Friday April 16 - Haselor to the rescue

 Another day of very light cool north-easterly breezes saw me wandering around Morton Bagot wondering what an earth I would be able to blog about. The lack of rain has had little effect on the water level on either flash, so I'm guessing that the farmer has found a way to keep it so.

Barely any muddy edge for waders

So the highlights were, er, oh yes, the Avocets are back up to four. And, er, I counted 27 Meadow Pipits. 

Meadow Pipit

It was too cold for insects and after a little over an hour I actually gave up and went back to the car.

Fortunately I had another option. Just east of Alcester, where I had to go shopping, is a place called Haselor scrape. It looks like this:

Look at all the mud

It does have its downside. Although it can be viewed from the road, there is no access allowed, and a scope is needed to see any birds at the far side of the site. Also, it dries out very rapidly during the spring and is as dry as a bone through most summers. But for a short time in April it looks great, and within a second or two of getting out of the car I saw a decent bird, a White Wagtail. The reason for the italics is that its only a sub-species of Pied Wagtail. But it's on its way to Iceland (probably), so its a true migrant.

Of course as soon as I had my scope out of the boot, camera at the ready, it was no longer there. Happily it seemed to know what was expected, and ten minutes later it returned.

White Wagtail

Although this bird was clearly not a dirty-grey backed female Pied Wagtail, the clincher is the extent of the grey on the upper rump, which one should strive to see. Once again it obliged.

The sharp contrast between nape and mantle indicates it's a male

While I was waiting for the White Wagtail to reappear, a scan of the rest of the scrape revealed a Little Ringed Plover, two Green Sandpipers, 15 Teal, a couple of Swallows, a Meadow Pipit, and a pair of Grey Wagtails.

Grey Wagtail - male

Little Ringed Plover

Maybe Morton Bagot will look like this next month. Finger crossed.

The moth trap went out, but the temperature plummeted to no more than zero degrees overnight. So my contribution to the GMS was just one moth, a Common Quaker. Actually I was pleasantly surprised that I got any at all.