Sunday April 29

Cloudy with a light north-easterly breeze. Cold.

There are days when you get out of your car and within ten minutes of comparative silence you know its going to be an uninspiring day. The cool breeze and limited birdsong suggested that today would be one of those.

So, trying to be a little more upbeat, Dave and I quickly saw the Sedge Warbler that had been singing out of sight last weekend. At the pool the sound of trilling Little Grebes was confirmed as meaning that last week's bird had found a mate.

But the flash field, oh dear. Just six Lapwings, three Gadwalls, a brood of Mallard, and a few Coot and Moorhens. However, the ploughed field now hosted both a female and a male Wheatear.

Wheatear

We tried going off piste (we had half thought we had heard a tringa wader, perhaps a Redshank), so we walked to a couple of small pools just beyond the patch boundary. This only turned up another pair of Lapwings.

Back at the ridge field Dave spoke with a sense of urgency (always a good sign) and this had us craning our necks upwards to watch what turned out to be a circling Peregrine.

Peregrine

Finally, the dragonfly pools, which rarely contain anything unusual, came up trumps.

Gadwall

The pair of Gadwall were the first I have seen on the pond, and the small size of the pools allowed for a close photo.

So not the best visit, but as I like to tell myself, there's always something to see.

Sunday April 22

A sunny morning although it clouded over later. The breeze was fairly light and south-westerly. Also, a great date. This weekend is probably my favourite on the Morton Bagot calendar. It invariably turns up a host of year-ticks and often something scarce.

This morning was good, but a little more luck and conviction it could have been so much better. The first of my six birds which were new here (for me) for the year was a Cuckoo. A male gave a single call before Dave arrived, and much later in the morning he was also able to hear it.

A good start, but then the thing I dread; a probable good bird. I was in mid stride walking along the Netherstead track when I was brought up short by what sounded like the flutey trill of a Whimbrel. This would be the first here since the same weekend five years ago. All I needed to confirm it was to hear it again, or to see it, or for Dave to also hear it. None of the above happened (Dave had not yet arrived). So I was left to make the call, to count it or not. I decided against it. AARGH. There are very few birds that sound like Whimbrels, just Little Grebe, and at a stretch female Cuckoo. What excuse did I have? I was wearing a hat...not a good one (the hat or the excuse).

Anyway, Dave joined me  and we got on with looking for birds. A Sedge Warbler sang from the reed-bed, but we couldn't see it. The butterfly count gradually mounted as we saw several Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Brimstones, and Orange Tips.

Orange Tip

Skirting the Chat Field we heard the first of eight Lesser Whitethroats, and the first of five Common Whitethroats singing. All remained elusive, with just distant or brief glimpses achieved. A single female Wheatear was seen on the ploughed field.

We reached the Flash Field and scanned optimistically. A single Little Grebe was an unusual sight on the normally shallow nearest flash.

Little Grebe

Also present were three Gadwalls, four Teal, two Little Ringed Plovers, and two Green Sandpipers. But still no Redshank, are we going to miss out this year? I caught sight of a passerine flying through my field of view as I scanned with the scope. My suspicions were confirmed when we spotted a male Yellow Wagtail. We soon discovered it was accompanied by a female and briefly by another male.

Male Yellow Wagtail

Female Yellow Wagtail

Unfortunately they were never close, and within fifteen minutes had disappeared altogether. Although I do record this species every year, it is often just a brief fly-over so to get the chance to photograph one (even as a record shot) is unusual.

There are far more insects around now. They are always a welcome distraction when the birding starts to flag.

Alder Fly - probably Sialis lutaria

A flock of 30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and five Herring Gulls was surprising. Presumably they were Redditch breeders searching for a good source of food.

We did a big loop taking in the south end, but were virtually back at Netherstead when the next new bird sang briefly. A Willow Warbler, scarce as ever here, and apparently still declining.

Our final, and best tick though is a species which is getting more and more frequent every year. A Red Kite was flying towards us and went right overhead before disappearing over the copse. Amazingly, a few minutes a second bird appeared, this one circling for ages. The original bird also reappeared to add to the sense of wellbeing.

Red Kite A

Red Kite B

Notice how the second bird has a small notch between the secondaries and the inner primaries, while the first bird does not.

The Whimbrel aside, this was a very good visit.

Sunday April 15

After the first warm day of spring yesterday, today was a bit of a setback weatherwise. The grey skies were back and despite a moderate southerly breeze it was rather chilly again.

Any thoughts of walking along the road were scuppered by the presence of a cycle race, and indeed a nasty crash at the bottom of the slope before the Netherstead turn. We later saw two ambulances and hope that the cyclists involved were not too badly injured.

While I was waiting for Dave I saw the first House Martin of the summer, although it disappeared thereafter. The only other new migrant we could find was Lesser Whitethroat. In fact we recorded three singing birds around the site and even glimpsed two of them.

Disappointingly, the ploughed fields were almost devoid of birds with the exception of about 80 Linnets still feeding on the field by Morton Common Farm. The real frustration is that the Flash Field is still not pulling many migrants in. A single Green Sandpiper and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers were the only waders other than Lapwings (and there were only four of them).  The situation was a bit more positive as far as ducks are concerned. In fact six Gadwall was a record count for the patch, while there was still a single Shoveler and about eight Teal.

Drake Gadwall

At the end of the visit our morning was summed up as we struggled to convince ourselves we had heard a distant Willow Warbler near Clowse Farm. In the end we gave up, but I did see an interesting looking bee on the fence.

Clarke's Mining Bee Andrena clarkella

It is some kind of mining bee, probably Andrena clarkella, but I suspect the slightly out of focus photo may not prove acceptable as a record shot.

Upton Warren twitch - Glossy Ibis

A wet Tuesday morning and at 08.00 my phone pings with a message. I am oblivious to this and carry on to work. At 10.00 another ping, and this time I hear it. The message, from Terry, says the Glossy Ibis has just flown off. I check my phone and find the earlier message which said Glossy Ibis at Upton Warren NOW. (Quick apology; when I changed phones lately I lost all my saved contacts and am slowly building them up again, so I'm not sure who sent the original text, but thank you anyway).

During the day it became apparent that the Ibis hadn't gone far, and it was reported several times back at the Flashes. So this evening I was making a quick about turn, and whizzing over to Upton.

The bird was standing in a field just beyond the reserve, and I took some terrible photos in the terrible light. However, luck was on my side. I decided I really should go and look at some Avocets, so I left Mike W, Gert, and Dave W watching the bird and headed that way. I was then delayed by some half-heard snatches of birdsong which, I must admit, I couldn't quite identify. Next thing I know Mike W is striding towards me with news that the Ibis has flown in the direction of the Flashes.

We hurried to the main hide and scanned the grassy edges thinking it could be there, but to no avail. So I started looking at the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls, and dozen or so Avocets in front of the hide. And there it was, right in front of us.

Glossy Ibis

It was very nice to be back at Upton Warren. It's so different from the 1980's when Black-headed Gulls were quite scarce, Lapwings were everywhere, and the prospect of a Glossy Ibis turning up was too fanciful to be on anyone's wish list.

You didn't see any of these either:

I asked Mike about the hybrid Mediterranean Gull X Black-headed Gull. He scanned for a nano-second and showed me the bird.

Hybrid MedxBHG

A very interesting bird, properly black (not chocolate) headed with a classic 2nd winter Med Gull wing pattern, but no bigger than a B H Gull, and with a slender B H Gull sized bill.

Fans of reading about me seeing bugger all at Morton Bagot can be assured that normal service will be resumed at the weekend.

Sunday April 8

This morning was cloudy with hardly any wind. I suspected I was going to have a better day when I spotted my first two Swallows of the year here as I was driving past Church Farm. The light was terrible but you've got to haven't you.

Swallow

Dave joined me and we headed towards the pool. A pair of Green Woodpeckers were playing hide-and-seek on a telegraph pole.

Green Woodpeckers

The pool contained two pairs of Tufted Ducks and a Coot. Undaunted, we kept on to the Flash field. Here we quickly discovered that a pair of Little Ringed Plovers was in residence.

Little Ringed Plover

Also present were a Little Egret, four Shovelers, four Gadwall, 14 Coots, 10 Teal, and four Lapwings. We were about to move on when an immature Peregrine swooped across, causing mayhem, not least me dropping my scope. I had just picked it up and was folding away my tripod when we heard a Curlew calling. The tripod went the same way as the scope as the bird came into view.

Curlew

This former breeder is always a good one to get on the year-list.

We headed back along the footpath, discovering a Treecreeper entering a gap in the bark of a dead tree where it was clearly making a nest. Then Dave spotted two probable White Wagtails in the ploughed field. I got them in the scope and confirmed he was right, but they flew off before I could hand the scope over. Dave was now on a roll, because he then noticed a female Wheatear at the top of the same field.

We came up with a plan. If this field had been ploughed, maybe the ones at the south end (the direction the wagtails had flown in) would be too. On the way there we counted 27 Lesser Redpolls, heard a singing Blackcap, and saw the Peregrine again.

The hunch paid off because the south field had indeed been ploughed and was alive with birds. These included 40 Linnets, a Chaffinch, six Pied Wagtails, the two White Wagtails, and another female Wheatear.

White Wagtail

Wheatear

Sadly, the Snowy Owl proved a bit of a disappointment.

Friday April 6

Light cloud cover with some sunshine and a light to moderate south-easterly.

Important note to self; keep your optimism levels in check and never ever compile a target list of species you hope to see.

This morning I set myself the target of adding six new species to the year list, and decided that four would be a par score, and less than two almost unimaginable.

As I headed away from Netherstead, four Fieldfares flew east. A Meadow Pipit called. Movement, I thought. I decided to head along the road and before I had got too far the odd singing Chiffchaff was joined by a singing Blackcap.

Shortly afterwards I got a phone call from Lyn. To cut a long story short my Dad is very poorly at the moment and my Mum, being fiercely independent, believes she can cope. But sometimes she can't. I pulled the plug on the birding and headed to Birmingham.

By mid afternoon the situation there had improved, and I was able to return home. I went back to the patch, and found Mark leaving the site with a rather limited list of species from the Flash field. I went down to try my luck but was only able to confirm a pair of Gadwall, three Shovelers, three Snipe, four Lapwings, and six Teal. Mark had seen three Green Sandpipers, but I could find only one.

At least a contractor has started ploughing, so Wheatear habitat is being created. The wander back added a Peacock butterfly, the Peregrine, and about a dozen Redpolls.

My next visit will contain no expectations.

Sunday April 1

A cold cloudy morning with a light northerly breeze.

It feels more like late February than early April. My visit to the patch this morning was a bit disappointing.

There were a few highlights; boxing Brown Hares, 45 Lesser Redpolls, and a Peregrine on a pylon.

Peregrine

The Flash field was a great disappointment. Just eight Teal, a pair of Shovelers, a pair of Shelduck, a Green Sandpiper, and four Lapwings. I eventually added three Meadow Pipits which were crawling through the soggy grass.

At least a couple of birds posed nicely for me, but just look at the hedgerows they are sitting in. Scarcely in bud, the hawthorns are miles behind where they usually are at this time of the year.

Kestrel

Reed Bunting

Its hard to believe that in two or three weeks time the whole place will have transformed. Bring it on.