A morning of sunny intervals and light south-westerlies. Dave is still experiencing car troubles, so couldn't join me. Meanwhile I was still on a mission to find a Yellow-browed Warbler, as numbers continue to grow in the Midlands. Someone even found one outside my old office in the centre of Birmingham. Good grief!
I began by checking whether the ringers were here. They weren't, but their favoured area hosted quite a few Redwings and Chaffinches.
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| A female Chaffinch |
I've put the above shot in because it was just about the only bird today which wasn't spooked. Certainly the Redwings were hard to see well. I decided to walk along the road towards Bannam's Wood on my Yellow-browed hunt.
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| A spooked Redwing |
As I approached the wood all hell broke out. Jackdaws scattered in panic. Accipiter at large?
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| Jackdaws in a tizz |
Some years ago we had a Goshawk for a few weeks, and its presence always created this kind of panic. So I was expecting that an Accipiter of some kind will have caused this strife. Sure enough a Sparrowhawk appeared. It was quite a big one as they go, but not all that much bigger than the Jackdaws. I took a couple of shots.
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| Accipiter with mobbing Jackdaw |
Just in case you are thinking, as I did when looking at the shot in the back of the camera, looks a bit long-necked, a bit short-tailed, I am showing the second image, horribly blurred though it is.
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| Same Accipiter |
Now the bird looks long tailed, but also the tail tip looks a bit rounded. Just a Sparrowhawk, I think. I don't mind big accipiters or small accipiters, or close accipiters, but I bloody hate the biggish, distant ones.
No Yellow-broweds called, and the only 'crests I saw were Goldcrests. I headed down towards the pool. A couple of dog-walkers appeared. As I approached the pool, more spooked birds appeared. A flock of 10 Shovelers were circling around. A little while later 12 Teal were up. I couldn't see what was causing their anxiety, the dog-walkers had long gone. By the time I reached the flash field it was deserted.
It looked as though my day was done, but it certainly wasn't. Along with the usual 120 strong Goldfinch flock, and quite a few Skylarks and Stonechats, I noticed that the weedy field contained a flock of 60 Linnets. This was a big increase, and I was persuaded it might be worth venturing in.
I had got about half way to the brow of the hill when I almost stood on a Quail. It flushed a few inches from my foot as Jack Snipes do, but as it flew low away from me like a Skylark sized Partridge I knew immediately it was a Quail, and that I wouldn't be seeing it again.
Obviously I tried. I rang for reinforcements, and was joined by Mike Inskip. We walked a couple of lengths near where it had disappeared from view, but it was all to no avail. All I can show you are the notes I made at the time.
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| Old-fashioned birding notes |
Although this was the 23rd Quail I have recorded in the UK, and isn't even a patch tick, its still only the fourth I have ever actually seen. The other 19 were all spring singers, "wet my lips" as the song is described. Interestingly this one did make a noise as I spooked it, a slightly wader-like "plup-up" is what I wrote.
Who needs Yellow-browed Warblers?
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