Friday August 30

Its a good time of the year for birding, but to see something unusual it helps if the weather is right. A fresh south-westerly and sunny intervals doesn't cut the mustard. I gave it a go though and did at least manage to photograph a Migrant Hawker in the lee of a hedge.

Migrant Hawker

Birds were proving hard to find, and by the time I reached the flash field I had only recorded half a dozen Chiffchaffs, a Whitethroat, and a Blackcap.

The flash pools did contain a good number of birds, but not much quality; 64 Mallard, 32 Teal, two Tufted Ducks, 25 Lapwings, and 15 Snipe plus a couple of Green Sandpipers. At least the first Wigeon of the autumn put in an appearance.

Wigeon

The return journey was also quiet, but did liven up just as I reached the car-park at Netherstead when a Peregrine, the first for months, charged off into the distance. I also had a good view of an adult Common Toad crawling through the long grass.

I am hoping for some overhead bird migration next time.

Sunday August 25

This morning I got to the patch as early as I could because I knew that the ringing group would be there. In the event I was too late to see their two star captures, a Kingfisher and a Grasshopper Warbler, but I had a few decent birds myself which more than made up for any disappointment.

It was a very warm day, wall to wall sunshine, and hardly a breeze. After a brief chat with the ringers I headed off on my normal route and soon bumped into some nice birds. Three Whinchats, a Tree Pipit, and two Yellowhammers. The last of these were the first on the patch since some winter fly-overs, a sad state of affairs for this once common breeder.

Whinchat

Tree Pipit

Yellowhammer

 I decided to return to the ringers to alert them to the possible availability of the Tree Pipit, but I don't think it was realistic for them to try to catch it.  It is tempting to suspect that the Whinchats and Tree Pipit were the same birds as Dave and I saw last Sunday, but given that only two of the 91 birds the ringers caught were retraps, it seems just as likely that they were new birds.

Moving on to the flash field there was quite an encouraging vibe with 150 Greylag Geese flying to the back flash, leaving 17 calling Black-headed Gulls to create an almost Upton Warren-like atmosphere. In the event though, I could only add 26 Teal, 35 Lapwings, three Green Sandpipers, and seven newly arrived Snipe to the mix.

Snipe

On the Kingfisher Pool I saw several Migrant Hawker dragonflies and a flight view of a Kingfisher. I also had some tantalising views of fly-catching passerines in the hedge that borders the field beyond the pool. I soon concluded they were two Spotted Flycatchers, but it took another half hour before they reappeared and I was able to get some record shots.

Spotted Flycatcher

Tony Kelly has kindly sent me his ringing figures as follows:

Kingfisher 1
Blue Tit 39
Great Tit 13 (inc 2 re-traps)
Long-tailed Tit 7
Chiffchaff 2
Grasshopper Warbler 1
Blackcap 1
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Whitethroat 2
Wren 1
Robin 4
Dunnock 3
Greenfinch 2
Goldfinch 13
Reed Bunting 1

They did not have time to unfurl the nets in the reed-beds, which is a shame. It was a good showing though.

Overnight I put the garden trap out and caught a record count of 167 moths, although 90 of them were Large Yellow Underwings. Three species were new to the garden; Dingy Shell, Lime-speck Pug, and September Thorn. There were also several which were new for the year.

Dingy Shell

Lime-speck Pug

September Thorn

According to Warwickshire Moths, the Dingy Shell is fairly scarce in the county, and is also a tad late flying.

Thursday August 22

Mostly cloudy with some sunny intervals and a moderate to fresh westerly. It was what I call a fluffy cloud day, which usually means lots of large gulls drifting over and no migrants.

By the time I left I had seen about 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and a Whinchat (maybe two).

A juvenile Sedge Warbler showed well, briefly, and other summer migrants comprised a few Chiffchaffs, two Whitethroats, and a Blackcap. Meanwhile the melancholy calls of young Buzzards echoed across the landscape, I always feel a bit sorry for these birds which have discovered that life beyond the nest is pretty tough.

Juvenile Buzzard

I had hoped that the water-level might have dropped a bit at the flash pools, but it looked pretty similar to last time. Five Green Sandpipers, 35 Lapwings, and 12 Teal told a story of a pretty static situation.

Lapwings

The flock of Goldfinches has reached about 100, while Greenfinches totalled just 11. On days such as this you find yourself thinking it only takes one bird to turn it around.

Not a racing pigeon

Well I can't see a ring on it. Tick!

Sunday August 18

Sunny intervals with a light westerly breeze.

There were several good signs regarding passerines comprising seven Whitethroats, three Willow Warblers, three Chiffchaffs, and two Lesser Whitethroats by the time we reached the flash field. Here the water-level remains too high for waders, so we only saw 15 Lapwings and three Green Sandpipers. It was better for ducks, the main problem being that they were able to hide in the vegetation, so 10 Teals were an absolute minimum, and a single Shoveler was a new arrival.

Shoveler

Things improved on the walk back. To begin with we noticed a distant silhouette of a Whinchat at the top of the strip field, and eventually confirmed the presence of three birds.

Whinchat

They were difficult to approach, and we faced a similar problem when we reached the raptor watchpoint by Stapenhill Wood. Not a raptor, but a pipit on wires in the distance. Given the date, we were optimistic it would be a Tree Pipit, but even through the scope it was hard to be certain.

Tree Pipit

It took off and briefly landed in a hedge before disappearing. We headed for the ridge field and wandered through the long grass without luck until Dave decided to check the other side of the hedge where he flushed it and fortunately it flew over me calling several times. Definitely a Tree Pipit.

So at last there are signs that the migration season is truly under way.

Thursday August 15

We are getting to the business end of August, but today in a brisk westerly with sunny intervals it soon became apparent that the birds weren't aware of this. The only sign of active movement was a loose party of six Swifts heading south.

At the flash field yesterday's rain has removed any muddy edge and the only waders were three Green Sandpipers and 35 Lapwings. You can tell its a bit slow when you feel inspired to count Greylag Geese; there were 175 of them.

So the inevitable fall back was insects. I found a shieldbug called a Parent Bug which I don't think I've seen before, although they are evidently quite common.

Parent Bug

Also, a large hoverfly Volucella inanis which I have recorded here before.

Volucella inanis

The umbellifer heads of various species were crawling with all kinds of flies, providing some nice photographic opportunities.

Butterflies on the wing included Brown Argus and Common Blue, while dragonflies were just the usual species and were largely uncooperative.

Finally a digression. My journey to work takes in the discs of the Selfridges building in central Birmingham, the blue light glowing around each acting as a lure to moths. I've counted hundreds this year, mostly common species, and yesterday these included a Lime-speck Pug, the first I have seen in spite of 18 months garden trapping.

Lime-speck Pug

As Pugs go this is a pretty spectacular one, but it is apparently not especially rare, so I may yet trap one in the garden or at Morton Bagot.

Sunday August 11

Sunny intervals and quite breezy from the west, with some heavy showers later.

Early promise was provided by a large flock of Tits and Warblers working their way along the hedge from the copse at Netherstead. We eventually counted 10 Whitethroats over the whole site, but this is probably just a fraction of the total number present.

At the flash field the recent heavy rain has flooded much of the wader-friendly mud, but the margins still supported 25 Lapwings, two or three Green Sandpipers, and the Dunlin. A couple of Teal were also visible.

I also managed to upgrade my Kingfisher shot from record shot I'm ashamed to show, to record shot which won't win any awards but is good enough to show that the bird is a male (no orange at the base of the bill).

Kingfisher

Further along Morton Brook we flushed a flock of about 80 Goldfinches and at least one juvenile Greenfinch feeding on Knapweed heads. 

A probable Migrant Hawker teased us by refusing to land (for me anyway), and the morning was further disrupted by the dreaded Marsh Lane text: Spotted Redshank on the Car-Park Pool. Dave needed to see this Marsh Lane tick, so off he went.

I meandered back, seeing a very nice juvenile Willow Warbler in Birches above my car before heading for home.

PS The news is not good. Dave dipped the Spotted Redshank which flew off at 12.15 and may have been caught speeding by a copper with a speed-gun.

Thursday August 8

Warm and sunny. An afternoon visit because this morning I drove to Worcester and bought a new pair of Zeiss binoculars from The Birders Store. I had forgotten how nice it felt to look through a brand new, clean pair of quality bins.

So did they help me find anything? Well yes they did. I finally nailed a pair of Purple Hairstreaks in a hedge along the track where the ringers had been doing their stuff a couple of weeks ago.

Purple Hairstreaks (plus Common Wasp and Ladybird sp)

But did I manage to see any decent birds? Again yes, there are signs that autumn is approaching. The first of these was an extremely brief view of a Redstart as it made a fly-catching sally from a distant hedge. Just an orange tail, and that was that.

Some fantastic views of Lesser Whitethroats and Whitethroats on the way to the flash field, where the usual Green Sandpipers and Teal were joined by a juvenile Dunlin. The first of the autumn, and only the third this year.

Dunlin

I also had an opportunity to photograph the Kingfisher as it posed distantly on a sapling. Sadly I fluffed it, so a record shot was all I got. Hopefully I'll get another chance.

On the walk back I saw a Southern Hawker which refused to settle, and a moth and a Hare which were more co-operative.

Agriphila tristella

Brown Hare

Sunday August 4

A muggy warm morning.

It was another pretty quiet visit. The most interesting sighting was a Reed Warbler in a thick hedgerow. The flash field produced seven Green Sandpipers, two Snipe, 21 Lapwings, and five Teal.

The butterfly highlight was a single Painted Lady, not the deluge we have been promised in recent news items.

Painted Lady

A single Long-winged Conehead was the first of that species of cricket this year.

Long-wnged Conehead

Quite a few Whitethroats are now out of the nest.

Whitethroat

As I said, pretty quiet.

Friday August 2

A very warm and sunny morning with a very light northerly breeze. I am still waiting to hear whether my insurance claim will fund a new pair of bins, and in the meantime I am having to rely on my old pair of 30 year old Zeiss. Its like looking through a mist.

Perhaps because of this, three Partridges flew off looking worryingly like Greys. There haven't been any here for about five years, and inevitably I couldn't relocate them. Later on I saw a possible Purple Hairstreak, but that too disappeared. It was turning into one of those mornings.

At the flash field I confirmed what I had suspected, that Little Owls have bred successfully.

Juvenile Little Owl

A single Willow Warbler sang, while waders were represented by seven Green Sandpipers and 31 Lapwings. A couple of Teal were present while the furthest flash was smothered by 90 Greylag Geese.

On the walk back I heard a Kingfisher, and finally saw a Common Darter dragonfly. Ruddy Darter is by far the commonest Darter here.

Common Darter

All a bit quiet really.

Garden Moths - July 31

A day of hanging around waiting for insurance companies to call, white van men to deliver, and cricket (as compensation). At least it gave me the chance to put the trap out.

It was pretty good. The early breeze died down, it was partly overcast and reasonably warm, so there were moths a plenty. Specifically 136 of 51 species and about a dozen wasps.

As I haven't trapped in the garden for a fortnight there were plenty of new ones for the year list. However I will concentrate on the ones which were new for the garden.

The first has given me the biggest headache as it was clearly something new but also rather worn. After flirting with several species of noctuid, I eventually decided it was a Cabbage Moth. This identification is subject to scrutiny by JS, but in the end I'm pretty confident of it.

Cabbage Moth

As far as I know, this is a fairly common moth. Another cryptic species turned up in the next egg box, but this time I had the benefit of having seen one at Morton Bagot last weekend, and from it being quite fresh. It was a Straw Underwing.

Straw Underwing

From tricky brown patterned noctuids, to an extremely beautiful geometer. A real wow moment as I turned over the relevant egg box. The only disappointing thing about this moth was its name; a Bordered Beauty.

Bordered Beauty

As an added frisson of excitement I then found that this moth is described as widespread but uncommon in Warwickshire.

The final new moth was a micro, but quite a nice one.  It was a honeysuckle specialist, Ypsolopha dentella, probably benefitting from the unruly honeysuckle sprawling over our shed.

Ypsolopha dentella

Other good moths included the second Grey/Dark Dagger for the garden, and the second Leopard Moth, although it sadly didn't survive the night.