Friday 17 December 2010

17-12-10, Burton Upon Trent

By now everyone would be aware that we are having a Waxwing erruption for what ever reasons e.g cold in Scandanavia, lots of berries in the UK. Either way there are hundreds of em and I reckon I am the only birder not to have seen any this winter. I had them earlier in the year but not recently. I was hoping for some up in Wales as there had been a good flock present about two miles form my house. They had been present for a few weeks and present on Sunday 12th Dec, but typically none were seen since. I took my camera up just in case but never got to see any. The house was finished mind, just need to flog it or rent it out now. I was going to do the usual patch birding this morning and some jobs in the afternoon but yesterday evening, checking the pager 60ish Waxwings were in Burton. These I had to go and see. I arrived at 07.50, hung around where they were seen and within 10 minutes a flock of 20 were flying over. Between then and 09.30 there were roughly 120 birds present. The light was rubbish and I had a go at photography but the light and myself were garbage. Other birds present were Starlings, Black-headed Gull and Magpie.

Croxall GP.

From Burton I was going straight to Whitemoor Haye but leaving Burton I was curious as top why cars and lorries had snow on the front of them. I soon found out on the A38. As I got to Barton it turned into a snow storm and by the time I got to Alrewas all roads were covered. I got home and hung around for an hour until the snow past and the sun came out. I headed out and decided to head to Croxall instead. It was very pleasant with no dog walkers and birds noted on the main side were Redwing, Blue Tit, Blackbird, Fieldfare, Goldfinch, Wren, Robin, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Mallard, Wigeon, Carrion Crow, Lapwing, Dunlin, Snipe, Chaffinch, Shoveler, Skylark, Goldeneye, Black-headed Gull, Magpie, Goosander and Gadwall. The main pool was half frozen so the ducks were present but I assumed there would be more on the river as like last week. Through to the east side and I added Rook, Kingfisher, Coot, Redshank, Little Grebe, Jackdaw and Dunnock. Very little was on the river so it was back to the car and off to Whitemoor.

Whitemoor Haye.

The quarry pool was mostly clear so I had a quick look here. Birds noted here were Black-headed Gull, Tufted Duck, Lapwing, Pochard, Redshank, Goldeneye, Starling, Mallard and Chaffinch. I was going to walk around the lanes but it was very icy under foot so I took a slow drive around instead. Other birds noted were Carrion Crow, Wood Pigeon, Mute Swan, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Magpie, Kestrel, Skylark and Great Tit.

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