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.