Chasewater, Whitemore Haye, Barton Pits, Small Meadow Pits and back to Chasewater, Staffordshire, Britain.

Out for a good days birding around Staffs with Friends Sharon and John.

Ebird List for Chasewater.

Ebird List for Whitemore Haye.

Ebird List for Barton Pits.

Ebird List for Dunstall Road.

Ebird List for Small Meadow Pits.

Ebird List for Chasewater.

Goosander (Serreta Grande / Mergus merganser).

John picked me up outside my Mom's just before 08:00 and we headed back over to his place where Sharon got us a bacon sandwich and a coffee ready before we all headed out towards dam end of Chasewater where we parked and checked the Reservoir.

Goosander (Serreta Grande / Mergus merganser).

Great Crested Grebe (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus).

Great Crested Grebe (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus).

Almost straight away we saw two of my favorite water birds, Goosander (Serreta Grande / Mergus merganser) and Goldeneye (Porrón Osculado /Bucephala clangula) along with Canada Geese (Barnacla Canadiense /Branta canadensis), Mute Swan (Cisne Vulgar / Cygnus olor), Mallard (Anade Azulón / Anas platyrhynchos), Tufted Duck (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula), Little (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis) and Great Crested Grebe (Somormujo Lavanco / Podiceps cristatus), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo), Eurasian Coot (Focha Común / Fulica atra), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus), European Herring (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (Gaviota Sombria / Larus fuscus).

Tufted Duck (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula) male.

Tufted Duck (Porrón Monudo / Aythya fuligula) female.

In the trees and surroundings there were Woodpigeon (Paloma Torcaz / Columba palumbus), Common Magpie (Urraca / Pica pica), Jackdaw (Grajilla / Corvus monedula), Carrion Crow (Corneja Negra / Corvus corone), Blackcap (Curruca Capirotada / Sylvia atricailla), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), House Sparrow (Gorrión Común / Passer domesticus), Robin (Petirrojo Europeo / Erithacus rubecula), Siskin (Lúgano / Carduelis spinus), Pied Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla yarrellii), Goldfinch (Jilguero / Carduelis carduelis) and Common Chaffinch (Pinzón Vulgar / Fringilla coelebs).

Goldeneye (Porrón Osculado /Bucephala clangula) FFM.

Goldeneye (Porrón Osculado /Bucephala clangula) FM.

Goosander (Serreta Grande / Mergus merganser).

We moved on and headed up the A38 towards Alrewas and then out and around the Gravel Pits, Lanes and fields, we looked for a wintering Slavonian / Horned Grebe (Zampullín Cuellirrojo / Podiceps auritus), we failed to find it but we did add Greylag Geese (Ansar Común / Anser anser), Egyptian Geese (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca), Northern Shoveler (Pato Cuchara / Anas clypeata), Eurasian Wigeon (Sibón Europeo / Anas penelope), Common Pochard (Porrón Común / Aythya ferina), Northern Lapwing (Avefria Europea / Vanellus vanellus), Great Cormorant (Cormorán Grande / Phalacrocroax carbo) and Redwing (Zorzal Alirrojo / Turdus illacus).

Fieldfare (Zorzal Real / Turdus pilaris).

We moved up the road and parked in a disused part of the road where we scanned the fields and pools, there was quite a lot of disturbace as people were working in the area we were looking for a regular Merlin (Esmerejón / Falco columbarius), as expected we didn't see it but we did add Fieldfare (Zorzal Real / Turdus pilaris), Blackbird (Mirlo Común / Turdus merula), Mistle Thrush (Zorzal Charlo / Turdus viscivorus), Linnet (Pardillo Común / Carduelis cannabina), Skylark (Alondra Común / Alauda arvensis), Dunnock (Acentor Común / Prunella modularis), Common Stonechat (Tarabilla Común / Saxicola torquata), Pheasant (Faisán Vulgar / Phaisanus colchicus), Common Kestrel (Cernicalo Vulgar / Falco tinnunculus), Common Buzzard (Busardo Ratonero / Buteo buteo), Blue (Herrerillo Común / Parus caeruleus) and Great Tit (Carbonera Común / Parus major), Wren (Chochin / Troglodytes troglodytes), Common Starling (Estornino Pinto / Sturnus vulgaris) and Pied Wagtail (Lavandera Blanca / Montacilla yarrellii).

Greylag Goose (Ansar Común / Anser anser).

European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus).

We moved around to another couple of spots on the lanes finding Great Egret (Garceta Grande / Egretta alba), Yellowhammer (Escribano Cerillo / Emberiza citronella) and European Brown Hare (Lepus europaeus).

Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis).

Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis).

We moved on again and headed a couple more junction's up the A30 to Barton Gravel Pits where we had a walk out to a spot over looking over Ashy Pits (I think thats right) where along with a couple of local birders we added Little Grebe (Zampullín Común / Tachybaptus ruficollis), Stock Dove (Paloma Zurita / Columba oenas), Common Moorhen (Gallineta Común / Gallinulas chloropus), Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata), Song Thrush (Zorzal Común / Turdus philomelos) and Grey Squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) to the day list.

Egyptian Geese (Ganso del Nilo / Alopochen aegyptiaca).

We popped just up the road after being told about a couple of Western Cattle Egret (Garcilla Bueyera / Bubulcus ibis) and soon found them feeding in large garssy field with a flock of sheep.

Red Deer (Ciervo común / Cervus elaphus).

Red Deer (Ciervo común / Cervus elaphus).

Just down the road in Barton-under-needwood we parked and went for a walk fown a track to view Small Meadows Pits where we scanned the old pits to our right and the working ones to the left only finding 2x Shelduck (Tarro Blanco / Tadoma tadorna) that were new for the day.

Common Gull (Gaviota Cana / Larus canus).

Black-headed (Gaviota Riedora / Larus ridibundus), European Herring (Gaviota Argéntea Europea / Larus argentatus) and adult Iceland Gull (Gaviota Groenlandesa / Larus glaucoides).

We headed back to the car and headed back to Chasewater for the Gull roost, we arrived and walked out to the balcony and set up the scopes and after a bit of a search we located the 3 Great Northern Divers (Colimbo Grande / Gavia immer) which had been around for a few days.

The Gull Roost.

JJ at the Gull Roost.

Other new birds seen included Shag (Cormorán Mondudo / Phalacrocorax aristotelis), Common (Gaviota Cana / Larus canus), Great Black-backed (Gavión Atlántico / Larus marinus), Caspian (Gaviota del Caspio / Larus cachinnans) and an adult Iceland Gull (Gaviota Groenlandesa / Larus glaucoides).

We went back to Sharon and John's place where we had a nice meal and John and I tried a couple of very nice Irish Whiskey's John had, very nice.