Well the rain we were promised fell somewhere else, and Dave and I found ourselves birding in a pretty dry landscape. The almost constant cloud cover kept the temperature dial at comfortable.
The main question was whether the nearest flash had retained some water.
 |
| A sea of mud |
So with waders off the agenda you might think we'd had a rubbish morning. Think again.
As we approached the little pond we could hear a Grasshopper Warbler singing. Then one flew across the field and landed in a hedge, but it appeared to be a juvenile. Moving on to the Chat Field we located the singing adult Gropper surprisingly easily.
 |
| Grasshopper Warbler in classic pose |
This sighting alone would have made the day, but a little further on I spotted something I've never seen at Morton Bagot before, a perched Red Kite. In fact I can only recall seeing one standing in a Midland tree once before. Worth a shot or two then.
 |
| Red Kite |
And just in case you think it's stuffed, here it is moving.
We suspected it was a juvenile and when it took off, the pristine flight feathers proved we were right. Even more intriguingly, we later saw two (both juveniles) circling over fields between Morton Bagot and Studley Castle. It seems highly likely that breeding has taken place locally.
Its very nice to be talking about birds this week, but I should mention we saw one or two migrant Silver Y moths, a couple of Holly Blues. and two Painted Lady butterflies before we headed home.
 |
| Painted Lady |
I know I've titled this post "who needs wetlands" but the truth is we do. A little downpour this week wouldn't come amiss.
No comments:
Post a Comment