Tuesday August 4

Cloudy with a very light westerly and a heavy shower which fortunately occurred when I was sheltering under trees overlooking the flash field.

I quite like this time of year. Although its three weeks too early for dreams of scarce migrant passerines to be realistic, the numbers of regular migrants and residents are swelled fourfold by recently fledged juveniles. So there's plenty to look at.

There were double figure counts of Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs, the latter associated with a marauding band of tits.

Twenty years ago the sight of an approaching egret would have made the day,  a Little Egret was rare event. Nowadays, with three egret species currently present in the West Midlands, the only question was could it be something better? 

Little Egret

As usual it was "just" a Little Egret, but maybe one day it'll be one of the yellow billed species.

The nearest flash continues to tease. After seeing a single Green Sandpiper heading south from the dragonfly pools, I found a further six on the flash. Four Teal were also visible, but only six Lapwings. The whole scene reminds me of the early eighties at Upton Warren, an impression reinforced by an impressive count of 19 Moorhens, and just one Black-headed Gull.

The walk back was enlivened by a sizeable flock of Goldfinches. This is another species which has changed its status since the olden days. They were never rare, but always played second fiddle to Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Today I counted at least 110, mostly juveniles, excitedly feeding on thistles and Knapweed heads. Most of them ended up on telephone wires where counting was easier. 

Goldfinches

By contrast I saw just two Chaffinches, two Linnets, and no Greenfinches although there were no doubt a few around.

So no big jaw-dropping moments todays, just plenty of reminders of how quickly times change.

PS: Since my first visit to the patch (Feb 2007) I have been keeping a record of the highest counts of birds I have made here. Some relate to flocks of birds like Woodpigeons, Fieldfares, or Meadow Pipits and some to scarcer birds like Ruffs or Water Pipits. Others can easily slip under the radar. Such a species is Moorhen. Today's count of 19 was my largest count here. It beat my previous highest by one. Woohoo!