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.

Tuesday November 25 - Old Park Wood

 This morning's jaunt was down to Old Park Wood which forms a part of the Ragley Estate, and is on the southern edge of my 10k Circle. There was a footpath running along its south side, but everywhere else was strictly out of bounds and the estate staff patrol it regularly looking for trespassers.

It was bright and sunny, and it wasn't long before I found a mixed flock of finches and buntings in a game strip alongside the footpath. About 100 of the finches were Linnets, and the rest were Chaffinches and Yellowhammers.

Some of the Linnets

Any delight in finding this flock was tempered by the fact they were just outside my Circle. Its just as well I didn't find anything rare in with them.

Considering how restricted I was, I was pretty pleased to log a Woodcock, a pair of Marsh Tits, and a Red Kite during my hour and a half visit. None of them posed for the camera.

Old Park Wood

Newman's Plantation

I couldn't help wondering what I might have had a chance of finding if I'd been able to gain full access to the impressively large Old Park Wood.

Sunday November 23 - Morton Bagot

 Morton Bagot is settling down for winter. Dave and I wandered around this morning and saw birds we expected to see, and little more. I would say that the patch's wintering bird population comprises about sixty to seventy species at a push, and we saw forty of them today.

Of course you are unlikely to see all the birds present in a couple of hours, so to brighten the experience it is preferable to see at least some of the harder to find ones. Thus our star bird was probably a Jack Snipe which I kicked out of cover in the scrape field. Typically it rose silently from close to my wellies and landed again about twenty metres behind me. Too quick for a photo, and I was not about to disturb it again.

We also saw three Red Kites (Dave had them in the air together), three Stonechats which may well attempt to spend the winter here. Any prolonged cold snap could be disastrous for them as they are highly insectivorous. There were still 55 Teal and a Wigeon on the nearest flash, and two Common Gulls (unusual here)* flew south.

Goldfinch and Stonechat

A flock of 180 Woodpigeons flew over Bannams Wood, but more unusual was a group of about sixty feeding in the leaf litter at the edge of a sheep field next to the Morton Brook. When the land here was all agriculture, pre-HOEF, we used to see thousands feeding on recently tilled land. 

One other slightly unusual sighting related to at least one Grey Wagtail. They do turn up every autumn, but rarely remain later in the winter.

Finally, the ringers have had a couple of interesting controls. Blue Tits tend not to move very far, but one caught at Morton Bagot on 13 September 2025 was controlled at Kemerton Lake, near Bredon Hill in south Worcestershire on 9 November 2025, a distance of 34 kilometres.

Their second control was a Redpoll ringed on the Yorkshire coast at Kilnsea on October 7 2025, and caught at Morton Bagot just three days later on October 10 2025. Although its tempting to speculate that this bird had originated in Scandinavia, most Lesser Redpolls travel from within the UK, so it is just as likely to have been migrating down the coast before heading south-west to be intercepted by Tony and the team.

*In fact they were my first here this year.

Thursday November 20 - Aston Cantlow

The morning dawned cold and frosty and I headed down to another snippet of land at the edge of my Circle. This time the venue was on the south-eastern edge of Aston Cantlow. I had visited the same square last summer, and I remembered it as being pretty dull.

So I was pleasantly surprised this time that one or two less regular birds were seen. The first were six Lapwings and nine Golden Plovers seen flying some distance away to the south of the village. Although I'd heard a Golden Plover somewhere near Umberslade back in January, these were the first I had actually seen this year.

Pretty bleak and uninspiring

In the photo above, you can just see the edge of a wooded bank which was keepered for Pheasants and therefore private. However, from the footpath I was on, the second decent sighting of the day was visible when a Peregrine appeared from above those trees.

Peregrine

Oddly enough I had seen a Peregrine in the Aston Cantlow area some years before. I couldn't see any particular reason that the species would be here, but maybe there are some pylons in the vicinity. Peregrines love surveying the landscape from those man-made structures.

Tuesday November 18 - Lists

The bulk of today's post relates to yesterday. About mid-afternoon I got a message from Rob W relating to a Snow Bunting along the dam at Upper Bittell. This was a drop everything, jump in the car moment.

On arrival I could see a group of three birders huddled at the far end of the dam, so I hastened to join them. As I'd hoped, Rob, Chris and Josh were still on the bird and so it was just a case of them pointing to where it was.

My thanks go to Rob who found the bird, initially on call, and was kind enough to think of me. Others were called, but a winter's weekday late afternoon is not ideal for most, and no-one else arrived. Chris and I got distracted by looking at Gulls after fifteen minutes, and shortly afterwards we could no longer find the Bunting. Maybe it had gone to roost, or perhaps it had just gone.

So why was seeing it so important? Well it's all about lists. I've kept lists of birds for nearly fifty years. My first was my British List which I was encouraged to compile at University in November 1978. At the time it stood at 143, so I was able to recall seeing (or thinking I'd seen) that many species since childhood. There were some dodgy ones on there; Tree Sparrow, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, and maybe a few more, but in time I saw them for certain.

My first local list was my Bittell List, and from 1978 to the early 2000s I cherished it, and also my Upton Warren List. In all that time there had never been a Snow Bunting at Bittell. The last records were in 1964, and possibly 1969 (one at Cofton Richards in April). So even though my Bittell list is more of a historical thing, I was very keen to add Snow Bunting.

One of the peculiarities of my list making is that many lists have been, if not abandoned, then put on the back-burner as my birding priorities have changed. Nowadays the lists that matter to me the most are my Morton Bagot lists and my 10 k square Circle year list. But if I ever move house for example, they too might be discontinued.

List making can be seen as nerdy, but I would defend it for one reason. It helps you remember what you've seen and focus on what you want to see. Birds on lists matter more than birds seen, for example on a birding trip to Norfolk. They do to me anyway.

Technically, this Snow Bunting might have been within 10 k of my house, parts of the east shore should qualify. But having decided from the outset not to include Upper Bittell in its entirety I will not be adding it to the 10k year list. It's my list, my choice.

Today, I resumed my 10 k wandering. I visited a wood at the eastern edge of the Circle near Wootton Wawen. It had no public access and I did not have permission to be there. This was a shooters wood, Pheasant pens everywhere. Thankfully no-one shot me. The best bird was a Marsh Tit. 

Sunday November 16 - Morton Bagot

 Morton Bagot seemed strangely empty this morning. Not of birds, of people. The ringers had migrated somewhere else, and Dave was not with me. I had the place to myself.

Conditions were ideal really. High cloud with a few sunny spells and hardly a breathe of wind. Redwings were very much in evidence, feeding on hawthorn berries. The hedges seem particularly bountiful this autumn.

All I needed was a decent bird. The heavy rain a couple of days ago had filled up every pool it could find, and was no doubt responsible for the appearance of the bird of the day, a Little Grebe swimming around on the nearest flash.

Little Grebe

This was only the second here this year, and the first I've been able to photograph. The flashes were also home to 33 Teal, a Wigeon and 24 Lapwings.

A Wigeon among the Teal

Other than that it was pretty steady. Redpolls appeared in very short supply until 30 appeared in the birches on my walk back, while the Redwing numbers reached a minimum of 50 birds.

Redwing

It sounds as though winter will be back next week.