Morton Bagot - Sunday October 5

 This morning the strong wind which had characterised the last twenty-four hours had subsided somewhat, although it was still somewhat fresh at Morton Bagot. I was joined by Dave, back from an eventful birding holiday on Scilly. From the sublime to the ridiculous, the local patch cannot remotely compete.

There was one species which stood out today, although we probably overlooked most of them. For the first hour, against a backdrop of clear blue skies, the odd Meadow Pipit was logged as and when we heard their calls. Towards the end of the visit some cloud rolled in, and suddenly we could see them as well as hear them. In about thirty minutes our count had ballooned to a reasonably impressive 93 birds, all heading south-west. For every call we heard, a quick scan would reveal a loose group of up to twenty birds. We couldn't help reflect that if we'd just stood still all morning we would probably have logged a lot more of them.

The rest of the walk round had produced six Stonechats, each one perching briefly in full view before being blown into cover by the next gust of wind. A Kingfisher called as it flew over our heads, Dave seeing it (or another) twice more before the morning was out. Occasional Redpolls, Siskins and Skylarks called high above, presumably migrating.

The flash pool revealed the same old stuff; 44 Teal, a number of Mallard, two Snipe and two Green Sandpipers. Nothing was perching up for long enough to tempt me to get the camera out, but eventually a Kestrel took pity.

It won't be long before the wind eases and maybe shifts to the east, and then the first Redwings will be back and the next phase of autumn will be in play.

Friday October 3 - Earlswood Lakes (and some moths)

 I finally got out into the field today having recovered sufficiently from an annoying cold picked up after last weekend. Mind you I haven't missed much, and I rather wondered why I bothered today. I went to Earlswood and came away with 27 Teal, four Shovelers, six Snipe, and a couple of Swallows.

The most interesting thing was the extent that the water-level has now dropped on Engine and Windmill Pool. Loads of mud and only Teal exploiting it.

Engine Puddle Pool

On Wednesday night I decided to stick the moth trap out. That was a little more successful. I caught 21 moths of just five species. However, two of the five were new for the year: Garden Rose Tortrix and Deep-brown Dart. The latter was only my second. The taxonomy of that species appears to have settled that the species formerly known in the UK as Northern Deep-brown Dart Aporophyla lueneburgensis is actually a race of Deep-brown Dart, which is now Aporophyla lueneburgensis while "Deep-brown Dart" Aporophyla lutulenta is a different European species which may not even occur in the UK. 

Deep-brown Dart Aporophyla lueneburgensis

Garden Rose Tortrix

Saturday September 27 - Morton Bagot

 It's been quite an eventful morning. Tony had tipped me off that he would be ringing at Morton Bagot, so I made sure I was early. There was quite a gathering around his nets where the aim had been to catch Meadow Pipits.

Unfortunately the Pipits were not co-operating, although a small number trickled past overhead, along with at least 11 Swallows, and at least 17 Redpolls. I decided to check out the flash field, but found it just contained the usual fare; 37 Teal, 14 Snipe, a Green Sandpiper and 20 Mallard. 

Some of the Snipe were closer to the viewing point than usual

As I returned to the ringers events took a turn for the better. They were just about within hailing distance as a Crossbill flew over calling. I bellowed and pointed as it practically flew over their heads, and I think most of them managed to see the bird.

During a break one of the ringers, Ischia Turk, mentioned she had rescued a Manx Shearwater. Where was it? In a car park at Droitwich. The discovery was made by her dad on September 18, and realising what it was from the photo he had sent her, Ischia attended immediately and eventually found the stricken bird. She has kindly shared her dad's photo of it.

Ischia took the bird to Vale Wildlife Rescue, from where it was later taken for release on the Severn Estuary. Amazingly it was apparently the third they'd had brought in that week.

I'm off to to the nearest municipal car-park to do some seawatching.

PS: I've heard from Tony that after I left they went on to ring 27 Redpolls and two Meadow Pipits. So its already looking like it could be a good redpoll autumn.

Thursday September 25 - Earlswood Lakes + garden moths

 I'm back from my holiday. I say holiday, mini-break would be more appropriate. It wasn't a birding trip, though I took my bins and managed a couple of hours seeing nothing very much in deepest inland Essex. We enjoyed seeing friends and a change of scene, which was the whole point really.

On my first full day back I chose Earlswood Lakes as the venue, and this was a good move. Even before I had left the house, John Oates had seen four Great White Egrets flying over his.

I decided to start at Springbrook Lane and quickly located four Stonechats there. I was aware that three had been seen yesterday, but it was well after the event that I was told my four were a new record count for Earlswood.

Stonechat

Once I reached Windmill Pool I joined John Oates, congratulating him on his Great White Egrets this morning. Just before we parted a Pipit call intervened. John called Rock Pipit immediately, and it called once more before disappearing to the south over the scrublands. I just got the merest glimpse, but the calls were enough for me to add it to my Circle year list.

The rest of the visit was decent enough. I saw three Common Gulls (infrequent here), while John alerted me to the continued presence of the sub-adult Yellow-legged Gull. 

Common Gulls (with BHGulls and a LBBGull)

A few Chiffchaffs remain, but I didn't see a single hirundine. Single Siskin, Meadow Pipit, and Redpoll flew over, but were invisible against the blue sky. It's starting to feel properly autumnal.

My moth trap went out overnight, and despite the temperature falling to just 5 degrees C I awoke to 43 moths of 17 species. There was one which was new for the garden. Frosted Orange is not an especially rare moth, but it was still the first I had seen. It was just a pity that a spider had seen it first.

Frosted Orange

Other good ones included Brown-spot Pinion and Barred Sallow (both new for the year), and newly emerged Turnip Moth (second of the year), Common Marbled Carpet, Willow Beauty, and Riband Wave as the pick of the rest.

Brown-spot Pinion

Barred Sallow

Common Marbled Carpet and Light Emerald

Friday September 19 - Earlswood Lakes

An unexpected second chance presented itself this morning. Joe Owens found two juvenile Little Stints on the Windmill Pool shoreline, almost certainly the birds seen by John Oates on Wednesday which were assumed to have gone after they were reluctant to settle. It is surprising that no-one saw them on Thursday, but they are small, the reservoirs large, and I'm not sure how much coverage there was.

Anyway I was off like a shot and saw them immediately on arrival. A few years ago one stayed there for a week, but I was besotted by Morton Bagot at the time and didn't twitch it. I've regretted that decision ever since...until today.

It seems ages since I last saw a Little Stint.

I couldn't spare much time this morning, but did count 23 Meadow Pipits, five Siskins and about 20 hirundines of all three typical species before I had to leave.

Garden moths: The trap went out this evening for the GMS, and as it was a mild night I caught a healthy 83 of 22 species. None were new for the garden, but three were new for the year; Lunar Underwing 19 caught(very common), Brindled Green (just about annual), and the enormous Old Lady (first since 2021).

Old Lady

There were one or two surprises among the rest, as they included two which must have been the second generation this year. So both Yellow-tail and Riband Wave were species I thought I'd seen the last of in July.

Yellow-tail resting on window, showing off its orange/yellow "tail"

Riband Wave

Thursday September 18 - Morton Bagot

 A pre-breakfast wander around Morton Bagot this morning in cloudy conditions produced very little of note. The breeze was from the south, and there were a few migrants heading south into it over the two hours I was there; 23 Meadow Pipits and 6 Siskins. 

There were very few summer migrants hanging on; 25 Swallows and three House Martins circling the tree tops to catch any early rising insects, with about five Chiffchaffs and three Blackcaps in the bushes.

The flashes have virtually no muddy surround but held 51 Mallard, 24 Teal, three Green Sandpipers, and 14 Snipe. Most of the latter were again in the field by the nearest flash.

I wasn't tempted to get my camera out, but thanks to wildlife cameraman Andy Harris who follows my blog, I do have a brilliant photo to show. He got in touch with me after I posted my rubbish shots of the Goshawk from last weekend. Andy lives just beyond the south-eastern edge of my Circle, and had seen a Goshawk from his garden. He took four fantastic shots of it, and has given me permission to use them. This was my favourite.

Goshawk - photo by Andy Harris

I thought I'd show this because it illustrates how distinctive a juvenile Goshawk is. 

They remain broadly in this plumage for almost two years before moulting into adult plumage which is more Sparrowhawk-like. The key plumage feature is the streaked (not barred) breast which distinguishes it immediately from Sparrowhawk. Structural differences shown here are the rounded tail tip (cf square ended in Sparrowhawk), and the relatively long broad-based wings with bulging secondaries.

This area doesn't have a great deal going for it ornithologically, but it does ok for Goshawks.  Your best chance is February and March when the adults display, and early autumn when juveniles are on the look out for a new territory and can wander quite widely.

Finally, an abrupt change of subject. Yesterday John Oates saw two Little Stints at Earlswood Lakes. They were extremely flighty and soon disappeared to the south. I would love to have seen them, but there was no opportunity. It just goes to show that although things seem rather quiet at the moment, you have to stay vigilant. Anything could drop in.

Tuesday September 16 - Earlswood Lakes

 The day after the latest period of strong winds blew through I was at Earlswood hoping it might have left something in its wake. Upper Bittell had scored a Grey Phalarope yesterday (I understand its still there), so I was hoping for something similar.

Well, not for the first time I was to be disappointed. The highlight of a couple of hours was a newly arrived juvenile Little Grebe at the south end of Windmill, along with seven Teal (plus one on Engine), a couple of Ring-necked Parakeets, and the usual two drake Wigeon. There are still 30+ hirundines about, of which several were Sand Martins.

It should have been better though. After hanging around for fifteen minutes on the causeway, I decided there was nothing happening and headed off down the side of Engine. Mistake. While I was under the willows John Oates sent a WhatsApp saying that about 30 Barnacle Geese had just flown over from the north. I didn't even hear them. Wrong place, wrong time.

It set me wondering how many of the birds present on a typical visit I actually see. Clearly you can simply be unlucky when something flies high overhead while you're busy scanning in the wrong direction. But consider this: I had an email from Tony regarding the ringing at Morton Bagot on Sunday. His team caught 29 Blackcaps that weekend, 17 on Sunday. How many did I log? Three. 

So while I covered the whole site, a guy ringing in just one patch of bushes proved there were close to six times as many Blackcaps as I saw all morning. The issue here of course is cover. Blackcaps are secretive, skulking birds in autumn. Very easy to miss. I don't think I'm completely useless at birding, but it just goes to demonstrate that we must only see a small proportion of the birds actually present.

I'm off to hang up my bins. Cheerio.