Friday 5 June 2009 - Alvecote Pools SSSI - 'Blackwit' Record SMASHED! - 05/06/09

Friday 5th June 2009

Even More 'Blackwits' at Alvecote Pools!

What a treat tonight!  I headed down to the patch early this evening in the hope that the sudden change in weather may have brought something down.  As I viewed Teal Pool in the pouring rain I could see that there were still a number of Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits present but how many exactly?  Through the scope I counted an amazing 42 birds!  This completely smashed the previous site record of 18 birds that was set just yesterday.  It is highly probably that tonights group included the 21 birds that were at nearby Drayton Bassett Pits earlier on in the evening.

According to the The New Birds of the West Midlands the regional record 'Blackwit' count is held by Belvide Reservoir, Staffordshire.  On the 11th May 1999 an incredible 172 birds were spotted feeding along the north shore.  Another huge count involving 130 birds was also made at Belvide on the 14th May 2004 and lightening struck three times earlier this week when fellow ASBO birder Steve Nuttall counted 134 birds there on the 2nd June.  After searching through the archives tonight's count at Alvecote seems to be the second largest flock ever recorded within the County of Warwickshire.  The largest was a flock of 70 birds that paid Fisher's Mill Pit a brief visit on the 22nd April 2004 before settling down to roost on Cliff Pool at nearby Kingsbury Water Park.

With the Icelandic race islandica expanding their range and numbers year-on-year I'm sure we can continue to enjoy even larger flocks of this gorgeous wader visiting our region in the future.

In addition the only other species worth mentioning tonight included a fly-over Little Egret and a pair of Common Tern around Mill Pool.