So far this year Morton Bagot has been OK, but not great. Carol and John have both texted me to say that there is now a pair of Whinchats on the patch. I am, despite the colder spell, going to do one of my twice yearly all day birdwatches there tomorrow. Hopefully I will break 60 species at least, unlike my disappointing day last April.
Meanwhile, down the road, all the waders etc which we should be getting here are currently sitting pretty on Haselor scrape. Today it contained three Common Sandpipers, eight Snipe, a Redshank and a Yellow Wagtail. Which brings me to the point of this post. Should I extend the patch to include Haselor?
It's tempting. The pros are that it would add to the available wader habitat, and seems to attract Gulls more readily than Morton Bagot. It is also at the side of the road so can be covered quite easily in a 10 minute sweep of the bins whereas a visit to Morton Bagot takes at least an hour. From a Patchwork Challenge point of view by adding the area including the road on the 10 minute journey to the site would still be within the rules as the area would increase to just 2.245 square kms, well within the maximum area allowed.
On the other hand, it feels like moving the goalposts half way through the game. It is also just another shallow water body, so still no diving ducks and probably still no Terns.
I could consider it as a second patch, but its so small it wouldn't really be satisfactory. It's like a light snack to Morton Bagot's square meal.
On balance, I think l'll keep the patch as it is this year. But next year I may well include it.
And another thing, I keep seeing diddy little Sparrowhawks over Bannams and Spernal Woods. I am really tempted to retro tick the Accipiter sp I saw in March as a Goshawk.
But I think I can resist that one.
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