After a weekend in Yorkshire attending a wedding I was back in Warwickshire by early afternoon, and so was back in the field by 15.20. I am not especially fond of afternoon birding, but this afternoon certainly proved to have a few points of interest.
To begin with it was immediately apparent that there were a lot of hirundines hunting insects in relatively warm, breezy conditions under mainly cloudy skies. Even as I was putting my wellies on I heard the sharp alarm call of a Sand Martin, and looked up to see a party of eight heading south through the milling House Martins. This was a new record count for Morton Bagot.
Given the number of hirundines it was no great surprise to see a distant Hobby, and later two Sparrowhawks and the young Peregrine. Actually assessing the number and variety of the hirundines was extremely challenging, but with birds swirling in every direction I eventually smashed the House Martin record, with 300 estimated, and reckoned about 100 Swallows were also in the mix.
The downside of this afternoon's effort was the dearth of passerines visible in the hedgerows, with just one Chiffchaff and no other warblers recorded. About 100 Goldfinches are still feeding on thistles, but there seemed to be fewer Greenfinches.
The Flashes still look in good condition and hosted the juvenile Little Ringed Plover, and Common Sandpiper still, while most commoner species are maintaining their numbers, with 39 Teal, and 11 Green Sandpipers, but only two Snipe visible.
Shortly afterwards, a small brown passerine flew over and landed in the weedy field. It looked interesting, so I headed to where it had landed, and was not too surprised to discover that it was a pipit. Unfortunately it failed to call before disappearing into the field again. Suspecting a Tree Pipit I again flushed it, and it again failed to call before disappearing somewhere beyond a distant hedge. So in the end I had to leave it as unidentified.
Finally, I was informed that a pair of Barn Owls have nested successfully in a large Ash tree in the back garden of Netherstead Hall, with three young owls fledging successfully. Its very nice to receive news of confirmed breeding of this species on the patch.
Hi Rich . You mention the dearth of passerines. In the 5 all-dayers that I did during August, the lack of passerines was palpable. Not only the migrant warblers but the residents too. My theory is that the cold wet start of spring had a detrimental affect on the blue and great tits and others. The warblers however seemed to fair better with relatively good breeding conditions
ReplyDeleteand we're able to have two broods. I think they therefore bred quickly abd left early. Thus the current lack of birds. Hopefully the autumn will see a resurgence. cheers John
I refer to my visits to upton warren 👍
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