West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 62 1995 Juvenile Little Owl, Bumtwood, Staffs., June (Phill Ward). West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No. 62 1995 The Annual Heport ot the West Midland Bird Club on the birds in the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and the former West Midlands county. Contents 2 Officers and Committee 3 Editorial 4 Birds in 1995 11 The White Wagtail in Autumn 14 The BTO Breeding Bird Survey 17 Classified Notes 159 Short Notes 164 Ringing in 1995 170 Submission of Records 171 County Lists 177 Gazetteer 183 Key to Contributors 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 1996 Procident C A Nnrris 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 7LA Secretary *H M MacGregor, 74 ivyfieid Road, Erdington, Birmingham B23 7HH Treasurer *B J Cartwright, 78 Redwood Avenue, Stone, Staffs, ST15 ODB 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 *J N Sears, 14 Ingram Street, Malmesbury, Wilts SN16 9BX 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, Staffs Chairman Warwickshire Recorder S M Haynes, 4 Spinney Close, Old Arley, Coventry CV7 8PD (From 1997) J J Bowley (address above) Worcestershire R E Harbird, Flat 4, Buckley Court, 16 Woodfield Road, Recorder 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 Mrs H F Brittain (Minuting Sec.), D Coles, Dr B Dudley, T G Smart Records Committee J J Bowley, R E Harbird, S M Haynes, T C Hextell, Mrs G N Jones, W J Low * Officers serving on the Executive Council 3 Editorial Welcome to the slightly new look 1995 Annual Report. Gone are the familiar sections of officers reports, thus allowing rather more space for individual articles. I would therefore welcome any future contributions from members, particularly those based on survey work of local bird populations. A look at Jim Winsper's interesting paper on the BTO Breeding Bird Survey will hopefully inspire more people to undertake this valuable, though fairly straightforward survey. I myself have taken part and found that it gave me a new outlook in my birdwatching revealing much of interest in what at first glance appeared to be just another featureless Coventry suburb. In the Classified Notes, readers will notice that I have introduced status comments to species accounts, hopefully putting records into context and allowing observers unfamiliar with the Region to understand them more thoroughly. These are loosely based on those used by Harrison et al. in The Birds of the West Midlands (1982) but have been slightly modified to give a greater range of status categories. At present due to the paucity of local fieldwork on many species, status comments on certain birds are at best highly subjective; but hopefully these will become more accurate in future. However it is clear that many species have suffered serious declines since The Birds of the West Midlands was compiled and many now belong in a lower category than formerly. I have also, after requests from members, resurrected the county lists and have indi- cated those species that require descriptions with asterisks. Finally after almost ten years, Steve Haynes has decided to step down as county recorder for Warwickshire to concentrate (hopefully!) on finding more birds. As his replacement, I would on behalf of the officers and membership wish to thank him for all his hard work, often in difficult circumstances, over the years. As a measure of his commitment he has kindly agreed to stay on as a member of the Records Committee and to help with record collation within the county. My thanks go to all those who gave their help to the production of this report, in particular to Jim Winsper, Bert Coleman, Pete Hackett, Steve Whitehouse and John Martin for their articles, to Mike Gaydon and the staff at C H Healey, to my wife Dawn for help with compilation, and to the following: The county recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Steve Haynes and Graham Harrison. Worcestershire: Richard Harbird. Staffordshire: Gilly Jones, Eric Clare, Bill Low, John Martin, Ben Reavey and Trevor Smart. West Midlands: Tim Hextell. The Artists: Phil Jones, Dave Nurney, Terry Parker and John Teasdale. The Photographers: Mike Inskip, Keith Stone and Phill Ward. WMBC Hotline: Eric Clare (01283-791171) J J Bowley 4 Birds in 1995 A total of 231 species were recorded in the Region during the year, rather fewer than the last couple of years, presumably reflecting the fine weather of both spring and autumn which allowed migrants to pass over unhindered. There were however high- lights, including the first record of Arctic Redpoll which arrived with an unprecedented invasion of Mealy Redpolls; together with second records of Great White Egret and Lesser Yellowlegs, and the fourth of Serin and Little Bunting. Almost as rare were first records of Dartford Warbler and Great Snipe for 80 and 40 years respectively, while other vagrants included Night Heron, White Stork, several Rough-legged Buzzards and two Montagu's Harriers, Black-winged Stilt, Stone Curlew, Kentish Plover, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Sabine's Gull, Pomarine Skua, Bluethroat and Savi's Warbler. After a mostly mild wet late winter period, the year was remarkable for a warm dry spring which led into the hottest and driest summer since 1976, followed by an exceptionally warm autumn which lasted until early November. The resulting drought probably adversely affected breeding success of many species, but particularly of wetland waders such as Redshank and Common Snipe. An exceptionally cold December finished off a year which to many vindicated fears of global warming. The first five days of January were bitterly cold with a heavy frost, but the north wind soon gave way to south-westerlies bringing unsettled though mild and wet weather for most of the rest of the month. Traditional winter visitors were generally in short supply and things were unusually quiet, with few unusual birds remaining over from 1994 to greet the new year lister. Perhaps the best was a Red-throated Diver at Larford which remained in Worcs into February. In the cold spell at the beginning of the month several interesting birds did turn up briefly, including a Gannet on 2nd, a Pomarine Skua on 4th, and two more Red-throated Divers and a party of six Grey Plover on 5th. A thaw next day saw the somewhat incongruous appearance of a male Garganey at Doxey (which stayed into February), while a Black-throated Diver on 7th was followed on 8th by the first of several Black-necked Grebes, a bird which is normally rare in mid-winter in our Region. About nine Smew were found during the month while the gull enthusiasts found about nine or ten each of Iceland and Mediterranean Gulls along with a few Glaucous and Little Gulls and Kittiwakes. Four Hen Harriers were located although only the Barton bird was reliable. Cormorants continued to increase and the 459 at Draycote set a new Regional record. Scarce passerines were just that, with single Firecrests on 11th and 15th and a Rock Pipit on 17th-18th being noteworthy, but again only one Water Pipit; however the Bewdley Hawfinch flock was the most popular with a peak of 22 there on 20th. Also that day a Bittern and another Black- throated Diver were found, the latter joining the Red-throat at Larford allowing good comparison and was the first Worcs record for ten years. On 21st a Magpie roost at Westport reached a record 170 birds! The final week produced a couple of Red- breasted Mergansers but the highlight was a Great Grey Shrike photographed at Malvern on 26th. Next day the winds veered briefly back to the north with snow falling all day, and this may have sparked off a movement of 206 Pink-footed Geese over Belvide on 29th. February remained very mild and wet with predominantly south-west or west winds, sometimes bringing heavy rain in off the Atlantic. The only cold spell was on 8th-9th when a north-easterly wind brought some snow flurries. There were few highlights in 5 another exceptionally quiet month, though Mediterranean Gull numbers were high following an apparent record influx into south-east England. There were five-eight in Staffs while at Draycote the roost allegedly attracted a record seven on 11th, although this remains as yet unsubstantiated. Two or three Black-necked Grebes continued to haunt the Kingsbury area (staying well into March), while other species more reminiscent of warmer months included a Black Redstart on 8th and a female Garganey (again at Doxey) on 11th-12th.