Tuesday December 16 - Cookhill area

 The wandering resumed this morning with a return visit to a lay-by west of the village of Arrow. Previously I had headed east along the south side of Old Park Wood on the Ragley Estate. This time I went north-west along a footpath skirting the west side of the wood.

The estate is known for its love of "sporting interests", and it wasn't long before I ran into a whole lot of cannon fodder, aka Pheasants. There were well over 100 of them, quite a sight to behold. The Pheasant cover they emerged from contained a few Chaffinches but was otherwise a bit disappointing.

Some of the Pheasants

Once I reached the main road I was crossing the county boundary from Warwickshire to Worcestershire, and found a footpath which ran west beside a very impressive garden in the hamlet of Cookhill. The most interesting feature was a garden pool large enough to support several Mallard and Canada Geese, which I saw, and also Coot and Moorhens which I did not. The owner was friendly and told me what she had seen this year.

I was able to add to her garden's list because I heard a Brambling calling from the trees on the other side of the lake. Unfortunately it slipped away before I managed to actually see it.

Sunday December 14 - Morton Bagot

 A mild sunny morning at the patch. Dave had arrived before me, but hadn't seen much. This was to set the tone for the rest of the visit,

Our most unexpected find, I wouldn't call it a highlight, was finding a long dead Tawny Owl in the metal barn near Stapenhill Wood. Other than that it was business as usual, 58 Lapwings, 23 Teal, a Red Kite, a Peregrine, two Stonechats, and most of the other species we'd expect to find here in December.

The Lapwing flock

One disappointment was being unable to find any Jack Snipe (or Snipe) in the marsh. 

Thursday December 11

 There's no denying it, December has failed to deliver anything out of the ordinary this week. 

On Tuesday I braved the rain, visiting Blythe Valley for an hour before the showers pepped up, and then calling in at nearby Earlswood before a particularly heavy shower caused me to give up.

The bit of the Blythe Valley which is in my Circle included some dense spinnies in which I could imagine a Yellow-browed or a Pallas' Warbler accompanying the Long-tailed Tit flocks I sifted through. In my dreams.

At Earlswood I met John Oates, dripping wet, on the trail of a darker-mantled Herring Gull. We considered whether it might be the bird I struggled with during the spring, or perhaps it was a northern Herring Gull race argentatus. Either way it didn't show especially well before the rain pepped up and we both headed home. 

possible Northern Herring Gull

This morning, in much more benign conditions, I explored Outhill just a mile or so east of my house. It was pretty tame bird-wise, with nothing more interesting than a Red-legged Partridge, a calling Bullfinch, and a small flock of Fieldfares.

However the views towards Redditch were pretty nice.

Fieldfare

Morton Bagot - Sunday December 7

It was a dull grey morning with a forecast of rain arriving. Dave opted for Marsh Lane, leaving me to try to make the best of what promised to be a pretty dull day.

On such occasions you need to come up with a plan to make things happen. I met Tony at the old pool field. He emerged clutching a large net, having been attempting to catch Jack Snipe. His plan had borne fruit, flushing three and catching and ringing one of them. I chose not to make my own attempt as I was sure those Jack Snipe needed a rest.

And anyway I had my own plan. Having noticed more than usual on the drive in, I decided to log Blackbirds. I didn't say it was a very good plan. But perhaps it was, because my final score of 23 Blackbirds just beat the previous record for the site.

The flash field contained a healthy population of 78 Teal, the largest total this year, but apart from some Mallard there was nothing else.

Some of the Teal in the gloom

On the return journey I spotted a single Stonechat, and then decided to gird my loins and plunge into Stapenhill Wood. This produced a Marsh Tit, at least 10 Siskins, and maybe 50 Redwings. Unfortunately no definite Woodcock were flushed.

A less overgrown part of the wood

Back home I timed my arrival to coincide with a visit to the front garden of one of the local Blackcaps.

Not such a gloomy day after all.

Saturday December 6 - Earlswood Lakes

It was looking like ending up a very disappointing week, but today Earlswood came to the rescue. Although there has been a Water Rail lurking near the stump feeder at the southern end of Terry's Pool for some time, my visit was inspired by a pair of Egyptian Geese reported by John Chidwick to be standing on one of the rafts on Engine Pool.

I arrived in time to see them. This is a naturalised species, its appearance locally, though annual, is usually brief. Earlswood seems to be the hotspot, and there had been one here in the first half of the year. However, that had been seen at dusk and was gone the next day, so this was my first chance of 2025.

It was tempting to sex the grey one as female and the browner one as male, but from reading up on them it seems that variability is typical and not necessarily an indication of gender. It does seem likely that they were a pair anyway. 

Since my last visit about a month ago the lakes have filled up with water and there is no longer any semblance of a muddy edge. The Tufted Duck flock has burgeoned to 30 birds, there were three Goosanders, and I counted 14 Snipe on the raft with the Egyptian Geese.

I gave the Water Rail fifteen minutes, but it didn't appear. Meanwhile the Egyptian Geese flew off towards Windmill Pool and may have left altogether.

Earlier this week my wandering took me to Upper Bentley, 36 species and no highlights, and on Thursday to Hob Hill, 25 species with no special birds but a nice view towards Beoley.

Sunday November 30 - Morton Bagot

 Another frosty, sunny morning, another stroll around the patch. We got off to a decent start, spotting a Kingfisher at the dragonfly pools. To the best of my knowledge there are no fish in the pond, so it was probably wasting its time.

Kingfishers tend to become scarce here in winter

That was probably as good as it got. A distant accipiter which flew into Bannams may have been an immature male Goshawk, but we weren't completely sure.

We accrued three Stonechats, flushed a Snipe (but didn't walk across the pool field), and counted an impressive 70 Lapwings at the flash field.

Most of the Lapwings (I couldn't quite get them all in)

In the field beyond them was a sizeable flock of Starlings, some of which later flew into the trees under which we were hiding. 

Starlings are actually quite attractive in winter

The nearest flash was partly frozen and so only 19 Teal and the usual drake Wigeon were using it today.

Tony caught a Jack Snipe during the week (maybe the one we flushed last weekend). On the whole things remain very quiet.

Norgrove Court - Thursday November 27

 I was rather pleased when my random lottery picked Norgrove Court for this morning's visit. An actual pool to visit, admittedly a small one, but I was quite optimistic. 

I quickly spotted a Little Egret, three Little Grebes, and a Kingfisher. I also met one of the owners (I think), a chap called Ben. He seemed pleasant enough and was very keen to tell me about an Osprey which paid a visit in early October. He said it had been seen by his brother and possibly photographed by Emily, who today was installed in a photographic hide on the opposite bank. I would have liked to have met her and seen the shot, but I don't think she'd have appreciated me strolling up to her hide. 

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Green Woodpecker

I headed north of the pool, vaguely following the course of Swans Brook. 

I hadn't actually walked through the woodland because the footpath appeared to be outside its edges, but shortly after I had crossed this rickety little bridge I heard what turned out to be a dog-walker and springer spaniel. He emerged from the wood and we exchanged a nodded greeting. It turned out he'd done me a favour because a minute later a Woodcock  flew over my head from the fields. I'm guessing he had flushed it and it was now returning to its preferred roosting site in the wood. By the time I had returned to my car an hour later I hadn't seen anything that could beat it.