Sunday May 5 - Morton Bagot

 The third part of my long weekend of local birding came with a return to Morton Bagot. My plan was to boost the list of birds seen this weekend. 

I had parked by the church to await Dave's arrival, and heard a distant Cuckoo before he arrived. We drove the short distance to Netherstead and then headed back down the access road where we first heard and then saw two male Cuckoos approaching slowly, calling at each other the whole time. An ideal photographic opportunity, but there was just one problem. I'd accidentally left my camera in the car. What a numpty.

Once reunited with my camera very little came in range within the next hour. It was nice to see that some House Martins had arrived, although it seems they are more interested in Clowse Wood Farm than their tradition spots at the barn conversions.

Dave thought he heard a Grasshopper Warbler reel briefly, and later saw a pair of Shelducks heading off, but I contrived to miss both. 

The most unexpected sighting came as we reached the scrape field. We both heard a Curlew calling. We scanned about, and Dave picked up five Curlews heading north somewhere over the flash field. I erected the scope in record time but was too late to get on them. Every year I think this will be the last time we see one here, but this sighting is the highest ever count here. Shortly afterwards we spotted a male Stonechat. There can be little doubt that they are breeding here again.

At the flash field there was again no sign of any Lapwings or Avocets, so it was left to a Little Egret to try to save the day.

Little Egret and curious Mute Swan

The warm weather was coaxing butterflies onto the wing, and we saw our first Small Tortoiseshells of the year, and several Brimstones, Orange-tips, and Peacocks. Also our first damselfly, a Beautiful Demoiselle, fluttered up into a hedge.

The main talking point of the latter half of the walk was a Wheatear we found on the tree-collars near Stapenhill Wood. We established it was a male, and probably a first-summer male because most of the wing feathers were dark brown rather than black. It was probably of the leucorhoa race also known as the Greenland Wheatear.

In this image the flanks look pale which is not so good for Greenland

It looked a better Greenland candidate when facing you, but I didn't get a shot of it doing that. To be absolutely sure one way or another it is best to catch and measure it. Hopefully it will still be here in the early hours when Tony tries to ring it.

Morton Bagot has a much smaller recording area than Earlswood. Its not quite as good for a species count, but the two sites (and Mappleborough Green in spring) compliment each other and make for a decent extended local "patch".

Saturday May 4 - West Midlands Alldayer (Earlswood Lakes)

 Like an MP who has crossed the floor, I abandoned Morton Bagot to its fate today and switched allegiances to the Earlswood team. To be fair, no-one who visits Morton Bagot had expressed much interest in taking part (but I apologise if anyone felt betrayed). I also had the issue that I have dropped out of X or any similar Social Media platform and the Alldayer is administered through X (although again I should say that Mike Wakeman had kindly offered to relay our/my scores if required).

Anyway, a change is as good as a rest, and I thoroughly enjoyed this morning's effort. For me it was not an "all-dayer", just a "most of the morninger." Although I did not get up before dawn, but I was standing on the causeway between Engine Pool and Windmill Pool with John Sirrett and Matt Griffiths at 06.15.

John was the score keeper, and as far as I can tell he was doing a much better job than I ever did at Morton Bagot. The early signs were not promising. I had missed a Little Egret and although we quickly added Common Sandpiper and Sand Martin, I failed to get onto a House Martin John had spotted as it was flying off. I didn't see another all day.

I decided to head for the bottom end of Windmill Pool, an area I now know is called The Scrublands. One additional benefit today is that I got to find out where some of the places referred to by Whatsapp group members actually are. Yesterday this area had hosted a Garden Warbler, but this morning I couldn't find it. Instead I counted about six Whitethroats and a couple of Reed Buntings before emerging onto Springbrook Lane at the far end. Here I located Jim Winsper who was having something of a communications nightmare. He had found Pheasant and Mistle Thrush on the Umberslade Road (two more species I failed to see all day) before hearing a Green Woodpecker and finding that he couldn't connect to the Whatsapp Group. I did the honours (and also failed to see a Green Woody today).

One of the Scrubland early morning Whitethroats

My one piece of good luck was spotting a Badger as it trundled towards me along Springbrook Lane.

By the time I got back to the causeway I was able to reel off an unimpressive list of birds which did at least raise the total by six. 

I then had to head home to help Lyn and have my breakfast.

Nearly two hours later I returned. In the interim to total had been raised to 61 and I had missed a Yellow Wagtail and a Swift. Fortunately I was able to pull back the Swift immediately on arrival, and then contributed to the identification of an Arctic Tern which had confusingly arrived with a Common Tern in very benign un-Arctic Ternlike conditions.

The Arctic Tern

I decided to head for Terry's Pool and was given a list of "birds needed" to bear in mind. On the way I added a Snipe and a singing Garden Warbler to my personal list, but completely failed to find anything to contribute to the list.

A grim record shot of the Garden Warbler

On the plus side I located a Nuthatch which was feeding young through the entrance to its nest box. On previous Morton Bagot alldayers this species has invariably gone off the radar.

Matt was starting to have a put me to shame. Pings on my phone told me he had heard a Cuckoo (a bird I still need for the year), then a Lesser Whitethroat and best of all a male Redstart at Field Cottage. I Googled Field Cottage and discovered I was quite close. On reaching the road I caught up with Mike Jeeves who had also got the call. We found Matt, and shortly afterwards had the briefest of views of the Redstart before it disappeared for good. An Earlswood tick for me.

By now it was midday and my time was nearly up. I caught up with Willow Warbler and the long-staying Wigeon before reaching my car. Although I'd really enjoyed the day, I didn't feel I'd made much of a contribution to the team score. However, that was about to change. 

Willow Warbler

Great Crested Grebes displaying

As I was about to get into my car below the dam I glanced up to see an immature gull flying over. It was a first-summer Common Gull. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit this was a year-tick (they're scarce around here), but at least it was the 67th tick for the team's list.

As far as I know the score is still stuck on that figure, but I will update if I find out any more. My personal tally was 54.

PS: Late news just in: Matt managed to find a female Wheatear at Pound Close Farm at around 21:00, so that becomes tick number 68.

Friday May 3 - Mappleborough Green

 The birders taking part in tomorrow's alldayer must be getting a bit anxious. A grey drizzly morning has been producing the goods at Earlswood this morning. About eight Arctic Terns and a Whimbrel have migrated north-eastwards over the site in the last few hours.

Typically I dithered about what to do, and thinking I had missed all the action plumped for Mappleborough Green.

Any hope of a downed wader proved unfounded but I did at least see two Little Egrets and a Yellow Wagtail.

Little Egrets

Yellow Wagtail

My plan, such as it is, is to cover my three favoured sites in three days. So that means Earlswood tomorrow and Morton Bagot on Sunday.

Tuesday April 30 - Mockley Wood followed by some garden moths

 At the start 2024 I vaguely promised myself that I would target woodland this year, but during April have been unable to resist watery habitats to raise the species count. This morning I pressed the reset button and went to Mockley Wood just north of Ullenhall.

It was warmer, at last, and sunny, although the southerly breeze was a bit on the strong side. Mockley Wood is used by the local shooters and there is limited access for the rest of us. However, there is a footpath with cuts through the east side of the wood and then runs along its northern edge. This gives plenty of opportunity to see what is a lovely wood.

As for the birds, it was generally a case of more of the same. Plenty of singing Blackcaps (including a highly mimetic one which caused me a few problems until I saw it), Chiffchaffs, and other regular woodland birds. I found a Ravens nest by following the sound of the noisy youngsters which appeared close to fledging, and amongst the Blackcaps found a single singing Garden Warbler, my first of the year. It showed briefly, but the camera had no chance.

I didn't photograph any birds, but the presence of a few butterflies on the wing made me think it might be worth putting the garden trap out.

I did so, but some overnight rain may have suppressed the numbers. I only caught 18 moths, many of which were unidentifiably worn Brindled/Oak-tree Pugs. There were some highlights though. My first Powdered Quaker since 2020, and my first Streamer (somewhat the worse for wear unfortunately) since 2019.

Powdered Quaker

Streamer in the pot (it flew away as I tried to coax it onto a leaf)

Despite failing to get the Streamer to pose on a leaf, some of my other subjects were more responsive.

Orange Footman

Frosted Green

Flame Shoulder

I still haven't decided whether to take part in the West Midlands Alldayer on Saturday, but as most of the good stuff seems to have quit Morton Bagot, I think I will probably see if I can help the Earlswood team and leave my patch for Sunday.

Sunday April 28 - Zipping about (Earlswood, Mappleborough Green, Morton Bagot)

 One thing I rarely do any more is flit from place to place, preferring to pick a spot and stick to it. But this morning it was raining steadily, and being late April it seemed likely that any watery habitat might be worth a visit, so I tried to do them all.

The Earlswood plan seemed pretty sound. Rain should mean terns, or that's what I've always thought. The dearth of early messages on Whatsapp should have been a clue, and as it turned out the only terns present were five Common Terns, and the only wader a Common Sandpiper. The best bird was a Yellow Wagtail which Matt and I saw flying across Engine Pool as we chatted on the causeway. (He gave me a gripping account of his encounter with the Redshanks a few days ago. There were actually 42 of them and they flew back and forth for quite a while, allowing Matt to film them on his phone). There were plenty of hirundines as you might expect, but no Swifts to brighten the mood.

It was still raining when I reached Mappleborough Green, but it was easing off and this was by far the most productive venue today. I began by seeing a Common Whitethroat rather well, and hearing a Lesser Whitethroat.

Whitethroat

Down at the main flash things looked quiet, so I quickly moved on to the overflow flash. At first this didn't seem much better, but then I spotted the bird of the day, a male Whinchat.

Whinchat at Mappleborough Green

It was not close, and it turned out to be very elusive. After twice disappearing from view, it returned for a few minutes to allow a record shot, before completely vanishing. A Little Ringed Plover flew around after being disturbed from the other flash by a lady feeding her horse, and I eventually decided to return there. The result was a pair of Shelducks which I hadn't seen earlier.

After lunch the rain abated completely and it brightened up. I went to Morton Bagot to see what I'd been missing. Not very much as it turned out. There was no sign of the Lapwing pair, let alone the chick, no Avocets, and no unusual migrants. The highlight was a fly-over Yellow Wagtail which I only heard. A Little Egret was present, and most of the resident warblers sang and hid from view as usual.

I started looking at plants (it was that bad), and it was actually quite pleasant. I rather liked the look of a Wood Spurge along the road below Bannams Wood.

Wood Spurge

Tony has been around in the dead of night this week counting singing Grasshopper Warblers, tallying four, and ringing two of them. I didn't hear any this afternoon, but I'm sure this was just a time of day thing, and they are still here.

Thursday April 25 - Morton Bagot

 The chilly weather of the last ten days continued today. I completed the normal circuit at Morton Bagot and counted singing birds diligently. There were no new arrivals but migrants are getting through in spite of the weather. Although I didn't cover all the patch, the seven singing Lesser Whitethroats heard this morning equals the site record. In addition a single Grasshopper Warbler, three singing Sedge Warblers, ten singing Chiffchaffs, ten singing Whitethroats, and two singing Willow Warblers was a decent return for the effort.

The highlight of the morning was arguably the discovery that the single pair of Lapwings on the flash field has managed to produce a chick.

Lapwing and chick

Although it was nice to witness the event, it brings me mixed feelings. Over the last decade the breeding pairs here have reduced steadily and this may be the last pair here. The problem is probably chick survival, and I'm afraid it is more than likely that this little mite will disappear in the next few days.

On a more positive note I saw a Tawny Owl in the shed, my first here this year. Two male Stonechats in different fields also bodes well for the breeding season. A pair of Teal and the two drake Gadwalls remain on the nearest flash, and a pair of Tufted Ducks on what remains of the Kingfisher Pool were the first for weeks.

I'm hoping warmer weather on the horizon will get the spring rebooted.

Monday April 22 - Earlswood and Mappleborough Green

 There is a saying "April is the cruellest month" TS Elliot I believe (miserable bugger). I would like to refute that by asserting that April is the month that keeps on giving. I love it.

What it gave me today was an early morning "bleep" of the phone. Thirty-five forty-two Redshanks had circled Earlswood at 05:48, and five Common Scoters were on Windmill Pool. Naturally the Redshank were gone in a flash about 45 minutes, having flown back and forth low over Engine Pool allowing Matt to film them (its easily the largest number ever seen there, and also the biggest flock in my circular recording area), but the Scoters sounded twitchable. 

I arrived as the drizzle which was no doubt responsible for all this activity continued to fall. Undeterred I made it up the steps from the road and was quickly able to find the birds, three males and two females, huddling together not far from the causeway.

Common Scoters

These birds are sea ducks, but also night migrants, and evidently a proportion of those migrating back to their northern breeding grounds in spring are quite happy to take a shortcut from the Severn to the Wash. Only damp weather will slow them down and give the Midland birder a chance to see one, or in this case five.

I didn't have very long, but there was still time to see two Common Terns which had also arrived overnight.

April can be like this. Migration happens in fits and starts, days of not much and then suddenly there are birds everywhere.

By late morning I was itching to give Mappleborough Green a look. Those Redshank had got me dreaming of waders, and the flash seemed like a good bet. 

The plan paid off, but not for waders. A Little Ringed Plover was still present on the overspill flash, but I had heard a Yellow Wagtail call, and to my delight found it was showing brilliantly.

Yellow Wagtail

It's not my first this year, but it is the best view I've had of one for years. Decades ago they were pretty common and perhaps I took them for granted, but sadly they are on the decline and every opportunity to see one is a little victory.

PS: I put the trap out overnight. It remains too cool overnight though and I attracted just two moths, both worn Brindled Pugs.