West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No 55 1988 Kingfisher photographed at the River Avon, Welford, Warks by E Harvey. West Midland Bird Club Annual Report No 55 1988 Being the Annual Report of the West Midland Bird Club on the birds in the counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire and West Midlands. Contents 2 Officers and Committee 3 Editor's Report 3 Birds in 1988 17 Hon. Treasurer's Report and Financial Statement 20 Secretary's Report 21 Field Meeting Secretary's Report 21 Permit Secretary's Report 21 Membership Secretary's Report 22 Research Sub-Committee Report 22 Staffordshire Branch Report 23 Belvide Report 24 Ladywalk Report 25 Solihull Branch Report 26 A R M Blake — Obituary 27 Project Kingfisher — Caring for the Cole Valley — J Clarkson 32 'Herring Gulls, Glaucous Gulls and gulls in-between' — A R Dean 34 Status of Mediterranean Gulls in the West Midlands Region — A R Dean 39 Analysis of Retraps and Controls of Bullfinch, Goldfinch and Linnet ringed within the West Midland Bird .Club area — A £ Coleman 44 1988 Bird Record Localities 49 Classified Notes 165 Ringing in 1988 172 Key to Contributors 174 Species requiring descriptions Price £4.00 2 Officers and Committee 1989 Proaidont C A Nui i is>, Biuukend House, wenafid, Worcestershire WR13 6NL Vice-President G C Lambourne, Melin Dan-y-rhiw, St Davids, Dyfed Chairman and A J Richards, 1 Lansdowne Road, Studley, Warwickshire Promotions and Fund B80 7JG Raising Committee Chairman Deputy Chairman G R Harrison, "Bryher", Hatton Green, Hatlon, and Research Warwir.ksh.irp CV35 7LA Committee Chairman Secretary H M MacGregor, 74 Ivyfield Road, Erdington, Birmingham B23 7HH Treasurer K A Webb, Copper Beech Cottage, Bagot Street, Abbots Bromley, Staffordshire WS15 3DB Report Editor N P Barlow, Wood Cottage, 223 Main Road, Meriden, Coventry CV7 7JP Bulletin Editor P J Rollin, 48 Kiln Way, Polesworth, Tamworth, Staffordshire B78 1JE Membership D S Evans, 49 Inglewood Grove, Streetly, Sutton Coldfield Secretary B74 3LN Field Meetings S H Young, 32 Carless Avenue, Harborne, Birmingham Secretary B17 9EL Permit Secretary Miss M Surman, 6 Lloyd Square, 12 Niall Close, Birmingham B15 3LX Ringing Secretary A E Coleman, 67 Park Lane, Bonehill, Tamworth, Staffordshire B78 3HZ Staffs Branch D W Emley, 3 Meadowside, Loggerheads, Market Drayton, Chairman Shropshire TF9 4RB Solihull Branch G A Morley, 64 Cambridge Avenue, Chairman Solihull, West Midlands B91 1QF Warwickshire S M Haynes, 4 Spinney Close, Old Arley, Recorder Coventry CV7 8PD Worcestershire S M Whitehouse, 5 Stanway Close, Rudyard Gardens, Recorder Blackpole, Worcester WR4 9XL Staffordshire Mrs G Jones, 4 The Poplars, Lichfield Road, Abbots Recorder Bromley, Rugeley, Staffordshire West Midlands R M Normand, 18 Hamstead Hall Avenue, Handsworth Recorders (Joint) Wood, Birmingham B20 1EY T Hextell, 49 Cradley Croft, Handsworth, Birmingham Main Committee R C Broadbent, S C Brown, E S Clare, Mrs D Dunstan, B L Kington, G M Lewis, D Mather, C F Nicholson, R M Normand, R W Skeates, J R Winsper Records Committee N P Barlow, S M Haynes, Mrs G Jones, W J Low, R M Normand, S M Whitehouse 3 Editor's Report We have elected to return this year to our original printers, Charles Clarke Printers Ltd. after a few difficulties with the previous company and things have run smoothly to date Particular thanks go to Steve Haynes, for all his help in editing. Thanks are also due to the artists — Martin Elliott, Richard Harbird, Roger Hancox, Phil Jones, John Martin and T. Parker — and the photographers — Charlie Brown, Eric Harvey and Phill Ward and of course the Recorders and their teams: Warwickshire: Steve Haynes. Worcestershire: Steve Whitehouse, Richard Harbird, Gavin Peplow, John Sirrett. Staffordshire: Gilly Jones, Dave Emley, Gordon Hayes, John Martin, Trevor Smart, Steve Welch, Bill Low. West Midlands: Bob Normand, Tim Hextell, Peter Forbes, Pete Hackett, Mark James. Migrant Arrivals and Departures: Steve Welch. Hotline: Eric Clare N P Barlow Birds in 1988 The most noticeable weather factors in 1988 were the remarkably mild spells during both winter periods and the generally cool summer, with a very wet July. There were no new species added to the Region's list, which is unusual, but 222 species were seen during the year (the same as 1986, 14 less than the record of 1987) and included Honey Buzzard, Least Sandpiper, Wilson's Phalarope, two Caspian Terns and a singing Bluethroat. January was mild, but frequently wet and windy, with a brief cold spell around the twenty-second. On the first, six Barnacle Geese arrived in the Kingsbury area and a Falcated Duck hybrid at Draycote caused identification problems well into February. A Mediterranean Gull was also found, at Westwood, staying until the twelfth. A Long-tailed Duck was present at Westport for two days, from the second and a Peregrine first seen, then, at Meaford Power Station, stayed well into March. A mixed flock of grey geese, present in the Wheaton Aston area since 1988, finally left on the third but three Barnacle Geese and six Scaup arrived at Blithfield for a long stay. There was another Mediterranean Gull, this time at Chasewater, a Short- eared Owl at Westwood and flocks of finches and buntings included 30 Bramblings at Gailey, 100 Yellowhammers at Farnborough and 140 at Hopwas. On the fifth, a Bittern occurred at Ladywalk (one of four noted around this time, nationally, away from breeding sites) and two Rock Pipits appeared at Blithfield, staying for most of the month. The mild weather encouraged eight Bearded Tits to stay at Brandon and good numbers of Stonechats to overwinter; and in spite of it, there were still up to eight different Glaucous Gulls seen during the month at Draycote, with three each at 4 Chasewater, Coton and in the West Midlands county. A Long-eared Owl was also present at Park Hall Country Park. Few grebes and even fewer divers occurred, nationally, inland, so a Red-throated Diver at Kingsbury on the seventh and a Red- necked Grebe at Copmere the following day were both unusual. The Black-throated Diver at Chasewater departed a few days later. Interesting finds between the seventh and thirteenth included a Firecrest at Burton Manor, a flock of 200 Tree Sparrows at Blithfield, a Bean Goose and three Pinkfeet at Tittesworth (and five over Branston three days later), five Whooper Swans at Barlaston and a Crossbill at Beaudesert; different Iceland Gulls were seen at Chasewater and Westport, with a flock of 340 Great Black-backed Gulls at the former; and Short-eared Owls were found at Brandon and Coton, one at the latter being mobbed by a Peregrine. Eight Hawfinches at Chase End Hill on the fifteenth increased in number as the month went on, but a flock of 150 Siskins at Brandon was the largest in the Region in the first winter period, when they were generally scarce. Only one Water Pipit occurred at Wilden during the month. Flocks of over 350 Chaffinches were present at Astley, Aqualate and Mill Green, but Bramblings were not so common and flocks of 200 at Mill Green, 45 at Himley and 18 at Sutton Park were noteworthy. Cold weather around the twenty-second brought snow, together with a scattering of Bewick's Swans and the flock of Barnacle Geese at Bitteil rose to over 100. A Little Gull at Draycote was unusual and the overwintering Common Sandpiper there remained, despite the cold spell. Flocks of over 150 Skylarks were good counts at Kineton and Stourport. The cold weather soon cleared, which must have been a relief to a pair of Blackbirds feeding young in Stratford! Despite generally low duck numbers, there were still 1190 Wigeon (a record 9000 were also at Martin Mere, Lancashire) and 909 Ruddy Ducks at Blithfield and plover numbers were also good, with flocks of over 3000 Lapwings noted at a number of localities and 1000 Golden Plovers at both Bredon and Dordon. At the end of the month, three Twite were an unusual find at Queslett, a male Merlin was first seen at Essington and the same or another Bittern occurred at Ladywalk, remaining for some time. The majority of February was mild, but moist, as a series of fronts moved across the country and it was generally quiet for birds. On the second, an extraordinary 161 Magpies were seen to go to roost at Edgbaston. On the sixth a solitary Knot arrived at Draycote for a short stay, and on the seventeenth, 12 Brambling were present at Brandon. 2000 Fieldfares at North End on the ninth were part of good numbers. On the tenth, a Little Auk was found in an exhausted state on the road near Flash and later released at Tittesworth; its occurrence resulted from strong winds the previous day and a number of others were found, nationally, most unfortunately, dead. During the month, two to three Short-eared Owls were present at Doxey and up to ten in the Kingsbury area. On the eleventh, there was a Hen Harrier at Castlemorton Common and a Merlin at Alvecote. Two White-fronted Geese stopped at Kingsbury on the fourteenth and the following day a Firecrest was found at Lowsonford. On the eight©©nth, a Red- 5 breasted Merganser arrived for a long stay, at Blithfield and two days later the mild weather prompted the arrival of the first Oystercatcher, part of a good spring passage. There were possibly seven different Iceland Gulls in Staffordshire during the month; 40000 Black-headed, 3000 Lesser Black-backed and a Mediterranean Gull were at Draycote. A Great Grey Shrike at Cannock Chase was one of only six recorded nationally.