Birdwatching at Oldbury Power Station

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Latest Sightings

30/1/10 – No GW Teal this morning, and the Teal flock has reduced to c100, probably due to Lagoon 1 freezing. A Jack Snipe at Shepperdine again, and 5 Snipe there. Also a female Tufted Duck, 2 Mute Swan and 2 male Shoveler on the river. A Mistle Thrush, c20 Fieldfare and c10 Song Thrush, but no Redwing around. Also: 2 Rock Pipit, 6 Ringed Plover, 356 Curlew (at HT, mainly at the Yacht Club) and a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming.

29/1/10 – MP reported a Jack Snipe at Shepperdine, but no GW Teal, at dusk.

27/1/10 – DS reported a male Green-winged Teal on Lagoon 1, before being flushed onto the tidal reservoir by a dog-walker, and returning to Lagoon 1 at high tide. (The plastic decoy worked ! See 17/1/10.) Photos on Gwent Birding. DS also reported a hybrid Shelduck, 25 Barnacle Geese flying up-river and a Little Egret in a ditch just west of 'The Windbound'.

Green-winged Teal, Lagoon 1.

24/1/10 – MP found an adult Mediterranean Gull with c1200 Black-headed Gull and c70 Common Gull on the newly muck-spread fields to SW of Lagoon 3. Also there, c2000 Starling. A male Pintail was with Mallards by the jetty at dusk. I counted 275 Pied Wagtail coming in from N, to roost on out-buildings at the Power Station; assuming similar numbers from other directions there must be 500+ in the roost. The roost in tall trees at Jobsgreen Farm held minimums of 250 Rook and 250 Jackdaw. A female Tufted Duck on the lake.

MP also reported a male Blackcap on the feeders by the orchard.

Male Pintail by the jetty. Mediterranean Gull, Lagoon 3 (Photo by MP)

23/1/10 – On fields being muck-spread to SW of Lagoon 3 were: 11 Golden Plover, c300 Lapwing, c900 Black-headed Gull and c50 Common Gull. A very good count of 14 Reed Bunting eating seed at the tops of reeds on Lagoon 2. A pair of Mute Swan has returned to the lake, including the female with orange darvic ring on left leg (couldn’t read it, but probably ‘H97’ returning – hopefully to breed). Also: c400 Wigeon, c250 Teal, 8 Canada Goose, 22 Redshank, c400 Dunlin and 4 Oystercatcher.

AM also reported 3 Shoveler (males), 4 Snipe and 2 Mistle Thrush at Shepperdine.

Yachts waiting to start a race on the river at the Yacht club.

18/1/10 – WK reported: 3 Shoveler, 2 Snipe (over Lagoon 2), 112 Teal (Lagoon 1), 250 Lapwing, 12 Redshank, 159 Wigeon and 167 Curlew (on mudflats).

17/1/10 – A pair of Gadwall with the Wigeon on the river (found by MP – thanks). An unusual sight of 20 Cormorant flying downriver in a long line, and then landing on the river and drifting down on the tide. 20+ Skylark over again today, but in no distinct direction, and 5 Meadow Pipit to SW. A Little Owl and a Raven heard calling. A visiting birder watched a Peregrine attacking ducks on the estuary, but the ducks won by diving into the water at the last moment !

(64 species seen this weekend, a very good winter total.)

AM also reported (WeBS count): 320 Wigeon, 190 Teal, 2 Shoveler, 75 Mallard, 7 Canada Goose, 4 Ringed Plover, 34 Redshank, 280 Curlew, 260 Lapwing, 4 Oystercatcher, 2 Snipe, 30 Turnstone. Note that there is a plastic Green-winged Teal on Lagoon 1 ! (AM hoping to attract another Yank !)

Pair of Gadwall on the estuary

16/1/10 – A really good morning’s birding, with birds moving back after the snow has thawed. A huge migration of Skylark over to NE, with flocks of up to 15 and c125 in total. The only other birds over were: 1 Meadow Pipit, 10 Fieldfare and 3 Redwing. The best bird was a Jack Snipe (bogie bird for me, as this was only my second at the site !), with 6 Snipe at Shepperdine – walked the tideline again to check for Shorelark. Then at 11.15am a male Goosander flew from the water at the Yacht Club, downriver. There were 2 Golden Plover with the Lapwing in fields SW of Lagoon 3. Also: A juvenile Mute Swan on the river, 2 Rock Pipit, 1 Mistle Thrush and a Black-tailed Godwit.

11/1/10 – DS reported a Red Kite over Shepperdine late morning and a Merlin near the 'The Windbound’.

10/1/10 – A male Pochard flew over Lagoon 1, upriver, with a pair of Tufted Duck. A Black-tailed Godwit and a Ringed Plover were on the shore with c500 Dunlin.

Dunlin on a frozen Lagoon 1

9/1/10 – The tideline was walked from The Windbound to Lagoon 3, but no Shore Larks, only: 1 Rock Pipit, 2 Skylark, c10 Meadow Pipit, 4 Blackbird, 1 Robin, 1 Wren and 1 Song Thrush. Compensation came in the form of a Woodcock, sat in the snow by the hedge along the shore by Lagoon 3. It had a few prods in the frozen ground and then flew low over the hedge and looked like it went down on Lagoon 3 (couldn’t refind it though). A Treecreeper was oblivious to me as it searched up trees just a yard away – magic ! Also: 25 Canada Goose on the shore, a Little Egret on the main rhine, and a Mistle Thrush still in Mistletoe to south of Lagoon 2.

AM reported 30 Song Thrush, c1000 Dunlin and c700 Lapwing.

Treecreeper Grey Heron on a snow-covered Lagoon 3

Snowman at the Visitor Centre

8/1/10 – DS reported 2 Shore Lark feeding on the saltmarsh immediately up river of Lagoon 1; feeding on the mud between the small isolated clumps of saltmarsh and the edge of the saltmarsh proper. They then flew approx. 50m up river and dropped into the saltmarsh just before high tide. Also a male Merlin in the same area as the larks, two Coot just off the Shepperdine road, a Little Egret in a boundary ditch in the field adjacent to the 'nursing home' and a female Pochard just offshore of Lagoon 1 and then just off the marina. Lastly, a pair of Ruddy Shelduck flew up river.

7/1/10 – Heavy snow in the fields concentrated all the birds onto the shore, including foraging Starling, Robin (2) and Meadow Pipit. The Golden Plover was still at Shepperdine with c900 Lapwing, c900 Dunlin, 1 Ringed Plover and 1 Black-tailed Godwit along the shore. 17 Snipe flushed in small parties from the salt-marsh. Also a Rock Pipit and a male Shoveler.

View of the shore by Lagoon 3 View at Shepperdine

Golden Plover, Shepperdine

3/1/10–3 Snipe were flushed from a field by a quartering Sparrowhawk and 2 more Snipe over Lagoon 2.There were 2 Stonechat by the jetty and a Grey Wagtail at Lagoon 1outfall. A MistleThrush was in an apple tree covered inmistletoe (to south of Lagoon 2). Also a RockPipit on the shore and 1+ Water Rail ‘sharming’ from the reeds on lagoon 2.

2/1/10–AGolden Plover with c150 Lapwing at Shepperdine. 2 Raven around the site and 2+ House Sparrow heard calling and seen (at distance) in farm to south of Lagoon 2. Also: 5 Ringed Plover (lagoon 3) and 24 Fieldfare went over.

AM also reported: 650 Dunlin, 142 Lapwing, 112 Curlew, 12 Turnstone, 335 Wigeon, 60 Teal and 6 Shoveler.

1/1/10 – The Peregrine pair out hunting togetherover the estuary and a Sparrowhawk seen stooping from height at winter thrushes. Also, 9 Oystercatcher.

Total of 140 species recorded at thesite in 2009 (see LatestSite Species List for details). With my personal total for the site in 2009 at 127 species.

30/12/09–An influx of thrushes noted today with 36 Blackbird (including 11 feeding together) and 16 SongThrush counted.

27/12/09–AM reported a female/juvenile Black Redstart around the Water Works in the morning.

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