Earlswood Lakes - Saturday September 5

 I have to confess that I feel a bit guilty for spending the WestMidsAllDayer helping the Earlswood team instead of gritting my teeth and trying to eek out what I could from Morton Bagot.

The ringing team were at Morton Bagot and caught 80 birds, and although the species total is likely to be quite low the catch included 10 Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat (at the time of writing neither species had been found at Earlswood), and 20 Blackcaps (The Earlswood team struggling to detect a handful).

Meanwhile, at Earlswood the team got off to a splendid start when Matt located the Barn Owl which had been seen a couple of days ago. I understand this was the first they had found on an alldayer.

I arrived on site half an hour after the event and chose to start at the Scrublands. Here I found a Pheasant (possibly the only one found today), a Rook, and a Shoveler flying off with Mallard. That, or another was seen at Terry's Pool late in the afternoon by Matt. I reached the bottom of Windmill Pool where I found seven Teal, a Kingfisher, and a Common Sandpiper. Apart from a Snipe (which I didn't see) the Common Sandpiper was the only wader seen all day.

I joined John Oates, and then John Sirrett as I approached the causeway. A Yellow Wagtail had been seen, and fortunately it was still there when I arrived. My only previous record this year was a (heard only) record from Morton Bagot on the spring alldayer.

While John O and I were watching the Yellow Wag John S shouted for us to look up, as a Hobby was twisting and turning after Swallows overhead. We stood around on the causeway for about thirty minutes adding several common species, such as five Ravens and a Collared Dove. 

Eventually I had to leave for breakfast, but I still managed to add a distant Red Kite to the day list as I got to the car. 

Late morning saw me parking at Malthouse Car-park and making a circuit of Terry's Pool. By now most of the easy stuff had been ticked off, so I was pleased to add a juvenile Little Grebe to the team's total.

I got to Field House by which time I was largely paying catch up. All the same a single Song Thrush was a tricky one which was new for the total. I again joined John O, and we saw a Sparrowhawk, before walking to the fields by the Craft Centre where the Wheatear was still present.

The regular Yellow-legged Gull was located on Engine Pool before I again went home.

The afternoon was less productive. The nearest I came to adding anything was when John O and I deliberated about a likely Peregrine which we decided was too distant the count. My last birds were Meadow Pipit and Blackcap giving me a personal total of 63 species.

Meanwhile Matt was ploughing on. He added a Little Egret, some Skylarks, and a Reed Bunting bringing the total up to 73 species. 

Meanwhile at least eight Clouded Yellows were found, and with John O's help I added a number of plants to my still rather small flora life list.

Tuesday September 1 - Earlswood Lakes

 A fine sunny morning with a very light breeze. Nevertheless I went to Earlswood Lakes, and to my surprise my visit coincided with a couple of better than average birds.

I was at the south end of Windmill Pool when a Greenshank turned up. John Oates Whatsapp'd that it was flying around Engine Pool (where I'd been thirty minutes earlier). Fortunately within five minutes of his message I heard distant calls, which got progressively louder until the bird itself came into view and landed on the mud not too far from where I was stood.

Greenshank

It stayed for barely a minute, calling regularly, before it decided Earlswood was not up to scratch and it flew off over the scrublands to the south. 

John had also mentioned that a Wheatear was in the horse paddocks near the craft centre, so I headed that way and duly located it.

Wheatear

Surprisingly, despite messages which indicated that John, Matt and Janet were all wandering around, I never set eyes on any of them before it was time to leave.

My botanical efforts remain a little frustrating. I successfully followed John's instructions to locate some Hart's Tongue ferns at the side of Engine Pool, but attempts to find anything new for myself fell foul of my inability to "see" (or frankly understand) the necessary features of plants which my app told me I was looking at. At least I know they won't fly away, so I could try again with better preparation.

Hart's Tongue

One step forward, two steps back at the moment.

Possibly Spear-leaved Orache

Other birds seen included six Teal, a Common Sandpiper, and a Little Egret.

Sunday August 30 - Morton Bagot

 Considering that it's the height of the migration season we should have done a lot better today. We began by surprising a Barn Owl, but unfortunately it flew off shortly after we blundered into it.

Migrant-wise it was very quiet. The wind is back in the west, which won't have helped. A few common warblers and a single Stonechat was about the best we could come up with.

Common Whitethroat

The flash pools are still full of water so the only waders we saw were a Green Sandpiper and 17 Lapwings. At least the Teal numbers are building up (29 today), and with them a single Shoveler.

Shoveler (with two Teal)

It was left to insects to brighten the day. We saw two Clouded Yellows, and pointing the camera at random flies gave me two new ones for the site (and for me); a drone fly called Eristalis nemorum, and a tachnid fly which was almost certainly Tachnis fera. There is a look alike, but that is much rarer and comparing photos when I got home led me to conclude we had seen the common version.

Clouded Yellow

Stripe-faced Dronefly Eristalis nemorum

Tachnis fera

Friday August 28 - Earlswood Lakes

 This morning, with a vague plan to go to either Earlswood or Morton Bagot I stumbled downstairs and checked my phone. John Oates had just found a Wood Sandpiper on the mudflat at Windmill Pool, Earlswood. That made my mind up.

After a brief look at the mudflat at Engine Pool (I hadn't read the message carefully enough), I joined John at Windmill Pool where the Wood Sandpiper was still showing well.

It showed the crisp markings of a juvenile, and although John had been out in torrential rain yesterday without much joy, it seems likely that the recent weather was responsible for its arrival either late yesterday or overnight. It didn't seem particularly bothered by humans walking past, but dogs were a different story and always caused it to flush.

I tried taking some video of it here before I wandered back to the causeway with John. We last saw the Wood Sandpiper half way along the pool with a Common Sandpiper after it had been flushed by dog-walkers.

Back at the causeway John showed me two species of fern for my PSL list: Wall-rue and Black Spleenwort.

Wall-rue

Black Spleenwort

Finally, on my way home I decided to pause along Springbrook Lane to see if any Whinchats had arrived. I didn't see any, but I did get a tick. Peering over the wall of the bridge I noticed a distinctive looking moss. It turned out to be Grey-cushioned Grimmia, The first bryophyte for my list.

Grey-cushioned Grimmia

I'll be putting my moth-trap out tonight, so I'll probably extend this post tomorrow morning.

Garden Moth supplement: Well it was worth it. I caught 101 moths of 25 species. All but one were species I've seen in the garden already this year, but the new one was also a lifer. I could tell it was a Vestal resting on the glass of the front door even from looking at the moth from underneath. This is a migrant species (maybe now breeding in the UK) which is occurring ever more regularly in the Midlands. So it's fair to say it was on my radar.

Vestal

The distinctive stripe can sometimes be red, but my example was largely dark striped (with just a hint of red).

Shortly after I had finished cataloguing the catch, a final sweep of the walls produced a second Vestal. This one was tucked away above the hinge of the door. It's actually not unprecedented for garden moth ticks to come in twos. I suspect that pheromones given off by moth A are detected my moth B, and thus there are two. 

Wednesday August 26 - Morton Bagot

 Recently I saw an extraordinary picture of eight Great White Egrets and 27 Grey Herons paddling in the shallows at Belvide Reservoir, and now thanks to a message from Mike Lane, I was able to see one in the flesh at Morton Bagot.

Admittedly just one Great White Egret and one Grey Heron (which flew off before I got the camera out). Nevertheless this was the second Great White here this year, and the first I managed to see.

Mike had seen it in flight over the raptor watch point, and noted it had appeared to lose height over the flash field. Lucky for me.

Wednesday August 26 - Earlswood Lakes

It's not often I head into the countryside and more or less ignore the birds, but yesterday I did just that. Following a recent conversation with John Oates when I let slip my new-found enthusiasm for pan-species listing, he kindly offered to show me as many of the trees around the lakes and in Clowes Wood as he could in a couple of hours. So yesterday morning I took him up on the offer.

In summary, I was shown 15 species of tree, seven species of fern, and three species of horsetail. Some were ones I had seen before but hadn't got around to ticking off, but many (mainly ferns) were entirely new.

Hybrid Black Poplar populus x canadensis

Greater Horsetail

Common Male-fern

I probably haven't picked a very good time to get into plants. Everything is drooping, brown, vegetated and hard (i.e. even harder than usual) to identify. John did a fine job of finding trees and so forth for me, but its one thing being shown things and quite another getting to know them. It's definitely a work in progress.

I have ordered a Fern field guide and new camera batteries (I managed to use up two batteries during the morning) so when I go on my own I'll be better prepared.

This morning I went back, but to look at birds. I only had time to check Windmill Pool, but it was nice to be back looking at familiar species.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover

As you can tell from the above photo, it started to rain before I left.

I nearly forgot. In the Scrublands I photographed a lichen which I believe is called Oakmoss.

Sunday August 23 - Morton Bagot

 Another sunny morning, of course, saw myself and Dave undaunted by our recent quiet visits, giving the patch another go. We're now at the right end of August and the birds started to respond.

To begin with we found the first of an eventual three Whinchats. That one was in the hedge bordering the scrape field (now lacking water entirely), and we soon found it was accompanied by several Whitethroats, a Stonechat, and best of all a Redstart.

Before we left the field, Dave spotted a Clouded Yellow.

We then switched our attention to the flash field, scoping the furthest flash from the ridge and looking through the largest gap in the trees. From here Dave spotted a Goosander unexpectedly swimming around among the distant Mallard. This was the first here this year, and a species which is scarce at Morton Bagot at the best of times. Unfortunately it proved impossible to photograph, as did a Badger which trotted across the field before disappearing into the cover of the long grass.

We moved down to the hedge and got into the best spot to watch the nearest flash. Initially it looked like a bit of a waste of time, but as luck would have it the cattle in the field decided to approach and inadvertently flushed 13 Snipe, 24 Teal, and four Green Sandpipers all virtually invisible until they were suddenly flying around in panic.

Little else was seen, aside from two or three more Stonechats at Netherstead.

Briefly, the garden moth trap on Friday night produced a decent count of 86 moths of 29 species for the GMS. Best in terms of our garden was the ridiculously tiny Apple Leaf-miner (only the third I have noticed), two Beet Moths (the first since they crashed onto the seen in 2022), and a Small Blood-vein (first for a couple of years). My favourite though were a couple of Chinese Characters, a moth which hides in plain sight by looking like a bird-dropping.

Weird or what?