Sunday July 12 - Morton Bagot (and garden moths)

 I recently read an on-line article by a guy (I couldn't work out whether he was Finnish or Irish) explaining in great detail how to be proficient in finding rare birds. It reminded me that any hopes I might have that I could be that person are entirely delusional. Getting away from all the - go birding at the right place, know your birds, keep looking up, scan every bush, check the weather stuff, the absolute killer was keep going all day, every day. Those days are gone.

Today's two hour effort comprised a mooch around Morton Bagot, and my birding highlight was a toss up between discovering that the juvenile Lapwing was still alive on the scrape field, and counting four Green Sandpipers and two Little Ringed Plovers on the nearest flash. They were shimmering in the heat of yet another hot sunny day, so the only chance I got to photograph a bird came courtesy of the pair of Stonechats still present at the dragonfly ponds.

Female Stonechat

However, I did find something good. Just not a bird. Back on 10 July 2022 I had added Red-eyed Damselfly to my site list, and now almost exactly four years later I spotted another. It was resting on vegetation on the surface of the Kingfisher Pool, most of the floating leaves and other detritus being occupied by Small Red-eyed Damselflies. The latter were also my first of the year, but are much the commoner Red-eyed species here since they first appeared about ten years ago.

Red-eyed Damselfly

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

For the main difference between the two species look at the back end of the abdomen.

While researching my blog for the last time I photographed Red-eyed D at Morton Bagot I was reminded that 10 July 2022 was also the day Dave and I found an adult Honey-buzzard here. So even old duffers like us occasionally get lucky and become rarity finders.

As for moths, well as you'd expect the hot nights have delivered. I brought forward my most recent GMS night by one day so that I wouldn't be semi-comatose when the football was on.

Thus on Thursday night I was witness to a deluge of at least 409 moths of 68 species, many of which were new for the year. Three species (maybe four) were new to the garden, although the first of these was not in fact a moth. While Lyn washed in the bathroom I couldn't help noticing a monstrous cricket clinging to the ceiling above her head. I potted what proved to be a Long-winged Conehead, a species I have seen at Morton Bagot, but not in our garden before.

Long-winged Conehead

Among the actual moths the following morning from dawn, I gained for the garden a Common Purple & Gold Pyrausta purpuralis and a Twin-spotted Wainscot.

Common Purple and Gold (Similar to the much more common Mint Moth, this individual seems to have had its wings clipped by a bird. It still flew off before I got a second chance of a photo)

Twin-spotted Wainscot

Other moths included two Least Carpets, six Tree-lichen Beauties, a remarkable 30 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, a Maple Pug, another four Small Mottled Willows (bringing this year's total of what was thought to be a scarce migrant to eight), another Cydia interscindana (the previous one a fortnight ago was the first for Warwickshire), a possible Cryptic Ash Bud Moth Prays ruficeps (this would be a garden first if the moth recorder considers my rather poor photos sufficient evidence), a Scarce Silver-lines (only my second, and for me the best looking moth of the night), and five migrant Rush Veneers.

Scarce Silver-lines

As usual the full list of moths new for the year has been updated on the appropriate page.

Tuesday July 7 - Morton Bagot

I went to Morton Bagot yesterday to buy some eggs from the farm. In the lane I bumped into Martin who was planning to walk down to the flashes to see what was there. 

We both achieved complete success. I bought my eggs, while Martin found a Great White Egret. Unfortunately for me it was on the Kingfisher Pool which meant it flushed immediately, along with two Little Egrets. Twitching it would likely be a waste of time because previous birds had generally disappeared never to be seen again.

This morning I was nevertheless back at the patch. Well, you never know. What I found was that the nearest flash had been reflooded leaving just a small amount of exposed mud. Two Green Sandpipers were occupying it, but the only herons were a Grey Heron and a Little Egret.

Little Egret

I'd taken my scope in case the GWE had been on the furthest flash, and this paid off to a degree because enabled me to relocate the Gadwall we'd seen briefly in flight in mid June. Too distant for a photo though.

Sunday July 5 - Mostly Morton Bagot

 There was quite a gathering at Morton Bagot this morning, mostly a ringing team, plus me and Dave. We timed our visit quite well because just as we started to saunter off Leigh called us back to see a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler they had just caught.

Earlier in the morning they had caught an adult female with a brood patch, while another bird had unfortunately escaped before it could be ringed.

Our tour of the site produced a vocal couple of Kestrels suggesting recently fledged juveniles, and at the nearest flash 14 Lapwings, two Green Sandpipers, a Little Egret, and the first returning Snipe of the "autumn".

I had paid a visit on Thursday when I'd counted 11 Green Sandpipers and four Little Ringed Plovers including a fledged juvenile, but today they were nowhere to be seen.

Back to today. The remainder of the circuit confirmed the presence of five Red Kites, all of which seemed to be adults. A couple of the pairs seemed to be testing their territorial boundaries, while another was visible over Bannams. Another indication of how times have changed was that we were quite pleased to count a mere six Swifts. 

The pair of Stonechats was still present at the dragonfly pools as we completed the circle.

Naturally we were also on the lookout for insects. It's the cricket season, and Dark Bush Crickets are now reaching their final growth stage.

Another common cricket here is Roesel's Bush Cricket, but of more interest to me was one in our garden yesterday. I'm fairly sure I haven't seen one there before, so I was keen to pot it to show Lyn, before releasing it into the no-mow section of the lawn.

Moth trapping in the garden on Friday night had produced 172 moths of 40 species, only six of which were new for the year. None was particularly unexpected, but the best looker was probably a Swallow-tailed Moth, a species I missed last year.

Bringing the subject back to birds, another part of Thursday morning had included a brief visit to Shortwood Roughs hoping to see the Tundra Bean Goose which I've heard has now bred at this site with a Greylag Goose and produced hybrid young. I say "this site" but I must have got something wrong because there was no sign of any Geese and nothing but various cereal crops "by the canal" which is where Birdguides suggested the bird had been. However, I did see an adult Hobby as I made my way back to the car.

And finally, today's team ringed the following:

Grasshopper Warbler 2

Sedge Warbler 1

Reed Warbler 1

Blackcap 1

Chiffchaff 8

Whitethroat 7

Lesser Whitethroat 1

Blue Tit 28 (3)

Great Tit 10 (2)

Robin 6 (1)

Wren 1

Tuesday June 28 - Morton Bagot

 I joined Tony and Greg who were ringing at the usual spot this morning. After a bit of banter I left them to it and wandered to the flash.

The signs were encouraging. I counted 10 Green Sandpipers, four Little Ringed Plovers, a Teal, and seven Lapwings which included three newly fledged birds.

On the way back I found a Black-tailed Skimmer in the grass at my feet.

A nice quiet end to the month.

Monday June 29 - Oldberrow

 I spent an hour this morning wandering up and down the lane where the Wryneck had been reported yesterday.

A juvenile Green Woodpecker was calling in the exact spot which was the focus of the report. I also saw Nuthatches, and Kestrels. 

It's actually a really nice area. I heard a distant Lesser Whitethroat and a singing Yellowhammer which was at the Morton Bagot end of the lane.

Birdguides report

I would just like to make it clear I don't know who put the Wryneck onto Birdguides. I do not approve of reporting potentially breeding rarities on Social Media.

So, not at Morton Bagot, and not seen by me. I know who said they saw and heard the bird, but I don't know whether he made the report.

I will go and have another look at the site tomorrow in case the bird (I was told there might be more than one) is still there.

Sunday June 28 - Morton Bagot and garden moths

 Although this year I have tried to steer a course back to birds and away from moths, I'm still trapping in the garden and Friday night's events were so remarkable that I have to start there.

Obviously the warm night would mean a decent haul was likely. I was up before dawn and sure enough there were lots of moths. My final count was 276 moths of 50 species, but it was one moth in particular which deserves top billing.

Micro moths can be very confusing, and some cannot be identified in the field. Even the identifiable ones are a challenge. Their tininess means that either a hand lens, or in my case the camera lens is necessary to bring out their true beauty. It also helps that ID apps can provide an irresistible shortcut.

So pointing the camera at a little moth clinging to an egg box I was impressed by a startling combination of black, white and orange which looked completely unfamiliar. I pointed the phone at it and was told it was Cydia interscindana. My reaction? Never heard of it. I potted it for further study.

Cydia interscindana (Beautiful Juniper Piercer)

I had a whole lot of other moths to sort through, so the strange moth was placed in the fridge to cool down. I posted a message and image on the Bluesky app and carried on counting. 

During the morning my computer battery needed powering up, so I watched some cricket. By about 14:00 I had started to suspect it might be a County first, and the recorder confirmed that that was the case and that a specimen would not be required. 

I decided to take some more photos, and in the absence of anyone expressing the wish to come and see it I allowed it to escape. Maybe micros the size of a grain of rice weren't as desirable to pot-twitchers.

Two hours later I discovered that they were, and my name was mud. It turned out that the species was only discovered in the UK in 2014 when one was found at Lydd in Kent. Originally assumed to be a migrant, further records from the London area and some of the home counties led to the belief that the species was adventive (in insect terms that means accidentally  transported to the UK on its food plant, in this case Juniper, as an egg or caterpillar). However it got here, there have been none any nearer than Berkshire and Hertfordshire, so this was the first for the whole Midlands let alone Warwickshire.

The rest of the catch produced three more garden ticks: a beautiful July Highflyer, a Minor Shoulder-knot (hot on the heals of several at Spernal STW which had been my first), and a micro called Gypsonoma aceriana.

July Highflyer

Minor Shoulder-knot

Gypsonoma aceriana (according to Obsidentify)

Including the garden firsts I added 21 species to the garden year list. 

Back to today. Morton Bagot is in the grip of summer. Even the reappearance of some welcome mud added only three Little Egrets (two of which were recently fledged juveniles and had no doubt come from Arrow Valley Lake), a Green Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover, a returning pair of Teal, and on Saturday a pair of Avocets courtesy of John Chidwick.

Adult Little Egret flanked by its juveniles

Butterflies on the wing included several rather bright Painted Ladies which I suspect were part of the new generation, and a couple of fresh Gatekeepers.

Gatekeeper

This year's birthday presents included A Field Guide to the Grasshoppers and Allies of Great Britain and Ireland, and I was keen to try it out.

Common Green Grasshopper

Meadow Grasshopper

I can't promise birds will feature prominently over the next few weeks, but I'll do my best.