Monday 23rd August 2010 - Shenstone & Elmley Lovett

It's been good day around Shenstone today...well other than the weather that is. Earlier this morning a fellow local birder (TMH) had a Wheatear at Heath Lane model aircraft field and an adult Yellow-legged Gull (with c.40 Herring Gulls) in the large harvested field opposite the Islamic School. The Yellow-legged Gull is a great record as it is the first for the patch.

I went around Shenstone later this morning/early afternoon and there was no sign of the Yellow-legged bull but the numbers of Gulls in the field had increased to c.70 Lesser Black-backed and c.60 Herring Gulls. A Grey Heron was also present in this field. The Wheatear had now relocated to Heath Lane paddock and was perched on a fence post towards the rear of the field. c.200 Starlings were on the telegraph wires and 3 Common Buzzards were again present in the area. A Common Whitethroat was calling along Heath Lane and a Chiffchaff was along Stanklyn Lane. A juvenile Green Woodpecker was also seen along Stanklyn Lane.

On the south side of the patch the Wagtail passage continues with 3 Yellow Wagtails seen in the spent broad bean field along Witch Lane. Also, a Hobby flew reasonably low over this field heading East. This is the first Hobby I've recorded on the patch this year, so needless to say I was somewhat pleased.



From Shenstone I popped a mile and a half down the road to check the fields at Elmley Lovett. This is another good stop off point for passage migrants and this visit provided me with a Wheatear sat perched on top of an old fallen tree.

So, although it was wet and I got just a little damp, todays birding was well worthwhile.

Yellow Wagtail - Shenstone, 23rd August 2010:

3 comments:

  1. well done on the patch tick Jason. Whats the list up to now ?

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  2. The total list for the patch is 117 species. My patch life list is 96. So there are still other species that have been recorded on the patch that I need...from birds such as Sand Martin to Hen Harrier. The best birds that I have seen on the patch are Stone Curlew and Black Redstart. It just shows what you can get in a land locked arable area!

    The patch butterfly list is 22, of which I have seen 20. I need White Admiral and Silver Washed fritillary which were recorded in the past near the vicarage. Altough I added to new species this year in Essex Skipper and Brown Argus.

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  3. Fascinating to look at you shenstone list Jason. You have many species I have no hope of seeing here, especially the waders :-) I'm going for my usual target of 100 species for the year, I did have a patch tick in the form of a Greenshank the other day, taking my patch list to 128, over alomst 10 years.

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