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.