End of Year roundup for 2024

Well, where did that year go?

As we wave goodbye to 2024, here’s a summary of how the Warwick 100 team fared over the last twelve months.  My personal year of birding was thwarted somewhat with a pelvic fracture, following a nasty fall from a bucking horse. So, there were a good few weeks of from-the-sofa birding for me, relying on the rest of the team to pick up the slack.

We finished the year with a respectable total of 110 bird species, all seen within a 2 mile radius of St Mary’s Church, in Warwick. Our little urban ‘patch’ contains a racecourse, small areas of woodland, some great floodplain meadows, the River Avon, some farmland, maintained parks and a lot of housing. Our team consists of a range of enthusiasts - some birding regularly, some once-in-a-while, but all friendly, honest and brilliant fun! 

The year started with a bang, with two firsts for the team in quick succession – a Cattle Egret found on the 25th January, near the Saxon Mill, and a fine example of a Ferruginous Duck (pic credit Mark Smith) spotted on the racecourse reservoir on the 27th. Sadly, they were to be our only new species records of the year, although Great White Egret, Osprey and Grasshopper Warbler were good to see again. 2024 has unfortunately been as notable for its absences as its sightings. There were blanks drawn for species that used to be guaranteed, or at lease regular, ticks. We haven’t seen a Golden Plover, Little Ringed Plover or Pintail for three years, Spotted Flycatcher or Woodcock for two. We missed out on Wheatear this year, the first time since our records began! There have been positive signs, however. Avon Wood, a maturing private woodland by the river, is becoming a great site for wildlife. There are growing flocks of Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, good numbers of Snipe, Little Egret and regular sightings of Otters. It’s an exciting spot that we hope will start to produce some of our missing ticks in the coming years.

The Warwick 100 team would like to wish everyone a very happy New Year and are looking forward to the list being set back to zero and here’s to another 12 months of fun birding as a team and, hopefully, some more patch gold!

Cattle egret and more!

Some days are rubbish, some are a bit meh, some are quite pleasant.  And then, every once in a while, there's a day that smacks you right in the face with its awesomeness.  Today was one of those days.

Strolling to the Saxon Mill, we started our morning along a private stretch of river we are lucky to have access to.  Enjoying all the usuals as we walked, it wasn't long before we reached an open floodplain.  We had been on the lookout for marsh tit and treecreeper, which we still don't have on the Warwick 100 list this year, but hadn't had any joy.  

In the distance, on the other side of the river, we spotted a couple of egrets in the horse fields.  There have been up to four little egrets in these fields over the last few weeks and a great white egret was recorded there in December, so we weren't surprised, but they're always nice to see, and we went for a closer look.  

"That one's beak looks a bit yellow..."  "Nah, it can't be..."  "Hang on, let me take a pic..."  "I'm sending this to the 100 team for their thoughts..."

cattle egret (credit Alec Cuthbertson)

One of the many benefits of being part of the Warwick 100 is that we use each other for ID confirmation, asking questions without feeling stupid and we all celebrate our successes as a team.  Today was the perfect example of this.  Confirmed as our first ever cattle egret and our 73rd bird of the year, there were cheers all round and three of the team went straight to the area, viewing the bird from the other side of the horse field.

After watching for a while, Jack and I continued birding around the Saxon Mill, picking up a pair of peregrines perfectly perched on a pylon (!) for number 74, along with all the regular birds.  We took a look at Flash Gordon, not really hoping for anything, but surprisingly three smart shovellers took us to 75.  Sometimes the birding Gods just smile on you.

Symmetrical peregrines

Shovellers on Flash Gordon

On to Avon Wood.  This is a wonderful thirty-two acre site of privately owned young woodland, managed traditionally, and quite brilliantly.   It has been great to watch the area grow over the last few years and it is becoming quite the spot for wildlife.  I love to go at dawn to watch the barn owl hunt and there's been records of woodcock, water rail and otters too.  

Today there was an enormous finch flock moving from tree to tree, making a cacophony of noise.  The group was made up of siskin, goldfinch, linnet and over twenty lesser redpoll.  I've never seen so many at once, it was a feast for the eyes and the ears, and took the Warwick 100 team to number 76 for the year.  

Lesser redpoll

And to top it off, just as we were enjoying them, Jack heard a familiar flight call and looked up to see a yellowhammer flying over - number 77.

What an amazing morning we had.  With a call of red kite coming from another team member as we made our way home, the Warwick 100 ended the day on 78 for the year, 138 for all time and enormous smiles on our faces.

Lizzy

When the bets are off, the birding's on!

Warwick Racecourse.  Possibly the second most famous landmark in Warwick (I suppose the castle has to take top spot..!)  But also an important landmark on the Warwick 100's map, too.

Warwick Racecourse at dawn

Hurdle racing, in particular the exciting annual Kingmaker Chase, brings excited race-goers and television crews from miles around. However, it is the centre of the track that keeps us visiting, our adrenalin surging, consistently providing us with new birds toward our target each year.  

For there is wildlife on our racecourse.  Lots of it.  We are so lucky to have diverse habitats and sympathetic support, aiming to balance the range of uses provided for the residents of Warwick.  In addition to the centre of the course, St Mary's Lands encompases the local football club, historic gardens, motorcycle track and several other buildings.   A rather grand-sounding 'Master Plan' for St Mary's Lands, ensures that any managment, enhancement and promotion of the landscape maintains the character of St Mary’s Land and its increasing biodiversity.  'The master plan represents a balanced response to the opportunities and threats posed at St. Mary’s Lands. It recognises there may be a need to invest in developments that support the wider economy, such as a hotel and expansion of the caravan park, but where any such need exists, it cannot be at the detriment to the greenspace.'  Music to our ears! 

So, what does the racecourse have that attracts so much wildlife?  

The central area contains a golf course and driving range, meaning lots of green space, trees and shrubs.  Redstarts have been recorded here as well as little owl and even a barn owl on occasion.  Next, there is a large area of meadow land where skylarks and meadow pipits breed each year.  A breeding programme is now in place, with protective fences erected during the breeding season.  The success of this project is being monitored closely and seems to have been a real success.  A further small, fenced wetland area boasts reed bunting, reed and sedge warblers.  Whinchat, stonechat and wheater pass through each year and it is a fantastic area to spot snipe (and even jack snipe) at roosting times.  Recently, a large area has been left for sunflowers, teasels and grasses to go to seed, with a finch flock building each year.  Lastly, a small resevoir always looks as though it has potential, but never seems to produce! We have named it 'the toxic pool' and the best we've seen is a green sandpiper and a couple of little grebe. Oh well, you can't win 'em all! 

 

one of this year's skylarks

this has all got me to wondering how Warwick compares to other racecourses around the country in terms of nature habitats, so had a bit of a Google.  It turns out that there's very few records of horse tracks and wildlife going hand-in-hand.  

I found Ripon City Wetlands, in Yorkshire, but that's cheating as the nature reserve is next to and not part of the racecourse.  

I found Bitts Park, in Carlisle, but that's also cheating as it is no longer a racecourse.  It is now a fantastic nature reserve in its own right.

Pontefract, in Yorkshire, apears to be the only other racecourse I could fine that promotes nature, with a lake and walk around the centre of their track.  Birdguides shows a number of recent sightings including reed and sedge warbler and tufted duck. 

And that seems to be it, so I think we're pretty lucky here in Warwick.  It may feel like a bit of a balancing act at times - nature against other users of the racecourse like model aircraft flyers, dog walkers, oh yes and of course there's the horse racing!  But we are lucky to have such diverse habitats and an acknowledged breeding site for ground-nesting birds.  

Now, I'm off to the 'Toxic Pool' to see if there's any sign of life...

Lizzy

West Midlands All Dayer May '23

We are very lucky here in Warwick, to bird as a community.  Each new sighting in the Warwick 100 area gets reported on our WhatsApp group, followed by a flurry of responses from other team members; celebrating both the individual finder and the team's success.  This is usually then followed by a barage of jokes and mild insults - all part of knowing each other pretty well by now!  When the opportunity arises to join the entire West Midlands area as a community for a day, we jump at the chance.  

The West Midlands All Dayer, run by West Midlands Bird Club, is a fantastic, twice-yearly event that started as a bit of fun between friends in the 1980s.  Now, a significant number of birding teams - from Shropshire to Warwickshire, Staffordshire to Herefordshire - race to find as many species of bird as possible in 24 hours.  With such a geographical range, there is a huge diversity of sites inlvolved - from megasites like Middleton Lakes, Ladywalk and Belvide to small 'unbirdy' patches like ours.  For us, it is not a 'race'...we know we can never compete with the wetlands, pools and migration paths of some of those birding hotspots.  For us, it's a chance to get involved and feel part of something bigger, along with making the excitement of a day list come to life.  When spotting a sparrow is a 'boom!' moment, it has to be a good day!

Our All Dayer started with my being woken at 4.20am by a blackbird.  Number one ticked!  I thought I might as well get out and about, so made my way on my bike to our local barn owl's haunt just before dawn.  No luck with Barny this time, but I managed to notch up several regulars and had a list of 30 by 6.30am.  A lesser whitethroat made me smile, as it was our 100th bird for the year (hitting our target one day earlier than last year).  While I was taking a sound recording, a cuckoo called in the distance - a great record for Warwick, for the day and the year!  Off to the golf course, adding a few more locals like great crested grebe and buzzard, then to the Saxon Mill fields to see if any migrants had dropped.  Nothing doing, but I did get to see a wonderful young stag by the river.

Stag at the Saxon Mill fields

At this point, the rest of the team started to stir, with Steve, David, Rick and Alec all contributing with bullfinch, goldcrest and sadly, a dead red kite reported (which we obviously didn't count). 

I had some chores to do and a lunch date with my Mum (watching Charlie get his new hat) as the team hit the 50 mark.  Top respect to a couple of the group, who braved the worst of the weather in the middle of the day, to pick up canada goose, treecreeper and raven.  

Treecreeper - Alec Cuthbert

Full of coronation chicken sandwiches, I went out again, choosing Hopyards and the sewage works.  A huge flock of hirundines, including sand martin, and reed warbler on a local pool made it worth the trip, while records of willow warbler, nuthatch and sparrow hawk came in from elsewhere.  Meeting up with Steve, we took a stroll around the racecourse to see if the ellusive whinchat was about.  There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary, although the skylarks were showing well.

hoards of hirundines

skylark at the racecourse

Even some of the ordinary everyday birds were notably absent today - grey wagtail, greylag goose, black-headed gull, kestrel or peregrine never made it to the list. 

Eventually we all decided to call it a day with a total of 64 bird species.   A brilliant result, with lots of conversation (including jokes and mild insults) on the WhatsApp, as well as keeping up with the #westmidsalldayer posts on Twitter.  A HUGE thanks to Phil Andrews for coordinating the event, we are already looking forward to the September one!

Lizzy

Here is the list...

blackbird
blackcap
blue tit
bullfinch SV
buzzard
Canada goose SV
carrion crow
chaffinch
chiffchaff
coal tit
collared dove SV
coot AC
cuckoo
dunnock
ferel pigeon
gadwall AC
goldcrest RT
goldfinch
great crested grebe
great spotted woodpecker SV
great tit
green woodpecker
greenfinch
grey heron
herring gull
house martin
house sparrow
jackdaw
jay
kingfisher
lesser black-backed gull
lesser whitethroat
linnet
little egret AC
little grebe AC
long-tailed tit SV
magpie
mallard
meadow pipit DM
mistle thrush SV
moorhen
mute swan
nuthatch DM
pheasant
pied wagtail
raven AC
Reed bunting
Reed warbler
robin
rook
sand martin
sedge warbler
skylark
song thrush
sparrowhawk SV
starling
stock dove
swallow
swift SV
treecreeper AC
whitethroat
willow warbler DM
wood pigeon
wren

Smelly birding

Countless, cloud-like swarms of martins and swallows swoop, turn and dive and over dark waters.  The local sparrow hawk glides silently overhead, checking out her chances amongst the dancing flock.  corvids squabble and scuffle over the best perches, while pied and grey wagtails march at ground level, in a seemingly never-ending hunt for insects.  What an idyllic spot for a spot of bird watching...

...at our local sewage works!

prime spot!

Here in Warwick, there are very few sites for quality birding and even fewer with contained, still water to attract wildlife.  So, the water treatment plant on the Stratford Road has become one of the team's regular locations to visit, to attempt to spot potential additions to our list.  It appears we are not the only ones to hold our noses in hope. 

Bird species seen across UK sewage works make for impressive reading over the years - dipper, glossy ibis, breeding green sandpipers and Siberian chiffchaff to name a few.  Beckton Sewage treatment works, East London, has clocked up 148 species including curlew, dunlin and Caspian gull, along with records of grass snakes and bank voles.  Northumbrian Water have planted reed beds at Birtley water treatment plant, attracting bittern, gadwall and jack snipe.  A 'Waste to Warblers' tour of the site was even offered back in 2016.  Swindon, Salford and Bicester have all also turned their sites into mini nature reserves to balance human need with protecting biodiversity.  Brilliant!

So, why do these manmade and rather smelly locations draw so many birds?  Well, the percolating filter beds in sewage treatment works have high macroinvertebrate densities, don't you know... (in other words, the water is full of oxygen and nutrients, so has lots of bugs in it that are big enough to see with the naked eye).  Fly larvae hatches, providing aerial food for birds (and bats, according to other studies) and providing plenty of opportunity for a healthy food chain.  As Tom Stephenson, US birder and author, puts it so concisely,  'Water, heat and fertilizer...what more could you ask for?'

Breakfast for hirundines...? 

So, we will continue to visit our little sewage treatment works; holding our noses, enjoying the regulars, hoping for rarities.  You never know what might turn up...

Lizzy

Green birding in its purest form...

Since Boxing Day, my 'patch' has shrunk from around 2 miles to about 20 metres...and not through choice!

I've been floored, like many of the population, with a nasty bacterial infection and virus that has kept me housebound for the last two weeks.  The Warwick 100 team have totally stepped up, bagging over half of our annual target in the first week of 2023 - with greylag goose being our 50th bird.  A brilliant team effort, it's been great to watch our WhatsApp feed buzzing with everyone's sightings while they are out and about.

I, on the other hand, have been staring absently through my lounge window from under a blanket (think old lady in nursing home).  

I am lucky to have a good garden.  built on three levels on a steep bank, our top level is given over to a little wild woodland area with ferns, trees, shrubs, a tiny wildlife pond and a huge old sycamore right at the back (it sounds way posher than it is).  This brings in a fair bit of wildlife considering we live in the middle of a housing estate in Warwick.  Hanging seed dispensers, ivy left to roam and and ignored apples entice the winter birds to feed.  My absent staring for the last couple of weeks has produced a list of 20 species so far, without stepping foot outside!  None of these species are rare, or even of note really, compared to some of the garden lists I see on social media.  One of my Twitter friends has recently moved to a new house, with views of a mill pond and the potential for some amazing sightings.  Another, relocated to a remote island in Scotland, will have garden list entries I can only dream of!  But, I'm happy with my little urban collection of wildlife to keep me company while I rest up.

So, what about the rules of garden listing?  I keep mine like Patchwork Challenge.  Any sighting of a wild bird counts - whether it lands in my garden, on my neighbours' land, in the sycamore or simply flying over.

The RSPB's infamous Big Garden Birdwatch has more stringent rules, only wanting birds that land to be counted, I guess so the word 'garden' birdwatch is kept true, along with creating an easy process for families and occasional birdwatchers to follow.   The BTO has also been running garden birdwatches since 1995 and have a similar rule.  They state they are 'interested in birds that are using the resources that your garden provides', which seems fair enough, so high flyovers are not of interest.   They do give an example of a low-flying swift or swallow taking advantage of insects within gardens, however, so these should be counted, providing valuable information for research.  

However we decide to run our own lists, it is amazing what taking the time to watch one tiny area can produce (even if it isn't through choice).  I've learned that maybe, when I do finally end up in that nursing home, I can still keep a little birdwatching list!

Jenny wren

GSW in the sycamore

  

grumpy greenfinch

A wreath I made being put to good use!

Ring Ouzel Fabulousness

Sometimes the stars just align...

I was in a coffee shop a few days ago, when I spotted a friend I hadn't seen for over a year.  Popping over to her table, we had a lovely natter.  Then she commented that it was very odd - she had only thought of me this morning when a strange bird had turned up in her garden.  I asked her about the bird...

"It was the size of a blackbird, just like a blackbird really, but had a big white patch on its chest.  I had a look in the bird books and I think it's a ringed ouzlett." She said.

Of course, up my heart-rate went, but I tried to keep calm and consider that it could just be one of our local leucistic blackbirds. "I have a dodgy picture that I can send to you, I took it on my phone."  She continued.  Heart rate a little higher.  The picture arrived an hour later.  Heart rate through the roof!

taken by my friend with her phone

She gave me her address and I hastily checked the boundary of the 100 area to see if it was tickable for the Warwick 100 list.  Ack!  about 100 yards outside.  Frustrating not to be able to get it on our list, but still a great record for Warwickshire (only the fifth ever winter rouzel, apparently).

I couldn't get away from work/life for a couple of days but, yesterday, I received a message to say he was in the garden again.  Having broken up from school for a mere ten minutes, I hotfooted it to the address and hid, shivering, in my kind friend's garden for an hour.   I'd only ever seen one ring ouzel before; on a birding trip to Dungeness some years ago, with Jack.  That one was flighty and a long distance away.  But here this one was, right above me in a rowan tree, an absolute beauty of a bird. He'd eat for a couple of minutes, fly off and return almost exactly eight minutes later.  

Hmmmm, I thought.  I wonder which direction he's flying in... 

A bit of following the flight path and peering down the road and my mood lifted even more - he was flying straight into the Warwick 100 area as part of his circuit!  Bird number 112 for the year and an amazing, if chilly hour spent.

Thanks so much to my non-birding friend for taking an interest and telling me about the 'strange' bird.  She doesn't want her address given out, so apologies to people who I know would want to have seen him.  But it just shows that some brilliant birds can turn up in the most unlikely of places!

  

taken by Lizzy

Birdsong in the Ballroom

One of our team members, Rick, has published a book all about urban birding; diarising a year of the birds and wildlife spotted in our local park.  It is a beautifully written book and well worth a read.

A couple of weeks ago, Rick was invited to speak at an event in Warwick town centre - he's quite the celeb!  Here is the local write-up on the event... 

The Regency ballroom in the Court House – Warwick's Town Hall – echoed to the sound of spring birdsong on April 13^th. The occasion was the monthly tea, talk and quiz staged by 'Unlocking Warwick', the Town Council's volunteer group.

Rick Thompson - a member of the Warwick100 Birding group and the Warwick Natural History Society, gave a fascinating talk about the surprising wildlife to be found in St. Nicholas Park, in the centre of town, as featured in his book 'Park Life – a year in the wildlife of an urban park'.

It was a full house in the ballroom as Rick showed pictures of some of the obvious and easily identified birds that are regulars in the park, such as the pair of mute swans, heron, the unpopular magpies and the noisy blue tits and great tits.   He described the excitement of springtime, when more than 20 million birds arrive in Britain, from more arid climes in Africa and southern Europe, to breed.

All birdwatchers know that identifying small birds is as much about bird-listening as bird-watching.  So, with the aid of the Collins Bird Guide App and a linked loudspeaker, the audience was able to hear some of the vocal residents such as the robin and wren, and also migrant warblers, arriving in the park in mid-April.

The ballroom rang with the sound of the easily identified chiffchaff, and the slightly more difficult songs of the blackcap, sedge warbler, whitethroat and Cetti's warbler - all to be heard now at Kingfisher Pools, near the footbridge in St. Nicholas Park.

Rick reflected on the importance of urban parks and contact with nature for physical and mental wellbeing. Scientists call this 'exposure to greenspace'.  The beneficial effects of regular contact with the natural world can be measured, and became invaluable to many during the pandemic restrictions.  Rick went on to say that observing wildlife closely and gaining some knowledge of the plants, insects and birds, makes his regular walks in the park much more rewarding - uplifting the spirits even in the darkest of times.

After the talk, Rick signed copies of his book ‘Park Life’, and the teatime quiz followed.  Devised by Helen Fellows, it contained 25 questions about British wildlife…do you know what a male and female badger are called? Or the name of an otter’s home?

We are very proud of our Rick and look forward to more books and talks from him in the future.

Park Life: A Year in the Wildlife of an Urban Park: Amazon.co.uk: Thompson, Rick: 9781839751738: Books

WNHS

 

Happy New Year!

 So here we are, the New Year is almost upon us and, for many birders, that also means a new notepad and a new Year List - when spotting blackbirds and robins becomes exciting all over again!

This is certainly the case for the Warwick 100 - a small group of enthusiasts who set an annual target of noting 100 species of birds within a two mile radius of St Mary's Church over a twelve month period.

Last year, we smashed it with 116 different species - a brilliant and memorable year with a visiting hoopoe the star of the show.

But the slate is now wiped clean, we are back to zero again and a new list can begin!  It is likely to be much more of a test this year, as our most prolific bird-finder will only be able to contribute on rare occasions, but we are ready to take on the Warwick 100 challenge once more.

Join us as we log and blog our way through 2022 and...bring on the birds!

End of Year roundup for 2021

This year has been another good year for our little area of Warwick and its 2 mile radius.  As a small group we managed to find 116 different species of birds in total making this our best ever year.   This is another great achievement considering 90% of the species found involved no car travel and the other 10% involved car journeys of less than 3 miles.  

We started the year off well with at least 8 Stonechats over-wintering at 4 different locations within the Warwick area, 1 Woodcock, 1 Brambling, 1 Jack Snipe, 1 Merlin, our returning Whooper Swan and a Russian White Fronted Goose that only stayed for 24 hours.  We also had a record number of 5 Green Sandpipers at one location and our highest count of Common Snipe was a maximum of 25 birds.

Spring was quiet this year with just 2 Wheatear and 1 Common Redstart being the highlights.  Summer was also quiet but the Racecourse area had its best season of breeding Skylarks for several years with a small increase in breeding pairs.  Autumn, after achieving just 1 Whinchat was saved by our star bird of the year, a Hoopoe at IBM.

Hoopoe by Alec Cuthbertson

Winter is always our best season for recording species and this winter has had a promising start with at least 2 Stonechats overwintering as well as a Cetti's Warbler but no sign so far of our Whooper Swan yet.

We reached our target of 100 birds within the first 100 days of 2021 which is the first time we have managed to do that, with the 100th bird being a Yellow Wagtail found by Lizzy.  

The full list of species seen during the year can be found here.

Want to stay in Warwick and while here read about Warwick then look no further

If you are planning to stay in Warwick then look no further and take a look at The Secret Space.  It is centrally located not that far from Smith Street with its host of independent shops, restaurants and Cafes and is run by one of our Warwick 100 members who is a superhost on airbnb.

Before you come, take a look at some images taken in and around the town (instagram access needed).

Then while you are here, why not read all about our birds seen in one of our local parks.  Park Life is written by one of our other members and is available from here or Amazon, Waterstones etc.

End of Year roundup for 2019

2019 has been a great year for the number of different species we have managed to see within the Warwick 100 area with a few surprises and some species that we thought were guaranteed but just could not track down (Red-Legged Partridge in particular).

All sightings for the Warwick 100 area or nearby are my own unless specified otherwise.

There were firsts for Lizzy and Jack at the Saxon Mill, being Goosander and Golden Plover and they had a bumper day in November with 3 Woodcocks.  Lizzy’s highlight was being almost scared to death by a calling Barn Owl at the Warwickshire Golf Course and then finding 2 Bewick's Swans this past week.

Bewick's Swans at the Warwickshire Golf Course by Lizzy Bradbury

David found a Stonechat at Warwick Racecourse in November which was the first one we have had on that site for a couple of years (it turned out that there was a pair which I managed to photograph the following day).  Our local wintering Snipe roost had an impressive 26+ birds (and continues to do so currently).  Lizzy and Jack found a pair of breeding Spotted Flycatchers and I found another pair in a location not frequented by any of us normally.

My own Warwick 100 site had a bumper year with the following:-

In winter; I almost fainted when a Bittern flew directly over my head on 14/02/2019.  I had 2 over wintering Green Sandpipers seen together on 28/03/2019, 30/03/2019 and 01/04/2019.  I also had singles from 08/03/2019 to 22/04/2019.  2 Whooper Swans also flew low over my head on 06/01/2019 and singles were seen in other locations on 13/02/2019 and 06/03/2019.  There was a flock of Golden Plover containing about 50 birds and a smattering of Lapwing for a few days mid January.  A Great Egret was seen on 08/03/2019 and then again on 26/03/2019 (as was a Little Egret).  A Goosander flew down river on 15/03/2019 (possibly the same bird that Lizzy saw on a different date) and a drake Mandarin hung around from 30/03/2019 to 02/04/2019.

In Spring,  1 Wheatear on 01/04/2019 and 30+ Sand Martins on 02/04/2019.  Another surprise was a fly over Whimbrel on 21/04/2019 and 1 or possibly 2 Common Sandpipers seen from 17/04/2019 to 26/04/2019.  The rest of spring was relatively quiet with the only notable thing being a count of 40+ Swift on 06/06/2019 over the Stratford Road near to Aylesford School and the Severn Trent Sewage Works.

In Summer, there were maybe up to 3 Hobbys at 3 different locations (with the latest being recorded in the autumn on 30/09/2019) and a returning Wheatear on 21/08/2019.

In Autumn, 1 Common Sandpiper on 03/09/2019 and 04/09/2019, 2 Whinchats from 04/09/2019 to 13/09/2019 (and also 2 at Warwick Racecourse on 03/04/2019 and 04/09/2019) and 1 Stonechat from 27/10/2019 to 29/10/2019.   The drake Mandarin again on 07/09/2019, 1 Yellow Wagtail on 10/09/2019 and then 2 on 17/09/2019, 1 Spotted Flycatcher from the end of August to the end of September and then joined by another on 29/09/2019.  2 Greenshank flew over calling on 15/10/2019, 1 Green Sandpiper from 27/10/2019 to 12/11/2019 then 3 together on 17/11/2019, 1 on 18/11/2019 and 1 on 13/12/2019 and a Woodcock accidently flushed on 20/11/2019. After the prolonged rain, there was a "duckfest" from 30/10/2019 to 23/11/2019 with 2 Wigeon, 1 Pintail, 10+ Teal, 2 Shoveler, 1 Gadwall and 1 possible juvenile Red Crested Pochard. The flooding also attracted large numbers of Gulls with 500+ Black-Headed Gulls recorded on 18/11/2019 and a Yellow-Legged Gull on 30/10/2019 and 31/10/2019.

For a full list of the birds seen in the Warwick 100 area please click here.

Welcome

Welcome to this new blog which will provide a list of species seen within the Warwick 100* area (2 miles radius of Old Town Square) per year or over all time (see the tabs above). 

*Our yearly challenge is to find 100 species within the area!