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West Midland Bird Club Club Bird Midland West 2007 Annual Report No. 74 No. Report Annual 2007 74 2007 74 The Birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands 2007 Annual Report 74 Editor D.W. Emley Published by West Midland Bird Club 2009 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 Printers Ltd., Unit 10, The Sterling Complex, Farthing Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 5AP. Price £9.00 The Birds of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands 2007 Annual Report 74 Contents 4 Editorial 5 Submission of Records 6 Birds and Weather in 2007 14 Systematic List 202 Ringing in 2007 207 Unusual Spring Migration of Wheatears in Staffordshire 2007 209 Great Reed Warbler – Barton Gravel Pits 20th May 2007. A First For Staffs 210 The loss of the native Black Grouse population from the Peak District 219 County Lists 226 Gazetteer 232 List of Contributors 236 Index of Species Front Cover Photograph: Cetti’s Warbler at Brandon, Steve Valentine 3 Editorial Rarities come and go but it is not often that we lose a breeding species from our Region. The Black Grouse is one such bird. It was a familiar sight to many Club members not that long ago but its slow decline is clearly outlined in past Reports. We are fortunate, therefore, that Dr Derek Yalden, well-known authority on the fauna of the Peak District, has contributed an excellent account of the demise of this species in Staffordshire. It’s not all bad news though. A report on the Breeding Birds of Cannock Chase in 2007 by John Bennett on behalf of the Club notes 32 pairs of Wood Lark and four pairs of Dartford Warbler plus five further singing males; who would have predicted that just a few years ago! Coupled with that we have attempted breeding by Mediterranean Gulls and, with the large numbers of wintering Little Egrets, one wonders when the first nest will be found. Global warming may be worrying but it will provide some interesting birdwatching in the coming years. 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 Nick Pomiankowski, Steve Richards and Derek Yalden for their articles; to Bert Coleman for another fascinating Ringing Report and to artists and photographers Alan Dean, Bill Goldstraw, Adam Holiday, Phil Jones, Dave Kelsall, Steve Seal, Steve Valentine and Andy Warr for making their work available; and above all to the County Recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Jonathan Bowley Worcestershire: Brian Stretch, Report Writers & Compilers; Brian Stretch, Andy Warr and Edward Lea, Rarities Committee; Brian Stretch, Andy Warr, Dave Walker, Gavin Peplow, Rob Prudden and Terry Hinett. Staffordshire: Nick Pomiankowski, Report Writers; NDP, Neil Carter, Martin Godfrey and Andy Lawrence, Rarities Committee; Eric Clare, Bernard Smith, Mark Sutton, Steve Turner and Steve Nuttall, Site Report Compilers; Richard Berry, Mike Boote, Graham Evans, Steve Nuttall, Ray Perry, Brenda Scott; Data Input and proof reading; Mary Holley. West Midlands: Kevin Clements. I would like to thank Mike Gaydon 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 West Midlands and a Guide to Status and Record Submission (second edition 1989). 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 Jonathan Bowley 17 Meadow Way, Fenny Compton, Southam, Warwickshire CV47 2WD [email protected] Worcestershire Brian Stretch 13 Pitmaston Road, Worcester, WR2 4HY [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] Ringing Secretary All ringing recoveries and sightings of colour-marked birds should be sent to: A E Coleman, 67 Park Lane, Bonehill, Tamworth, Staffs, B78 3HZ. 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 2007 A total of 228 species was recorded in the Region in 2007; rather poor compared with the 239 in 2006 and 242 in 2005. Amongst them were no new additions to the Regional list but Staffordshire had its first Great Reed Warbler; Worcestershire its first Squacco Heron and Lapland Bunting; Warwickshire its first Greenland White-fronted Goose and West Midlands its first modern record of Bean Goose. In addition Mediterranean Gull attempted to breed for the first time in Warwickshire and Staffordshire while Nightjar was reported from eight new sites in the latter county. However, while Warwickshire had its first modern record of breeding Wood Lark no Twite were reported in Staffordshire for the first time. January was, overall, the warmest since 1916 with rainfall above average, despite a fairly dry last week to the month. The New Year began windy and showery with temperatures above normal. Birds remaining from 2006 included a drake Garganey at Bittell, two Great Northern Divers at Chasewater, a Firecrest at Wombourne STW, a Great Skua at Draycote, Snow Bunting at Chasewater and Black Redstarts at Holt and Blithfield. New birds for the year were a Red Knot at Kingsbury, Black-necked Grebe at Barton GP (to the 21st), a first-winter Iceland Gull at Chasewater, an adult Kittiwake at Marsh Lane NR, three Common Redpolls at Hanchurch Woods and Scandinavian Chiffchaffs at Kempsey STW and Lower Moor. From the 5th to 7th a wet spell with frontal rain pushed southeast with further rain, moving northeast across most parts on the 6th. Temperatures remained above normal. An immature Iceland Gull was seen at Bartley and an adult at Draycote on the 5th while a female Red-breasted Merganser was found at Chesterton on the 7th. The wet weather continued to the 13th accompanied by strong winds, especially on the 11th. A Greenland White-fronted Goose arrived at Lea Marston on the 9th and remained until the 14th – a first for Warwickshire. On the 11th two female Common Scoter and an immature Glaucous Gull were seen at Draycote and an immature Iceland Gull at Coton. An immature Iceland Gull arrived at Bartley on the 12th and remained to the 26th. A small influx of Kittiwakes following strong winds on the 11th resulted in records at Belvide, Arrow Valley Lake and Dunstall Park. It was largely dry and sunny on the 14th, but becoming more cloudy through the 15th, with rain spreading in, especially overnight. The first skein of Pink-footed Geese for the year was seen over Cheadle on the 14th. Strong winds became widespread on the 18th with damage and disruption due to the wind over many areas; Keele recorded winds of 70mph. From the 18th a colder spell ensued, with temperatures around or just below normal. There were sunny spells and blustery showers, with many parts having frosty nights too. Blustery showers continued on the 21st, with snow over the Pennines and some western parts. A Pomarine Skua was found at Aqualate on the 21st, three Whooper Swans at Salford Priors and a Water Pipit at Doxey. The poor weather over the next few days, with sleet and snow in many parts, prompted another movement of Pink-feet with considerable numbers passing over Westport Lake and Little Aston on 22nd, 300 over Apedale and Keele on 23rd, 318 over Ladywalk and 150 over Westport on 24th culminating in over 3000 over the Potteries on the 25th. The wintry spell cleared on the 26th with high pressure bringing dry but cloudy conditions. An immature Iceland Gull appeared at Wildmoor Quarry on the 26th while a Dark-bellied Brent Goose dropped in at Marsh Lane NR on 27th, 30 Pink-feet flew over Trent Vale on the 30th and an adult Kittiwake was found at Shustoke on the 31st. A huge 6 Starling roost that developed at Stone Industrial Park made its way on to BBC’s Midlands Today and attracted many visitors into February.