Upton Warren and Whitemoor Haye

I've got a lot to thank Upton Warren for (a fair few lifers, many lessons learned and of course that Wilson's Phalarope). Although we don't go there half as much as we used to, we still drop by every once in a while.

A warm, sunny morning was spent in the company of Reg. Highlights were a Bittern on North Moors Pool, plus Kingfisher and Water Rail. Many Cetti's Warblers were in song. On the Flashes were 3 Avocets, Oystercatchers, 2 Curlew, quite a few Snipe and a Peregrine.

I forgot to take any pictures as I was too busy chatting with Reg; so in true Blue Peter stylee, here's some I made earlier (during a visit to UW in Jan)...

Now, I must admit that I've had Barnacle Geese on my life list and my WMBC list for a long time, but you can never be sure of the origins of any Barnacles seen in our region as there is a large feral flock in Staffs. Well there's three in a flock at Whitemoor Haye which are the real deal - we know this because of information gleaned from the colour rings they sport, they were ringed in Svalbard and wintered on the Solway Firth.

There they were, behind the main pit keeping a slightly aloof distance from their (assumed) plastic cousins, with their multi-coloured bling on show. Martyn and Stuart were here too and we had a chat and shared some Bakewell Tart that Max had brought from M&S....no jokes about tart's ticks please!

We also saw a Eurasian White-fronted Goose, a Wheatear, Goosander, Goldeneye, Redshank and Oystercatcher.

It was a great weekend's birding with spring in the air, plenty of time in the field, four counties visited and lots of laughs with friends.