Sunday April 5 - Morton Bagot

With a howling gale overnight, and a brisk southerly this morning, the obvious move would have been to go to Earlswood. But Dave and I stuck to our guns and paid another visit to the patch.

The early signs were promising. A single Meadow Pipit and a newly arrived male Stonechat at least hinted at passage. A couple of Swallows headed north, barely stopping to feed. The Chiffchaff and Blackcap count rose steadily to totals of eight and four respectively.

But what we really wanted was something new, and that was supplied when we tracked down a singing Willow Warbler to the hedge bordering the Morton Brook where it showed well in one of the few sheltered spots.

Once a common sight, the Willow Warbler is becoming more like a passage migrant in the Midlands as global warming shifts the breeding areas ever northwards.

We also heard the Cetti's Warbler again, and I predict this species will soon become just another tick in the notebook as they establish themselves here. Mind you, we were still no nearer to actually seeing it, let alone getting a photograph.

We counted six Avocets, 14 Teal, a Lapwing, a few geese, and a very distant Green Sandpiper on the flash field. My first Speckled Wood of the year fluttered by, but defied my attempts for a record shot.

It feels like game on for spring.

Saturday April 4

 The last few days have felt like a waiting game. I've been birding each day, often with a plan in mind, but have seen little to inspire.

On Thursday, with the weather still distinctly chilly, I sky-watched from the causeway at Earlswood for a couple of hours. I was hoping to get lucky with a fly-over Osprey, but as usual I had bought the wrong lottery ticket. Instead I saw nine Sand Martins two Swallows, Sparrowhawk, Red Kite, and three Buzzards. 

The plan wasn't entirely stupid because this is exactly the time of year the Scottish birds are returning from Africa, and indeed one had flown over Blackwell Golf Course at the edge of my Circle the day before, and another over the Birders Store in Worcester on the day of my vigil. I have a lousy record with Ospreys; 29 in forty-five years but only about five were not twitched, and four of those were in autumn.

On Friday morning I paid an early morning visit to Mappleborough Green, but it was pretty dire. Even the Little Ringed Plovers seemed to have gone.

This morning my moth trap contained just five moths, three of which were Brindled Beautys, so at least new for the year.

With the mothing over so quickly, I had time for a dash to Spernal STW to join Tony and his team who were ringing there. Cetti's Warblers seemed to be singing everywhere, and I even saw one of them in the field. Tony reckons there are six or seven on site.

I'd been hoping for a Willow Warbler or something like that, but the only migrants were a couple of Swallows, Chiffchaffs, and Blackcaps. Less regularly seen birds included a Kingfisher, and a pair of Shelducks.

The weather is predicted to warm up over the next few days, so things can only get better.

Tuesday March 31 - Mappleborough Green

The plan for this morning was to go to Mappleborough Green with the intention of seeing some waders, and then try Cobley Hill in the hope of locating a Wheatear. 

Part one went well, but not in the way I'd expected. The left hand flash produced a Green Sandpiper, a Snipe, and a Little Ringed Plover along with 21 Teal. Despite trying my best to keep out of sight, the ever alert Teal soon flew up and although some returned, I knew any on the right hand flash might include some of them. Further adding to the confusion, the Little Ringed Plover also took off, and appeared to head away towards Redditch.

I reached the right hand flash, saw a few Teal and noticed that the Little Ringed Plover there now had a friend. And they were getting on very well.

I scanned the field and didn't see anything else. But on checking the images at the back of my camera I found I wasn't keen on the photos I'd taken, so I thought I'd turn around and take a couple more. Just as well!

My initial scan couldn't have been as thorough as I'd thought, because this time I got straight onto a male Wheatear.

Earlier, I'd also seen six Fieldfares and a couple of Meadow Pipits.

It was tempting not to bother with Cobley Hill, but other hilltop migrants might occur. In the event I was pleased to see two pairs of Lapwings breeding, while migration was limited to a single Meadow Pipit heading north.

Sunday March 29 - Morton Bagot

 This post covers two days, Saturday and Sunday. So yesterday morning my moth trap contained just five moths, none of them even new for the year. Having got up early I decided to pay an early morning visit to the patch. In the bright sunshine I thought I should at least photograph something.

The highlights were a new record count of 13 Avocets (11 on the nearest flash and two on the furthest), a distant Peregrine which flew in from the north before turning tail, the drake Shoveler, and a pair of Shelducks which I noticed could only be seen distantly from the road and were invisible on the furthest flash from the usual watchpoints.

The white dots are Avocets (and a LBBGull). Not much of a group photo.

This morning was cloudy and cold, but was far more productive for birds.

Dave joined me as usual, and we quickly established we could see four Red Kites, a pair over Bannams and another pair to the west, another record count for the site. Rather less satisfactorily the Avocets numbers had dropped, although we did eventually tally ten.

But this was to be a day for site ticks. As we approached the Kingfisher Pool Dave said "Did you hear that?" I'd heard nothing, so was surprised to be told he'd thought he'd heard a distant Cetti's. After about 15 minutes of silence, Dave was starting to doubt himself, blaming his woolly hat and maybe a Blackbird. We settled down to count the Avocets, but while drinking his coffee Dave suddenly leapt to his feet and shouted Swallow. Fortunately for me it briefly reappeared and I duly added it to my patch year list. Seconds later, a bona fide Cetti's Warbler blasted its song into our ear. Almost certainly the bird the ringers caught last week, it was nevertheless a patch tick for us both. Trying to see singing Cetti's Warblers is very challenging, and it didn't help that this one didn't sing, or even call, again. Around this time we also witnessed a Kestrel making a successful kill. It emerged from the grass with a Vole in its talons and proceeded to eat it while perched on a tree guard.

Two more patch year ticks were to follow. The first was a Feral Pigeon which flew across the field behind us. It's actually quite hard to get an untainted one here, as racing pigeons sometimes fly over, and occasionally one of the farms releases some from a loft. As far as I know, neither issue applied with this bird.

Finally, and I mean finally, a bird I'd just about given up on this year appeared. A Coot was back on the dragonfly pond where it had nested last year. We used to find them all over the site, but only this one pool (the only one with a bit of reed surrounding it) is suitable. It normally turns up in February, so I was more than pleased to see it.

The hunt for a Wheatear goes on, and this year I've noticed even Meadow Pipits are in short supply. I have no explanation for that.

Friday March 27

 There was nothing wrong with today's plan, it just didn't pay off. The morning dawned grey and drizzly, so I reckoned Earlswood would be the best bet. I was dreaming of Kittiwakes, Little Gulls etc and indeed the former were well represented at the West Midland's larger reservoirs.

I had an inkling of what to expect when an early morning Whatsapp from Joe mentioned a Mandarin and later a Swallow. By the time I got there neither remained, but eventually things did pick up.

Two Sand Martins were the first I'd seen since my very early one three weeks ago, and finally two Swallows appeared, along with at least one more Sand Martin. They were not my earliest Swallows, but I'm always slightly relieved when the first ones make it back from their incredible journey the southern Africa.

Swallow

The Yellow-legged Gull was still present, but otherwise it was just a case of checking out the regulars.

Tufted Ducks

Yellow-legged Gull 5cy (on right)

On Tuesday I went to Morton Bagot. It only gets second billing because I didn't take any photographs. The highlight was a further increase in Avocets to ten birds (eight on the nearest flash and two on the furthest). The Egyptian Geese seemed to have gone, while Teal numbers were down, but the drake Shoveler and the Shelducks were still there.

Before going home on Tuesday, I paid a very quick visit to Lower Bittell, peering at fields of sheep. A Cattle Egret had been seen there on Sunday (along with the wintering Great White Egret). Sadly I only saw the latter.

It looks like being a cold night so I'm not expecting much from the garden moths, but anything interesting turns up I'll add it to this post.

Monday March 23 - Mappleborough Green

 There are two maxims in birding. One is that migrants are punctual, and therefore predictable. The other is almost the exact opposite. A rarity can turn up anywhere....but probably won't. These conflicting sentiments are what drives the patch birder onwards, and his partner to distraction.

This afternoon, after waiting in for someone to come and fix something, I took the first opportunity to test the first of these maxims.

I thought there must be a Little Ringed Plover at Mappleborough Green flash by now. Just half an hour later I was proved right.

The site is perfect for them, as Morton Bagot once was. The only downside was that the light was pretty poor, and not wanting to disturb my subject I settled for a record shot.

The second law of birding also came true. Anything rare might have turned up, but didn't. Instead I counted at least 32 Teal and a Green Sandpiper before returning home for another night staring at the gogglebox.

Birding is better.

Sunday March 22 - Morton Bagot

 It's been quite a remarkable few days at Morton Bagot, and I only wish I'd been there to witness the start of it. You may recall that I squeezed a couple of hours in on Thursday morning and only had time to cover the flash field end of the site. I left feeling pretty chuffed at finding my first Egyptian Goose for the site.

I now wish I'd given it a bit longer and tried the Netherstead end. I say this because the following morning John Sadler was ringing there and pulled a Cetti's Warbler out of his net. The story subsequently related was that the bird had bounced out initially, but later ensnared itself and on release had given a burst of song.

Here's what I could have won

The reason I'm harping on about this bird is that I have yet to see one here. A couple of springs ago Jason W sent me an email listing the birds he had seen at Morton Bagot that day, and included Cetti's Warbler on it. I queried it, and he said he was certain it was one, and he hadn't realised there had never been one at Morton Bagot. I went down to the place he'd indicated, where coincidentally I'd heard a very close Sedge Warbler the day before his report, and heard nothing.

Last November I heard a "mystery warbler" calling which I initially thought was a Cetti's Warbler before getting an attack of doubt and downgrading it to unidentified warbler. I should say that others who have heard my recording are divided and/or non-committal about its identity.

Having only heard about the bird after darkness fell on Friday I paid a dawn visit next day, and heard nothing. I again couldn't do the rest of the site, this time because Lyn and I were visiting a friend in Ross-on-Wye later that morning.

Enter John Chidwick who popped down to the flash field during Saturday afternoon and among the usual Avocets and Shelduck found two  Egyptian Geese, a Shoveler and a drake Gadwall.

So this morning I was playing catch up. There was still no trace of a Cetti's Warbler, but on the positive side, both the pair of Egyptian Geese, and the drake Shoveler were present. The Egyptian Geese were a lot closer than the bird I saw on Thursday.

Egyptian Geese (and a Greylag)

Shoveler

Also present were six Avocets, a Shelduck, 22 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, and three Snipe. Apparently not present was the Gadwall, although there's always a chance it was tucked away out of sight.

Spring was represented by increased numbers of Chiffchaffs, and a singing Blackcap. I also added to my annual butterfly tally when a rather tatty Red Admiral appeared near Netherstead.

The Red Admiral seems to have a chunk of hind wing pecked away

Such are the ups and downs of birding.