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.

Thursday June 25 - Morton Bagot and Spernal STW

 After a week's non-birding (mostly) holiday in the Cotwolds I was back on the patch today, keen to see what I'd been missing. Dave and John had each visited Morton Bagot at the weekend and had seen the usual stuff, with Dave's drake Shoveler being the nearest to something unusual.

I can't really say I managed to beat that. My best birds were a first summer Peregrine back on the pylons, a singing Garden Warbler (Dave had recorded two), a single Green Sandpiper on the nearest flash which remains largely full of water thanks to the farmer's efforts, a pair of Stonechats again, and proof that the pair of Lapwings in the scrape field have bred successfully. A single well-grown chick, large enough to be seen.

I didn't count them, but even on my early morning visit it was apparent that there were lots of Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns on the wing.

Speaking of insects, I took up Leigh and Tony's invitation to join them at Spernal STW on Friday morning to see what moths Leigh had caught overnight in the inaugural moth-trapping session for the site. As it was Leigh's trap, she will have the burden of reporting the findings to the recorder, while I was just free-loading and hoping to add to my personal moth list. Not that I know exactly what moths I've seen. But I know what I've seen in my garden, so the following were new to me:

Minor Shoulder-knot

Dark Umber

Silky Wainscot

Calamotropha paludella (Bulrush Veneer)

Many of the moths caught were reed-bed specialists, with lots of Smoky Wainscots, many Obscure Wainscots, some Common Wainscots, a Drinker, and several Scarlet Tigers in the haul of about 45 moths. Quite a lot escaped before we could examine them.

I'll be trapping in the garden tonight.

Tuesday June 16 - Earlswood Lakes and Morton Bagot

 Any thoughts of easing off on the birding have been temporarily shelved due to a continuing trickle of birds of interest.

While we were enjoying the delights of Morton Bagot on Sunday morning, an Osprey put in an appearance at Lower Bittell. You may recall I went there on Saturday afternoon on the off chance the Earlswood bird had gone there. Evidently it had. Unfortunately an Osprey was seen over Belvide Res in Staffs an hour or so after the Bittell sighting. It may not have been the same bird, but has made me think twice about a second visit to Lower B.

This morning, as I returned from a relatively fruitless visit to Morton Bagot (three Avocets, 46 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and 10 Herring Gulls), a Whatsapp message caused me to dash to Earlswood.

Ok I admit Redshank is not a bird most people would twitch, but in this corner of Warwickshire/Worcestershire it could be the only one of the year. It was a bit flighty, but eventually it settled on the shingle spit where close views revealed it to be a juvenile.

I wonder how far it had travelled before discovering Earlswood? Probably not far.

I've had a nice garden tick this week. The micro White Plume is not a rare moth (I've even seen one at Morton Bagot) but a spot of gardening yesterday was paused as I rushed for a pot.

So it's back to catching up on football highlights and lost sleep for me for the next few days. Probably.