West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 61 1994 Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Draycote, September 1994 (Phill Ward). West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 61 1994 The Annual Report of the Wesf Midland Bird Club on the birds in the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and H/es/ Midlands. Contents 2 Officers and Committee 3 Editor's Report 4 Birds in 1994 12 Hon. Treasurer's Report 15 Secretary's Report 16 Permit Secretary's Report 16 Membership Secretary's Report 16 Research, Reserves and Records Committee Report 16 Solihull Branch Report 17 Staffordshire Branch Report 18 Ruddy Ducks and the West Midland Bird Club 20 Movements of the Grey Heron 25 1994 Bird Record Localities 31 Classified Notes 169 Short Notes 171 Ringing in 1994 176 Key to Contributors 178 Submission of Records The West Midland 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 1995 Ptesidtmi C A Norris Vice Presidents F C Gribble, W E Oddie Chairman *A J Richards, 1 Lansdowne Road, Studley, Warks B80 7JG Deputy Chairman *G R Harrison, "Bryher", Hatton Green, Hatton, Warks CV35 7 LA 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, 17 Meadow Way, Fenny Compton, Warks CV33 OWD Bulletin Editor J P South, The Croft, Lower Penkridge Road, Acton Trussell, Stafford ST17 ORJ Membership Secretary J O Reeves, 9 Hintons Coppice, Knowle, Solihull B93 9RF Permit Secretary Miss M Surman, 6 Lloyd Square, 12 Niall Close, Birmingham B15 3LX Ringing Secretary *A E Coleman, 67 Park Lane, Bonehill, Tamworth, Staffs B78 and Promotion, Fund 3HZ Raising and General Purposes Committee Chairman Research and *J R Winsper, 32 Links Road, Hollywood, Birmingham B14 Reserves Committee 4TP Chairman Birmingham Branch *A J Richards, 1 Lansdowne Road, Studley, Warks B80 7JG Chairman Solihull Branch G A Morley, 64 Cambridge Avenue, Solihull, B91 1QF Chairman Staffordshire Branch *F C Gribble, 22 Rickerscote Avenue, Stafford, Staffs ST17 4EZ Chairman Tamworth Branch B Stubbs, 19 Alfred Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire Chairman Warwickshire Recorder S M Haynes, 4 Spinney Close, Old Arley, Coventry CV7 8PD Worcestershire S M Whitehouse, 6 Skipton Crescent, Berkeley Pendesham, Recorder Worcester WR4 OLG (from January 1996) R E Harbird, Flat 4, Buckley Court, 16 Woodfield Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 9UJ Staffordshire Recorder Mrs G N Jones, 4 The Poplars, Lichfield Road, Abbots Bromley, Rugeley, Staffs WS15 3AA West Midlands T C Hextell, 49 Cradley Croft, Handsworth, Birmingham Recorder B21 8HP Executive Council D Coles, P K Dedicoat, Mrs D B Dunstan, Mrs J Neal (Minutes Sec.), P J Rollin, T G Smart Records Committee J J Bowley, S M Haynes, T C Hextell, Mrs G N Jones, W J Low, S M Whitehouse * Officers serving on the Executive Council 3 Editor's Report I must first apologise for the late appearance of this report. Unfortunately, unavoidable family commitments for three out of the four recorders led to an inevitable delay in its production. As many of our membership will already know, the recent passing of the new Charities Act has required that annual reports and statements of accounts are published before the end of the financial year. To comply with this, it is now necessary (from 1995) to publish them in the bulletin, therefore the present number will be the last containing officers reports. This allows a little more space in future for the publication of main articles and short reports. Steve Whitehouse has decided to stand down as Worcestershire recorder after nine years in the post. I would like on behalf of the records committee and our membership to express our thanks to him for all his sterling work over the years. The new recorder, Richard Harbird, is a familiar face to many and is very ably suited to fill the position. We wish him well for the future. We still have a worrying decline in the number of contributions to the report of good quality artwork and photographic prints and slides. There must be many potential and practising artists and photographers among our membership and I earnestly appeal to them for contributions. At present we continue to rely on a faithful few. Further, I must re-emphasize that prints are as acceptable as slides, so get snappingl Finally, my thanks go to the authors of the article and shorter features, and to the following: The county recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Steve Haynes. Worcestershire: Steve Whitehouse, Gavin 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: B L Kington and Phill Ward. WMBC Hotline: Eric Clare (01283-791171) Also to the several hundred observers and organisations that contributed the meat of this report, to the staff at C H Healey (particularly Mike Gaydon) for their forbearance and last but not least to my wife Dawn. J J Bowley 4 Birds in 1994 A record 240 species were seen in the Region this year, beating the previous highest total of 238 (allowing for Feral Pigeon and Yellow-legged Gull, both now counted) in 1987. This staggering total included two new species, Collared Pratincole and Red- throated Pipit, as well as a range of other choice vagrants including Night Heron, Cattle Egret, Purple Heron, American Wigeon, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Long- tailed Skua, Sabine's and Bonaparte's Gulls, Whiskered Tern, Alpine Swift, Shore Lark, four Richard's Pipits, Bluethroat, Savi's and Yellow-browed Warblers and Little Bunting. Weather conditions during the year were again unremarkable with a mostly mild wet winter allowing a high survival rate among our resident species, followed by a cold wet spring which led to many early broods being lost. However, a very warm June and July more than made up for these early failures, except perhaps among the scarcer duck species which again had a poor year. There was tantalising evidence that Red-breasted Mergansers bred for the first time in the Region, although this could not be proved beyond doubt, while Worcs claimed first successful breeding records of Goosander, Common Tern and Cetti's Warbler. Woodlarks were present in the breeding season for the first time since 1979, but on the negative side several moorland birds seem to be becoming increasingly scarce, while our tiny population of Marsh Warblers appears to be on the brink of extinction. After an often wet though ornithologically exciting autumn, the last two months were exceptionally mild and quiet. January was generally a very mild wet month, with frequent low pressure systems tracking in from the west and south-west bringing heavy rain and causing extensive flooding in the river valleys. There was much of interest staying over from 1993 on the main waters, including Great Northern Diver, Red-necked Grebe, two Shags, two Brent Geese, Ferruginous Duck, a few Scaup and about 14 Smew. Commoner wildfowl were generally in high numbers, particularly Goldeneye which had record counts of 169 at Draycote and 155 at Chasewater. About 18 White-fronted Geese were located but Bewick's Swans were in short supply. A pair of Hen Harriers were well watched on the moors, while other species present during the month included two ever elusive Bitterns, seven Bearded Tits and just one Water Pipit. A notable feature of the first half of January was the presence of several large finch flocks; with the largest at Cotes Heath containing up to 1000 Greenfinches, 600 Chaffinches, 500 Bramblings and 400 Linnets among others. Small parties of Common Crossbills were also found at two Worcs sites, while flocks of up to 400 Redpolls were present on Cannock Chase. Blackcaps were more numerous than in any previous winter with reports from about 52 localities, mostly at garden feeding stations, while other overwintering passerines included a Black Redstart seen on 15th at Barton and up to two Firecrests in Sandwell Valley. In the Cannock area, a Hooded Crow found on the tip on 8th was the first in the Region since 1987, while next day a Grey Phalarope on nearby Chasewater was probably a victim of the prevailing westerlies and was the first ever in this month. A small influx of geese and swans in mid-month produced two Bean Geese which stayed into early March, two Whooper Swans and a passage of Pink- footed Geese, including 120 over both Barton and Sutton Coldfield, and 51 over Belvide. Towards the end of the month temperatures rose steadily, resulting in very little movement. A Little Auk found on a garden pond on 28th was another victim of the westerlies and must have made many a 'garden lister' envious! The Staffs 1993 5 Red Kite was again seen in the Enville area, while at the end of the month a flock of 170 Dunlin in the Worcs Avon valley was notable as was a flock of 45 Pink-footed Geese flying over Swallow Moss. Westerlies continued to dominate during early February, which remained mild and sunny but with some thick night frosts and occasional showers. Wigeon numbers were high on several waters, including peaks of 1150 at Draycote and 1300 at Blithfield. Otherwise things were generally quiet, although the overwintering Warks 1993 Red Kite was seen again near Draycote on 4th, where a splendid herd of 27 Bewick's Swans pitched down on 7th. A Knot on 12th heralded a change in the wind, with south- easterlies bringing intense cold and heavy snowfalls during 13th-15th, followed by a slow thaw.