Eye To The Telescope

Sunday, January 6, 2008 - Upton Warren

Saturday 5 January 2008

Finally shaken off a particularly nasty cold, picked up over the festive period. Heading to Upton Warren with my Dad. Main goal - locate the Bittern, which my Dad still needs for his life list.

It is to be a full day - we arrive before 9:00am and intend to depart after dusk.

Having ticked Kestrel on the M42 on the way down we're in the car park. As soon as we get out we can hear Curlews calling. Within a few minutes a small group pass overhead.

We head to the West hide. The plan is to have a search for the Bittern first. Whilst doing so we tick the more common species in front of us. Bullfinch on the feeders, a drake Pintail on the water and Shelduck, Lapwing, Shoveler, Pochard, Canada Goose, Reed Bunting and Teal. We give up on the Bittern and decide to have a go for Water Rail instead.

As we enter the concrete hide, my thoughts turn to the enormous spider that resides here. My spider radar leads me to look upwards, revealing the outsized critter sitting in its web on the corrugated iron roof. At least, I hope this is the correct arachnid - if there's a bigger one then I don't want to see it!

On a brighter note, as soon as I peer out of the window, a Water Rail dashes across the water in front of me. My Dad doesn't see it, however, so we invest a further 10 minutes and are rewarded with a couple more sightings before we head off.

Dad's keen to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the area behind the West hide. We head off and quickly spot a Kingfisher zipping along the brook. Then I spot a raptor overhead. I think it's a Sparrowhawk, but I'm not confident. Just then, Arthur Jacobs and another chap appear and confirm my suspicions. They also confirm that Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers have been seen and heard in this area, but we fail to latch onto any.

On a walk through the woods, however, we tick Pheasant, Green Woodpecker and Long-Tailed Tit, before picking up some Siskins on the return leg. No Lesser Redpolls amongst them unfortunately, but a couple of chaps back at the car park say that Lesser Redpolls have been seen on the path leading to the East hide. Great, that's where we're off to next to get Snipe. Sure enough, with a bit of patience, we manage to see a few Lesser Redpolls on the way.

Once in the East hide we pick up Snipe very easily - there must be 30 of them in front of us! Whilst eating our lunch we also get the first Little Grebe of the year, plus another sighting of Sparrowhawk high over the water.

Off to the Flashes next. On the way down we get excited when we think we have spotted a Peregrine, but it turns out to be a Kestrel instead. Once in the hide we tick Buzzard and Stock Dove, which I pick out with the binnies from some distance, before confirming with the scope - must be getting better at this birding lark!

We decide to stick it out here for a bit to see if the Barn Owl shows. It doesn't, but somebody spots a suspected Jack Snipe out on the edge of the reeds. There's an anxious few minutes as we struggle to confirm its identity, but in the end it shows brilliantly and the distinct markings, shorter bill and amusing bobbing action result in the best tick of the day so far.

It's getting late now. Back off to the Moors Pool to try once more for that elusive Bittern. Whilst waiting for it to show itself, I manage to get a few reasonable pictures of another Water Rail from the West hide.

An unusually obliging Water Rail

The Little Egret is also present and soon enough somebody spots the Bittern out on the edge of the pool. We get good views for 15 minutes or more, then it flies across the water and disappears. Magical!

Little Egret on the Moors Pool