Friday May 6

After making myself ineligible for tomorrow's bird race by failing to keep the date clear, I was determined to do a big day at Morton Bagot anyway. I was therefore on the patch at stupid o'clock (03.20am), I know, pretty daft.

In fact I rather enjoyed getting there in the dark, the stars were spectacular and my first bird was a recently fledged Tawny Owl judging from the rasping calls coming from a tree along the edge of Bannam's Wood.

It's rather fun trying to guess the order the birds will reveal themselves before it gets light; Mallard, Pheasant, Greylag Goose, and Lapwing, were followed by Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, and Moorhen. At just after 04.00 a Cuckoo started calling.

The first bird I actually saw was a Pheasant, silhouetted against the faint light in the sky at around 04.15 followed by four Mute Swans on the pool (it helped that they were big and white).

Shortly after I took this photograph at 04.25,

another white bird ghosted into view, a Barn Owl. I've been doing an annual all-dayer at Morton Bagot since 2010, but this is the first time I had seen a Barn Owl on the allotted date.

Gradually the light started to build, and the dawn chorus really got going. It tends to be dominated by Robins and Blackbirds but by 06.00 I had recorded most of the common species I was expecting to see.

In similar vein to my comment about the Barn Owl, another species I had never seen on an all-day event now appeared before me; a Badger. It appeared from undergrowth at the side of the pool, but by the time I had got my camera out it was just ambling unhurriedly away with ever turning round.

A rather bloodied Badger (not a Davy Crocket hat)

The stripey head was rather discoloured, perhaps from digging, and it seemed to have a rather raw lower back either from a fight with another Badger or perhaps some kind of skin condition.

I followed its path and reached the Flash field, passing a Cormorant in the dead tree, and a female Wheatear on the ploughed field. A pair of Shelducks took off and flew around, before eventually returning. However, the best as they say, was still to come. As I scanned the nearest flash I picked up a wader which did not have red legs (so not the Redshank), I guessed what it might be immediately, took a couple of record shots, and then set up my scope to watch the first Wood Sandpiper to be recorded here since 2012.

Wood Sandpiper

As this is quite a small bird (Green Sand size) and it remained at the far edge of the nearest flash, my record shots do no justice at all to a cracking little wader. I texted the news out (07.00) and then discovered I had run out of talk time on the mobile.

Turning to the further Flash I found a pair of Oystercatchers, another very handy species for the day list.

At this point a large flock of Carrion Crows (at least 45 strong) appeared and descended towards the pool in a cacophony of cawing. Suspecting they were mobbing something I back-tracked and found that I was right. But it was not a raptor which appeared, but a Fox carrying in its jaws a hapless Coot.

I'm amazed that the Crows had spotted the Fox because they arrived from some distance away.

I headed back to my car, and noticed a blob on a distant pylon which turned out to be the adult Peregrine.

Back home for breakfast, things took a dodgy turn. I had a lot of trouble topping up. One mini-tantrum later, and a phone working again, and I was back on the patch for 10.00, rather later than I had hoped.

The remainder of the day was a bit of an anti-climax. Two pairs of Shelducks were in residence, and I added just four new species by lunchtime; Buzzard, Raven, Little Ringed Plover, and Goldcrest, and then one in the afternoon session, a Sparrowhawk.

This left me with a count of 65 species, seven fewer than last year's record total, but about average for my previous big days.

It was definitely one of the more memorable days though.

As a post-script while I typed this entry, I got a call from Dave who had successfully twitched the Wood Sandpiper, and had also seen a Yellow Wagtail. So that's 66 species seen at the patch today.

Regulars which stayed out of sight were Little Owl, Treecreeper, and Marsh Tit, while I also failed to see such species as Black-headed Gull, Starling, Sand Martin, and Swift.

There's always next year.