Tuesday April 30

Yesterday a Great White Egret was photographed a couple of flaps away, in a field near Studley church. It was last seen heading in the general direction of Morton Bagot. Was I here? Was I hell. Gluten free fish and chip night and the final of Only Connect won out.

So in a classic case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted I turned up tonight hoping a large white heron would make itself known. Well I saw a Heron (Grey) and a large white bird (Mute Swan...actually two) but there was nothing that fitted the bill.

This Saturday the annual West Midlands alldayer is due to take place once again, and I intend to take part. I am slightly stymied by tickets for the Stratford Literary Festival in the early evening, but I'm still keen.

With that in mind, one or two birds this evening would be very handy if they were still around on the big day. A Green Sandpiper and five Teal remain at the flash field, and a couple of Starlings flew in. They are generally absent once Spring kicks in. The Cuckoo was still calling, but the Grasshopper Warbler wasn't. Also absent were the Wheatears, but the Little Owl made an appearance (another very missable bird).

Little Owl

In previous years Willow Warbler has been tough to find, but this year one has set up territory and was showing well this evening.

Willow Warbler

One disappointment, apart from the GW Egret, was a person walking through the flash field late in the evening. I watched him/her from the corner of Bannams Wood, and as far as I could tell they were neither a birder nor a dog-walker. Just someone out for a stroll I suppose, but I wish they'd have picked a different field.

Sunday April 28

Cloudy and chilly with a light westerly.

It definitely felt as though normal service had been resumed today. The only birds new for the month were a pair of Gadwalls which flew onto the nearest flash.

Gadwalls

Also present were a Shelduck, two Little Ringed Plovers, about 10 Lapwings, and a pair of Teal. The cold weather resulted in about 20 Swallows, six House Martins, and a Sand Martin sweeping backwards and forwards over the water in search of flies.

Neither the Cuckoo nor the Grasshopper Warbler was singing, but there were plenty of warblers singing including two Willow Warblers, and two Sedge Warblers. The only signs of ongoing migration being two male Wheatears in the horse field, and a female Wheatear on the strips behind the  former pool.

Normally when the birds fail to excite, I can fall back on insects. But this morning was so cold that very few were on the wing. One which we did see see was a "fly" with ridiculously long antennae. My attempts to photograph it were pretty abysmal which was a shame because I later established it was actually a male moth called Adela reaumurella.

Adela reaumurella

I'll have to hope I get another chance.

Another insect which is likely to remain unidentified was a hoverfly (or maybe a soldierfly).

Thought to be Eupeodes luniger

Here the problem is that there is a profusion of fly species, and they usually can only be confirmed under the microscope. However, I've found a possible match on the internet in Eupeodes luniger.

Also, last night I had a moth fluttering against our kitchen window in Winyates East. I caught it when I realised it was a Waved Umber. I only trapped one last year.

Waved Umber

After catching it I thought I should put the trap out. Two hours of wind, cold, and rain later I decided to shut it down. Nothing was caught in that time.

Friday April 26

After the excitement of the last couple of weeks it was to be expected that things would calm down a bit. This morning was cool with a light southerly breeze (but associated with an approaching low pressure system) and became cloudy by 11.00am.

I had a bit of luck to begin with though. I had stopped at High Field Farm to buy some eggs, when a Nuthatch swooped out of Bannams Wood and landed on the gravel drive where it proceeded to pick up grit.

Nuthatch

This apparently strange behaviour can probably be explained by the Nuthatches nesting habit of choosing a hole in a tree and then making it smaller by partially blocking up the entrance with mud. It seems a little late for the nest making process, but perhaps it was doing some D.I.Y. Anyway it gave me the opportunity to plug a gap on my photo year-list.

At Netherstead my arrival was briefly blocked by a lorry. It transpired that it was delivering fencing components for the volunteers (I had to admit I was not one of them) who were going to mend the bridge on the public footpath. After a scan of the horse field revealed two male Wheatears, I met the workers, all of whom looked older than me, as they were preparing to attend the site. They certainly put me to shame.

The resident warblers are now all here and the whole area reverberated to the sound of Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, Whitethroats, and Lesser Whitethroats. They were joined by two singing Sedge Warbler, a calling Cuckoo, and a singing Willow Warbler. There was no sign of the Grasshopper Warbler, or so I thought, but I later bumped into Chris Lane who had heard and seen it briefly after I had walked past.

The Avocets were definitely not present, although a pair of Shelducks had appeared in their place. At least two Little Ringed Plovers, 10 Lapwings, and seven Teal still remain. I also spotted a third Wheatear on the return journey.

Skylark

Yellow Archangel

Canada Geese with goslings

A Skylark allowed a closer approach than is usual, while a few spikes of Yellow Archangel along the road beneath Bannams Wood caught my eye. The breeding season is looking to be good for the local Canada Geese and also for a pair of Coots which also have young.

Wednesday April 24

The mini-heatwave seems to be over, and this evening it was ever so slightly chilly. Still dry though, and mostly sunny. I was tempted to make an evening visit, although I had already heard that the Avocets were still present.

So I started at Netherstead. The Grasshopper Warbler seems to moved on, or maybe he's just found a mate and shut up. The little reedbed was quite noisy though because there are now two male Sedge Warblers singing at each other.

I had a scan of the horse field, which was pretty productive. A single Fieldfare reminded that winter was so long ago, but it was sharing the field with at least three Wheatears and 10 Pied Wagtails. As hoped, a Cuckoo was calling in the distance.

Fieldfare and Wheatear

Rabbit

The Rabbit was the first of several species of mammals seen during the course of the evening. Unsurprisingly dusk is a better time to see mammals than mid-day. Along with three Muntjacs (including a fawn with its mum), and a Roe Deer was my first Red Fox of the year.

Fox hunting small mammals

I had time to stroll to the flash field where, sure enough, the Avocets were still present. There was also at least seven Teal, several Lapwings, a Little Ringed Plover, and a Green Sandpiper.

Sleeping Avocets

On the walk back I spent about ten minutes trying to see an oddly singing sylvia warbler. It was a continual warbling, appropriately enough. My mind raced through the rare sylvias as I discounted Garden Warbler and the Whitethroats. Eventually I discovered what it was. A Lesser Whitethroat which had decided not to end its song with the usual rattle. I think there were two birds in close proximity which might account for the unusual song.

I had forgotten what fun an evening visit can be.

Monday April 22 - last night's garden moths

With the warm weather continuing, I couldn't resist putting the trap out for another go. The final tally was 33 moths of 16 species.

New for the garden were five Lunar Marbled Browns, a Frosted Green, and a Pebble Prominent. When I say new for the garden this generally also means the first I have ever seen...as in this case.

Lunar Marbled Brown

Frosted Green

Pebble Prominent

As far as I can tell, none of these moths is especially scarce. There are just an awful lot of moth species out there.

Firsts for the year were; Codling Moth, Oak-tree Pug, Common Plume, Chocolate-tip, and Maiden's Blush.

Chocolate-tip

Maiden's Blush

I spent much of the morning staring at the 10 Pugs I caught before deciding they were two Double-striped Pugs, six Brindled Pugs, and two Oak-tree Pugs. They are a bit of a nightmare to be honest.

Brindled Pug and Oak-tree Pug

Brindled and Oak-tree are especially hard to tell apart, but there can be quite a size difference. The above rather crap photo shows two at either end of the size range.

Sunday April 21

I arrived at about 08.30 to find no one else present and no Grasshopper Warbler sounds coming from the reedbed. So I had a look at the big horse field where I found a couple of rather smart male Wheatears.

Wheatear

The extent of the buff on the underside may point to the Greenland race, but I gave up on them years ago. By the time I returned to the reedbed a couple of photographers were parked by the posts and the Grasshopper Warbler was in full voice. Dave arrived and it shut up and disappeared. We went for another look at the Wheatears before returning to find that Mike Lane had gone, but a birder from Redditch had replaced him. The Grasshopper Warbler was performing once more to Dave's relief. It soon shut up and disappeared again, and after 15 minutes our patience evaporated and we started on the circuit.

The Sedge Warbler did a few aerial sorties, yesterday's Willow Warbler and numerous Whitethroats and Blackcaps sang, and at least one House Martin was still flying about. In the hedge just short of the former pool a Lesser Whitethroat decided it was not going to hide away and perched in full view, singing all the time.

Lesser Whitethroat

We had continued a few yards further on, when we heard a vaguely familiar wader call. I was sure it was an Avocet, but could it just be wishful thinking. We reached the top of the rise from where we could look down on the flash field. Initially the only white birds I could see looked like Black-headed Gulls. Then Dave called out that there were two Avocets. I looked harder, but they still looked like Black-headed Gulls. All became clear when I realised Dave's Avocets were in flight and he thought they had dropped out of view. We hurried forward and found that they were wading around on the nearest flash. What a relief.

Avocet

Although there were only two of them and there seems to have been a two day gap, it seems pretty likely that these were two of the birds found by Jeff Preston three days ago. The only previous Avocets here were in April 2014.

Also present were about 10 Teal, a Snipe, and a Little Ringed Plover along with the usual residents.

By late morning it was becoming unseasonably hot. We saw numerous butterflies, perhaps 20 Orange-tips, 10 Brimstones, 12 Speckled Woods, and eight or nine Small Tortoiseshells, but they were showing little interest in settling. The first dragonfly of the year, a Large Red Damselfly was perched in a bramble patch by the Kingfisher Pool, very much a traditional spot.

Large Red Damselfly

I also finally got a view of a settled Peacock, one of about three we saw, and a Large White flew by without pausing.

Peacock

A couple of Rabbits evaded my camera lens again, to Dave's amusement. A silent pipit flew across the ridge field and into the distance, a habit which is becoming annoying. We decided to check the south end. This added no more birds, but at least another species of white butterfly, the Green-veined White, decided to land long enough for me to photograph it.

Green-veined White

So another brilliant visit reached its conclusion.

PS Late news: Neil Duggan reports that a Cuckoo was calling this evening, and the Grasshopper Warbler was performing well. Meanwhile I've got my moth-trap out.

Saturday April 20

Last night we returned from visiting a friend in Ross-on Wye and found that Mike Lane had been trying to contact me, I had left my phone at home, and he had eventually emailed me an absolutely fantastic photograph of a singing Grasshopper Warbler he had found at Morton Bagot that evening.

Another person who had been trying to get my attention was Jeff Preston, a regular at Marsh Lane gravel pit. On Thursday afternoon he had visited the Flashes and found three Avocets, which were still there when he left at 17.00.  This was the second record for the site. Needless to say I wish I'd seen them too.

So my plans changed, and I was up with the lark this morning, arriving at Netherstead at 07.30. Thankfully the bird was still there and singing so loudly that I could hear it before I turned the engine of the car off. It took another 30 minutes before I was able to see it, but it soon took to landing on the posts in front of the small reedbed, and thus showing brilliantly.

Grasshopper Warbler

While taking a shedload of shots, I also heard a Sedge Warbler singing in the same reedbed. It however was far less showy, and I only managed a brief glimpse of it in flight.

I decided to head for the road with another common migrant in mind, and sure enough I got a brief view of a House Martin.

Eventually I headed away from Netherstead, soon adding a singing Willow Warbler  to the day list.

Willow Warbler

Further on, the first of three Lesser Whitethroats gave its trademark rattle, and staying true to type was all but invisible. Spring is now in full swing, and four Whitethroats and three Blackcaps joined the throng.

The only place to let me down was the Flash Field. I could only see seven Black-headed Gulls, a handful of Teal, a brood of newly hatched Mallard, and the usual Lapwings. No Avocets were present.

I had to curtail the visit because Lyn and I had plans to see each of my parents, shop etc. But there was still time to see a few butterflies; Orange-tip, Speckled Woods, and Small Tortoiseshells before returning to the car.

Orange-tip

Here I spotted Mark Islip heading to the Ring Ouzel field (I had made a quick scan of it without seeing anything), so I called him over to see the Gropper, and I'm pleased to say I also spotted Mike Inskip on my drive home, and gave him the news. He later saw it well.

I love this time of year.

Thursday April 18

News from the patch says that the male Ring Ouzel is still present, and also a pair of Wheatears (Francis Peplow - via Twitter).

Meanwhile I have spent a pleasant morning examining the moths contained in my overnight moth trap. The final tally (after I discovered a couple of extras clinging to the wall of the house) was 26 moths of 11 species.

The undoubted highlight was a new for the garden (and also a lifer) Swallow Prominent. Its a quite stunning moth.

Swallow Prominent

Its also not especially rare, but I haven't heard of any others caught this year, so its quite early. Of the remainder, only the three Brindled Beauties and the Shuttle-shaped Dart were new for the year.

Brindled Beauty

Shuttle-shaped Dart

All the usual species were present, 12 Common Quakers, two Hebrew Characters, a Clouded Drab, a Twenty-plume Moth, and two Double-striped Pugs. While Twin-spotted Quaker, Brindled Pug and Early Thorn were all the second records this year.

A single Willow Warbler was singing to remind me I am supposed to be a birder.

But then I lapsed and on a visit to Hillers Garden Centre with Lyn during the afternoon, photographed a shieldbug in their garden which looked like it might be something different. I have identified it as a Hairy Shieldbug.

Hairy Shieldbug

I've submitted it to irecord.com for confirmation.

Wednesday April 17

With the temperature steadily rising this week I found myself in something of a quandary this evening. Moths or birds? I decided on both, so attempted to rush home. Ninety minutes after leaving work I struggled through the door, grumpy as hell. With time ebbing away, more decisions were required. Do I go and see if the Ring Ouzel(s) were still there (Nick Barlow had reported just the female for yesterday), or do I check the flash field? The weather felt humid and still; so it had to be the flash field.

Its a long time since I went to the patch after work, and it told. I left my scope at home, forgetting how quickly the light would disappear. How I missed it.

As I arrived I heard a tringa type wader call. It didn't sound quite right for Green Sandpiper, but it could have been that. I was thinking Common Sandpiper. A scan of the nearest flash produced a wader, but it was a Dunlin.

Dunlin

A good start, but try as I might I couldn't see any other waders apart from Snipe and Lapwings. Turning my attention to the furthest flash I found a tringa. Oh for a scope. Eventually I saw it well enough to see it was a Green Sandpiper. The light had gone, but just as I was leaving I heard that call again. I scanned the nearest flash in vain but nothing appeared.

Lets hope the moths can rescue the evening.

Sunday April 14

A sunny morning with a light easterly and remaining cool. I arrived to find a Willow Warbler singing, and set out to see and perhaps photograph it before dave arrived. In the course of doing this I flushed at least the male Ring Ouzel, which was evidently still here. I managed a horrible blurred photo of the warbler before it shifted position and I returned to my car.

Dave arrived and parked. As he was getting out of the car and I was telling him about the White-tailed Eagle which had flown over Upton Warren, when I looked up to see a large raptor over the rise. Sadly not an eagle, but a Red Kite.

Red Kite

I managed a few shots, mostly out of focus, before it disappeared. We went straight to the horse field  and had no trouble locating the pair of Ring Ouzels.

Ring Ouzel

The field also contained several other thrushes, and we eventually added one Redwing and 10 Fieldfares to the list. The only down-side was that the Willow Warbler had stopped singing and could not be found.

We started our usual route, seeing a Muntjac, and noting that bird song was a little reduced because of the coolness.

Muntjac

Nevertheless at least one new migrant had turned up. We flushed a male Redstart from the hedge just beyond the former pool. Attempts to photograph it were almost futile, the only shot I got was basically a picture of the hedge with a tiny image of the bird if you really looked. Oh well, it could be the only one this year so I'm showing it anyway.

Redstart (centre of the frame if you zoom in)

Redstarts have an annoying habit of just disappearing, and we eventually gave up trying to re-find it.

We switched our attention to the flash field. It contained a pair of Shelducks, about eight Teal, at least five Snipe, two (maybe three) Green Sandpipers, four (probably five, and maybe six)  Little Ringed Plovers, six Black-headed Gulls, and no trace of the Little Egret or any Redshanks. The reason for the uncertainty about wader numbers was that the birds were extremely active and ranging over a wide area.

Most birders are used to possibles and probables, and we are no exception. During the course of the morning Dave thought he might have heard a Lesser Whitethroat, we both heard an odd wader-like call from something flying invisibly over (I thought it sounded Turnstone-like, Dave thought vaguely Whimbrel-like but not quite right), and finally we flushed a non-calling pipit-like bird from the long grass of the ridge field which could have been a Tree Pipit, or perhaps it wasn't. We couldn't relocate it. A further mystery was a pile of snow white feathers.

Maybe just an unfortunate white dove, or maybe the fact we hadn't seen the Little Egret today was more significant than we had thought.

One bird that was still present was the Whitethroat. It sang from exactly the same bushes as on Thursday, but this time it didn't show.

Finally, back at the Ring Ouzel field we found a pair of Wheatears to round off the morning nicely.

Saturday April 13 - news update

News from John Sirrett confirmed that the Ring Ouzels were still present and evidently proving popular with local birders.

The nearest I came to a visit was a brief pause below Bannams Wood with Lyn on our way to Stratford.

The Bluebells are starting to flower in spite of the cool conditions.

News from April 12

Although I haven't been to the patch today I have heard from Chris Lane and Mike Inskip that the Ring Ouzels are still present.

Thursday April 11

A sunny, but cool morning with a very light north-easterly breeze.

For the first half of this morning's effort I was resigned to a return to the quiet mornings which are typically recorded in this blog. Two immature Mute Swans flew over Netherstead before descending to land on the furthest flash. When I finally got there it was all very pleasant, two pairs of very vocal Little Ringed Plovers, a Green Sandpiper, a pair of Redshanks, 10 Snipe (an increase), three Black-headed Gulls, and 19 Teal were later joined by a Shelduck.

Redshank

On the drive in I had seen a single Swallow on the wires at Church Farm, and saw two Sparrowhawks heading into Bannams Wood.

Lyn rang to ask how I was getting on and I reported how quiet it all was. About ten minutes later things began to change. Firstly a jumble of notes resolved itself into a definite Whitethroat, a little earlier than I usually see my first of the year. It was my earliest ever here since 2011 (10 April).

Whitethroat

It briefly showed itself before disappearing into a thicket. I would have been quite happy with that, but a little further on another brief snatch of song stopped me before the vocalist tried again and I confirmed I was listening to my first Willow Warbler of the year. It promptly shut up, and after walking to the other side of the hedge I was forced to accept I would not see it, nor hear it again.

But the best was yet to come. I decided to walk the footpath behind the horse paddocks heading for the south end. I reached a gate about half way along and stopped to watch a pair of Blackcaps. A thrush-like call further down the hedge initially failed to drag me away from the Blackcaps. Then it called again and I thought I should take a look. To my amazement it turned out that there was a male Ring Ouzel in the hedge. OMG, my first here since 2009. A real rarity. It made the harsh "chack" sound I was familiar with (I think the previous call had been a snatch of song or sub-song).

Male Ring Ouzel

With Dave still in Majorca (sorry mate), I phoned Mike Inskip. Ironically he was tramping around Bredon Hill looking for some reported Ring Ouzels. I had been taking photos periodically and started to wonder whether I had been mistaken, and the bird was actually a female.

After ending the call with Mike when "it" dropped into the field, the explanation became apparent. There were two birds.

Ring Ouzels

I sent a text to Neil D and continued to watch and film the birds. Eventually Lyn rang and reminded me we were supposed to be having lunch at the Jinney Ring. Back at the car, another vehicle careered to a halt and Neil jumped out. Yes I could show him where the birds were, so back we went.

On the way Neil pointed out a female Wheatear (no doubt I had walked past it in a daze). It eventually flew to the top of the hedge.

Wheatear

I think its fair to say that this will live in the memory as one of my better days at Morton Bagot.

PS: I had a feeling this might happen. Ivan Sansom was twitching the Ring Ouzels and flushed a Short-eared Owl from the Redpoll Field,  photographing it before it headed north.

 Only the second confirmed record for the site. Ivan's picture was better than this but due to my technological ineptness this is all I can put on this post.

Tuesday April 9

I like to think that sometimes birders get a sixth sense of what good conditions look like. Last night was gloomy and overcast with thunder in the air, and this morning the dull conditions persisted, while the wind remained in the east. The only thing mitigating against the promise of rare birds was the time of year. Two weeks too early?

As luck would have it I had booked the day off to accompany Lyn on a routine hospital appointment, so after lunch I was able to get to the patch to see what was happening.

I parked at the church, and quickly noticed a pair of Greenfinches, the male singing well. This species seemed to have crashed in numbers here this year so I was pleased that at least one pair is likely to be breeding.

Greenfinch

Down at the former pool I discovered another birder. I hadn't seen Jan for a couple of years, so it was nice to catch up. She had been all around the main fields hoping to find a Wheatear, but had drawn a blank. I offered to show her which tree the Little Owl normally sat in, so we went there. We failed to see it. However a scan of the flash field revealed a new bird for the year, a wader I had failed to see last year. A Black-tailed Godwit. I took a quick photo before the bird disappeared for an agonising ten minutes. Happily we relocated it in the long grass between the two flashes.

Black-tailed Godwit

Also present were 21 Teal, about a dozen Lapwings, four Little Ringed Plovers, four Snipe, and a pair of Redshank. A Swallow flew over. Life felt good. Jan had to leave and I set off on a circuit of the field. I returned to find a Little Egret and a Green Sandpiper had appeared, while the Black-tailed Godwit was now on the furthest flash.

I headed back up the slope and was briefly distracted by an extremely frisky creche of lambs.

Back at the road a familiar shape on wires above the road told me that the Swallow was a local bird back on territory for another season.

Swallow

I resisted the urge to skip back to the car.