The last three days have seen a north-easterly breeze and variable amounts of cloud discouraging me from venturing into the garden. So March 29 saw the following ticks:
26. Canada Goose
27. Raven
The latter was seen from my sofa. Not an especially unexpected sighting these days.
March 30
28. Long-tailed Tit
29. Rook
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| Long-tailed Tit |
This was going to be a proper birdwatch; dawn to dusk, trying hard. My enthusiasm was to be richly rewarded. I had barely stepped onto the back doorstep at around 06.15 when I heard and saw a Blackcap singing from our apple tree. It had disappeared by the time I retrieved my camera and the light wouldn't have helped if I'd had it. Perhaps it was the bird I heard on Thursday.
For the next hour I stood and watched as a succession of birds appeared, often as fly-overs, and the day list gradually grew. Most were birds I had recorded on day one, although I did hear a Song Thrush. But this was just the hors d'oeuvres.
I recently dusted off my old house list, which after updating, stood at 74 species. Not bad, but we have been here for over 15 years. If I'd been forced to predict what new species I could add, the two seen this morning would have been on top of the list.
The first of these was a flock (yes a flock) of four Little Egrets which flew east, low over the houses. Just WOW. Mind you, the reason this species was on the radar was that I have seen one at nearby Ipsley Alders, and another flying up the river Arrow at Studley in the last few years. Even more pertinent are the tens of birds roosting at Arrow Valley Lake about a mile away as the egret flies. Draw a line from Arrow Valley Lake across the bottom of our garden eastwards and you pretty much get to Morton Bagot. To add weight to the theory that this could be a regular flight line, overlooked by me because a.) I don't spend much time birding in the garden and b.) certainly not at 06.30, a fifth Little Egret flew by about an hour later. I still didn't have my camera at the ready!
Slightly less exciting, but still surprising, were six Redwings which flew east. These are regular in the autumn (I hope I'm not still locked down by October) and also turn up in the garden when it snows. However, this mild winter has encouraged very few into Redditch, and it is months since I saw one here.
Moving to the front of the house, I was just in time to see a neighbour accidentally flush a Grey Heron from a back garden on the other side of his fence.
As the sun rose I took a chair out, and my camera, and plonked myself down just in case. An hour later I got my reward. A Red Kite was flying languidly from the east.
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| Red Kite |
The remainder of the day saw only a few minor additions bringing the day list to 33 species. However, the lockdown list advanced as follows:
30. Song Thrush
31. Little Egret
32. Grey Heron
33. Redwing
34. Red Kite
35. Herring Gull
It was just warm enough for the rosemary to attract a few bees, but not a single butterfly was seen.
Last night the moth trap went out and this morning I inspected its contents. In fact the best moth was sitting on the doorstep. A large (by micro standards) micro-moth called Diurnea fagella was not only new for the year, but was the first since April 2018 when I was taking my first tentative steps into the world of moth recording. The species also has an English name of Small March Moth, but I only know this from talking to John Sirrett, my moth guru.
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| Diurnea fagella |
The remainder of the seven moths (four species) were species recorded previously this year. The lockdown list list continues thus:
2. March Moth
3. Diurnea fagella (Small March Moth)
4. Hebrew Character.
Here are the remainder.
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| Common Quaker |
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| Hebrew Character |
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| March Moth |
It's a shame about the dull grey light this morning.
My next post will be on Saturday.
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