Sunday May 16 - Start singing

 I was very tempted to go down to Monk Wood near Grimley to listen to the Golden Oriole which is the latest rarity in a little purple patch for Worcestershire birders, but I couldn't make Saturday, and this morning I was put off by the weather forecast.

So that's another one gone begging. Instead I decided to pause beside Bannam's Wood in the extremely faint hope of finding my own. Within 10 minutes I found I could hear something good, not a Golden Oriole, but a singing male Redstart. I concentrated on the hedge behind High Field Farm, and spotted the bird as it was disturbed by some breeding Robins and flew towards me before disappearing behind the farm.

I flagged Dave down, and we spent an hour trying to relocate it. We eventually suspected it had moved back towards the village and found it singing from the garden of one of the properties there. Anyone hoping to see a photograph of the bird will be disappointed, and the best I could manage was to film the trees it seemed to be singing from. In the upcoming clip the Redstart is the first bird you can hear, and after a period of many other birds singing it gives another burst towards the end before being drowned out by a Wren.

Although we tend to see passage Redstarts most years, I have only heard one singing here once before, and that was a very brief snatch of song from a bird in a hedgerow. This more prolonged affair suggests a bird which has formed a territory.

I am currently researching the status of all birds in the Redditch area for a planned new blog feature which will start next year, but it does look as though this species has a rather enigmatic history as a breeding species in this part of the world. They definitely bred in the 1930s and possibly still in the 1970s. I have seen juveniles in July, which might suggest the odd pair may still breed locally, but I haven't found any definite recent records of breeding. Today's events may still turn out to relate to a passing migrant.

We finally left the bird and went to Netherstead to start a circuit. Initially it was quite warm and I couldn't resist sticking the camera into video mode again to record the exceptional emergence of St Mark's Flies.

You definitely didn't want to stand with your mouth open.

Two Reed Warblers were singing from the reedbed, but we couldn't really see them.

The recent rain has resulted in the temporary reappearance of the pool, and floating on it was a Little Grebe, the first this year. I took some dreadful record shots in the certain knowledge that by the time we got closer it would have disappeared. A Little Grebe could hide in a bath tub.

Little Grebe

We reached the flash field where the Avocet has reappeared. Four pairs of Greylag Geese had goslings, and there was also a brood of Mallard.

A heavy shower pinned us down, but failed to deliver any birds beyond about 10 Swallows and two Black-headed Gulls. Sadly it looks as though the local Lapwings have given up any thoughts of breeding and were nowhere to be seen.

The rain returned to dog our steps for the remainder of the morning's visit, and we saw nothing else of note.