35173 West Mid 2012 FC & RC_SR.qxp_West Mid 2009 FC & RC_v4 03/12/2014 09:39 Page 1 West West Midland Bird Club 2012 Annual Report No. 79 2012 35173 WEST MIDS 2012_SR v3.qxp_WMBC Report 2009_v10_MG 15/12/2014 16:30 Page 1 The Birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands 2012 Annual Report 79 Editor D.W. Emley Published by West Midland Bird Club 2014 35173 WEST MIDS 2012_SR v3.qxp_WMBC Report 2009_v10_MG 15/12/2014 16:30 Page 2 Published by West Midland Bird Club © West Midland Bird Club All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission of the copyright owners. The West Midland Bird Club is a registered charity No. 213311. Website: http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.org.uk ISSN 1476-2862 Printed by Healeys Print Group, Unit 10, The Sterling Complex, Farthing Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 5AP. Price £9.00 35173 WEST MIDS 2012_SR v3.qxp_WMBC Report 2009_v10_MG 15/12/2014 16:30 Page 3 The Birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands 2012 Annual Report 79 Contents 4 Editorial 5 Submission of Records 6 Birds and Weather 18 Systematic List 236 Ringing Report 248 Short-toed Lark 4th-7th June 2012, near Foxley, Staffordshire 249 Common Rosefinch, Bilbrook, Codsall, Staffordshire 29th 250 County Lists 258 Gazetteer 266 Key to Contributors 273 Index of Species Front cover photograph: Mistle Thrush, Hanley, Ann Pallas-Bentley 3 35173 WEST MIDS 2012_SR v3.qxp_WMBC Report 2009_v10_MG 15/12/2014 16:30 Page 4 Editorial With the seemingly endless array of ornithological equipment available to today’s birder, it is comforting to know that we are all equipped with one of the most useful and cheapest, but sadly underused, tools – our ears! As well as his excellent Review of the Year, Jim Winsper muses on how sound might unearth the next addition to the Regional list. The internet is both a blessing and a curse! How many wrongly identified images have you found, or un verified records of rarities? However, with care it is a mine of information. Today we can find all the maps from the 2007-2011 Bird Atlas online. In addition there are the maps from the latest Atlas of the British Flora as well as atlases for a variety of insect and other groups. Together with these there are the online identification guides – with sound and video. We have never had so much information at our fingertips and one wonders what will come along next. Interesting times! Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who helped with this year’s report. I am especially grateful to all those who contributed records, especially those sending in valuable census data; to Mick Ball and Steve Williams for their articles; to Andy Lawrence for help with the Ringing Report and to artists and photographers Terry Davies, Bob Duckhouse, Steve Gibson, Bill Goldstraw, Phil Jones, Hughie King, Tim Marlow, Ann Pallas-Bentley, Richard Powell, John Oates and Steve Seal for making their work available; and above all to the County Recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Steve Haynes, Jonathan Bowley, Matt Griffiths, John Judge, Tim Marlow, John Oates, Simon Roper, Dan Watson Worcestershire: Steven Payne, Report Writers and Compilers; SP and Andy Warr; Rarities Committee; Terry Hinett, Gavin Peplow, Rob Prudden, Brian Stretch and Andy Warr Staffordshire: Nick Pomiankowski, Report Writers; NDP, Andy Lawrence, Roger Broadbent; Rarities Committee; Steve Nuttall, Bernard Smith, Mark Sutton, Steve Turner, Site Report Compilers; Mike Boote, Roger Broadbent, Graham Evans, Pete Jordan, Steve Nuttall, Ray Perry; Data Input; NDP. West Midlands: Kevin Clements, Rarities Committee; Gareth Clements, Steve Nuttall and John Oates. Steve Haynes would like to thank Jonathan Bowley for his continuing support and enormous help with records for the south of the county. I would like to thank Sarah Ricks of Healeys and my wife Sue, for her support and help during the compilation of this report. David Emley 4 35173 WEST MIDS 2012_SR v3.qxp_WMBC Report 2009_v10_MG 15/12/2014 16:30 Page 5 Submission of Records All contributors are asked to follow the guidelines set out in the booklet A Checklist of the Birds of the Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands and Guide to Status and Record Submission (third edition 2011). A copy of these can be found on our website http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.org.uk. All records should be sent to the relevant County Recorder as soon as possible after observation. Concise, though adequate, field descriptions (including how the species was identified, the circumstances of the sighting and the observer’s experience of the species) should accompany records of all species – marked as A in the Details column of the checklist. In addition, descriptions are required for all out-of-season migrants, unusual hybrids and scarce sub-species, including Scandinavian Rock Pipit, Blue-headed and other flava race wagtails, White Wagtail (autumn only), Black-bellied Dipper, Greenland Wheatear and Chiffchaff races. The lack of an acceptable description may lead to records being rejected. Records should be sent to the appropriate County recorder: Warwickshire Steve Haynes 4 Spinney Close, Arley, Warwickshire, CV7 8PD [email protected] Worcestershire Steve Payne 6 Norbury Close, Redditch, B98 8RP [email protected] Staffordshire Nick Pomiankowski 22 The Villas, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 5AQ [email protected] West Midlands Kevin Clements 26 Hambrook Close, Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV6 0XA [email protected] Records can be sent electronically as Excel, Word, CSV or RTF files or on record slips. These are available from the Club Secretary (address inside back cover) at indoor meetings or a copy can be downloaded from our web site: http://www.westmidlandbirdclub.org.uk. Another alternative that is proving very popular is the BTO’s BirdTrack website http://www.bto.org.uk/birdtrack/. Data entered here can be accessed, with permission, by the County Recorder, thus obviating the need to send in slips etc. D. W. Emley, 23 Leacroft, Stone, Staffs, ST15 8GF [email protected] 5 35173 WEST MIDS 2012_SR v3.qxp_WMBC Report 2009_v10_MG 15/12/2014 16:30 Page 6 Birds and Weather Staffordshire grabbed the 2012 headlines with a series of records that include the first county and regional record for Short-toed Lark. This addition to our regional list gives us a total of 343 species occurring in the categories A to C of the British List. Continuing with the subject of lists and the occurrence of rare birds, the acceptance and inclusion of Alder Flycatcher Empidonax alnorum to the British List as a category A species has seen the total of this list reach 597. There is much speculation as to which bird might become No 600 and there is a distinct possibility that the bird that creates this landmark figure could be the result of a split in species. The deliberations over the acceptance of the North American Alder Flycatcher have been a protracted affair, the bird being found in 2008, the decision on its true identity, some six years after the event! Empidonax Flycatchers are particularly difficult to separate and the same can be said about any species that has become scientifically split for whatever reason, thus elevating a bird that has previously been considered to be a sub-species to a bird with full single species status. Prime examples of birds that have been split or with the potential to be split are some warblers, in particular the species Sylvia and wagtails of the race flava. In some instances the only reliable separation feature is vocal, while this has always proved to be an essential identification point, no matter what species we are dealing with, it is now fast becoming essential to true definition with birds of very similar or overlapping plumage trait, again, the Chiffchaffs and the race tristis in particular, bear this out. This is something that all of those seeking the next milestone bird should seriously take into account, be prepared is the advice. While vocalisation is not always possible to obtain, had the records for Alder Flycatcher been accompanied by audio evidence it would have simplified the task of identification considerably, it may well be a crucial factor with the next new arrival to our list! Still on the theme of lists, our annual total for 2012 has seen a welcome increase in the number of species with 232 recorded, bettering the two previous years cf. 228 in 2011 and 231 in 2010. Of the list of notable county records for this year Staffordshire claims six commencing with the first county record of breeding Red Kite in recent history, the first Staffordshire breeding Avocet, sadly the nest was predated, the second county record for Stone Curlew and, a strong contender for the bird of the year, the first Staffordshire county and WMBC regional record for Short-toed Lark, a second county record for Bluethroat and finally another county first in the form of Common Rosefinch. Elsewhere in the limelight, a White- rumped Sandpiper was the second Worcestershire county record and Black-winged Stilt was recorded for the first time in the West Midlands. January began mild but rather stormy as a series of deep depressions moved across the region in an easterly direction during the first week, creating wet and windy conditions. An excellent start to the New Year birding was the sighting of 12 Hawfinches at Chase End Hill on 2nd, these were preceded by a pair of Smew at Barton GP on 1st a juvenile Shag at Draycote also on 1st and a well watched Bean Goose A.