The Birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands 2011 Annual Report 78 Editor D.W. Emley Published by West Midland Bird Club 2014 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.com/ ISSN 1476-2862 Printed by Healeys Print Group, Unit 10, The Sterling Complex, Farthing Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 5AP. Price £9.00 The Birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands 2011 Annual Report 78 Contents 4 Editorial 5 Submission of Records 6 Birds and Weather in 2011 18 Systematic List 226 Ringing Report 237 Roof-top nesting gull study: concerning the population of gulls that breed within the Birmingham boundary 249 Alternative calls of Common Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita during spring 2011 252 County Lists 259 Gazetteer 267 Key to Contributors 273 Index of Species Front cover photograph: Short-eared Owl, Berry Hill, Steve Seal 3 Editorial First, a small taxonomic change; Ruff, Broad-billed Sandpiper and Buff-breasted Sandpiper are all now in Calidris. Looking back through past reports we find many articles on the status of a variety of species within the Club’s area – this is what we are good at. This year is no exception with Jim Winsper’s important article on roof-top nesting gulls in Birmingham, the work for which even led to a TV appearance! Equally important is Alan Dean’s fascinating article on unusual Chiffchaff calls. Getting research published in national journals is very difficult these days so our Annual Report, which is widely acclaimed, is an important vehicle for such work. It is hoped that Jim’s and Alan’s efforts spur others on. Finally, two excellent sites that have featured regularly in Staffordshire’s section are Silverdale Colliery and The Void. This area has now been designated a Country Park and so these sites will now come under Silverdale CP in this and future reports. 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 Jim Winsper and Alan Dean for their articles; to Andy Lawrence for help with the Ringing Report, to Jim Winsper for his masterly summary of birds and weather and to artists and photographers Dave Burns, Alan Dean, Steve Gibson, Bill Goldstraw, Andy Holt, Phil Jones; Dave Kelsall, Hughie King, Tim Marlow, Ann Pallas-Bentley, Robert Powell, Steve Seal, John Robinson, Cora Thomas, Neil Thorneycroft, Steve Valentine, Andy Warr and Stuart Wright for making their work available; and above all to the County Recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Steve Haynes, Report Writers and Compilers; SH, Matt Griffiths, John Judge, Mark Maddox, Tim Marlow, John Oates and Simon Roper Worcestershire: Steven Payne, Report Writers and Compilers; SP and Andy Warr; Rarities Committee; Gavin Peplow, Rob Prudden, Brian Stretch, Andy Warr. Staffordshire: Nick Pomiankowski, Report Writers; NDP, Andy Lawrence, Roger Broadbent, Scott Petrek; Rarities Committee; Steve Nuttall, Bernard Smith, Mark Sutton, Steve Turner, Site Report Compilers; Mike Boote, Roger Broadbent, Graham Evans, Frank Gribble, Pete Jordan, Steve Nuttall, Ray Perry; Data Input; NDP, Mary Holley. West Midlands: Kevin Clements, Rarities Committee; Gareth Clements, Steve Nuttall and John Oates. 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 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.com. 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.com/. 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 Birds and Weather in 2011 To gain meaningful insight into any status change or new population trend we must study and absorb the species accounts in this report and, do so over a long enough period of time to eliminate any short term trends. The compilation of such accounts in annual bird reports throughout the UK is a vital ingredient in our understanding of birds. While our annual species total is a statistic of some considerable interest, in placing this figure in context with the species accounts, it does not provide statistical evidence that can be used in the valuation of the aforementioned changes and trends. This is because our annual total is based largely on fortune rather than any other value. The difference between what we consider to be a good or poor year total may depend simply on undetected flyovers or the matter of several species falling close too, but just outside of our regional boundary rather than within it. However, the comparison between year totals is a defining figure that separates what we consider to be good, indifferent or poor figures that can then be compared against our best ever total or annual average. 2011 is then deemed a poor year based on the following stats; with 228 species recorded we fall short of the two previous year’s cf. 231 in 2010 and 238 in 2009 and we have accumulated a total that is the joint second lowest figure so far this millennium. The figure is also down considerably, based on our 10 year average of 235. Notable county firsts featured Worcestershire in all instances with Warwickshire sharing in one of them. A Spotted Sandpiper in summer plumage, found at Westwood Pool, is a county first for Worcestershire. Superb Bluethroats of the white-spotted form were county firsts for both Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Both birds occurred on the same dates but were separated by the timing of their occurrence at Abbotts Salford Pool in Warwickshire and Upton Warren in Worcestershire. Also a Worcestershire county first is the Barred Warbler that was trapped and ringed at Grimley Old Workings. It was a rather cold start to January, a weak weather front brought cold air in from the north but it remained mainly dry across the region with the odd wintry shower confined to higher ground. Birders seeking to tick their first winter species of the year were not disappointed with many seasonal birds in evidence throughout the four counties. On the 1st seven Bewick’s Swans were at Hurley while a Glaucous Gull roosted at Coton Lakes on the same day. A male Stonechat was a notable record from Throckmorton tip also on 1st. Always a welcome winter record were two redhead Smew that visited Coton Lakes on 1st and 2nd while a little further downstream in the Tame Valley a sub-adult drake Smew was found at Kingsbury WP on 3rd. A Eurasian Bittern was an excellent find at Bodenham Arboretum on 2nd and another Eurasian Bittern was located at Marsh Lane NR the following day. The Iceland Gull that was found at Throckmorton Tip on 2nd proved to be one of only two sightings for this species in Worcestershire during this year. The 3rd was proving to be a productive day with a Merlin at Lower Moor, two skeins of Pink-footed Geese comprising of 82 birds over Berry Hill and 28 over Uttoxeter Quarry and a Barn Owl at Marsh Lane NR. A Jack Snipe was notable but not unexpected at Blythe Valley CP on 6th and a Mediterranean Gull was located in the Coton Lakes roost the same day. Four Long-eared Owls were found in a daytime roost at Defford on 8th. Bands of rain spread across the region on 8th and 9th but clearing skies brought overnight frosts on both days. Conditions became more unsettled on 10th with periods of heavy rain and strong south-westerly winds, however, it remained mild throughout the period 8th to 17th with a daytime high of 14.5°C recorded at Pershore College 6 on 13th.