Thursday February 20 - Patchwork Challenge

 Earlier this week I spotted that the on-line competition known as Patchwork Challenge now includes 10km circles like my own. It seemed almost rude not to join in. I must admit the actual process of joining taxed my limited techno-skills to breaking point, but with help from the Patchwork Challenge team I think I'm on board.

Briefly, the competition produces a series of leagues into which the players add the birds they have seen this year. It also rewards finds of scarcer birds with extra points. I used to enter my Morton Bagot scores, but dropped out about five years ago. I won't be entering Morton Bagot as a patch this time as my Redditch 10km circle now takes priority.

On Tuesday my roving got me to Bell Green, just south of Birmingham (the place I'd ben heading when I got the puncture). It was a frosty old morning and highlights were few. The best discovery was a sunflower field which harboured over a hundred Woodpigeons but not much else.

Today I returned to Chalcot Wood which would be lovely if it wasn't right up against the M40/M42 junction. It was a rather soggy visit, but I was crossing my fingers that the small pool where I had found breeding Mandarin a couple of summers ago might again produce a surprise. Disappointingly it contained five Canada Geese and nothing else. 

However the walk back to the road was much more successful. A short diversion into the wood brought me my first Woodcock of the year. I only saw two last year, both in December. I don't know if this is just a coincidence but all three of my most recent birds have flushed when I paused from stumbling through the undergrowth. It seems as though they watch you, confident that you won't spot them, but when you stop moving they think the game must be up, and panic.

Needless to say no photograph was taken. In fact I didn't get a shot of anything on either foray, so I'm left to rely on my garden feeder again. This time a fine male Siskin paid it's second visit this year.

Siskin

Incidentally, the Woodcock was species number 87 for the year, but my points score is 96. I've no idea how that compares to other circles. I may even be in a league of my own. I hope not though.

Sunday February 16 - February blues

 I don't think many birders like February, and this last ten days has reminded me why. It's been crap. The general malaise in my case has been caused by a mixture of bad luck, bad planning, and bad birding.

Let me take you back to last Sunday. Morton Bagot was quite well attended, with me, Dave, and Mike H slogging round on a cold grey morning. I'm struggling to think of anything we saw which could be worthy of a mention, but based on today's effort the 38 Lapwings which were present are starting to look pretty good.

One bird I should have seen was Red-crested Pochard. A drake popped up on the Earlswood Whatsapp feed during that dire Sunday morning as having been identified just as it flew off. Much later in the afternoon, as the light was beginning to fade, an update had it as still present. I decided it would be too dark if I went immediately and gambled it might be there next day. So on a cold Monday morning I walked around Engine Pool and confirmed it had gone.

My wandering during the week didn't look too promising. On Tuesday I trudged around Church Hill, a north Redditch housing estate, without seeing anything better than Grey Wagtail. There were lots of birds though and it proved to be a much better morning than Friday. My plan that morning was to drive north of Redditch to an area at the edge of my Circle. I didn't get there. Driving along the narrow Icknield Street I met a cyclist coming in the opposite direction and pulled into a farm entrance to let him pass. Shortly afterwards I could hear strange noises coming from the car. By the time I'd pulled over, the puncture caused by driving over a screw which was embedded in the tyre had been exacerbated to the extent that the tyre walls were wrecked. I had to be rescued by the RAC.

And so to today. Another dreadful visit to Morton Bagot. The only highlight being the site's first Coot of the year.

I might just as well have spent the week looking out of the kitchen window.

Moth results

It's that time of year when last year's moth total gets some clarification, and hopefully a boost. Nigel Stone, the Warwickshire Moth Recorder, had taken away a small box of moths, ten in all, where identification proved difficult. He has emailed me the results and I found that my garden list had expanded by four.

The best one was the fourth Warwickshire record of Crassa tinctella a micro also known as Plain Bark Moth. In this case I had correctly identified it, and had sent Nigel a photo which he confirmed did look like one. However he said that he would need the specimen as only three out of a thousand he had previously checked had turned out to be this species.

Crassa tinctella 17/05/2024

Only three of the ten moths were macros; an Oak-tree Pug (which had died anyway so I thought I might as well get it checked), a Scarce Footman (which had looked very pale, and the Obsidentify App assured me was the very rare Hoary Footman. I had it checked because I didn't trust the App, rightly as it turned out), and a very worn Pug which had me and the app completely stumped. It turned out to be a new moth for the garden White-spotted Pug. The books imply this is a common moth, but in fact it has declined rapidly in recent years and is now listed as "near-threatened".

White-spotted Pug Eupithecia tripunctaria 29/08/2024

The remaining two new for the garden were both micros. The first was extremely worn, to the extent that neither I nor the app even got the right family. It turned out to be Blushed Knot-horn Ephestia woodiella. 

An extremely worn Ephestia woodiella 12/06/2024

The last new one was a species I was fairly sure I had been seeing before. The tiny Yponomeuta moths occur in large numbers and there are five common species. Only one is easy to identify, two are utterly impossible, and the other two may be identified by true experts, i.e. not me. So when on July 18 2024 a large catch of moths included two I was pretty sure were my missing species Willow Ermine Yponomeuta rorrella, I decided to have one of them checked, and it was indeed that species.

Willow Ermine Yponomeuta rorrella 18/07/2024

As I've no doubt said before, taking specimens goes against the grain, but moth identification is quite different from bird identification and sometimes if you want to know what they are for certain, there is no alternative.

Friday February 7 - Weekly round-up

 I've had quite a decent birding week all things considered. After Monday's Hawfinch, the next two days featured twitches to Earlswood for species which I could conceivably miss locally in the course of a year.

The first was a Barnacle Goose. Yes I know, far more likely to have come from the substantial feral population currently residing in the UK than from the snowy wastes of Spitzbergen. Nevertheless I had not seen one (or even heard of one) within my 10k Circle since I started this daft obsession in 2021. It didn't help its provenance that it had chosen to accompany Canada Geese in the tranquil setting of Mereside Fishing Pools next to Terry's Pool.

That was on Wednesday. Next day the Whatsapp pinged to let me know that there were three  Pochard at Earlswood. Back I went, and settled for the pair which was swimming around the partially frozen Engine Pool (the other was on Windmill).

No problem with provenance this time, it's just rather sad that this once common winter visitor is now missable locally unless you're willing to twitch one.

This morning I resumed my random wandering, but fate had chosen the north end of Arrow Valley where I was quietly confident I might find another year-tick. And it didn't take long before the target, a Kingfisher flew past me along the course of the river Arrow.

It was too quick for a photo and I couldn't relocate it, so I settled for ambling along the path chatting to anyone who wanted to ask me if I'd seen anything. One lady mentioned having seen a Barn Owl flying in broad daylight around Bordesley Meadows. This will be the same bird as was seen from their garden by Tony and Leigh Kelly a week or so ago. Unfortunately there was no sign today.

Wandering back I decided on a circuit of Arrow Valley Lake where I counted 145 Black-headed Gulls, 16 Goosanders, and five occupied Grey Heron nests. This was all pretty much what you'd expect, and just before I left I saw a Little Egret which flew up into a tree.

Irresistible. The camera came out.

Tuesday February 4 - Unexpected Hawfinch

One of the good things about watching birds is that, unlike such activities as golfing or fishing or playing football, you don't necessarily have to set out to do it. There is no need to "go birdwatching" to enjoy the hobby. Sometimes the birds come to you.

Yesterday I had no intention of birding. I was simply walking back from the local shop, newspaper in hand, when I noticed three finches fly across the road and land in a tree. Two of them were Goldfinches, but the other was like a Goldfinch on steroids. I had no binoculars with me, but was sure it had to be a Hawfinch.

With no optics available I tried photographing the tree top bird with my mobile phone. The result was a vaguely bird shaped dot. The only thing for it was to hurry home, grab my camera and return. I was back in ten minutes, and to my relief it was still there.

Ironically, aside from the satisfaction of being proved correct, I was only mildly thrilled by the experience. Cracking bird as a Hawfinch is, it has become devalued by recent events. The winter influx has meant I had already seen two from my bedroom window, several at Morton Bagot, and more at the churchyard in Studley. There have also been two previous influx years, and in both of those I saw them near the house.

This morning fate was at it again. Another walk to the paper shop, another bird. This time it was "just" a Kestrel, but I think I've seen fewer Kestrels in the immediate environs of the house than I have Hawfinches.

I also actually went birding. My chosen square kilometre was just east of Danzey Green. The habitat was classic farmland, the weather grey and blustery, and the birds were hard to find. Actually, I did have one minor success. While watching a small flock of Redwings, I discovered they were accompanied by at least 40 Chaffinches, the largest flock I've seen locally this winter.

Little victories.

Sunday February 2 - Morton Bagot

 After a quiet week of seeing not very much at Rowney Green (Tuesday), Dickens Heath and Earlswood (Friday) I was keen to see what Morton Bagot had to offer this morning. It did not disappoint. 

I joined Dave and we set off on the usual circuit. The first surprise was that the hollow which had been occupied by a Tawny Owl all winter, now contained a Barn Owl. 

As it was the first weekend of the month we went on to try a kick through the marsh to get a Snipe count for the month, but we only flushed three Common Snipe and two Jack Snipe. Perhaps there had been some prior disturbance. A Sparrowhawk flew across, and was no doubt equally disappointed. A Red Kite appeared above Bannams Wood.

Fortunately some gems awaited us at the flashes. Two Shelducks were new for the year, and surprisingly both appeared to be drakes. Only eight Teal were visible along with 19 Mallard. However, as we walked the footpath and peered through the densest part of the hedge I noticed that a pair of Pintail had swum out. Attempts to photograph them through the hedge were as hopeless as I'd expected, and as we arrived in our favoured spot Dave let me know he could see them flying off.

We wondered whether they might have simply gone to the pool/marsh field, Dave reckoned they'd been heading that way so we decided to arc around to a position we thought we'd stand a chance of seeing them without flushing them again. 

Annoyingly just as we got into position we spotted a chap walking towards us along the Millennium way right passed the pools. He flushed a Little Egret and then some Mallards and the pair of Pintails. The latter circled a couple of times before heading south.

It seems feasible that this is the same pair as was present on December 31 last year, but it begs the question where have they been all through January? 

The Shelducks were probably the first sign of spring, although singing Skylarks, and Song Thrushes along with a singing Mistle Thrush at Rowney Green in the week are also early heralds.

Sunday January 26 - Morton Bagot and Big Garden Birdwatches

 I have to admit that I didn't go to Morton Bagot today. I decided it would rain and so wimped out. Fortunately Dave S and Mike H had no such qualms (and it didn't rain until later), so I am grateful to them for visiting the place and doing pretty well.

Between them they saw a Hawfinch, a probable Jack Snipe, at least two Red Kites, a Tawny Owl and a Little Egret. That'll teach me.

As for me I decided to take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch.....twice. My own garden fared reasonably well; 28 birds of nine species. This was probably the best my "smaller than a tennis court" Winyates East garden has ever managed.

I then went to visit my sister in Tidbury Green where her "larger (well longer) than a tennis court" garden absolutely massacred mine. We counted 47 birds of 15 species in the allotted hour. They included a male Blackcap, two Jays, and a male Brambling.

The full results are as follows:

Winyates East: Woodpigeon 2, Blue Tit 2, Great Tit 1, Robin 2, Blackbird 2, Dunnock 1, House Sparrow 5, Greenfinch 7, Goldfinch 6.

Tidbury Green: Woodpigeon 2, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2, Jay 2, Magpie 2, Jackdaw 3, Blue Tit 7, Great Tit 1, Blackcap 1, Robin 1, Blackbird 3, Dunnock 2, Chaffinch 4, Brambling 1, Greenfinch 4, Goldfinch 12.

Incidentally we both saw fly-overs and birds in neighbouring gardens which we couldn't count according to my interpretation of the rules. These included Redwings (Winyates East) and Stock Doves  plus a shed load of extra Goldfinches at Tidbury Green.