Monday, 24 March 2025

A quintet of Black Redstarts

On Sunday 23rd May, after a long drive back from Wales the previous day having had to divert via just south of Birmingham due to motorway closures on both the M4 and M25 my journey was extended by an extra hour, so I was a little later up than planned but Andrew's tweet about Brs at the Net Posts had me heading down there and having to park on the road due to all the spaces being taken in the layby I walked over and it took a while before I connected with the BRs, I first saw a pair of Muntjac Deer near the big bramble bush. It was disappointing the Council has cleared the weedy area (which was supposed to be a 'ecologically senstive area', I met Phil D. and Kevin B. and then suddenly the Black Redstarts appeared a female and a 1st year male and an adult male (although probably 2nd year as it still showed a yellow gape lie running a lirttle way back from the bill- see sixth pic attached to this post). They spent time busy feeding on the ground the perching on the Net posts. I also spotted a young female Stonechat that obligingly perched on a post. Satisfied, I walked to Ness Point while on the ledge just south of the compass were 18 Turnstones and on the defence rocks were up to 6 of the shyer Purple Sandpipers. I took some shots but then my battery ran out and both spare batteries I had were inexplicably flat too (I thought I had charged them up!), either that or the camera had packed up. I walked back to the Net Posts and joined Paul and Jane F. and typically the birds showed closer giving Ferguson views although I couldn't take any shots. After a pleasant chat with Paul & Jane and spending some time with the Redstarts, we also saw the second adult male Black redstart totally the original 4 Black Redstarts. I went home, discovered all the batteries were flat and managed to retrieve another fully charged battery and with the power back up, I headed back to the Net Posts. It was here where walking around the Bramble bush, I saw the male Muntjac deer staring at me and I got a few shots. I saw Rob H and the redstarts moved to the northern fenced off area and again the Redstarts showed reasonably well and the sun came out. After Rob H had left and Tony B turned up, I moved back to the southern fenced off area, where incredibly found a 3rd adult male, together with the 1st year male that had reappeared as had the female Black Redstart, both Tony and I saw an unprecedented 5 Black Redstarts.

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