Hey up folks, after a spot of over indulgence on the old Strongbow last night i wasn't that keen on leavin' the warmth of my pit to early yesterday mornin' but RP was pickin' me up at seven so i thought the least i could do was be ready for the lad. Heavy overnight frost though meant he was a bit late after defrostin' his motor so i could have had a couple of extra minutes anyway.
The plan was to give Cannock Chase a good goin' over in search of year ticks for RP's growin' year list and then play it by ear. As you probably know there are one or two scarce breeders on the Chase so from this point it may get a bit cryptic, sorry for that but you can't be to careful.
We arrived on the Chase at around eight in brilliant sunshine and with a heavy frost coverin' the ground. Our first site failed to produce the target bird but a crackin' male Yellowhammer was a year tick for the big lad. Anyone who knows RP will tell you he's not the best if nothin' is happenin' so after twenty minutes we were back in the motor and headin' for our second secret location. Personally i was glad to be back in the warm, it was bloody freezin'!
Out of the motor at site two and the first thing we saw was a woman with one of those dogs that can't walk and as to be carried by it's lovin owner, a Lap Dog. Might see one or two more of them at Crufts on Saturday. A Green Woodpecker flew in front of us across the path and RP had year tick number two UTB. Then we heard a distant but familiar song, get in! As we headed towards where the song was comin' from we spotted another birder lookin' in our direction but as soon as he spotted us the singin' stopped and he scuttled off quickly. Who was this bobble hatted birder? Was he playin' a tape? Had we been listenin' to a recordin'? Heaven forbid, i'd never do that, honest. The mystery birder then disappeared for a minute before reappearin' as our target bird flew up and towards us from his direction before droppin' onto the path infront of him. As we made our way round to where it had landed a lycra clad mountain biker decided to go straight where the bird had been and forced it into the heather on the edge of the path, cheers pal. At this point we realised that the mystery birder was infact top mid's lister and Blithfield bouncer Julian Allen cleanin' up another bird in his race to beat the Blurred Birder to this years title.
While we were havin' a natter Julian picked up two of the target birds as they fed under some Birch's near the path. This time we managed to 'scope them and despite the "heat haze" we had good views. Very little else here apart from a couple of Ravens and another Yellowhammer. With the first of our targets and three year ticks UTB we headed back to the warmth of the motor after biddin' Jules a fond fare well and wishin' him luck in the competition.
On to site three and hopefully our second target bird of this bitterly cold mornin'. Despite a good kick around we couldn't find our target which may well have succumbed to the recent arctic conditions we've been endurin'. Again very few birds around apart from two Raven tusselin' with a couple of Carrion Crows. One highlight though was five Fallow Deer that came flyin' down the hillside after bein' flushed by yet more mountain bikers. Quick as a flash i whipped out the old Mugimakki and rattled off a few more candidates for "Worst Photie Of The Year".
Site four was not much better either but we did manage another of our first targets as it sang and then landed near us to give a brief view. Hope you are still with me and it's not to confusin'. Can't be to careful eh?
At this point i had one more site up my sleeve, one that RP hadn't visited before and so didn't know what was in store for him. At the end of Old Acre Lane in leafy Brocton is a bank that makes Kilimanjaro look like a doddle. After several minutes of puffin' and pantin' and RP almost needin' gas and air we reached the plateau above the Old Acre Valley and what is probably the best part of the Chase.
Again very few birds about but we did drop on a pair of Stonechats that showed well as they moved between gorse bushs. Walkin' back i spotted one of the locals with of all things a goat on a lead! Takes all sorts i suppose, but then the next time we saw them the unsuspectin' goat was bein' lured into a bush by it's dodgy lookin' owner, ooooh errr! Perhaps they were just off to make some goats cheese, eh?
By now we were both gettin' a bit peckish so bein' as RP was drivin' i said i'd get us a bite to eat from Macky D's in Utch before we hit the quarry. What an experience, i've never seen double cheeseburgers demolished with such speed, three of 'em plus large fries in under thirty seconds, what a player!!!
A quick tour of Utch produced the highest count of birders so far this year, FIVE includin' Staff's Wheatear Hunter Nick Pom and national year lister Ian Burgess. As RP said "well it is sunny". Apparently there was more than that when RP found the Friday Night Spoonbill but we won't go into that. New in were a female Pintail and drake Gadwall. While we were natterin' i picked up a Cormorant tryin' to swallow a huge Pike, despite its best efforts it couldn't lift the fish out of the water and eventually gave up.
Goosander 49
Pintail 1
Gadwall 1
Teal 4
Tufty 28
Next stop on this magical mystery tour was the South Lake at Rocester where RP had two female Scaup on Saturday. One of the Scaup was still present alongside 55 Tufties and 4 Pochard. Here's another dodgy photie to prove it.
Time was now knockin' on a bit so we headed up to the North Staffs Moors in search of a few more year ticks for the lad. First stop and no need for secrecy here was Swallow Moss, famed for it's Hen Harrier roost and sadly the site of the last Black Grouse lek in Staffs which is no more after the last of the grouse died out in the mid nineties. We didn't bother stayin long when we saw that somebody had been cuttin' the heather and left around twenty of those large buildin' merchants bags on the moss, full of heather!!!! On the bird front absolute zip apart from a distant Common Buzzard.
A quick call in at Boarsgrove and Middle Hills also produced zippo so we decided on a quick tour of a few "secret locations" to finish the day off. We'd almost given up when RP picked up our target bird as it flew over fields and then in uncharacteristic style he slammed on the anchors, leaped out of the motor and onto a grassy bank to watch the bird as it drifted off into the now gatherin' gloom. Mission accomplished owd duck!
All in all not a bad day despite the general lack of birds, but we did have a chuckle and that's as important for the soul as a good bird or beer , sometimes.
That's all folks.
