Holmebrook Valley 1st to 8th of April

During this week I have managed to get down to Holmebrook Valley every day apart from on Monday. It has been an interesting week and migrant birds are slowly making a comeback for the summer.
Some birds on the lake have started nesting now like the Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans and the Great Crested Grebes. There are at least 4 Coots nests but as of today only one nest had a bird sat on it.

Coot pair with nest

I have only seen one Moorhen pair on a nest but they seem to have moved off it now and possibly abandoned it.
The Mute Swans have their nest at the top of the lake and had at least one egg by the 5th and for the past few days the male bird (089) has been sat on the nest whilst the female bird is on the lake, usually chasing last years cygnet away. As far as I know they could have up to 4 eggs now as it usually takes a Mute Swan up to a week to lay a full clutch of eggs which is usually 5 to 7 eggs.

089 (male) on nest

The Swans nest has been fenced off by the council to stop dogs and people from getting to the nest. Last year dogs attacked two of the three cygnets and one got killed. You can still get a good view but don't go past the fence as the male swan could be quite aggressive.

There has been a single Great Crested Grebe on the lake since February and it disappeared on Friday so when I got news from my Uncle yesterday morning that it was back displaying with another grebe on the lake I had to go get some photos. I went down and got great view of both birds as they displayed to each other yesterday and they were still at it today. They also seemed to be looking for a nesting sight as they were looking round the banks of the lake.

Grebes displaying

If you would like to see my videos of them displaying then either click HERE or HERE. The first video includes there weed dance.

There has been a number of geese round during the last week with up to 4 Greylag Geese on the 7th and 13 Canada Geese on the 3rd which is my highest record for not only Canada Geese but just geese in general on the lake. On other days there have been 2s or 3s of both Greylags and Canadas.

All 13 Canada Geese on the 3rd

Other birds of interest during the week...
On the 5th two Mandarin Ducks (Male and Female) landed on the lake for 10 minutes. This was also my first male Mandarin Duck that has landed on the lake. On the 8th I found two Reed Buntings in the bushes at the bottom end of the lake. This was my 2nd site record for this species at the site. Also there have been around 5 Chiffchaffs singing all week around the lake but I have not heard a Willow Warbler yet.

One last bird to add to my year list was Swallow which I saw flying north at The Gate Pub above Cutthorpe on the 7th.

Holmebrook Valley 24th - 30th of March. Sping is coming!

Because its the Easter holidays I have managed to get to Holmebrook Valley 5 times this week. During the week there has been quite a few geese on the lake and finally a few signs of spring.

On the 24th I had my first Chiffchaffs of 2018 calling with about 3 birds around the site. On the lake there were now 4 Greylag Geese (Highest HBV record) and 2 Canada Geese. The Greylag Geese seemed to be two pairs and were very territorial towards each other. One of the pairs flew south but returned 10 minutes later and then 3 of the Greylags and both Canada Geese left at 15:30 and didn't return. 

All 4 Greylag Geese

 Other birds on the lake were 7 Tufted Ducks, 1 Cormorant, 20 Black-Headed Gulls and the Great Crested Grebe. I also found my first 2018 frogspawn at the bottom end of the lake. This week it is meant to get colder but hopefully it will survive.

Frogspawn

On the 25th there was not much difference but the Chiffchaffs were still calling and both Canada Geese had returned to the lake and were with the 1 remaining Greylag Goose. Also there were only 2 Black-Headed Gulls, 5 Tufted Ducks and I found a Coot already on a nest. I couldn't find the Great Crested Grebe though. 

Coot on nest

On the 26th there were 3 Canada Geese, 9 Tufted Ducks, 1 Great Crested Grebe and still only 1 Greylag Goose but I did find the male Mute Swan (089) on last years nest. I presume its to early for them to breed yet and he was probably just sitting there because its comfortable.

089 on old nest

On the 27th 3 Greylag Geese, 2 Canada Geese and 10 Tufted Ducks (New highest Tuftie count) were on the lake. 

Greylag Geese

On the 30th there were no Greylag Geese or Tufted Ducks but the 2 Canada Geese were still present and a Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming below the lake. 

Holmebrook Valley 18/03/18

Between the 17th and 18th it snowed again and I decided to head of to Holmebrook Valley with my uncle despite it being very cold. There was not much difference on the lake but we did record 6 Common Gull (My highest site record!), 1 Great Crested Grebe, 2 Tufted Ducks, 2 Canada Geese and about 5 Meadow Pipits flying around the lake which was odd.

2 of at least 5 Meadow Pipits on raft on lake

Sleepy Mute Swans

Apart from that there was just the normal Mallards, Coots, Moorhens, Mute Swans and 50+ Black-Headed Gulls.

Iceland Gull at Edgbaston Reservoir 17/03/18

Yesterday I had a day in Birmingham with family and on the way home we popped into the nearby Edgbaston Reservoir to check out an Iceland Gull that had been reported of Birdguides earlier in the day. We parked in the carpark at the end of Reservoir Road and within 5 minutes I had located the bird which was about 20 meters out on the reservoir.

2nd Winter Iceland Gull

These are my best views I have had of an Iceland Gull before as I have only seen one flying away at North Shields in Newcastle back at the start of 2017. Other birds seen on site were Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Coot and Mute Swan.

Edgbaston Reservoir

Holmebrook Valley 20 - 23 - 25/02/18

This week I have been down to Holmebrook Valley three times.
On the 20th of February I went down for about an hour. On the lake there was the usual Great Crested Grebe, Mute Swans, 40+ Black-Headed Gulls, a few Mallards, Coots and a couple of Moorhens. The Tufted Ducks were there as usual and I counted 9 of them which I think is a new site record. Also on the lake were two Canada Geese which were new, but no Greylag Goose, although there was one seen at Linacre Reservoirs which would have been the same bird. This bird has flown from Holmebrook Valley to Linacre before as is just about a 5 minute flight for it.

8 of the 9 Tufted Ducks

Both Canada Geese

On the 23rd I went down for about 50 minutes. There was basically the same on the lake but instead there were no Tufted Ducks, no Canada Geese and the Greylag Goose had returned from his/her flight up to Linacre Reservoir. Also on the lake was 1 Common Gull, 2 Cormorants, 1 Great Crested Grebe and about 120 Black-Headed Gulls which was a lot. Unfortunately I couldn't find any ringed gulls but quiet a few of the birds were in breeding plumage and I managed to get some nice photos of one of these birds.

 Also on the 23rd there were 2 Kingfishers calling on the river.

Today the sun was out and it was quiet a nice day so I went down for half and hour. I knew that there had been quiet a few Whooper Swans around South Yorkshire this morning so I kept my fingers crossed that they might fly over to the lake at Holmebrook.
Unfortunately there were no Whoopers on the lake but there were 6 Tufted Ducks, 1 Great Crested Grebe, 3 Mute Swans and about 60 Black-Headed Gulls. Also there were very low numbers of Mallards today with only about 20 - 30 birds present.

2 of the Mute Swans

Holmebrook Valley Park 28/01/18

I went down to Holmebrook Valley from 09:40 to 10:20 this morning just to check if there was anything new on the lake. It was sunny, which was good for photos but very windy which made it quiet cold. On the lake there was the female Goosander still from yesterday but it flew off at 09:54. All 3 of the Tufted Ducks were still on the lake and there were still good numbers of Coots, which were fighting each other. Apart from that it was just a normal day with the long stay Greylag Goose, about 40 Black-Headed Gulls and a Lesser Black Backed Gull. One other bird that I heard today was the Kingfisher. It was calling a few times at the north end of the lake when I first got there but I couldn't locate it. Its nice to get the Kingfisher back as I haven't had it there for a few weeks.

 Here's a couple of photos of the Mute Swans from this morning. The low sun made some good light for photos.

                                              The female Goosander before it flew off
One last bird that I saw today was a Buzzard which glided over whilst being mobbed by a group of about 20 Rooks and Jackdaws.

Holmebrook Valley Park 27/01/18

It was not very nice weather today with it being quiet windy and overcast but I still went down to Holmebrook Valley today for about 40 minutes from 11:51 to 12:30. The lake was pretty quiet but I did find one female Goosander. Over this winter I have seen quiet a few Goosanders at Holmebrook with up to 4 at a time but still it was nice to see.

                                                                Goosander record shot

Apart from that there were 3 Tufted Ducks (2 males and 1 Female), 2 Cormorants, 60+ Black-Headed Gulls, 2 Lesser Black Backed Gulls, all 3 Mute Swans and the Greylag goose was still there as well. I also managed to count 16 Coots which is good compared to Linacre where there were only 3 this morning. There could have been more around the lake which were hiding.

                                                            One of the 3 Tufted Ducks

                                                                     The Cygnet swan

                                                                       Greylag Goose

Unfortunately the Kingfisher wasn't seen and the Canada Goose from two weeks ago had gone.

London 20/01/18 - 21/01/18

I was in London this weekend with family and friends so I didn't get to go down to Holmebrook Valley but whilst visiting all the tourist sights I managed to see a few birds and get some year ticks.

The first place we went to was Westminster to see Big Ben although it was covered in scaffolding so we couldn't see it very well. Every time I go there I always have a look on the roof of the boat station on the River Thames, for ringed Black Headed Gulls but every time it has been without success. This time there were about 20 on the roof and I scanned through them all and managed to get a bird with a metal ring, but unfortunately it was too far away to read.

                                                         Ringed Black Headed Gull
Apart from that, it was very wet and there was nothing else about so we headed of to see Buckingham Palace and on the way we went through St James Park. On the lake there were many captive ducks and geese but I also managed to find two Little Grebes and two Great Crested Grebes which were both year ticks. Walking down the lake I noticed two colour ringed Coots. I only managed to get the ring code of one as they were fast and it was chucking it down.

                                              Ringed Coot. White with black writing HAN

*Update* The Coot was ringed 5 days before in the same location. My record was the first since then.

Other birds seen round the lake were two Grey Herons, lots of Black Headed Gulls, one Common gull, a few Herring Gulls and Ring Necked Parakeets (Year tick) which were heard and seen everywhere.

                                                         One of the two Grey Herons

                                                               Three captive Pelicans

The next day we spent most of the day in the Natural History Museum but on the journey from Deptford Bridge, where we stayed, we stopped of at Canary Wharf to swap from the DLR to the Underground Jubilee line. I had a look on Heron Quay just round the corner and found two Great Crested Grebes, two Cormorants and two Shags.

                                                   One of the two Great Crested Grebes

One last bird I saw was a Common Gull that was on the River Thames by the Cutty Sark ship in Greenwich whilst it was snowing.