Thursday July 17 - Earlswood and Morton Bagot

 I may previously have said that rain is great for birding. I should have added sometimes. This morning I awoke to rain, and wasted no time getting to Earlswood before breakfast. My first scan revealed a couple of Common Terns, my first since the spring. I have to admit to a frisson of excitement as I swept my view back and forth along the muddy and shingly edges of the lakes. There was nothing. Well, no waders, save for a single Common Sandpiper on one of the rafts.

Such is life. There was still a few differences from my last visit; far fewer Sand Martins (just two), and Swifts (a dozen), but still plenty of Swallows. I decided to walk around Windmill Pool for a change, hoping to find the juvenile Little Grebe which Matt and Tony had seen recently. I was successful. Possibly only my second sighting of the species locally this year.

Part two of the morning came after breakfast when I decided to give Morton Bagot its chance to shine. The rain had largely stopped, and it was a bit muggy. At least one Grasshopper Warbler was singing from the chat field, and a couple of Lesser Whitethroats popped briefly into view. But my main goal was to check out the nearest flash.

The flash field at Morton Bagot can both impress and depress. It looks great at the moment, a perfect balance of wet mud and water. But scan as I might, all I could find was Green Sandpiper after Green Sandpiper. I counted eight of them, and no other wader species. A typical visit it has to be said.

There was one new arrival though; a pair of Teal, another staple of the flash, has returned for the autumn.

Changing the subject, my moth trap goes out tonight, and my new supply of moth pots arrived yesterday. There are going to be loads.

Tuesday July 15 -Earlswood Lakes

 With rain in the forecast, I decided to give Earlswood Lakes a try this morning. Unfortunately the rain was not overnight, and arrived while I was there. However it was overcast so there were plenty of Swifts (at least 52) and hirundines to look at. I estimated 70 Swallows and 30 Sand Martins, but Yvonne, who was organising a work party, later counted 60 Sand Martins perched on the raft wire, with several others visible in flight. Those rafts also supported the only waders I saw, namely two Common Sandpipers.

I had a pleasant walk round, photographing some of the Swallows perching in hawthorn when the heaviest rain swept in for example, and guess what, I can post photos again. Happy days.

The main talking point was the rediscovery of that annoying Herring Gull I featured back in March. At the time the water level was high, and I almost convinced myself it was a Yellow-legged Gull before wiser heads pointed out it wasn't.

Today there is a nice shoreline and the Gull was back in the same place with the same companion, a sub-adult Herring Gull. And I have to tell you I'm still not happy its just a Herring Gull. Don't worry, I'm absolutely sure its not a Yellow-legged Gull. The legs remain at best a dull straw colour and the feet pink. The primary tips have worn since March and are no longer as obviously Herring Gull-like, but that's just wear. The orbital ring is yellow on the lower and upper margin, but pink the front and back end. 

What bothers me is the contrast between the mantle colour of the oddity and the much paler Herring Gull. It's almost Lesser Black-backed-like, but clearly not dark enough when it was with obvious Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the island.

Another suggestion was that it might be an argentatus Herring Gull. If it is, why has it spent the summer paired with a Herring Gull at Earlswood? I should probably say that I've seen what I suspected was the same pair of Gulls since the original sightings, so I think they've never left. Here are some photos I took today.

So where does that leave us? It can't be a Yellow-legged Gull because of the primary pattern (no black on P5), the largely yellow orbital ring, and the legs being straw-coloured (although some Yellow-legs can be like that).

It can't be a Lesser Black-backed Gull because the mantle isn't dark enough, the orbital ring isn't red, and the legs aren't bright yellow.

But if it's a Herring Gull why is the mantle colour so dark, so Yellow-legged Gull-like? Why is the orbital ring not wholly yellow. Why are its legs straw coloured?

It's also noticeably smaller than its companion, which brings me to my latest suggestion. Why isn't it a hybrid Lesser Black-backed X Herring Gull? That's my latest theory.

So there we are, brightening up a dull day. And the photos are back. Whoo-hoo.

Sunday July 13 - Morton Bagot (and a whole heap of Friday night moths)

 Well this is a bit different. I have been unable to fix the photograph issue. It's a shame my prose isn't up to much.

Dave joined me today. Another hot one. We trudged around the patch with limited optimism. The best moment came an hour in, when I heard a Grasshopper Warbler singing from the Chat field. I called Dave over and while we listened in vain for another burst, I noticed that a crow flying some distance away was actually an accipiter. We watched in silence as it headed for Bannams. We both had the impression that it didn't look right for Sparrowhawk because it was actually a Goshawk. Presumably a male as it looked Crow-sized. 

The nearest flash has too narrow a muddy edge to provide much interest to passing waders, and we counted just four Green Sandpipers and 16 Lapwings. The only other surprise was a dead Pygmy Shrew on the path.

Which brings me to Friday night. Obviously it was warm and I was expecting a lot of moths. I take my hat off to proper moth-ers who tend their traps all night. I managed about fifteen minutes, most of which was spent trying to encourage a Hornet to leave the trap. I did grab a few moths, including what turned out to be a Southern Apple Moth, quite a local micro moth no doubt associating with our apple tree.

The following morning I emerged at 04.00 to find the box full of moths, mostly micros, and a dozen wasps queuing up for a free breakfast. I decided to intervene, remove the light source and drag the trap into the utility room. 

Five hours later I had counted 440 moths of 79 species. These included 33 new for the year, and at least four new for the garden. The new ones were the aforementioned Southern Apple Moth Recurvaria nanella, three Lesser-spotted Pinions (the only macros which were new), a Brassy Y Argyresthia goedartella, and a Dark Blackthorn Tip Moth Argyresthia albistria.

Two of the macros were garden seconds, a Least Carpet and the migrant Dark Sword-grass.

Throughout the morning I was hampered by a shortage of small pots and an excess of micro-moths. Several were too difficult for me to identify under the pressure of time and I suspect several potential new moths were written off for that reason.

I'll always prefer birding but my garden moth list (now in it's eighth year) is now 499, considerably more than the number of birds I've seen in Britain over the last fifty years.

PS: I had second thoughts about the Pinions and submitted them as Lunar Spotted Pinions. They were accepted as such, but if I ever catch another one I'll try to make sure I see the hind-wing.

Thursday July 10 - Earlswood Lakes

I'm afraid Blogspot is playing up again. It's the old uploading photos problem. I have been tempted to throw in the towel, but I guess I can limp on without photos while I try to sort things out.

I was up at the crack of dawn this morning and headed for Earlswood in the hope that something might have arrived in spite of the clear night and wall to wall sunshine.

It was pretty quiet. The only wader was a single Common Sandpiper, and the best of the rest were a Little Egret which departed to the north and a Ring-necked Parakeet calling from trees behind Windmill Pool.

Tuesday July 8 - A very brief appearance of a Humming-bird Hawk-Moth in the garden.

The brevity of this video is explained by the flicker of brown after the moth disappears from view. A House Sparrow flashed through the screen and the moth was seen no more.

R.I.P Humming-bird Hawk-moth. 😢

Tuesday July 8 - Morton Bagot

 Any thoughts that Morton Bagot might have joined in with the Black-tailed Godwit fest were quickly extinguished this morning. The farmer probably had one eye on the weather forecast when he ensured that the nearest flash would flood once more. As a result it contained just the Shelduck family (nine birds in all) and two Green Sandpipers. 

So the birding was pretty hopeless, but fortunately the morning was saved by a dragonfly. To be precise a Willow Emerald damselfly. This species is a relatively recent colonist which has spread north-west through England, reaching Morton Bagot about three years ago. I managed to see one about two years ago, but missed my chance to photograph it. This morning I put that right.

The key features are the long thin abdomen and the white dots on the end of the wings. It sounds as though they are now established locally, with singles at Earlswood last year and Middle Spernal recently.

It saved my morning though.

Monday July 7 - Morton Bagot and Earlswood Lakes

Yesterday was a day of showers, and the forecast was enough to put Dave off. In fact, my visit to Morton Bagot was largely a dry affair until I got caught out by a thunderstorm ten minutes before the end.

There were some good signs. A Grasshopper Warbler was singing near the dragonfly pools (although I couldn't see it), and two parties of Swifts totalling 44 birds headed south-west. Autumn really is here as far as the birds are concerned, and to emphasise the point I found that there are now 10 Green Sandpipers on the nearest flash as well as a Little Ringed Plover and a Kingfisher. 

But the real action happened this morning. I happened to awake early, and found it had just stopped raining. Surely Earlswood would be worth a punt? I decided to go, and I'm glad I did.

The first wader to claim my attention was a Redshank at the corner of Windmill Pool by the causeway. Despite being disturbed by early morning dog walkers it kept returning to the same spot, and I can't help suspecting that it's the same bird as was seen on June 12 and once since, though this begs the question where has it been in the meantime. Perhaps it is a new bird.

But this was just the hors d'oeuvre. After making my way across the causeway I scanned the shore off Wood Lane car park and discovered two summer plumaged Black-tailed Godwits. These were my first this year, and also a site tick.

I put the news out and managed to complete a circuit of Engine Pool without spooking them, but despite this only Janet managed to arrive in time to see them before they went. Unfortunately no-one seems to have witnessed their departure so I don't know which way they went, but presumably it was southwards away from their breeding grounds in Iceland.

I didn't have very long to scan for other birds but noticed at least seven Sand Martins and a few Swifts, both species which tend to leave early.

What a brilliant morning.

PS: I've subsequently discovered that there was a mass arrival of Black-tailed Godwits across West Midlands waters today, with 29 at Belvide Res, 28 at Upton Warren, four at Upper Bittell Res, and others at Middleton RSPB, Ladywalk, and Branston. And that's just the one's I've read about. I love it when "your birds" are part of a bigger picture. The only down side is that I wasn't able to get to Morton Bagot, so that will have gone unwatched.