Thursday February 26 - Austy Wood and Morton Bagot

 I woke before dawn, and decided a pre-breakfast birdwatch would be in order. This is getting to be a habit. My destination was Austy Wood on the south-eastern edge of the Circle. 

As dawn approached, it became apparent that it would be a cloudy and breezy morning. Not ideal. I walked along a very muddy footpath from opposite Wootton Pool, up a steady slope until I reached the eastern edge of the wood. 

Most of the wood is private, and managed for shooting. The only part in my Circle which is available is a tiny section visible from the footpath.

So a lot of effort, but there was a small reward. A weedy field just before I got to the woodland was alive with 150+ Chaffinches, plus two Bramblings and 20 Goldfinches. It's really satisfying to find a good finch flock. The wood itself was busy with birds but I saw nothing scarcer than a Marsh Tit.

Scroll forward to the post-breakfast element. I slogged around Morton Bagot, failing once again to locate a single Coal Tit (needed for my PWC2026 3k list). Eventually I reached the flash field with its obligatory Teal, Lapwings, Shelducks, and Mallard. A single Snipe looked like it would be the only added variety.

However, persistence paid off as a wader appeared from behind the sedge which largely obscures any shoreline on the nearest flash.

I've never been so pleased to see a Green Sandpiper, the first of the year.

Tuesday February 24 - Morton Bagot and Spernal STW

It just so happened that I awoke at 05:00 and remembered I had bought a thermal imager. Time to creep out of the house and try the patch for owls. 

Without the imager I was blind, but with it I could immediately see Rabbits, Hares and an Owl. It was sitting on a post, but beyond that I couldn't be certain of the species. Then it took off and flew away. My strong hunch that it was a Barn Owl was confirmed when it gave the classic rasping call.

I could also hear Tawny Owls in the woods some way off, but identifying the white blobs in the fields was rather tricky. Fortunately most of them were calling and were Red-legged Partridges, the smaller dots eventually revealing themselves as Skylarks.

Once it got light, I dashed home for breakfast.

Part two of the morning involved a trip to the sewage works at Spernal. Neither of my two main targets, Mandarin and Cetti's Warbler, was present (or in the latter case maybe just not singing), but there was some compensation. A Goosander flew north, and after hearing at least one Chiffchaff singing from within the compound of the works, I located two more along the footpath on the way back.

Sadly, but unsurprisingly, no wing-bars were seen apart from on the several Goldcrests which were also feasting on the numerous gnats. One day maybe.

Morton Bagot - Sunday February 22

 A pleasantly mild, and mostly sunny morning. Lots of birds singing and even a few insects on the wing.

Wintering birds included at least 80 Redwings, 42 Lapwings, and a couple of Stonechats. There were plenty of photo opportunities.

I'm in a much better mood today.

Earlier this week I twitched a Brambling in my sister's garden at Tidbury Green, and saw a Goosander from our kitchen window as it flew over the garden. 

I've also seen one of these this week:-

Boom!

2025 Garden Moth review

 A few weeks ago the Warks micro moth recorder dropped by to collect my 2025 specimens. Unlike when you identify birds, a few moths cannot be identified while they are alive. The results are now in, and my 11 specimens turned out to be 10 moths and a "hairy fly". All of these creatures are tiny, and disappointingly only two turned out to be new for my garden. One of these, Epinotia abbreviana, turned out to have been a common moth (but still the first I had ever seen), and I should probably have been able to work it out myself.

Brown Elm Tortrix Epinotia abbreviana

The other "new" one was White-speckled Fungus Moth Nemapogon koenigi was only the sixth for Warwickshire and could not have been confirmed without dissection.

Nemapogon koenigi

The arrival of these results concluded what turned out to be my best year of moth-trapping since I began in 2018, and prompted me to review my garden moth list and discover I had overlooked about eleven species (and also counted one twice).

So here are some stats. My total garden list from 2018 to 2026 now stands at 472 species. In 2025 I trapped on 37 days and caught 2508 moths of 278 species. My previous best year was 2020 when I caught 2031 moths of 253 species (but trapped on 61 days). I'd like to think my good results in 2025 are down to the careful nurturing of our untidy garden, but its probably more because it was a very warm dry summer.

These are the 36 new moths for the garden in 2025 and their status in the West Midlands/Warwickshire:

Micros 

Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis - A common migrant to the region

Cherry-bark Tortrix Enarmonia formosana - Locally common

Triple-spotted Nest Moth Tinea trinotella - Fairly common resident

Brindled Tortrix Gypsonoma minutana - Nationally Scarce B, and very scarce in Midlands

Gypsonoma minutana

Buff Mompha Mompha epiliobella - Very common locally.

White-speckled Fungus Moth Nemapogon koenigi - Sixth record for Warwickshire.

Dark Blackthorn-tip Moth Argyresthia albistriana - Common locally

Brassy Y Argyresthia goedartella - Very common locally

Southern Apple Moth Recurvaria nanella - Uncommon locally

Southern Apple Moth (aka Brindled Shoot) Recurvaria nanella

Italian Bark Moth Metalampra italica - A naturalised species, still rare but increasing.

Lettuce Bell Eucosma conterminana - Local and scarce.

Brown Elm Tortrix Epinotia abbreviana - Fairly common locally

Regal Piercer Pammene regiana - Fairly common.

Common Spruce Tortrix Epinotia tedella - Local.

European Corn-borer Ostrinia nubilalis - A rare migrant.

European Corn-borer Ostrinia nubilalis

Brindled Apple-tip Moth Argyresthia curvella - Fairly common.

Marsh Lance Bactra fufurana - Uncommon locally.

Large Tabby Aglossa pinguinalis - Local and declining.

Dark-barred Tortrix Syndemis musculana - Common.

Macros 

Figure of Eight Diloba caeruleocephala - Uncommon and declining

Cypress Carpet Thera cupressata - Uncommon but spreading.

Cypress Carpet

Frosted Orange Gortyna flavago - Fairly common

Red Underwing Catocala nupta - Fairly common

Small Rufous Coenobia rufa - Uncommon locally (a marshland species)

Plain Pug Eupithecia simpliciata - Uncommon locally

Plain Pug

Gypsy Moth Lymantria dispar - Probably naturalised and very rare.

Gypsy Moth

Garden Dart Euxoa nigricans - Uncommon and declining.

Lunar Hornet Moth Sesia bembeciformis - Common (but hard to find)

Red-belted Clearwing Synanthedon myopaeformis - Fairly common (very hard to find)

Yellow-legged Clearwing Synanthedon vespiformis - Local

Pinion-streaked Snout Schankia costaestrigalis - Common

Four-spotted Footman Lithosia quadra - Rare migrant, but increasing.

Four-spotted Footman

Brown Scallop Philereme vetulata - Uncommon locally

Broken-barred Carpet Electrophaes corylata - Common

Grey Birch Aethalura punctulata - Fairly common

Shoulder Stripe Eorophila badiata - Common.

Just four of the "new" moths were not caught by light trapping. The exceptions were the three species of Clearwing Moth/Hornet Moth which were caught in daylight using a borrowed pheromone lure trap, and the Argyresthia curvella, which was discovered while gardening.

I will resume trapping on the first Friday in March 2026, but already the first moth of the year has been attracted to the kitchen window. A micro called Agonopteryx heracliana/ciliella, another one I should have taken as a specimen. However, I did that once and it was heracliana, so I have left it as unidentified to species level.

Tuesday February 17 - Morton Bagot

A sunny morning at last. I headed for the patch with a degree of optimism. That didn't last long.

February often feels like a month in limbo. All the winter birds are settled, and it's too early for new arrivals.  Despite varying my normal route, I could find nothing unexpected. 

Still present were the pair of Shelducks, about forty Teal, sixty or so Lapwing, a few Snipe, a pair of Red Kites, and a pair of Stonechats.

Although there is plenty of standing water, the site is yet to record a Coot, a Green Sandpiper, or a Tufted Duck this year. 

One possible reason for this was a dog-walker shepherding five boisterous untethered dogs around. He himself was wearing a bright yellow kagoule, a wandering bird-scarer if ever I saw one. If he turns up every weekday, and I suspect he does, there will be a negative effect on the site's avian biodiversity. I noticed he did a smart about turn as soon as he saw me, but was still there when I left.

If I sound grumpy, it's because I am.

Sunday February 15 - Lower Bittell

 The day dawned wet, and neither Dave nor I fancied a soaking at Morton Bagot. Fortunately a window in the weather opened at around lunchtime and I decided it was wide enough for a visit to Lower Bittell Reservoir.

This decent sized pool had been hosting a couple of good birds this winter. One, a Cetti's Warbler, would almost certainly be invisible. As it turned out it was also inaudible, early afternoon being not the best time of day to even hear one.

By contrast my other target, a Great White Egret, couldn't have been more obvious. It was standing on the bank of the Mill Shrub (a sub-section of the lake which is often better for birds than the rest of it).

It remained in more or less the same place until, inevitably, a fisherman arrived and flushed it. Even then it only went as far as some trees eighty metres away. Almost all of the 31 Tufted Ducks, but only one of the six Great Crested Grebes also haunted the Mill Shrub.

My walk over the hill to the dam gave me the opportunity to visit Alvechurch Fisheries, a series of pools on the opposite side of the dam wall. On Friday an Oystercatcher had taken refuge from an all-day deluge, on one of the rafts at Earlswood. I reasoned that there must be a chance that it was one of the pair which had nested at the fisheries last year, and sure enough it was back on its island sanctuary today.

All in all I was pretty pleased with the visit. A few Siskins and a single Redpoll were also present, and I counted 100 Jackdaws in the field at Lower Bittell adjacent to where I'd parked.

It has to be said that the Lower reservoir is a shadow of its former self. I didn't, for example, see a single species of duck other than Mallard and Tufted Duck. Too many fishermen I suppose.

Thursday February 12 - Mappleborough Green

 I've been a bit unfortunate this week in the way that my available birding opportunities have fallen. Rain has dogged my every step. On Tuesday I finally went to the km square containing the HOEF's Gorcott Wood, only to discover that the wood itself appeared out of bounds because it was part of an educational facility. There were plenty of signs and CCTV which put me off any thoughts of sneaking in. 

There were a few footpaths nearby, which I followed. The most interesting "find" was a friendly householder who told that he occasionally sees a white owl perched on his garden fence. No prizes for guessing what species that will have been.

This morning I decided to give Mappleborough Flash an early look. I don't normally go there until the end of March when migrants are starting to move in. There were no real surprises in store. A flock of 33 Teal may include birds which visit Morton Bagot, less than a couple of kilometres away and I flushed a single Snipe.

I'm still in possession of Tony's thermal imager, and it allowed me to discover that the twittering of Siskins I could hear from a line of alders came from 39 specks of light. As it turned out, about half of the birds present were actually Lesser Redpolls. The Siskins were feeding higher up, where against the lead grey cloud they were little more than silhouettes. The Redpolls preferred to feed closer to the ground, so I at least tried to get some shots of them.

As I was leaving the site, two adult Common Gulls flew south. If only I'd seen them at Morton Bagot, they would have been a useful addition (barely annual) to the MB year list.