Venus Pool - 2 Jan 19

Today I paid my first visit of the year to the Shropshire Ornithological Society’s reserve at Venus Pool, south of Shrewsbury.

Highlight today was the Common Snipe that behaved for some great photo opportunities. Here are four approaching through a trio of duck Wigeon.

And here we can see the orange markings on the tail of this species.

Two birds nicely in line.

Coming closer.

A portrait shot as one came very close.

And another. All these from the public hide.

A Canada Goose provides a ‘little and large’ perspective.

And again.

A pleasant surprise was seeing at least 16 Shelduck – my largest-ever number in the Midlands. These birds all migrate to Heligoland Bight in the Autumn to moult where they become briefly flightless. They are now returning and looking out for suitable nesting locations. They often nest inland using old rabbit burrows.

A pair of Teal, the drake in the foreground.

A smart pair of Wigeon, the drake in the foreground again.

An interesting trio of Wigeon. An adult drake at the front; a duck at the back; the bird in the middle shows features of both sexes. It is a 1st winter drake still moulting in to adult plumage with some retained orange flank feathers. The yellow crown is yet to show clearly.

Here he is again with a full adult drake behind him. Note too the dark tip to the bill is not as clean as on the full adult.

The feather arrangement on the back shows this is a similar but different immature drake.

One of my bogey birds is Pintail. Usually they had been “seen yesterday”. It was my lucky day as there were four present including these two smart drakes.

A Lapwing showing off. The crest is longer as it enters the breeding season. And note the rufous undertail.

Apologies about the out of focus dead willowherb that rather takes the edge off this view. Green Plover indeed, as this species is known to some country folk.

(Ed Wilson)

Venus Pool - 13 Dec 18

Another visit to the SOS Reserve at Venus Pool provided some more photo ops.

Here is a pair of Teal, drake closest to us. Not at all sure why there seems to be a blue area below the horizontal black line along the flank of the drake: its is where the speculum might be visible, but on Teal that should be green, not blue. Now look again at the head pattern and feather detail of the drake, remember and ....

... then look at this scruffy bird. The same head pattern is faintly there and there are a few body feathers with the drake-type markings. I assume this is a first-winter bird just acquiring its first adult plumage. Could be a retarded bird I suppose – don’t know much about such occurrences. Whatever: its speculum is certainly green.

A duck Wigeon. Usually ducks helpfully consort with their drakes which always makes identification easier. Points to note here are the very white belly: the dark surround to the eye: and the rather unusual head-shape (there was no drake nearby for a comparison shot: one for another day).

“Which way are the fish?” Cormorants look for inspiration. Great feather patterns.

One of the hides is in a wooded area where there are an array of feeders. On fine afternoons there is enough light for decent shots of birds around the feeders. This male Pheasant trundles around looking for scraps dropped off the table-feeder.

From this angle we can see just how ‘hooked’ the end of the upper mandible is.

Another ground-feeder after the scraps is this Moorhen. Some annoying shadows I am afraid but we can see some of the subtle shading on what is often thought of as a ‘black’ bird.

There are usually Great Spotted Woodpeckers around. Not often too cooperative. One playing peek-a-boo here.

‘Nice red blue-jeans’. A female without any red on the nape.

At a feeder but worth including for a number of points. Obviously a female from this angle. Note the powerful claws and the way even sideways on (and no: I have not rotated the photo) it uses its strong pointed tail-feathers as a prop.

All we need is some snow and we could make a Christmas Card.

Note the grey between the red breast and the brown back. Note also the pale brown tips to the inner primary-covert and all the greater-coverts.

From this angle we see some features not always obvious when we think of ‘Robin Redbreast’. Note the pale tips to the primaries and the much darker alula feathers (at the bend in the wing). The pale tips will wear away over the winter.

A fine male Chaffinch. Not often noticed amongst all the subtle colours is the almost lime green on the rump.

A more usual portrait. Note the blue-grey shawl and black across the top of the bill.

(Ed Wilson)

Venus Pool - 6 Dec 18

A few photos from Venus pool today.

“What’s going on over there?” ask these Greylag Geese.

Two pairs of Wigeon, drakes on the outside. Did not want to face the camera.

A Grey Heron flies by. Note the large feet. Unlikely at this time of year but always check for vagrant Purple Heron. When flying against the light the colour is hard to discern: the easiest separation is often the feet – a Purple Heron has proportionally even larger feet with toes that stick up almost vertically.

Not a cloud of gnats but all Lapwings. Over 300 present today. Good to see this number and perhaps indicating the decline of this species has been halted.

A closer look at this flock of Lapwings, put up by a passing Sparrowhawk.

Compare and contrast time. The Pied Wagtail is easy to see. In front a Meadow Pipit lurks in the grass. The pink legs rule out Rock or Water Pipits, the only other pipit species just about possible at this date.

(Ed Wilson)

Venus Pool - 17 Nov 18

Today I made another visit to the SOS Reserve at Venus Pool.

Just in time to catch some more great Autumn colours.

A beautiful clear blue sky, if somewhat hazy.

This bird, amongst all the Canada Geese present, was the only one with a ring – well two rings actually: the easy to read and somewhat fragile plastic Darvic ring; and the metal BTO ring that needs a better camera than mine to zoom in and read the embossed data. I am trying find out who, why, where?

Two Canada Geese fly off.

Four Wigeon: two ducks on the left; two drakes on the right.

Now three drakes, two showing their yellow crowns; and two ducks.

You can understand birds mistaking Herons for birds of prey: they look rather threatening as they sail overhead.

Talking of birds of prey. This Kestrel seems to be asking “are you taking my photo?”. In fact it was looking the other way and I squeaked to attract its attention to get the highlight in the eye. I think this is a first-winter bird. The breast looks rather ‘streaked’ rather than ‘rows of spots’ that characterises an adult female. Also the undertail has too many bands. Its a great-looking bird for all that.

Moorhens are splendid: the tones in their plumage are really delicate and they are not black or slate-grey but an admixture.

(Ring-necked) Pheasant males look (and are truly) exotic.

Though they look a bit dozy in close-up. 

A flock of Lapwings takes to the air, lit by the sun. Here is a good place to see several hundred of these birds – an increasingly rare sight these days.

I don’t really ‘do’ photographs of birds at feeders but this male (the red on the nape tells us its a male) Great Spotted Woodpecker standing on tip-toe and just about reaching the food in the feeder was well worth making an exception for.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker in more natural surroundings. Cannot see the nape to sex this bird. Strange pink suffusion on the breast and most of the belly.

Similar feeder-exception this Nuthatch. Having reached in to get some food it is now man-handling (bird-beaking?) it to open the sunflower seed.

Another “are you taking my photo?” look.

Mr. Chaffinch apparently gazing vacantly in to the distance. A rather dull specimen.

This one hardly looking any more dynamic.

At least this one is feeding.

And a rather brighter bird perhaps indicating that the viral infection Fringilla papillomavirus that causes the growth we see on its feet is none too harmful. A similar effect of the legs can be produced by a Knemidocoptes mite but that usually also affects the base of the bill and there is no sign of that on this bird.

(Ed Wilson)