Friday April 19 - Morton Bagot

 This morning I had arranged to take a friend, Jason, around the patch so he could see what I keep going on about. Ideally I would have picked a warm sunny day, but what we got was a cloudy, frequently damp, start and a fresh north-westerly wind. 

This was a shame because Jason was particularly hoping we would see a Grasshopper Warbler or two. We even tried a quick visit to Morgrove Coppice with them in mind. Well there were none there, and at Morton Bagot we had to settle for a brief distant snatch of the reeling call.

Basically it was hard work to get views of anything. A singing Lesser Whitethroat showed only fleetingly in flight, the numerous Common Whitethroats were mainly out of view. A pair of Willow Warblers were nicely visible, but were only calling and not singing.

Willow Warbler trying to hide

Fortunately Jason professed to be thoroughly enjoying his morning. A Red Kite was flying around, two pairs of Avocets were on the nearest flash, while four Teal and a pair of Lapwings were further to the back.

Towards midday the sun came out, and we saw a few butterflies; Speckled Wood, Green-veined White, and Brimstone before Jason spotted some Green Longhorn moths, my first of the year.

Green Longhorn Moth

Also present in the same area were several bees and hoverflies. These included a Nomad Bee sp, and the following:

Syrphus ribesii/vitripennis (and a Melanostoma ag)

Melanostoma ag (scalare/melinus)

It looks as though hoverflies are going to be tricky. My photos fail to show various important features to fully identify them.

However mediocre our visit had been, we'd had a lot better day than a certain Helmeted Guineafowl whose feathers we found spread across the path.

An ex-Guineafowl

If anyone's lost one, we know what became of it.

Tuesday April 16 - Rough Hill Wood and Mappleborough Green

 Since the weekend the doorway to spring has been slammed shut. Cold northerly winds have set in and it seems likely that there will be fewer new migrants getting through until warm winds return.

Today I decided to pay another visit to Rough Hill Wood in the hope of finding some interesting woodland species. The result was just a few Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, and Willow Warblers. But arguably the highlight was a Marsh Tit which was, just about, photographable.

Marsh Tit

Distinguishing between silent Marsh Tits and Willow Tits has always been difficult. This one was calling (and obviously Willow Tits appear to be locally extinct), but one "feature" which is said to be pretty reliable is the presence or absence of a white mark on the upper mandible. I've never really looked for it on a fast moving live bird, but a camera helps to freeze time. I believe that this photo does show that feature, further confirming that it is indeed a Marsh Tit.

Upon leaving the wood I drove up the road to Mappleborough Green to see if there was anything there. This proved to be a good move. The Cattle Egret was absent, the only Egret being a single Little Egret, but I was really hoping for waders, and there was indeed something new on the main flash. Ok, it was just a Common Sandpiper, but it was still a sign that birds are moving despite the weather.

Common Sandpiper

Also present was a Green Sandpiper and three Little Ringed Plovers. These were mainly on the overflow flash, where I also noticed a Pipit. I'd left my scope at home so it took me longer than it should have to establish that the only Pipits present were Meadow Pipits (four of them).

However, whilst I was creeping about, an interesting Alba Wagtail appeared. I immediately suspected it was a different sub-species from the several Pied Wagtails which were also present. It was indeed a White Wagtail.

White Wagtail

Female Pied Wagtails can look pale mantled, and indeed there was a pale mantled female Pied with the black-backed males, but it didn't look quite as pale as this bird.

For the removal of all doubt it is desirable to see how far down the rump the pale grey extends. For a White Wagtail it needs to go almost down as far as the tail. This bird passed the test.

Lots of pale grey on the rump, though the bird's a bit distant

That'll do

It appears to be still in winter plumage, and maybe it's a female because of the extent of grey leaching onto the crown. 

This bird is probably en route to Iceland, which shares the nominate race with the rest of western Europe. Our Pied Wagtails are almost restricted to the British Isles.

White Wagtails are fairly frequently encountered in mid April, but I rarely see more than one or two a year around here.

Sunday April 14 - Spring comes early at Morton Bagot

 Today was again on the warm side, and this time the sun shone all morning. The patch is getting popular, we saw two other birders.

It didn't take long before we started adding spring arrivals to the year list. A Sedge Warbler was singing from near the pond where the ringers often set their nets, and the first of two (or three) Grasshopper Warblers was singing from the hedges bordering the Chat field beyond. Frustratingly, none of the above was actually visible, and the same could be said of a Lesser Whitethroat which sang briefly in the distance. Common Whitethroats, Blackcaps, and Willow Warblers sang across the patch, and we actually managed to see some of those.

One of six Willow Warblers we logged today.

Shortly afterwards a pair of Shelducks and a Little Egret flew north, a Red Kite circled, and we located the ringed Stonechat in the scrape field (so not the one I saw on Thursday).

We met up with Gary J near the flash field. Another pair of Shelducks was present on the nearest flash and also another Little Egret, but the Avocets were absent. At least one pair of Teal and a few Lapwings lurked towards the furthest flash, and four Sand Martins briefly appeared. This became more significant later in the morning as another seven flew north, pushing the record Morton Bagot count into double figures.

Scanning the tree guards has been proving profitable and today was no exception. In the distance we could see three Chats. Two were Wheatears, and the third something smaller.

Can you see them?

Clearly we needed to check them out. Edging closer, we eventually established that the mystery Chat was a stonking male Whinchat. This was easily the earliest Whinchat I have ever seen in the UK.

Whinchat

There was some uncertainty about the sex of the Wheatears, personally I thought they were both females, but on reflection one was probably a first-summer male. 

Apart from seeing a Marsh Tit along the Morton Brook, we didn't add anything else of significance birdwise. However, butterflies were on the wing; Orange-tips, Peacocks, and Speckled Woods, and numerous bees and flies hummed and buzzed across the blossom filled hedges. It really felt as though spring was a week early.

Tawny Mining Bee (one of easy ones)

My new interest in hoverflies was given a fillip by the discovery of a particularly striking one.

Tiger Marsh Fly Helophilus pendulus (with a Bluebottle sp)

Nearby a nondescript solitary bee reminded me that bees are too hard.

Bee sp

I love the spring.

PS: The other main prize at Morton Bagot eluded us. Mike Holley saw a Common Swift during the morning. This is easily the earliest ever for the site, and is an excellent early date for the West Midlands. Fortunately Mike puts his records on Birdtrack, so it will be published in the WMBC Annual Report in due course.

Well done Mike.

Friday April 12 - Morton Bagot

 Not every visit to Morton Bagot is going to result in the discovery of something unusual, but at this time of year expectations are heightened, and even the ordinary can make you feel good.

This morning I was out a little earlier than usual. The weather has warmed up a little and I was feeling optimistic. A couple of Willow Warblers were my first here this year, but after an hour I hadn't found much else.

Willow Warbler (fortunately it was singing)

I'd been hoping for a Grasshopper Warbler, or at least a Sedge Warbler, but neither seems to have arrived yet. But all was not lost, the rattling song of a Lesser Whitethroat signalled the presence of my first of the spring, and it was quickly followed by the "chuurr" of a Common Whitethroat. At least I managed to see it, and later two more singing birds, but they were too flighty for me to get a shot.

Scanning the large field next to the scrape field eventually paid off as a male Wheatear and a pair of Stonechats were visible in the distance.

Wheatear

Two Egrets flew off as I approached the flash field, one was definitely a Little Egret and the other presumably also one (but you can't be sure nowadays). Two pairs of Avocets, two pairs of Shelduck, and five Teal were also present. The usual pair of Red Kites were being mobbed by a Raven. It's amazing how times have changed since I first started birding here just fifteen years ago. None of these birds would have seemed at all likely, although for balance, I would have seen more than the single Lapwing present today (and would certainly have seen a pair of Curlews, and plenty of Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows). Three Sand Martins were flying around, and I heard a Yellow Wagtail call three times as it flew north.

As I turned to head back along Morton Brook I watched a dog-walker whistling at her free-roaming terrier as it dashed around, disturbing the breeding Skylarks in the field. Another change. 

At least I noticed the male Stonechat had ignored the disturbance, and this may mean that one in the ridge field later on was a new bird. It was also showing very well. One other noteworthy species was a singing Marsh Tit at Stapenhill Wood. It's good to be reminded of its simple song once in a while.

Stonechat

My earlier start meant that I was almost back at my car before the sun had started to properly warm the day, and as a result I only recorded one species of butterfly.

Speckled Wood

This Speckled Wood was my first this year. The plan is to add to it with a few garden moths, so I'll be putting the trap out tonight.

The result of that was 22 moths of nine species. None were particularly scarce, but White-shouldered House Moth, Oak-tree Pug, Muslin Moth, and Early Grey were new for the year. Here are the most photogenic:

Muslin Moth

Early Grey

Lunar Marbled Brown

The only surprise was that I attracted two Oak-tree Pugs. The date is a little early, but the oddest thing is that I have yet to catch its close relative, the Brindled Pug, this year. It's a bit like seeing House Martin before Swallow.

Tuesday April 9 - Earlswood Lakes (and Mappleborough Green)

 The weather has lurched from mild and sunny yesterday (when I couldn't get out), to cold windy and wet today (when I could).

Earlswood seemed the obvious choice. John Sirrett had found an extremely early Garden Warbler there yesterday, and I reasoned that even if that wasn't showing the wind and rain might drop something in.

Predictably this was not a day for seeing or hearing new summer migrants. Instead I had to make do with the hangers on. A single Common Sandpiper remained on Engine Pool, and this time it showed really well.

Common Sandpiper

One expected feature of the day was the presence of lots of hirundines. I estimated 60 Swallows, and 20 Sand Martins, and saw two House Martins with them.

Mostly Swallows

It's interesting that despite the availability of three lakes, they all chose to fly exclusively around Engine Pool. Perhaps the presence of the two rafts with their safe bushes was the deciding factor. Certainly, up to thirty Swallows and Sand Martins were regularly perching there.

Beyond that I didn't see very much at all. Three Willow Warblers and three Blackcaps were singing (I didn't walk around Terry's Pool), while a Kingfisher took advantage of the lakeside vegetation at Windmill Pool.

During the afternoon the sun came out. I was back home so I thought it could be worth a quick look at Mappleborough Green Flash. 

I arrived to find it was even windier than this morning, but that hadn't stopped three Willow Warblers from singing. One of them was a mixed singer. The incidence of mixed singing, a Willow Warbler including some Chiffchaff like phrases in its song used to be quite rare, but it now seems to be a regular occurrence around here. 

Down at the flash I quickly established that the Cattle Egret was still present, and was accompanied by six Little Egrets. This time it was close enough for its orangey crown to be visible.

Cattle Egret

The zoomed in version

Also present were three Little Ringed Plovers and the Green Sandpiper. 

Green Sandpiper

This time I managed to get some decent views of the overspill flash without causing everything to fly off.

Sunday April 7 - The big ones

 A day of strong, arguably gale force, south-westerlies is not the sort of day you would think would produce a lot at Morton Bagot. But it's a Sunday, and being creatures of habit, Dave and I met for the usual stroll around the patch.

It didn't take long for the first sign that this might actually be an extraordinary day. Four House Martins and a Swallow shot southwards into the teeth of the gale. This was my earliest Morton Bagot House Martin record by one day, beating one in 2016. 

We reached the scrape field and despite seeing only a Mute Swan and a Little Egret, decided to walk along the footpath which cuts the corner. A Pipit got up and gave a single thin "tsee" call. Possibly as much to engage Dave's attention as anything I said "Water Pipit". It gave another short single call which didn't sound quite like Meadow Pipit and we got onto it, noticing it looked grey and had white outer-tail feathers. We watched helplessly as it flew off into the wind but then turned around and dropped into some longish grass next to the path. We were very keen on it. But how could we get a proper view? We decided Dave would try to encourage it to walk to the shorter grass where we might be able to see it properly.

At this point everything started to unwind disastrously. Dave told me he could see it in the long grass, so I went to join him. He said he'd had a brief view of its head, but he hadn't noticed a white supercilium. Then we realised we could hear voices. Three joggers were running along the path towards us. Inevitably they flushed the bird which took off without calling and eventually dropped into the juncus surrounding the scrapes. Attempts to refind it produced two pipits, but they both looked more like Meadow Pipits and maybe hadn't got up from the juncus. After half an hour we decided we hadn't got enough to claim it.

We moved on to the next field and as Dave veered off to check out another Pipit, I glanced to the north-east and spotted six large birds approaching. A second later I was bellowing "Cranes". Dave heard the shout and rushed up as I pointed to where they were. They weren't close, but there was no doubt what they were.

Six Common Cranes

They started to circle and looked as though they were checking out the flash field.

But they obviously thought better of it, and drifted higher and away initially north-eastwards and then eastwards in the direction of Henley.

We'd been feeling pretty down after the Pipit episode, so its fair to say this was just what the doctor ordered. 

We carried on to the flash field, noting a Shelduck, three Lapwings, 10 Teal and a pair of Shovelers. This was more like the Morton Bagot we knew so well.

The pair of Shovelers

However, we also added three Sand Martins and more Swallows before Dave returned the compliment by shouting to attract my attention. In the distance over Bannams he could see not only a Red Kite, but also a Goshawk. It was too far away to even attempt a photo, but was distinctive enough for all that. The local crows and pigeons must also have seen it because there was a great panic of birds scattering before it.

We decided to give the scrape field one more try in case the Pipit had returned, but it hadn't.

This Skylark was standing close to the spot where we had last seen the Pipit.

What a day it was, but what a day it could have been. We are left to reflect that we reckon we find one decent bird annually at Morton Bagot....so its probably not worth us going again this year!

Saturday April 6 - A confusing gull at Earlswood, and plenty of migrants

 This morning I went to Earlswood Lakes to try and see an interesting gull, thought to be a Yellow-legged Gull which was found by Joe Owen yesterday. I found the bird quite quickly, and concluded it was indeed a Yellow-legged Gull. I thought a third calendar year bird, but its dark bill suggests something younger.

Since getting home I have struggled to find an image of YLGull which matches the bird seen. Although the bill looks too broad and chunky for Caspian Gull, to me it has a bit of a Caspian look about it. Perhaps it's one of those Caspian x Herring Gull hybrids. Inevitably my shots aren't top notch, but here they are in case someone wants to make their own mind up.

Here it is chasing a similarly aged Herring Gull

With a similarly aged Lesser Black-backed Gull

Bill looks short and chunky in this shot.

Wing pattern looks like Yellow-legged Gull in this shot, and mantle quite dark

Fortunately most birds are a lot easier to identify. Six Common Sandpipers were newly arrived, and spent most of their time on the rafts. I couldn't get all six in frame, so here's one of them.

Common Sandpiper

My morning's highlight came shortly after thirty or forty hirundines appeared as the wind got up. The hirundines were about 60:40 Sand Martins over Swallows, plus a single House Martin. While I was failing to get a decent shot of any of them I heard a Yellow Wagtail call. Ten seconds later it called again, and I finally got a view of it as it flew north-east up Engine Pool.

Another highlight was bumping into several Earlswood regulars; Joe, Mike, and John S for a natter. 

Changing the subject to moths, I put the trap out last night and caught just 12 moths. It was probably a little too windy. There were however a couple which were new for the year; Brindled Beauties (four), and Lunar Marbled Brown (my first since 2021).

Brindled Beauty

Lunar Marbled Brown on the fence

My attempt to take a picture of the Lunar Marbled Brown on a leaf failed completely as it flew off shortly after being awakened.

PS: The consensus on the Gull seems to be Yellow-legged Gull. Fair enough.