Saturday April 5 - mostly Morton Bagot

 It's been a scratchy end to the week, culminating in today's visit to Morton Bagot. The wind direction has been stuck in the north-east, so although its been sunny its not been warm.

The ringers were out in force, but their activities had been hampered by the strength of the wind. I carried on past them but had very few stand-out moments. The best was discovering that the Avocet flock has increased further. A new site record of a dozen are now present, with eight on the nearest flash and four on the furthest. Unlike last week the larger group suddenly got together for an Avocet face-off, and I got a shot of the flock.

Also present on the nearest flash were two Green Sandpipers, at least seven Lapwings, and 24 Teal, although the highlight for me was a brief fly-through of my first Sand Martin here this year.

Very disappointingly I could find no Wheatears or Redstarts etc to boost my year list, although a female Stonechat did put in an appearance for the Chat clan.

Earlier in the morning I'd paid my second visit in two days to Earlswood Lakes. The attraction was the falling water line which has now revealed the shingle island and a muddy perimeter to Engine Pool. Unfortunately luck has not been with me. Yesterday, after I'd left, the Earlswood birders found two Little Gulls (there had been five two days previously), a Green Sandpiper, and a Little Ringed Plover. This morning I at least saw the Little Ringed Plover, and a good flock of hirundines, mainly Sand Martins (37) but including four House Martins proving that it was witheringly cold.

A second Little Ringed Plover showed up after I'd left, of course.

During yesterday afternoon Lyn and I went to Compton Verney where the art installations we saw could best be described as strange. I managed to secrete my camera in my bag and that paid off when I crept up on a Brimstone butterfly feeding in the sunshine.

That was one more butterfly than I managed at Morton Bagot today.

And finally, I put my moth trap out last night and caught 22 moths of 10 species, which wasn't bad considering the temperature dropped to 3 degrees C. The stand out was an exceptionally early Poplar Kitten. They are not supposed to emerge until the end of May.

Poplar Kitten

I've now had feedback from David Brown (Warwickshire Recorder for macro moths) confirming that this is easily the earliest ever recorded in Warwickshire, beating the previous record of one on 23 April 2011.

Thursday April 3 - Alcester area

 I spent this morning birding the southern edge of my Circle. I started at Hoo Mill on the river Alne just east of Alcester. I suppose I was hoping to bump into a newly arrived migrant, but only Chiffchaffs and a singing Blackcap fitted that bill. However, a flock of 60 Fieldfares also count as migrants.

However I did locate the three Parakeets which have been present around here for several years. John Coombes, upon whose patch I was gatecrashing, had managed to establish that they formed a bizarre inter-species menage a trois, consisting of two female Alexandrine Parakeets and a single male Ring-necked Parakeet.

Alexandrine in front, Ring-necked behind

Ring-necked Parakeet

The Alexandrine Parakeet is considerably larger than the Ring-necked, and has a purple shoulder patch, but no ring around its neck (a male would have a ring). Only the Ring-necked Parakeet is countable as a tick because the species has been naturalised (breeding in the wild) for several decades. Alexandrines are still treated as escapes although they too occasionally breed successfully in the UK, so maybe one day they'll get upgraded.

A less obviously naturalised species (but still introduced) is Little Owl. My one "reliable" site is in the Alcester area. I'd visited it three times this year without success, and tried again on the way down to Kinwarton, again failing.

However it was a case of fifth time lucky when I called in on the way back and blow me it was there. Initially sitting in branches on the east side of its tree it then chose to drop to the ground allowing me to snap a distant record shot.

It's not clear why Little Owls are in decline. It's been happening for decades. The most likely culprit is a shortage of one of its favourite food supplies, moths. They seem happiest in isolated trees in fields, just the kind of habitat where larger moths are in decline due to overuse of pesticides. Other possible reasons are the expanding Buzzard population (proposed by one old Warks birder who reckoned Little Owl corpses were regularly found in Buzzard nests), or maybe nest competition from Jackdaws and Stock Doves, both of which have increased in numbers in the last thirty or forty years. 

There is a school of thought that over-zealous photographers (toggers) may have played a part. I'm not at all sure about that (and I didn't get near at all, as you can probably tell from the poor quality photo), but just to be on the safe side I'll be keeping the exact location to myself. Although I should say its pretty well known to birders in Alcester.

Wednesday April 2 - Mappleborough Green

 I had the opportunity to get in some pre-breakfast birding this morning, and chose Mappleborough Green as my destination. I just about made it for dawn, but once the sun had risen it became tricky to see the flash pools against the light.

This could have been a great visit, but I suffered the frustration of unacceptable views of two potential star performers. More of that later.

Very much in mind was Little Ringed Plover. They are pretty reliable here, but didn't give themselves up easily. Initially I saw one flying around the ploughed field next to the northern flash, but eventually three appeared at the back of the flash itself.

While I was watching them, my first Willow Warbler this year sang in the distance. Again, this was a half-expected arrival. Also on the flashes were 57 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, and a Shelduck. Several Fieldfares and Redwings were a reminder that not everything has yet headed to northern climes. 

Finally I was slightly irritated when a Chat-shaped blob flew off one of the fence posts and disappeared over a hedge (maybe Stonechat), but very frustrated indeed when I got onto two probable Hawfinches as I looked back towards Mappleborough Green from the flash. They made it to my notebook, but then my conscience kicked in and I added a "?". The problem was distance. They looked big and short-tailed, flew with a slow bouncing flight, their wings flicking, possibly showing white. For a moment I thought they would land in trees by the A435, but they kept going and were lost. I think I'm going to have to throw them away.

Birding is always full of probables and possibles and you need to be hard on yourself when drawing the line.

Tuesday April 1 - Preston Bagot (and a late twitch to Earlswood)

 I have to admit that I have a slight aversion to birding on April 1. If you did find something good, you can just imagine the eyebrows being raised. "Oh yes, April Fool, very good." Having said that, I cannot remember a birding April Fools joke, and I'm pretty sure I've never stumbled on anything earth-shattering on that date.

But people have though, and genuinely. The classic which comes to mind was on April 1 2005. An old friend of mine, Roger Broadbent, was birding along the canal near his home at Ingestre in Staffordshire when he came across a Belted Kingfisher. I mean bloody hell, hardly any British records, a North American species of Kingfisher on a canal in Staffs? On April 1? Do us a favour. I was at my desk at work when I got the call, and had to be persuaded it wasn't a joke. Fortunately I had a boss who would let me take time off at very short notice, so I dashed home to Redditch, shedding items of clothing as soon as I got through the door and changing into birding attire before jumping back into the car and heading for Staffs. Lyn later said the sight of strewn clothing when she got home from work was quite alarming.

I got there in time and saw it. It was a Friday. Many who had waited for confirmation plumped for Saturday and missed out. By then it was heading for Aberdeen where it was found a few days later, I'm not making this up, by Roger's son who was a student at Aberdeen University. 

That's a good reason for loving birding.

Anyway back to today. I had picked Preston Bagot, an area of pleasant rolling countryside at the eastern edge of my circle, it consisted of field after field of pasture nibbled almost to the roots by sheep. Very little of any consequence popped into view.

Plenty of Chiffchaffs though, and the light was fantastic.

Chiffchaff

Blackthorn hedge

Nuthatch

Stop Press: Just after I'd finished blogging the Whatsapp pinged. Joe Owens had found a couple of Little Gulls at Earlswood. This is a species I have seen every year since I started the extended patch, but only ever on a single day each time. I needed to see them.

So fifteen minutes later I was at Engine Pool, Earlswood, and to my relief so were the Little Gulls. They were both adults and were feeding on the wing with a dozen or so Black-headed Gulls. Seeing them was the easy bit, photographing them much trickier.

These are my best efforts, plus one of Joe in the background.

Sunday March 30 - Morton Bagot

A fine sunny morning with a rather brisk north-westerly saw me back at Morton Bagot hoping to add something new to my year. I had a nice little shopping list of potential new arrivals; Willow Warbler, Wheatear, and Little Ringed Plover being most in mind.

But as the morning wore on I was left to simply log Chiffchaffs, reaching a respectable ten or so. Fortunately the flash field was reasonably impressive. Top billing went to a count of ten Avocets, comfortably my largest ever count here. The supporting cast was decent; two Little Egrets, a pair of Shovelers, a pair of Shelducks (not two males this time), at least 24 Teal, and eight Lapwings. They were nice to see, lending an almost Mediterranean feel to the day, but I was slightly disheartened by the absence of any new migrants.

All the Avocets were paired up, so there was no chance of a single shot of all of them

Three-quarters of the way round I met up with another birder. John had come up from Long Marston where his usual patch sounded pretty good. He also hadn't seen any new migrants this morning, and went off to the flash field to see the Avocets etc.

I continued to my car from where, as luck would have it, I spotted a new summer migrant. And it wasn't one of the likely ones I listed earlier. Instead it was a high flying hirundine which was battling its way north against the breeze. I soon realised to my surprise it was a House Martin. So that's not only my earliest for Morton Bagot, but by one day my earliest ever in the UK.

This also means I have seen all three common hirundines before the end of March for the first time (I forgot to mention a visit to Earlswood on Thursday morning when I saw three Sand Martins and a Swallow).

The times they are a changing.

Saturday March 29 - Twitching Upton Warren

Many years ago I was as regular a visitor to Upton Warren near Bromsgrove as I now am to Morton Bagot. Although my allegiances have shifted, rather like a footballer who won't celebrate scoring a goal against his old club, I still have a soft spot for the place.

So when a rare bird turns up there, I am sorely tempted to go. Today the reserve played host to its first ever Ring-necked Duck, an American species unlikely to turn up within the confines of my new circular patch. Actually this duck, a drake, is almost certainly the same as one which has been putting in regular appearances at Grimley, near Worcester, since the turn of the year. It could be argued it's getting closer.

Anyway, I went to see it. My first visit to Upton Warren since I twitched a Spotted Sandpiper there two years ago.

It's the front one

I was relieved to find enough space in the small car-park and also in the Lapwing Hide (as its now called). Since my last visit, the reserve has acquired signposts telling you where each hide is located. It couldn't have been simpler.

Ironically my Upton Warren list remains on 202 because I forgot to amend it when the powers that be lumped the Redpolls into a single species.

Fairly similar to Tufted Duck, the best features are the prominent white rings at the base of and near the end of the bill, the lack of a tuft (although some male Tufteds show this), and the grey flanks with prominent white fore flanks.

Here's a test. Which one is it?

Not so easy when it's further away. Try looking closely at the second "Tufted" from the left.

Meanwhile back in the Circle, on Friday my wandering took me east of Henley-in-Arden and proved unexpectedly fruitful when a raptor flew approached from my right. I briefly lost it behind trees but then it re-emerged as an adult Goshawk. It then disappeared behind more trees but I was encouraged when loads of Jackdaws flew up in panic, and then the much larger Gos came back into view before continuing to the north.

Unfortunately I am obliged to be extremely vague about the actual location even though there was no suggestion that this bird was displaying or doing anything territorial. Egg-collectors have a lot to answer for.

Last week the weather was warm for the time of year, but the only butterflies I saw were Brimstone and Peacock, the latter in the garden. Annoyingly the "preferred" date for this week's garden moth survey coincided with a dip in the overnight temperature to zero. I put the trap out anyway and was pleased to find it contained 17 moths of three species this morning. They were 14 Common Quakers, two Hebrew Characters, and my first Brindled Beauty of the year.

Brindled Beauty

Moths are tougher than you'd think.

Tuesday March 25

Today I went for a wander around Blackwell Golf Course near Tutnall on a pleasantly mild, mostly cloudy morning. There are no scarce birds to report, but the camera was employed as a lovely male Sparrowhawk perched in the trees above me, and later on a Mistle Thrush proved irresistible.

I was of course hunting for migrants, but only recorded the numerous Chiffchaffs which are now just about everywhere.

Yesterday I tried Mappleborough Green for the first time this year, but apart from 53 Teal, a Shoveler, and a Shelduck I had not much to show for it. Disappointingly it appears that Lapwings have now abandoned the site.

Fortunately, this morning a quick stop at Cobley Hill (looking for Wheatears) produced three breeding pairs of Lapwings, while the Wheatear quest got me an actual year tick when I paused to look at a promising ploughed field half way along Grange Lane. The Peregrine, which was flying steadily towards Alvechurch, filled a gaping hole in my year-list. It was somewhat unexpected here.

I'm having more issues with Blogspot. So if there are no more posts, that'll be why.