Monday 26th July 2010 - Shenstone & Grimley

3 Little Owls were seen at Shenstone this morning (2 adult & 1 juvenile). Also worth noting was that an adult Great Crested Grebe was seen on Captain's pool carrying 2 very young looking chicks on its back, indicating a 2nd brood. The other adult and the now well developed 1st brood juvenile were also present.

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From Shenstone, myself and TS went 10 miles down the road to Grimley. The highlight of this visit was discovering a ♀ Common Scoter on one of the pits just off Wagon wheel Lane. Its always great to see this sea duck at inland sites and this bird was a first for Worcestershire this year. Again...I wish I had my camera, although I did manage to digiscope a handheld record shot using my wife's camera and fortunately the bird seemed fairly settled so a number of other local birders got down to see it.

Also of note at Grimley were 2 Little Egrets at Camp Lane pits. A good variety of butterflies were also seen there including good numbers of Common Blues, Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns. Small & Large Whites, Comma and a single Essex Skipper were also seen.

Common Scoter - Grimley, 26th July 2010:

Comma - Grimley, 26th July 2010:

Meadow Brown - Grimley, 26th July 2010: