West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 60 1993 Little Stint, Blithfield, September 1993
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West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 60 1993 Little Stint, Blithfield, September 1993. (Phill Ward) West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 60 1993 The Annual Report of the West Midland Bird Club on the birds in the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and West Midlands. Contents 2 Officers and Committee 3 Editor's Report 4 Birds in 1993 12 Hon. Treasurer's Report 14 Secretary's Report 15 Field Meeting Secretary's Report 15 Permit Secretary's Report 16 Membership Secretary's Report 16 Research Committee Report 16 Staffordshire Branch Report 17 Belvide Report 18 Harborne Nature Reserve 19 The Red Grouse in Staffordshire 21 Survey of the Breeding Waders of Lowland Wet Meadows in Central Staffordshire 1993 27 1993 Bird Record Localities 33 Classified Notes 169 Short Notes 172 Ringing in 1993 178 Key to Contributors 180 Submission of Records The West Midland Bird Club is a registered charity. Registered Charity No. 213311. Printed by C. H. Healey, 49-55 Fore Street, Ipswich IP4 1JL. Price £5.00 2 Officers and Committee 1994 President C A Norris Vice Presidents F C Gribble, W E Oddie Chairman *A J Richards, 1 Lansdowne Road, Studley, Warwickshire B80 7JG Deputy Chairman *G R Harrison, 'Bryher', Hatton Green, Hatton, Warwickshire CV35 7LA Secretary *H M MacGregor, 74 Ivyfield Road, Erdington, Birmingham B23 7HH Treasurer *D J Hall, 160 Browns Lane, Knowle, Solihull B93 9BD Report Editor J J Bowley, 8 Greenodd Drive, Woodshires Green, Coventry CV6 6LT Bulletin Editor J P South, The Croft, Lower Penkridge Road, Acton Trussell, (from January 1995) Stafford Membership Secretary J O Reeves, 9 Hintons Coppice, Knowle, Solihull B93 9RF Field Meetings Secretary P M Pratt, 110 Lyndon Road, Solihull B92 7RQ Permit Secretary M A Surman, 6 Lloyd Square, 12 Niall Close, Birmingham B15 3LX Ringing Secretary *A E Coleman, 67 Park Lane, Bonehill, Tamworth, Stafford- and Promotion, shire B78 3HZ Fund Raising and General Purposes Committee Chairman Research and *J R Winsper, 32 Links Road, Hollywood, Birmingham B14 Reserves 4TP • Committee Chairman Solihull Branch Chairman G A Morley, 64 Cambridge Avenue, Solihull B91 1QF Staffordshire Branch Chairman F C Gribble, 22 Rickerscote Avenue, Stafford, Staffordshire ST17 4EZ Tamworth Branch Chairman B Stubbs, 19 Alfred Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire Warwickshire Recorder S M Haynes, 4 Spinney Close, Old Arley, Coventry CV7 8PD Worcestershire Recorder S M Whitehouse, 5 Stanway Close, Rudyard Gardens, Black- pole, Worcester WR4 9XL Staffordshire Recorder G N Jones, 4 The Poplars, .Lichfield Road, Abbots Bromley, Rugeley, Staffordshire WS15 3AA 3 Wesf Midlands Recorder T C Hextell, 49 Cradley Croft, Handsworth, Birmingham B21 8HP Executive Council D Coles, D B Dunstan, J Neal (Minutes Sec ), P J Rollin, T Smart Records Committee J J Bowley, S M Haynes, T C Hextell, G N Jones, W J Low, S M Whitehouse 'Officers serving on the Executive Council Editor's Report Taking on the post of Editor has been a whole new experience for me and initially quite daunting, knowing what an excellant job Steve Norman had achieved. Few people realise what a massive task it entails, being in essence four county reports rolled into one! Many apologies are necessary for the late publication of this, the 60th Annual Report; this is partly due to my own inexperience and partly to circumstances beyond my control. I have made few changes to the current layout, although the introduction of a Short Notes section will I hope be acceptable. For this I need short accounts of local interest, such as unusual behaviour, birds with aberrant plumages, interesting hybrids, new breeding birds, rarity accounts and summaries of local studies. AN contributions of notes and main articles will be most welcome but these should reach me by October 1. I would also welcome good quality prints or slides and in particular pen-and-ink artwork for publication. Contributions have been noticeably thin on the ground in recent years - where are all the young up-and-coming artists and photographers? In recent years the Report has suffered from increasing size, so at present we are looking at ways of redesigning it to make it more cost efficient, without reducing its quality or content. Any ideas (or criticisms!) would be gratefully received. Many people seem to regard the Report merely as a vehicle for publishing records of rare vagrants and rarely send in any of common birds. Although this is one function that it plays, a more important role in this day and age must be the documentation of our common birds, which after all are the most important part of our avifauna. We desperately need to know more about the local population trends of many species that are steadily declining at a national level, among them can be named Lapwing, Turtle Dove, Skylark, Yellow Wagtail, Song Thrush, Tree Sparrow, Linnet, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting. If we could set up a base-line of sites which produce annual comparitive counts of breeding territories of as many species as possible, we would significantly improve our knowledge. I therefore urgently request that all CBC counters and workers of local patches send in their figures to the recorders, preferably stating the size of their area. Remember that although to you they might seem insignificant, your data helps to build up an important picture of what is happening at a Regional level. Finally I would like to remind observers that all species listed at the back of the Report should be accompanied by adequate descriptions. If records are rejected due to insufficient documentation, the Records Committee will be willing to reconsider them if new information is forthcoming. This includes all records pre-dating the current year. 4 To conclude I would like to sincerely thank all those who made this Report possible, in particular the authors of the articles and Short Notes, all contributors to the Classified Notoc and tho following: The county recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Steve Haynes. Worcestershire: Steve Whitehouse, Gavin Peplow, Francis Peplow, John Sirrett and Fiona Skinner. Staffordshire: Gilly Jones, Bill Low, Eric Clare, John Martin, Ben Reavey, Trevor Smart and Mark Sutton. West Midlands: Tim Hextell and Mark James. The Artists: Phil Jones, Terry Parker and John Teasdale. The Photographers: Graham Soden, B M Ward and Phill Ward. The Cartographer: Graham Harrison WMBC Hotline Operator: Eric Clare (01283 791171) Finally very special thanks must go to the staff at C H Healey and in particular to my wife Dawn, without whose help this Report would never have been completed. J J Bowley Birds in 1993 During 1993 a total of 228 species were recorded in the Region, including Arctic Warbler, an addition to the Regional List. It was a good year for vagrants in general, with Cattle Egret, Purple Heron, White Stork, Kentish Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Caspian Tern, Richard's Pipit and Icterine, Pallas's and Yellow-browed Warblers all seen. In addition three rare subspecies were recorded: Green-winged Teal, and Regional firsts for Black-bellied Dipper and Iberian Chiffchaff. I must also draw your attention to two unpublished 1992 records, namely the first Regional Red- breasted Flycatcher and the third record of Serin. Coming back to 1993, there were no unusual weather conditions, although rainfall was above average. The winters remained generally mild, apart from short cold snaps in January and November, thus helping many resident species to increase their numbers. The summer was mainly cool and damp but with some warm spells. The most notable ornithological events were an early arrival of summer migrants and a remarkable autumn wader passage; the latter helped undoubtably by prevailing easterly winds. Breeding successes were mixed but generally, many passerines did well, while the scarcer ducks and waders seemed to be down. Two exciting events were the confirmation of breeding Peregrines in Staffordshire and the first ever nesting Cetti's Warblers. January was mild but windy during most of the month, -apart from the first four days when cold continental air brought severe frost and freezing fog. This triggered off wader movements which brought five Grey Plover, three Sanderling and two Knot to the Region between 3 and 6. It was a good month for the "year ticker", with a selection of long stayers present, including Great Northern Diver, Slavonian Grebe, two Brent Geese, Ferruginous Duck, five Smew, two Red-breasted Mergansers, a pair of Hen Harriers on the moors, one Black Redstart, Cetti's Warblers at two sites, two 5 Firecrests and two Bearded Tits. Stonechats were in high numbers, while Merlins and Peregrines were widespread. The first Worcs Green-winged Teal was seen at Bredon's Hardwick during the first week. Severe westerly gales to the north of Britain from the 5 brought a white-winged gull invasion to Shetland and many birds filtered south. Keen observers at the gull roosts totalled up at least a dozen each of Iceland and Glaucous together with 13-15 Mediterranean and many Yellow-legged Gulls between then and March. Strong westerly winds from 10 to 12 initiated an influx of Kittiwakes, with over 30 logged during the last two weeks, a trickle continuing into February. Records after 25 probably involved birds that were blown into the North Sea and were finding their way back west via the Thames Valley, as huge flocks were seen there around this time. Also on 12, a movement of 200 Pink-footed Geese was noted over Cheadle, with ten Whooper Swans at Belvide next day. At least three Bitterns appeared, including two on 15 and 16, with birds staying into February. Unfortunately, several records remain undocumented, but the true number was probably over six. Finally a Hen Harrier in Warwickshire on 30 was a good record.