Tuesday 19 August 2008 - Shustoke Reservoir & Coleshill Quarry - 19/08/2008

Tuesday 19th August 2008

Shustoke Reservoir, Warwickshire

A quick stop over produced 3 Black Terns early this evening.  They consisted of a pair of moulting adults and a single juvenile.  Also on the rez' were 52 Great Crested Grebe.  There's always a decent number of this species here. 

Coleshill Quarry, Warwickshire

Despite the lack of hard hat, steel-toe capped boots and high visability vest I decided to defy Health & Safety procedures and take a stroll around Coleshill Quarry this evening.  I met Tom Perrins at the gate and off we trespassed.  The main target was an adult Spotted Redshank that had been reported earlier on in the day.  There was no sign of the bird on the main pit so we made our way across the river to examine the deep pit where eventually we located the bird in flight calling as it went.  We eventually enjoyed excellent views of it back on the main pit where we could see that it was in fact an immaculate spotty juvenile as opposed to an adult as previously reported.  Other species included a Little Egret, 7 Green Sandpiper, 65 Northern Lapwing and a pair of Common Teal.  A female Sparrowhawk was also seen to make a cheeky raid on a clumsy Red-legged Partridge amongst a patch of brambles but was unsuccessful.