Sunday October 29

The clocks went back last night, or at least mine did. Dave's remained firmly in BST so I arrived to find him walking along the road through the hamlet. His highlights had been 72 Fieldfares heading west, and a probable Brambling which called just once. He wasn't counting it though.

I picked him up and drove him back to Netherstead, from where we began our traditional circuit. There were one or two parties of Redwings going west, a total of 63 being logged. Also on the move were Woodpigeons, I counted 220 in all, but Dave had seen several flocks before I joined him.

Finches were well in evidence, in particular 125 Linnets, and 30 Redpolls. We spent a lot of time trying to locate a thrush sp which gave an odd call from a thick hedge, we had Ring Ouzel in mind (although it wasn't the familiar "chack" call). Whatever the bird was we never saw it, or heard it again.

The flashes were absolutely hopeless, producing just 11 Teal, four Snipe, and a Green Sandpiper. Fortunately though we saved the morning's highlight to the return journey as a definite Brambling flew west, calling twice before we saw it.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Redpoll

The Redpoll flock were feeding on willowherb seeds, like the one in the photo.

I managed to lose the winding mechanism on my tripod during the morning, the latest problem to afflict that unfortunate implement.

Friday October 27

It has been a difficult week. On Wednesday I was hard at work in Birmingham city centre unaware that the first live Razorbill in the West Midlands since 1917 was swimming around Draycote Water. I should have checked the Internet at lunchtime but didn't get around to it, so the first I knew of it was from a phone call from Mike during the evening.

Thursday dawned, and the news was initially "no sign of it", later firmed up as "Razorbill found dead". Meanwhile we were hosting a young man from Virgin who was converting us to their bundle of products. The internet and television went fine, and he told us he had switched the land line from BT but that the phone wouldn't work for a few hours. I signed his piece of paper, but then as he was leaving he said "don't forget to plug it in". Strange. "Where do I do that? ""Oh you can't until you get a  telephone micro-filter" he said. "You can buy them in Tescos". He left at speed. I headed for Tescos and bought an ASD filter, which the electrics expert there thought the engineer probably meant.

24 hours later the land line still doesn't work. Don't bother trying to phone me.

So this morning I felt I needed some birding to soothe my frazzled nerves. I headed for Morton Bagot on a fine and sunny morning. I took my time, looking in every bush and tree, but could only find the usual stuff. A pair of Stonechats posed rather well.

Male Stonechat

Female Stonechat

The Flash field contained three Green Sandpipers, five Snipe, 18 Teal, and a Black-headed Gull. Very few birds were moving and until I saw a distant party of 20 or so presumed Redwings, I was finding there were more Song Thrushes than Redwings in the hedgerows.

At this point I got a phone call from Mike. Chis Lane had found a Yellow-browed Warbler at Broom, just ten miles away. I abandoned the Flash field and headed straight for Broom, where I found Mike and Jean conversing with Chris. The news was not encouraging. After seeing the bird twice Chris had lost it while sending texts. It hadn't reappeared. After about 15 minutes I had seen a Kingfisher and a party of tits which briefly raised the optimism levels, but failed to contain any warblers. Mike and Jean decided to go to the pub, but I declined their invitation to join them.

Two hours passed, during which time I received a text from Matt W saying that he had seen a Barn Owl over the flash field at Morton Bagot about an hour after I had left. Chris and I managed to see a Goldcrest.

Like I said, it's not been a good week.

Post-script: Shortly after posting the above tale I thought I would nip back for an hour on the patch this evening. Slightly to my surprise this was completely successful as I flushed the Barn Owl out of trees bordering the flash field, and was then able to get a distant record shot.

Barn Owl

The rest of the stroll round added a Kingfisher and a Marsh Tit to this morning's tally. I also took a photo of a white-chested Buzzard as dusk approached.

If you are thinking it looks a bit long-tailed, the thought had occurred to me too. Unfortunately it disappeared shortly after this shot. Also, I think I have seen this individual before this autumn, and if so, it is just a Common Buzzard.

Sunday October 22

Sunny intervals and cooler, with a fresh westerly breeze.

Breezy conditions are rarely productive at Morton Bagot, but I could forgive myself a little boost of optimism when within a minute of stepping from my car I looked up to see a Swallow heading south. This juvenile may have been my latest Morton Bagot record.

After that, things went a little steady. I decided to start along the road for a change, a plan which delivered a Mistle Thrush and not much else. One group of birds which do turn up in breezy westerlies, though I have no idea why, are gulls. This morning I counted 20 Lesser black-backed Gulls, a Herring Gull, six Black-headed Gulls, and an adult Common Gull heading into the wind. The latter was the first since February.

The sunshine encouraged one or two Red Admirals into the air, and was also quite good for photography.

Kestrel

Yellowhammer

Reed Bunting

Away from the road I found two Stonechats in the Chat Field, but the flashes were suffering from post-shoot malaise and only offered two Green Sandpipers, five Snipe, four Teal, and a Mallard.

About seven Redpolls and a Siskin were flying around, but I only saw six Redwings. The wires over the Ridge Field hosted 40 Linnets.

Pretty quiet.

Sunday October 15

Morton Bagot never seems to get involved in National birding events, by which I mean unusual numbers of particular species appearing across the UK. Waxwing invasions, Yellow-browed Warbler falls, seabird wrecks, they all seem to happen elsewhere. It doesn't stop you from dreaming though.

Yesterday evening it became apparent that this autumn's event could be an influx of Hawfinches. Dave was obviously thinking the same thing as he greeted me with the comment we should look out for Hawfinches. We never really believed we would actually see one though.

But then, at 10.20am, we were strolling past the pool when I heard a Redwing-like "swee" to my left. I looked round, and up, and there it was "Hawfinch" I bellowed. Dave got on it at once, and we watched in amazement as the chunky finch bounced its way southwards, flashing white in its primaries and secondaries with each flap of its wings.

I fumbled for the camera but it was hopeless. My bridge camera autofocus just can't cope with flying passerines. I got several shots of sky before giving up. You'll just have to make do with an artists impression drawn a little while after it had headed off towards the direction of Bannams Wood.

Hawfinch

Hawfinches have two calls. One is a Robin-like tick which may be a contact call used in woodland, but the other is the Redwing-like call which we heard.

Needless to say this was a first for the patch.

In fact the grey and murky morning had been quite entertaining before the Hawfinch added a substantial dollop of cream. Several flocks of Redwings had slipped their way south-west, the total count being 57. Also on the move were 26 Redpolls, three Siskins, 14 Chaffinches, 13 Skylarks, 60 Starlings, and just five Meadow Pipits. Two probable Golden Plovers also headed south before my view was obscured by a large oak tree.

We also counted 12 Bullfinches, 15 Goldfinches, a Chiffchaff, three Goldcrests, and four Marsh Tits in the hedgerows.

The shooting season is now in full swing, and this may have been responsible for slightly disappointing waterfowl numbers, with just 29 Teal, six Snipe, 74 Greylag Geese, and a Green Sandpiper present.

I think that two good birds in two visits constitutes a Morton Bagot purple patch.

Sunday October 8

Dave and I arrived promptly and started birding down the access road to Netherstead farm. A sunny morning which became quite warm. A very light westerly breeze.

The first sign that we were going to have a good day came when a flock of 35 Redwings hurried over the plantation, heading south-west. We later saw another four. The plantation and hedges were full of tits and Dunnocks, but as we wandered back I noticed that a grey bird perched distantly on the roof of the stables was perched rather perkily and did an extravagant dip of its body. It wasn't a Dunnock, and I said I think that's a Black Redstart, at which point it flew revealing an orange tail. We hurried over, and had excellent views of it fly-catching from the roof.

Black Redstart

This is the second record for the patch, the first being on the same building in Nov 2015. We texted everyone we thought might be interested, and in the event Mike Inskip twitched it successfully on his way to his own patch (where a Kingfisher was to be a patch-tick for him).

We continued towards the flash field, counting five Stonechats in the Chat Field, and another two behind the pool. A Golden Plover, the first of the autumn, flew west.

The flashes contained 85 Greylag Geese, the immature Mute Swan, 27 Teal, a female Shoveler, two Cormorants, a Green Sandpiper, at least seven Snipe, and 17 Lapwings. We heard our only Chiffchaff of the day in the hedges.

Shoveler

The warm weather was bringing out the insects, and we recorded four species of butterfly; Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Brimstone, and Comma, and also several Common Darters, and a small gathering of Hornets.

Comma

Hornet

All in all, an excellent visit.

Monday October 2

Mostly cloudy with sunny intervals. A fresh westerly breeze.

The breeze left me wondering what to do as I left the car at Netherstead. However, my mind was quickly made up by a steady stream of Meadow Pipits heading south. I logged them, and anything else which was obviously moving, and got a final tally of 75 Meadow Pipits, three Swallows, five Redpolls, and two Siskins.

In the chat field I counted at least seven Stonechats again, but had the feeling there might be one or two more than that. A single male Blackcap showed briefly in the hedgerow there, while Chiffchaffs eventually totalled six.

Stonechat

The pool offered nothing at all, but most of the birds in the flash field were on the nearest scrape. I counted 178 Greylag Geese, 61 Teal, 16 Mallard, three Grey Herons, five Snipe, and the Greenshank (which I only heard).

Most of the Greylag Goose flock

As usual the late morning added little, although I did flush a Green Sandpiper from the dragonfly pond.

Sunday October 1

Steady overnight drizzle continued through the early part of the morning. Having been to a wedding reception the night before, and with guests staying over, I had more or less decided to give today a miss.

However, a text from Neil stated that a Pectoral Sandpiper at Salford Prior G P had flown off at 10.15am so birders needed to keep their eyes open. That was all the incentive I needed, and at midday our friends had gone and the rain had stopped. Time to check it out.

The pool has lots of mud, but hardly any water, while the flashes contain lots of water but no muddy edge. So I wasn't too surprised to find no American waders present, but was pleased to see that the Greenshank was still present having been missed on Friday.

A couple of Little Egrets took cover in front of the hedge behind the nearest flash.

Little Egrets

The first day of October is unfortunately the first day of the shooting season. Normally you are pretty safe on a Sunday, but I suppose that having waited all year for the this date some "sportsmen" were unable to contain their enthusiasm. A volley of shots rang out from the direction of Clowse Wood, and within seconds the two egrets joined all the other wildfowl on the flash field in panic-stricken flight.

Trying to put a positive spin on this, it did at least allow me to realise that there were at least 50 Teal present (I could probably have counted about 20 if they hadn't all taken off) and also a single Snipe.

The first Siskin of the autumn called as it flew over, while there are still several Chiffchaffs, and two Swallows present.

I plan to return tomorrow for a more thorough visit.