did consider a mega twitch to Shetland to see a ultra-rare American sparrow but soon dismissed this foolish thought. Good job as it turns out because it was a short lived one day wonder.   So this Tuesday, with perhaps the last of this lovely weather for a while, I hatched a plan to spend most of the day in the forest again followed by an evening trip to try and see Nightjars on the Cannock Chase. I’ve mentioned before that my plan this spring is to try and get more familiar with the habitat and wildlife  at Wyre by making multiple visits. I’ve been trying, at least for part of the time, to avoid my well-worn paths and instead explore new areas of the forest.    This week I also had another particular target bird in mine, the Spotted Flycatcher, a...

          Common Whitethroat In terms of new birds for my UK list this year so far has been a very slow one.  My last addition, assuming its finally accepted, was the Cornish Booted Eagle way back in January. Still there’s been plenty of nice local stuff to keep me happy.   Hearing the first Common Whitethroat in song announces the much anticipated return on mass of our spring migrants in late April and early May. Its song is perhaps not the sweetest being fast and scratchy with an almost scolding tone but, very kindly, it tends to be sung from a prominent and exposed perch.    Rather subjectively, there seem to be more Common Whitethroats in the hedges around our small village than in the last couple of years.  Where the hedgerows are uncut the Mayflower on the Blackthorn has been truly stunning this year with the bushes absolutely laden with glowing bunches of dainty white flowers. I say uncut because they tend to flower on l...

Wood Warbler   I’m having a really enjoyable spring just concentrating on local birding. I’m not missing twitching at all but that’s not to say I wouldn’t jump in the car at a moment’s notice for a most wanted mega! With a UK bird list now well into the four hundreds opportunities for new additions are becoming few and far between. There have been two quite rare birds that I would have been previously tempted by, a Broad-billed Sandpiper     and an Alpine Accentor, but the motivation to twitch birds     I’ve seen well before just does not appeal at the mo.   Spring is my favourite season and I’m quite sure there is some, possibly relativistic, effect on how long it lasts as Winter always seems to be at least twice as long as spring. I can’t believe we are into May already.   I set myself the aim of really getting to grips with the wonderful Wyre Forest this spring. I tend to stick with the familiar and  comfortable and walk the same paths whe...