Friday October 31 - Earlswood Lakes

This morning I had a bright idea, worth reporting because I don't have many. The thought was; maybe the Twites only flew off to feed somewhere and would be back in the same spot this morning. 

I arrived at 07:00 to find that Joe had had pretty much the same thought. He was scanning through a small party of Linnets on the spit bank off the causeway. I hadn't even seen any Linnets yesterday, although Joe assured me they had been with the Twites when Matt had made his find. The Linnets were kind of behaving themselves, never flying far, but also keeping partially hidden in the vegetation. We reckoned on a count of 26, but I can't honestly say we looked at every one in each scan. However, after an hour we probably had scrutinised each bird, and nothing looked like anything other than a Linnet.

Happily there was a distraction. At the far end of Windmill I noticed a dark duck and wondered if it might be a Scoter. I took a quick photo and was surprised to discover it was actually my first Goldeneye of the year. I got Joe on it, but we then turned back to the Linnets to resume the grilling.

About ten minutes later, with my scope now gaining some use on the Linnets, I thought I'd quite like to have a better look at it. But it had gone! That's what I call a jammy record shot.

During the time we were there we noted among other things the Green Sandpiper, a few Teal, and Snipe, a few R N Parakeets flying over, up to six Skylarks and 150 Woodpigeons migrating over head, and the now expected sight of a Little Egret.

It's been a very mild day, and is the penultimate GMS date tonight. So I'll be adding a moth supplement tomorrow morning.

The results: 10 moths of six species. New for the year was a Beaded Chestnut, and making a surprise appearance due to a second generation emergence was Orange Pine Moth Lozotaeniodes formosana. For the record the rest were two Feathered Thorns, a Barred Sallow, four White Points, and a Turnip moth.

Beaded Chestnut

Orange Pine Tortrix

Thursday October 30 - The Earlswood Twite

 It's been a difficult week for your's truly. On Monday I contracted a horrible stomach bug which laid me out for a couple of days. Gradually the symptoms subsided and I consoled myself with the thought that there wasn't much about anyway. 

But birds have a habit of biting you on the bum. This morning, feeling much better, I was nobly counting Woodpigeons heading west over Redditch, wondering whether to stick at it or go to Morton Bagot when my Whatsapp pinged. Two possible Twite off the causeway at Earlswood. The second record for Earlswood, the previous one having been in 1957.

Timing is everything, and there was an issue. I wasn't able to go for at least ten minutes. It proved critical. 

Arriving at Malthouse Lane car park thirty minutes after Matt G's alert, I was hopeful the birds were still there. A further message had confirmed the identification and that John Oates was also now watching them. But half way down Malthouse Lane as I tried to disentangle scope, camera bag, tripod and binoculars, John Sirrett pulled up and gave me the news that they'd flown. Oh NO!

There still seemed to be hope. They had flown off below tree-top level and may still have dropped down somewhere along Windmill Pool. John had missed them by seconds, and I accepted his offer of a lift as we headed for the bottom end of Windmill. Sadly, our efforts were in vain. Eventually we were forced to watch a lady member of the public walk down the shore towards us, but as far as we could tell she didn't flush anything finch-like. She approached and asked whether she had caused us any difficulty. We did well to be polite.

Further searching proved fruitless. Compensation (ha ha) provided by a Green Sandpiper, a fly over Lapwing and a few Fieldfares.

John Oates has kindly allowed me to use his gripping photograph of one of the birds.

Twite by John Oates, found by Matt Griffiths.

You have to be philosophical about it. Sometimes you're going to arrive too late. I'm genuinely pleased for Matt and John who probably put in more hours of quality birding at Earlswood than anyone else. They were the right people to have seen them.

Twite used to breed on the moors in North Staffordshire and the south Pennines and continue to do so in Scotland. Consequently assiduous searching through Linnet flocks in the West Midlands would occasionally turn up a Twite. But they've got a lot rarer since the turn of the 21st Century and the records have all but dried up.

These two birds, at a place which had only ever seen one before, maybe the wake up call we need. Those Linnet flocks could still be worth checking.

Sunday October 26 - Morton Bagot

 A cold morning with a sheen of frost on the roofs of cars in our close. Classic conditions for a movement of Woodpigeons, but I failed to take the opportunity until it was too late. Rather more switched on were Jim W from his garden in Hollywood, counting about 2500 from 06:45 and 07:45, and Matt G at Earlswood who tallied 4740 from 06:50 and 08:50.

By the time I finally got to Morton Bagot, at 08:45, the spectacle was much reduced. Even so Dave and I counted 463 until 11:30. The ringers who were obviously not vizmigging, reported numerous flocks heading over before we started. 

Some of the few migrating Woodpigeons we did manage to see

They have been making their own impact by capturing loads of Redpolls. It's been an excellent autumn for them. Over the the last few weeks they had caught 378 without a single retrap, which means there has been a flow of new birds through the site. 

Rosie holding a juvenile Redpoll

This morning we guessed at 50+ Redpolls and a similar number of Goldfinches on site, and the ringers were adding to their tally. Their results for today were:

Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)

Blue Tit 14 (7)

Great Tit 1 (5)

Long-tailed Tit 11

Meadow Pipit 10

Greenfinch 2

Lesser Redpoll 63 (1)

Goldfinch 4

The figures in brackets relate to re-traps (birds caught previously at Morton Bagot). I thought it was interesting that all the Long-tailed Tits were new. One of the Lesser Redpolls was a control (birds ringed elsewhere in the world and "controlled" here). I will reveal where it had been ringed when I find out from Tony.

On the whole it was just a case of more of the same today. About 80 Fieldfares with Redwings in trees along the Morton Brook, two Red Kites and an immature Peregrine regularly appearing, 53 Teal, four Lapwings and a Snipe mainly in the flash field, a Chiffchaff, and a Marsh Tit.

The Peregrine eventually settled on a pylon

Just outside my Circle, Andy G was photographing several of the 10 to 20 Crossbills in Hay Wood. Perhaps I need to check out some of the coniferous woods closer to home.

PS: A Lesser Redpoll controlled here on 11 Oct 2025 had been ringed just nine days earlier on 2 Oct 2025 at Thorpe Marsh, South Yorkshire. It seems likely it had been hatched in the summer further north (maybe Scotland) and was detained on its migration southwards.

Friday October 24 - Lower Bittell, Earlswood, and a few moths.

 It's been a very quiet week for me. The only birding I've done concerns a rare visit to Lower Bittell on Tuesday on the strength of a Scaup reported on Birdguides, but relating to Saturday morning. I knew there had been one earlier the previous week (possibly Thursday), but also that it hadn't been seen the following day.

Anyway the upshot was that there was no sign of it, and from talking to Chris T there didn't seem a great deal of confidence in the Birdguides report (maybe it was crossed wires about the earlier bird). Both Chris and I independently heard a Cetti's Warbler singing. This was only my second at Bittell, but to be fair I hardly ever go there and I don't think it is all that unusual nowadays....(but see post script below)

A few Skylarks were heading west overhead, but other than that there wasn't much to see.

Today I gave Earlswood a go. Things started decently when I heard a Redshank calling as I was donning my wellies in Malthouse car park, but unfortunately there was no sign of it when I reached Engine Pool. I bumped into Matt who had been there since dawn and had seen nothing of note. All I managed was 31 Teal, nine Tufted Ducks, 22 Cormorants, 12 Snipe, a Little Egret, about 100 Woodpigeons heading south, plus a few calling Siskins, Redpolls, and Meadow Pipits.

Things can only get better.

PS: I've heard from Rob W that the Cetti's Warbler was only the seventh or eighth record for Bittell Reservoir. It's also the first one he has ever heard singing there. 

PPS: I put the moth trap out for the penultimate Garden Moth Survey of the season, expecting to wake to an empty trap. I was therefore pleased to find three moths in it this morning; Large Yellow Underwing, Chestnut (the first since 7 March, this species is a late autumn specialist which hibernates before reappearing in early spring), and White Point, a moth which is spreading up from the south. My first was only last year, but this was my third in 2025.

White Point

Sunday October 19 - Morton Bagot

 The forecast rain held off until mid morning, and didn't really get heavy until we were done. In the meantime Dave and I spent an enjoyable time trying to assess how much overhead passage was going on.

Throughout the morning Redwings, Redpolls and our first Fieldfares of the autumn were flying over in droves. It was difficult to work out how many there were because some flocks heading east for example, would later return. Or maybe they were different birds. A conservative estimate was 150 Redwings, 200 Fieldfares and 200 Redpolls. If the latter figure seems a lot, bear in mind that the ringers caught 104 yesterday with no re-traps.

Also present were two juvenile Red Kites which seemed completely unconcerned by our presence, often approaching quite closely as they circled in search of food. One of them had a white feather among its primaries.

A few of the Fieldfares paused in Stapenhill Wood

Other birds seen included two Stonechats, two Snipe, and 23 Teal. 

Yesterday the ringers caught, in addition to all the Redpolls, a juvenile male Yellowhammer. A species which is no longer resident here.

Yellowhammer - Leigh Kelly

Saturday October 18 - Garden Moths

 I've been trying to prioritise birds over moths this year, but I can't get away from the fact that I've caught more moths in my garden this year than ever before, and have added at least 31 new species to my garden list (almost all of them lifers).

Last night saw another new moth for the garden and six more new for the year, so I can't resist blogging about them.

The new one was a Figure of Eight, although it took me a while to figure it out. On seeing it on the fence in the torch light I assumed it was a Figure of Eighty, but fortunately on checking the books I realised it didn't look quite right and also that Figure of Eighty should not occur so late in the year. The penny finally dropped. Figure of Eight is quite an uncommon moth and has been in serious decline since the 1970s. However, I've heard that several moth-ers have caught the species this year, including Jason Waine in a different part of Redditch (it was his first too), so it looks like they're having a good year.

As for the rest, the most exciting were a moth called the Brick which was my first since I trapped two in my very first year of moth trapping (2018), followed closely by Green-brindled Crescent my first since 2019, Yellow-line Quaker the first since 2021, Feathered Thorn first since 2022, two White-points the second and third for the garden since it joined the list last year, and two Black Rustics.

Figure of Eight

White-point

Feathered Thorn (and White-point)

Brick

Green-brindled Crescent

Yellow-line Quaker

Black Rustic

If you throw in two Merveille du Jours which just look great, and a late Yellow-tail its fair to say it was quite a night.

Thursday October 16 - Earlswood Lakes

Although the weather remains exactly the same as its been for about a week, grey with barely any breeze, I was still optimistic that a visit to Earlswood Lakes could be productive. As it turned out, it was certainly eventful.

To begin with, I was pleased to see that the Stonechat was still present at Springbrook Lane.

Stonechat

 As I made my way through the Scrublands towards the bottom end of Windmill Pool, it quickly became clear that the autumn migration was in full swing. I counted 113 Redwings, and started logging Skylarks as they headed south overhead, eventually getting a count of 25. Small numbers of Redpolls, Siskins, and Chaffinches also headed over at regular intervals. 

Once I got to Windmill Pool, after surveying the mud and counting some Teal, I noticed a large, long-winged bird of prey heading north-east far in the distance. I Whatsapp'd a message that an unidentified raptor was going over. With hindsight I wished I'd left it at that, but I couldn't resist trying to photograph it. Peering at the image in the back of the camera I concluded it could be an Osprey carrying a fish. Fortunately, John Oates was a lot closer to the bird and saw that it was actually a Red Kite dangling a leg for some reason. Egg on face, probably not for the last time.

Red Kite

Once I reached the dam my luck, and bird identification skills improved. A Rock Pipit called, and after a little scanning around I saw it as it pitched down onto the dam. I started to walk along the road, and managed a record shot when it landed again. Unfortunately a crowd of people overtook me, and flushed what turned out to be two Rock Pipits. Another dodgy photograph showed them both, before the hordes flushed them off to the north.

Rock Pipit

Two Rock Pipits (they're both there honest!)

I met up with John, who had found a Redshank on the mud at Engine Pool. He later added a first-winter Common Gull to the tally. What was presumably the same bird later flew south at the bottom of Windmill.

Redshank

Redshanks are traditionally an early spring bird in the Midlands, so this one was particularly noteworthy. Also present were six Shovelers, 20 Teal, and a Kingfisher.

Inevitably I ran out of time and had to make my way home. However, today felt like the start of autumn proper, and it will be interesting to see how the next fortnight pans out.