Whitearses everywhere!!!

Oooooh yes!!! After two very poor springs for Wheatears around work I hit the jackpot today. Not just one but twelve of the little beauty's in fields below the factory at snappin' time, problem was i found them with just ten minutes of the break left!

Soon as I could this evenin' I was back around work and managed to find two more but the flock of twelve had all already moved on. They must have come down after light overnight rain followed by a heavy shower around dawn. A break in the cloud mid-afternoon must have encouraged them to continue north. Nearby Spurn o Staffs (Berryhill) had 31 Wheatears this mornin and a Whimbrel as well!

That's all folks.

SEDGE WOBBLER!!! Utch 18/4/10 1050-1150.

Well after a bit of a moan on BF about this sunbathin' weather beein' crap for passage it seems as though the birdin' Gods decided to stop me in my tracks by producing a singin' SEDGE WOBBLER this mornin' in the small reedbed opposite Leasowes fm pit!!! Yes, I know you must be thinkin' I've gone mad(madder) but despite plenty of habo there's only been one previous record and that was a singin' bird last year that RP had, but failed to see so this was definitely a Utch Mega! I was determined to see it so after crashin' through the hedge i managed to get into a position where if it popped up I'd be onto it straight away. Thankfully after a brief wait it popped up in full view!!! Get in there you beauty It's so much nicer when you don't have to wait around for hours unlike the singin' Nightingale that we spent hours tryin' to see last spring at Branston and failed. That's local patchin though, for me this little Sedgey might as well have been a Berkley Square Songster.

Despite only beein' at Utch for just an hour I still managed to weigh in with four Utch year ticks includin' the WOBBLER. That means I'm now on 97 and nearin' the ton again and it's still only April.

Sedge Warbler 1, Willow Warbler 1, Common Sandpiper 1, Nuthatch 1, Goosander 9, Shoveler 2.

A stroll round Cotton Dell this afternoon with Jan and the hounds produced a singin' Tree Pipit near the old college but no sign of the big woodland three. Two RLP's were in fields on Cotton Banks. No birds meant a bit of a play with the old Mugimaki in this beautiful part of Staffordshire.

That's all folks.

Utch 17/4/10 1730-1950.

A beautiful day again today, far to nice to even think of a good bird poppin' in at Utch, and that's exactly what happened!!!! Naff all, not even a Greenshank or Whimbrel, both of which have been seen just over the Dove in the dark side. After the Wag' Fest passage seems to have come to a complete halt, either that or everything is just carryin' straight on overhead. One good thing though is as you can see from the picture, the pumps are goin' well and the water level is droppin' rapidly with several small islands now visible on the main pit and hopefully if the water levels continue droppin' we will finally get a really decent wader, one to get the armchair birders off their #####!

Even the one thing i did expect to appear, The Bare Arsed Knacker Flasher failed to show! For those who don't have a Scooby Doo what I'm goin' on about we have a local naturist at Utch who likes nothin' better than wanderin' round Utch completely bollocko on a warm Saturday afternoon! All he wears is a baseball cap and his shoes and the reason he wears a cap is to hide his Speedos under it for when he bumps into some poor sod. The first time me and RP bumped into him he was running on the spot starkers, ten seconds later he was two fields away with his Speedos on.

Goosander 17, Eurasian Teal 11, Mandarin 1, Shoveler 3, Goldeneye 1, Common Shelduck 3, Green Sand' 2, Oyst' 2, LRP one or two, Chiff' 2, Meadow Pip' 18.

That's all folks.

Utch 15/4/10 1825-2005.

Back down to earth with a bump this evening after the recent Wag' Fest's and Rock Star. The only highlight was bumpin' into a rather dapper lookin' RP. Bird wise very little to report despite at one point me hallucinating about a Common Sand'.

Eurasian Teal 9, Shoveler 1, Shelduck 2, Goldeneye 1, Green Sand' 3, LRP 6, Eurasian Curlew 4, Oyst' 2.

That's all folks.

Robin's Family Slain In Tragic Accident.

Tragic news as emerged this afternoon, of the accidental "slaying" of an unfinished clutch of Robin eggs in a Staffordshire factory early this morning. The unlucky robins had decided to build a nest on top of some m8x70 pins. When the nest was discovered by the local Birdman, everyone was made aware and the area was put out of bounds to non-Robin Strokers.

After four days the female had laid four eggs and all was goin' well until this mornin' when balding local computer game fanatic and telly addict "X BOX" returned to work after a spell on the sick after spiflicating himself while being harassed by a snake eyed team leader screaming "faster, faster, faster,faster"!!!!

Owd X Box got right into his stride after his lengthy lay off and proceeded to get his work area back in order. Sadly no one had mentioned the fact that the bits of paper hanging out of the box was in fact a Robins nest and he duly picked it up and emptied the contents straight into the bin!!!!!!! Only later when the Birdman went to check on the nest to see if egg numero cinq had been laid was the full horror of the mornings events revealed. By then it was to late and despite the pleading of Top Plasterer and Stunt Digger Driver "Young" Johnny Bradders it was decided that nothin' could be done and a short service was performed by Works Brief Mark "fishman" Show.

Sad but True.

That's all folks.

Utch 13/4/10 1735-1950 Wag' Fest Part Two.

Brrrrrrrr! God it was cold tonight, I'm still checkin' to see if owt's fell off. Another nice movement of wagtails through Utch this evening, this time of the yellow variety. Also one White Wag' among a few Pieds.

A fine summer plumaged Dunlin fed on the north year but seemed to have moved on by half seven. Good numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins fed over the main pit but i couldn't find any House Martins among them, still a bit early yet.

Yellow Wagtail 13, White Wagtail 1, Dunlin 1, Green Sand' 2, LRP 4, Snipe 2, Mandarin 2, Teal 14, Goldeneye 1, Shelduck 2, Shoveler 2.

That's all folks.

Utch 11/4/10 0750-0950/

Hey up folks after last nights rock n roll master class from Aussie rockers AIRBOURNE I was still buzzin' when I got to Utch this mornin'.

Bird of the mornin' must be the stunnin' male Canary....er sorry Yellow Wag' that fed on the north shore. It really was that yellow. Two singin' male Blackcaps were new in, one by the old barn and one in the edge alongside Leasowes fm pit. A pair of Shoveler fed along the north shore before bein' almost beheaded as two dodgy lookin' Gypo Geese dropped in after an incredible journey of over a mile from the nearby JCB Lakes. One of the pair, a very dodgy lookin' individual looks like the result of to many close family relationships, if you get my drift! I've definitely seen that one at Rocester. Funnily enough this is my first record of Gypos at Utch, it just shows they don't move that far. Havin' said that though I've seen quite a few around Cheesedale.

Blackcap 2, Yellow Wag' 1,Shoveler 2, Shelduck 2,Eurasian Teal 5,Goosander 1,Coot 16, Green Sand' 3, LRP, Oyst' 3.

After Fridays Wag' Fest' I couldn't find a single one this mornin' but it was nice to see that i'd jammed onto a bit of a movement of alba wag's judgin' by the amount of birds that were comin' onto the old pager, especially around the north west.

No chance of a return visit this evenin' after spendin' the rest of the day with Cheesedales very own Charlie Dymock, our Jan', I was cream crackered! Thankfully she hasn't done away with the old t cups yet.

That's all folks.