Sunday November 8 - Morton Bagot

 With more fog in evidence this morning it was touch and go whether I visited the patch. Fortunately Dave gave me no indication he was bailing out so we both arrived at the normal time. Thank goodness we did.

It was more misty than foggy, so birdable. We could just about make out a Peregrine on a distant pylon for example. Redwings were much in evidence, but we were not expecting to see anything special. And then we did! 

A Hen Harrier got up from about fifty yards ahead of us in the field where the ringers catch Meadow Pipits, We followed it as it flew up the slope, always low to the ground, before disappearing over the slope. A first for Morton Bagot, we were punching the sky.

We put the news out and headed in the direction it had gone, optimistic it would reappear. It did, this time flying above the tree guards and back over another low ridge. We made our way to a viewpoint, but couldn't see it. I suspected it was now in the long grass, so I walked forward and duly flushed it, at last managing a couple of photographs as it headed to the HOEF scrape field.

Hen Harrier in the gloom

The best I can say about my photograph is that its atmospheric.

The bird seemed to go down in the corner of the field. We didn't want to keep flushing it, conscious that several local birders were on their way. We decided to check out the flash field. Here we saw four Shovelers, four Lapwings, and a few Snipe and Teal.

A little later on Gary Jilks messaged us that he could see the Harrier in the scrape field. Shortly afterwards Martin Wheeler messaged he had it from the swing gate on the footpath. Mark Clarke arrived and I joined him on the footpath at the opposite end of the field from where Martin was still watching the bird on the ground. Frustratingly, we couldn't see it.

But then Mark had the idea of standing on the fence and shortly announced he could see it. It had taken off and was flying across the field. I heard the chchch of his camera. The Harrier left the field at the far end and headed for the flashes. 

Mark's photographs were amazing, and he has kindly shared them.

Hen Harrier by Mark Clarke

The five visible pointy primaries prove it was a Hen Harrier and not the other two ring-tailed species, and confirm our initial impression that it was broad winged. The rather rusty flanks and prominent dark shawl strongly point to it being a juvenile.

I soon found I had to head back to the car, where a pair of Stonechat were perching up, and a small flock of Redwings  gave me the chance to get a shot.

Redwing

I should conclude by saying I also came here yesterday, still grasping at the hope the White-fronted Geese may have still been present. I counted 146 Greylags and a couple of Canadas but nothing better than the two Wigeon again.

If I was feeling sad about that, today was the perfect antidote.

Friday November 6 - Morton Bagot

 Around lunchtime I got a call from Chris Lane. He was making his second visit to Morton Bagot this year, and had found a flock of 12 to 14 White-fronted Geese. 

As soon as I could I hastened to the patch, but luck was not on my side. My goose was cooked, they had gone. While there I rang Chris, who explained that shortly after phoning me, as he retreated up the slope to get a better look, the goose flock containing Greylag Geese and the White-fronts (he had only seen 12 from the higher elevation) had taken flight and gone their separate ways.

Encouragingly the White-fronts had headed across the fields beyond the flash field, and he thought they may not have gone far. Unfortunately for me I had to leave to pick up new glasses from Specsavers (feel free to make your own jokes), so there is a chance they are still around. More likely though, they have resumed their journey to Slimbridge.

My consolations prizes were two Wigeon and a Peregrine. 

Tuesday November 3 - Arrow Valley Lake

This morning I resumed my winter wandering, but as the venue was Barnt Green I won't be wasting any space talking about it. 

Slightly more interesting was a visit to Arrow Valley Lake. I thought it was about time I saw the Tundra Bean Goose which has settled here, cementing its status as an escape. I was hoping to establish that it was the same bird as visited Morton Bagot in May.

Initially the bird was standing up in front of the yacht club. But after a few seconds it slumped to the floor and fell asleep, interspersed with brief bouts of preening. The one thing that had bothered me about the Morton Bagot sighting was the amount of white at the sides of the tail. Today, it still had a lot of white in the tail, so that confirmed it was the same bird.

Tundra Bean Goose

Tundra Bean Goose

Although I couldn't get particularly close to the bird, it was still a lot closer than it had been at Morton Bagot. I thought the two shots I got were interesting as the orangeness of the bare parts varies between the two of them. To me this confirmed that photographs can lie where shades are concerned.

Also interesting was an incident where six Little Egrets which got involved with a flock of 14 Goosanders close to the edge of the lake. A lot of the action was lost behind vegetation, but basically the Egrets seemed to be almost mobbing the Goosanders, and at least one Egret emerged with a small fish. My guess is that the Goosanders had disturbed the small fish and the Egrets swooped in to take advantage.

Little Egret and a Goosander

Little Egrets, one with a fish

I will not be adding the Tundra Bean Goose to any of my lists because it is an escape.

 

Monday November 2 - Earlswood Lakes

 Birds have no idea what is expected of them! Lyn and I have a loose arrangement which sees me going birding roughly every other day, with the proviso that if anything good turns up nearby I dash off to see it.

This morning, not a birding day, John Oates found a female Pintail at Earlswood. No problem, I popped over first thing to look for it. Unfortunately it had gone, so I circled the two main lakes counting 32 Teal and a Wigeon but no Pintail.

Never mind I was back home for breakfast, and by lunchtime we were preparing to head for Hillers near Alcester for lunch. Then "ping" two Whooper Swans had turned up at Windmill Pool. Awkward. How about going to Alcester via Earlswood? 

Off we went, and sure enough the Swans were floating on Windmill Pool. One slight problem is that we had little time to spare, and you can't really stop because it's a single lane for traffic across the causeway. But at least I saw them, and John and Peter. A drive-by tick. 

My thanks to John for finding the birds and letting me use his excellent photo for this blog.

Whooper Swans by John Oates

Sunday November 1 - Morton Bagot

 There's a fine line between fog and misty/murky. This morning we deemed it the latter, and were proved correct. So instead of stumbling around the patch seeing unidentifiable shapes, we stumbled around seeing plenty of.... only just identifiable shapes.

Fortunately birds like to give themselves away by calling, and our best find thus came when we heard a Brambling which, unlike the only other one I've noted here this year, subsequently allowed us to lay eyes on it. We even saw its white rump. It kept on going, so no photo.

Another species which has finally turned up is Fieldfare. Always later than the Redwings, they seem particularly tardy this year and my first sighting was from the bedroom window yesterday. Today over 50 were logged, mostly flying east but quite a few did drop in to allow closer scrutiny.

Fieldfare

There were far more Redwings, but just a trickle of migrant finches such as Redpoll and Siskin. Early November always feels exciting to me, and several odd calls had us scratching our heads this morning. The good sounding ones never seem to show.

The flash field contained a drake Shoveler along with the usual Teal and Snipe. 

Snipe

The last decent bird of the morning was a young Peregrine which flew in from the west and perched on the pylons, as they do.

Peregrine

A quick word about moth-trapping. My garden managed a mere five moths on Friday night, the best being a Sprawler. 

Sprawler

Less welcome was the discovery that the bottom of the trap had fallen off. Maybe it's time I treated myself to a new one.

Friday October 30 - Earlswood Lakes

 The forecast fog failed to form here in Redditch, so I was hopeful the planned visit to Earlswood Lakes might be worthwhile. By the time I left the house reports of five Pochard and a Redshank implied that visibility was clear there too.

On arrival I quickly spotted the party of Pochard on Engine Pool, although the Redshank was harder to locate. Eventually it flew into view on the Engine spit.

Pochard

Redshank

While I was hanging around the causeway, hoping to locate the Redshank, a Rock Pipit appeared and circled me, calling regularly. It then landed on the wooden fence along the causeway, where it gave me plenty of time to photograph it before taking off. Unfortunately I messed up the opportunity, so I've nothing to show and no-one else to blame.

After taking off it seemed to be heading down Windmill Pool, where John Oates also heard it. Later still, what I suspect was the same Pipit flew back over the dam, silently this time, and disappeared to the north.

I'm wondering whether fog elsewhere may have caused migrants to become disoriented and end up flying over fog-free Earlswood. At least six Wigeon frequented Engine and Windmill, John saw a Green Sandpiper at Windmill which I soon heard over the causeway and briefly saw flying to land at Engine, a young Common Gull  appeared (John later had two), and finally a Lapwing appeared over Engine (John later seeing three).

Lapwing

All these birds have in common their scarcity at Earlswood, while none are particularly rare in the Midlands. 

I finished my visit at the south end of Windmill where a Little Grebe and at least 30 Teal were present.

It was all just enough to constitute a good morning.

Wednesday October 28 - Morton Bagot

 The wind has now eased to a light westerly. I joined the ringers, Tony and John, who considered the conditions still a bit on the blowy side.

Nevertheless there was a constant trickle of catches while I was there, while overhead there was some migration of Woodpigeons (178 south), Starlings  (75 west), Redwings (171 west), and Chaffinches (12 west).

At least fifty of the Redwings flew down to investigate the taped Redwing song being played to lure them in, and similarly a number of Redpolls were attracted to the area where the nets were set.

The highlight was a different species. Siskin is rarely caught at Morton Bagot, so the guys were very pleased to catch an immature male. 

The Siskin looking a bit scruffy after being liberated from a cloth bag

The Lesser Redpoll

A quick look at the rest of the site revealed a Stonechat and a fly-over Yellowhammer, while the flash field contained only 11 Teal.

The full ringing details for today and October 19 (mostly today though) were:

Blue Tit 7 (3)

Great Tit 8 (8)

Long-tailed Tit 1

Redwing 6

Dunnock 2 (1)

Lesser Redpoll 7

Siskin 1