One Good Tern Deserves Another!

Arctic Tern - Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire
Photo by Dave Hutton

With a nice, mild south-westerly wind blowing in I decided to take a trip to Shustoke Reservoir this morning rather than hit the local patch. The hope was to connect with an Arctic Tern, a Little Gull or maybe even a Black Tern if I was lucky. Upon arrival a distant Arctic Tern could be seen feeding down at the east end, an excellent start. After sheltering from a brief downpour, Dave Hutton, Steve Valentine and I decided to head around the reservoir in a clockwise direction for some better views.

Kittiwake (second winter) - Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire
Photo by Steve Valentine

Whilst making our way around, the long staying Kittiwake could be found showing exceptionally well as usual in the north west corner. A pair of Raven battled against the wind as they passed over and a scattering of Swallow and Sand Martin struggled through. It was then on to the extreme eastern end where we at last managed to enjoy some superb views of the Arctic Tern. It is always a real privilege to be in the presence of such a remarkable animal. As all keen birders are aware this most graceful of species witnesses two summers every year and flies over 44,000 miles per year to do so. It is amazing to think that a couple of months ago this bird would have been mingling with penguins and albatrosses down in the Antarctic region. 

  

Arctic Tern - Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire
Photo by Steve Valentine

Arctic Tern - Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire
Photo by Steve Valentine

After watching the football I then made my way down to Alvecote early this evening in a mission to bag myself a Yellow Wagtail or two. Despite a thorough search of all the likely spots I failed to find any. A total of 8 Eurasian Wigeon were still present on Teal Pool along with a Common Snipe. Over on Mill Pool there were 12 Common Shelduck, 22 Gadwall and 18 Common Teal.  A number of hirundines passed through including 5 Barn Swallow, 10 Sand Martin and a single House Martin. I was just heading back to the car when I heard a call you only tend to hear whilst birding around the coast. Somewhere high above me was a Sandwich Tern and frustratingly I could not see it. After what seemed like ages, a tern suddenly appeared out of nowhere and conveniently landed on the tern raft on Mill Pool. This is a very rare species indeed down at the patch and is pretty hard to come by in the whole of Warwickshire. Needless to say I was thrilled to bits with my find.

Sandwich Tern - Alvecote Pools, Warwickshire
Photo by Adam Archer

Kittiwake & Bearded Tit in Warwickshire

Whilst away birding on the south coast on Friday for a few days, I received a text from Tom Perrins to advise that Steve Haynes had found a Kittiwake at Shustoke Reservoir. This is a species that I have only every encountered passing through the local patch during appalling weather conditions. My sightings have always been fleeting in Warwickshire so when Tom mentioned that this particular bird was showing down to a few feet then I was just a little bit envious.

So two days later I visited a somewhat calm and bright concrete basin on the outskirts of Coleshill not at all positive that the bird would still be present. Despite a good scan from the car park, initially there were few gulls around, just the odd usual Black-headed Gull. I was just about to head back home when all of a sudden a stunning second winter Kittiwake appeared from nowhere and landed right in front of me.  

Kittwake (second winter) - Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire.
Photo by Adam Archer

It then noticed a few 'duck feeders' further around the reservoir and promptly flew over to investigate. There it raided the resident Mallard flock in order to secure a few tasty morsels for itself. At this point I was joined by Dave Hutton and we both managed to run off a few photos for fifteen minutes before it began another circuit of the reservoir.

Kittiwake (second winter) - Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire.
Photo by Adam Archer

Whilst we were admiring our lost pelagic wanderer, news came through that a KILLDEER had dropped in at a reservoir up in Lancashire! As Dave needed this rare American wader for his British List he was itching to get up there and asked if I would be interested. Why not?  We headed up the M6 only for the bird to fly off as we approached Walsall. We promptly turned back around and headed back south only for the bird to return as we got back to Coleshill. It was a case of de ja vu as we once again steamed back up the M6.  Needless to say the bird flew off for a second time but we carried on regardless.

We eventually reached Alston Wetlands near Preston at around 1.15pm and there was still no sign of the KILLDEER. On site there were around 20 Lapwing, a single Little Ringed Plover, a pair of Oystercatcher, a trio of Common Redshank and the odd Curlew. As the bird had flew off to the north west we decided to give the nearby fields a grilling. Whilst we were doing this though I received a text message from Kay Donaghy. Her and Martyn Yapp had just stumbled across a female Bearded Tit on the Staffordshire/Warwickshire border and better yet it was showing exceptionally well. This is a species that leaves a glaring hole in my County List. We took the decision to head back south, the KILLDEER could wait.

Hardly prime Bearded Tit habitat!

At around 4.30pm we arrived back at Dosthill Lake and hurried around to a tiny pool just north of the waterski complex. Within a few seconds we were both enjoying incredible views of a stunning female Bearded Tit down to just a few feet, in fact some of the best views of this gorgeous species that we have both ever had in Britain. The bird continued to feed well around the small patch of phragmites where Dave managed to secure some excellent photographs. Moral of the story, sometimes it pays off to stay local and enjoy your birds instead of being tempted to chase those pesky MEGA rarities.

Bearded Tit (female) - Dosthill Lake, Warwicksire.
All photos by Dave Hutton