Monday November 29 - Coldcomfort Farm

 This morning I visited the real Coldcomfort Farm, perched on a snowy hill near Coldcomfort Wood (which I also had a look at). This was my latest attempt to explore areas of The Circle, although I have to admit I have been there in previous years.

Brrr !

I began by wandering back across the A435 towards Alcester, bringing me a chance meeting with another local birder, Paul Hands (aka The Squire). I then turned about face and headed in the direction of Coldcomfort Wood.

Pretty soon I spotted a distant Red Kite perched on a dead tree. I later saw it flying towards the wood. A nice start, but not as exciting as it would have been twenty years ago.

Red Kite

The owner of the last house along the track has set up some feeders at the edge of the wood, and I could quite easily have spent an hour watching as numerous woodland birds visited. The best were a couple of Marsh Tits, and a Nuthatch, while some Lesser Redpolls peered down from an overhanging birch.

Instead I wandered into the wood, hearing a Raven, but not seeing a great deal. My main focus today had been to look for farmland birds, and once back in the frosty arable landscape I gradually started to score.

Numerous Redwings were accompanied by one or two Fieldfares (strangely scarce this year). Pied Wagtails and a single Meadow Pipit were the precursors to a flock of 40 Linnets, and a handful of Skylarks.

Fieldfare (and a Redwing trying to sneak into shot)

A couple of the Linnets

At one points a couple of flocks totalling 145 Greylag Geese followed by a pair of Mute Swans flew south, presumably heading for Salford Prior Gravel Pits (outside the Circle). One or two Black-headed Gulls were followed by an adult Common Gull. 

Eventually I recorded a couple of fly over Yellowhammers, a species I was hoping was still here. The last act was provided by a flock of 17 vocal Golden Plovers hurrying south.

Golden Plovers

I am hoping to discover which fields these birds are feeding in, but for the time being I was just delighted to see them at all.

Finally some news from Tony Kelly. He has been to Arrow Valley Lake this lunchtime and reports that there are now eight Goosanders there.

Saturday November 27 - storm plan

 A night of strong northerlies knocked over one of our bins, and the morning dawned distinctly snowy. I felt I really should be out birding, and by late morning decided to head for the nearest body of water to see if anything had turned up.

Rather tamely the water in question is Arrow Valley Lake, and although it can produce the goods, usually it doesn't.

This morning I diligently sifted through 123 Black-headed Gulls to no avail, but did at least see some of the Arrow Valley specialities. These were three Little Egrets and a drake Goosander.

Little Egret

Goosander

So no storm blown waifs, but there was a Kittiwake just north of the Circle at Bittell Reservoir/Cofton Reservoir, so it was a viable plan.

Thursday November 25 - He shoots, he scores!

 This morning I set out on my latest exploration of a part of the 10km circle around our house. I chose a 1km square just west of Lowsonford purely because it was 10kms directly east of our house. 

The area looked like pretty ordinary farmland, the fields consisting of improved grassland and containing just a handful of Meadow Pipits. There were a few conifer shelter belts, a stream with a wooded edge, and one or two plantations. These yielded the expected Siskins, Redwings, and other common birds. I had no great expectations and was thoroughly enjoying the walk before I reached a collection of farm buildings called Coppice Corner Farm.

I always check the roofs of farms, and on this occasion a distant grey passerine was standing on the apex of one of the barns. It could have been a Dunnock, but I knew enough to make sure. To my delight it proved to be a Black Redstart. I edged closer, and after several periods when the bird would disappear before alighting on a neighbouring roof, I got a series of record shots. The best (by far), is shown below.

Black Redstart

I couldn't see any issues about releasing the news. The bird was visible from a footpath, and they're not that rare, so I sent a tweet.

Astonishingly, Mark Clarke turned up before I'd even got back to the car. 

Yesterday was rather less exciting. I decided to call into Earlswood Lakes on my way back from my Mum's. There had been some Goosanders, some Snipe, and a possible Yellow-legged Gull lately, so it seemed worth a look. I have rather missed the boat because the work on the dam has been completed and the lakes are back to normal. Lots of water, and no edge. Also no Goosanders etc. But at least I bumped into first John Sirrett, and then Jim Winsper, so there was plenty of time for a catch up.

John directed me to the stump, a place where seed had been put down so that photographers could get images of common woodland birds. This gave me the opportunity to take my best ever shot of a Marsh Tit, one of two which were regularly visiting.

Marsh Tit

When I came to put the record onto Birdtrack I surprised to be asked for a description. However, this was only because the lakes are right next to the West Midlands county border (but are actually in Warwickshire). I must have been a millimetre out when I set the site up on Birdtrack all those years ago. This woodland tit avoids the conurbation if it can.

Other birds seen while I was there were two Grey Wagtails, a Little Egret, 13 Tufted Ducks, and 18 Great Crested Grebes. I see from Birdtrack that John S counted 16 Tufted Ducks, and 26 Great Crested Grebes as well as 70 Mallard, a few Canada Geese and a couple of Greylags. Nice one John.

Earlswood Lakes are worth a look in poor weather and is very well watched, but Wednesday's visit was entirely typical of my experience.

Sunday November 21

 This morning Dave and I were back at Morton Bagot hoping to find something worthwhile. It was sunny but cold, the fresh north-westerly making me regret not having pulled the winter coat out of the wardrobe.

Although we had each noticed an apparent influx of Blackbirds on our respective journeys, we struggled to find anything else encouraging. In fact the visit was quite discouraging. We bumped into a couple of guys who had been carrying out Deer control, and although we had heard no shots, there seemed to be very little to look at.

At the flash field about 50 Teal, and a Wigeon was a pretty typical return. A few Siskins and Redpolls were not really close enough to photograph, but I tried anyway.

A female Siskin

Lesser Redpoll

A little brown job flew into a bush in front of me and looked "interesting" before disappearing. In the absence of any calls, or a view of its head, I was forced to write it off as a poorly seen Wren. 

It was turning into one of those days.

I also thought I'd share an image of some landscape altering recently completed by a farmer whose sheep pasture stretches towards Bannams Wood.

A former hedge

Back in the late 1970s I remember attending my first West Midland Bird Club AGM where the club secretary, the late Alan Richards, decried the loss of hedgerows in the region. Forty years on it seems that little has changed.

Saturday November 20 - Twitching and roaming

 It is symptomatic of my recent disinclination to twitch that when Dave phoned me about a Ferruginous Duck which he and Graham Rowling had found at Marsh Lane GP this morning, he was surprised to discover I was keen to see it. 

I'm not entirely sure why I wanted to see it either. For about ten years I regularly frequented Marsh Lane GP while I lived in Birmingham. But once Lyn and I moved to Redditch I soon stopped going altogether. My last visit there was 10 years ago, but my last Ferruginous Duck anywhere was in 2006. 

I arrived to find the finders and five or six others crammed into the River Hide waiting for the bird to reappear. The problem was that it was too close. The hide is set back from a well vegetated edge of reed mace and other aquatic plants, and the Ferruginous Duck was spending most of its time hidden from view.

We didn't have to wait long to see it, but getting a satisfactory shot was proving challenging. Too difficult for me anyway. Further moans were the poor light, and the bird's refusal to lift its tail except on the briefest of occasions, thus hiding its gleaming white undertail coverts. It was a female, so no white eye.

Ferruginous Duck - female

The above is my least duff shot, giving an impression of the domed head shape and rather chocolate brown flanks, breast, and ear-covert/loral region. The general feeling was that this was the bird which had been at Belvide for a week or so until November 16. Most published photographs of that bird were taken in sunshine, which is probably why it looked brighter than it did today.

One or two other birds were noteworthy. Two drake Mandarins were apparently new for my now defunct Marsh Lane list, a Little Egret, a Sparrowhawk, a Cetti's Warbler, and a Great Black-backed Gull also made it to the notebook.

One of the Mandarins

Great Black-backed Gull sitting centre stage

The Great Black-backed Gull was certainly a year tick (for shame). 

Let's scroll back from all this twitching nonsense. Yesterday I decided to explore a small area exactly 10  kilometres due north of the house, and I made a discovery. Parking in Drakes Cross I walked westwards to a small fishing pool which was fenced off and devoid of birds. From there I followed a series of footpaths which led me to what I initially took to be a large garden pond. But I subsequently blundered onto a football field and realised I had found the fabled Wythall Park. It's not marked on an Ordnance Survey Map, but I was aware it existed because of a series of wildfowl counts in recent WMBC Annual Reports.

Any patch of water within the Circle is worth a look, even this one. Apart from over 50 Black-headed Gulls, and 20 or so Canada Geese, it contained a few Mallard, four Coot, some Moorhens, a Grey Heron, and a female Tufted Duck. Oh, and a Black Swan.

I will probably pay another visit at some stage, but it may be a while. 

I still think exploring beats twitching any day of the week.

Wednesday November 17 - wandering about gets results

 I've been birding twice in the last few days, but the most noteworthy bird came when I was shopping (technically).

So let's go back to Monday, a grey old morning with no real breeze. I decided to walk from home to check out the Mappleborough Green area, which is partly posh houses, partly farmland. The best bits of birding happened in Haye Lane. A covey of 10 Red-legged Partridges was a start, then one or two Mistle Thrushes made themselves known. The highlight came as I scanned a weedy field from which a flock of over 50 Linnets appeared. As I was counting them I heard a Little Owl calling from a little further down the lane. The upshot was that the calling stopped and I was unable to locate the bird. Given that I have not seen the Morton Bagot Little Owl since January and presume it to have changed location or died, this new bird was an encouraging find.

On Tuesday I had to go food shopping, and chose Alcester because it meant I would be able to stop at Haselor scrape for what is usually a perfunctory visit which yields very little. I had packed my bins and a camera (just in case), and was startled to discover the scrapes were covered in birds. 

A flock of 123 Lapwings were on the nearest pool, right by the road. Beyond them were hundreds of gulls on the furthest pool.

Some of the Lapwings

I really needed a scope to go through the gulls, but this is where the Nikon P900 comes in handy. By photographing the flock in sections I was able to get some counts, and check the back of the camera for anything noteworthy. That produced this:

An adult Yellow-legged Gull with Lesser Black-backs

Yellow-legged Gulls are the Mediterranean counterpart of the Herring Gull and were elevated to species status a few decades ago giving everyone an instant headache. Among various subtle features, they are a little longer winged and darker grey mantled than a Herring Gull, generally lack the "step" between tertials and primaries, and moult their feathers a couple of months earlier. This means that a white headed Herring Gull from October to December stands a good chance of being this species. In an ideal world I might have been able to see its yellow (not pink) legs, but you can't have everything.

One or two ducks were occasionally visible, including at least 16 Teal, four Wigeon, and three Shoveler. I don't have permission to leap the gate, so anything else there had to go unnoticed.

Today, Wednesday, I decided to recce a walk I'm considering taking a couple of friends on. I parked at Morgrove Coppice car-park and was to set off on a circular walk which included Morton Common. However, as I tarried in the car-park I heard a rather loud "kyip" type call coming from the direction of the wood. A Common Crossbill was evidently flying over, heading towards Spernall Park. Although it called several more times, it was distant, and I just couldn't locate it. I sometimes think birdwatching should be called birdhearing. Perhaps that's why birding is the favoured term.

The rest of the walk produced between 100 and 200 Redwings, a lively flock of Coal Tits, Goldcrests, and Long-tailed Tits, a calling Stonechat (which I also didn't see), about 40 Siskins, and maybe 10 or so Redpolls. Quite enough to keep my friends happy when we finally agree a date when we are all free.

I'm definitely enjoying the freedom of my enlarged patch.

Sunday November 14 - Right place, right time

 My journey to Morton Bagot was slightly delayed by roadworks, and so I met Dave as he was walking along the access road. I drove on to where we park, while Dave back-tracked on foot. This small disruption in our routine ensured that we were back on the access road ten minutes later in time to hear, and then see a Ring-necked Parakeet fly south over Netherstead and away in the direction of Morgrove Coppice. As a naturalised escape the species has muscled its way onto the British list thanks mainly to the hordes now occupying the London area. In the last ten years they have also established populations in other urban conurbations, and occasionally stray as far as Redditch. So this bird was a patch tick, but not too unexpected. Unfortunately my camera was tucked away in a bag, so there was no chance of a shot.

The remaining visit was enjoyable for the autumn colours on show as the birch leaves have all turned a vibrant yellow. There were hundreds of thrushes, we logged 259 Redwings, 35 Fieldfares, 59 Siskins, 12 Bullfinches and 11 Lesser Redpolls, so the place felt busy with birds.

One of four Stonechats on site

Kestrel

The flash field contained 42 Teal and four Moorhens. Two Lapwings which flew over were the first for several weeks.

I'll be roving again this week.

Friday November 12 - Coming full circle

 I'm starting to embrace my 10km circle project as the weather has settled down to a mild spell over the last week. A visit to Arrow Valley Lake on Tuesday served only to reinforce my thoughts about the place. It contained no interesting wildfowl, and I spent a pleasant but unproductive hour checking the bushes in the hope of turning up something decent. 

This morning I visited Alvechurch to remind myself where it all started. I wasn't quite born there, but my family moved to the village in about 1961 and we remained until 1966. As I can clearly remember seeing birds during that time it gives me a clue as to when my interest in birding first began.

In fact I can recall being bought a bird book, The Observers Book of British Birds, for my fourth birthday. It is possible that my interest had been sparked even earlier because we used to visit my Nain (Welsh for grandmother) in Penmaenmawr every year, and her garden was regularly visited by a Rose-ringed Parakeet, so I was always looking out for "Nain's parrot". When it wasn't there, the garden was always full of Greenfinches hoovering up the sunflower seeds she put out.

In Alvechurch my list of birding recollections is very small, but clear. Two Goldfinches in the close, battalions of Starlings heading towards their Birmingham roost in the evenings, and best of all a Spotted Flycatcher which I found in a hedge on my way to school when I'm guessing I would have been about seven. 

So this morning I decided to park in the close and retrace my steps to my old infants school.

The Close

Its a weird experience revisiting your childhood. The close itself seemed small, and the distance to the school short, but then of course I was a lot smaller. The house itself no longer had a garage, and the front lawn where my dad had planted a tree, was transformed into a brick-effect driveway. All rather disappointing.

At least there were still plenty of Starlings. Not the thousands which used to fly over, but at least 104 on the rooftops in and around the close. I walked to Snake Lane and made my way up to St Laurence's church. 

The church

The churchyard contained several large Yews, a cedar, and some substantial holly bushes. It looked to have the potential for Hawfinch, or Black Redstart, but I had to settle for a handful of Greenfinches.

Greenfinches

Eventually I located the footpath to School Road. In my school days it was bordered by the Spotted Flycatcher hedge on one side, and a field on the other. At least the hedge was still there, but the field is now a housing estate.

At last I reached the site of the school. To be fair, I knew it had gone within a few years of our departure from Alvechurch. My memory of it is extremely hazy, but it seems that the old building is still there. It is now a Roman Catholic Church. The playing field where I once found a dead Song Thrush is now part of the gardens to yet more housing.

My bird list struggled to a paltry 23 species, but included several flocks of Redwings, a few Fieldfares, and a single Mistle Thrush.

I promise to make my next post less self-indulgent, and back on the subject of Morton Bagot.

Sunday November 7 - the thrushes pile in

 This morning looked pretty much ideal for recording overhead passage, a very light north-westerly and good visibility.

We started at around 09.00, Dave getting to Morton Bagot just before I did. It was immediately apparent that thrushes were moving and no doubt if we had been an hour earlier we would have recorded many more. As it was, we logged 667 Redwings and 93 Fieldfares. The majority were passing overhead in loose flocks, but quite a few dropped down to see what berries might be available.

Redwings

Fieldfares

Unfortunately there wasn't too much of a supporting cast. Small numbers of Chaffinches, and Siskins with the odd Redpoll. At least a small group of Siskins landed in the top of an ash giving me an opportunity to get a shot of one of them.

Siskin

All this ornithological abundance attracted a few avian predators, and we saw two Sparrowhawks, and a single adult Peregrine which perched on one of the pylons.

Peregrine

We were unfortunately adopted by a local dog which followed us around, chasing any Pheasants that came in range. This rather cramped our style when we reached the flash field and so our count of 20 Teal, and two Wigeon probably underestimates the number of Teal at least.

Wigeon

As the sun came out we made our only insect discovery when Dave spotted a darter dragonfly. At the time I wondered if it could be a very late Ruddy, but I've subsequently concluded it was just a male Common Darter.

Common Darter

Quite a late date for the species, but not unusual given the balmy conditions.

Friday November 5 - better late than never

Lyn has tweaked a muscle, so my birding has been limited to a few strolls around our housing estate. A few days ago I thought that 17 Collared Doves might be the only noteworthy record to blog about.

Fortunately, this morning I got a text from Tony K which said he was ringing at Morton Bagot and there were a lot of Redwings about. I had a window of a couple of hours, so headed off. En-route I got another text from Tony this time saying that a flock of 500 Fieldfares had flown over. On my arrival, a party of 80 Fieldfares flew south, and eventually Tony and I ended up with a combined total of 808 going south. 

Redwings were just as numerous, and I logged 220, many of which had landed in the hedgerows. We also recorded a few Redpolls, two Siskins, several Song Thrushes, and a few Skylarks going over.

Redwing - per Tony Kelly

Lesser Redpoll - per Tony Kelly

Tony caught five Redwings, three Lesser Redpolls, six Blue Tits, and a Great Tit.

I soon had to leave, and didn't even have time to visit the flash field. I'm hoping I'll get time for a proper visit on Sunday now that the dam has burst and the winter visitors have arrived.

PS: After posting the above I recorded a Common Gull flying past our garden before putting the moth trap out, and the following morning (Saturday) added Grey Wagtail, and about 10 fly over Redwings whilst checking the trap.

The trap and its surrounds contained nine moths including two new for the year, and one trap for the unwary (me).

Oak Nycteoline in one of its many guises

The rather stunning moth shown above fooled me completely. I had it down as a micro before @UkMothID put me right.

The full list was:

Acleris sparsana 1 (nfy),    Light Brown Apple Moth 2,    Red-green Carpet 3,    Feathered Thorn 1 (nfy),    Yellow-line Quaker 1,    Oak Nycteoline 1.

Monday November 1 - loosening the shackles

 Sunday morning was a complete wash-out, a good two hours of heavy rain causing me to postpone my visit until today. Mind you, the fresh westerly wind this morning made the birding almost as difficult.

I've decided to tweak my area of interest. Morton Bagot will still be visited, but I have expanded my "patch" to an area formed by a 10 kilometre circle centred (almost) on my house. In the spirit of the change I therefore wandered around Bannam's Wood this morning before nipping down to the flooded flash to see if anything had turned up.

Obviously a near gale is not ideal for woodland watching, but there were a few calmer spots. There were no surprises, but it was nice to locate a pair of Marsh Tits, one of which played hide and seek with me.

Marsh Tit

Here are a few woodland scenes.

Fungi on a fallen tree

A Spindle Tree in flower

Back at the flash field the flooding meant that the only wildfowl were on the furthest flash, but did include at least 67 Teal, and a pair of Wigeon.

My penultimate moth trapping session of the year on Friday produced just one moth, a Yellow-line Quaker. This was the first since two in 2018, so I was reasonably happy with that.

Yellow-line Quaker

I actually flushed a moth in Bannams Wood this morning, but was unable to see where it landed. I suspected it was a November Moth ag as it looked quite grey and fluttery like a geometer, but there was no chance of an identification.