Sunday February 27

 Dave and I returned to the Sunday morning Morton Bagot stroll, and in an entirely traditional way we saw very little.

If I'd been keeping a Morton Bagot list this year, a Coot on the dragonfly pools would have been a year-tick. One species surprisingly absent was Stonechat. There is usually a late February surge as it is one of the earliest migrants through the patch.

There was a small party of 12 or so Meadow Pipits which seemed like an increase on the wintering numbers.

Meadow Pipit

A small party of Goldfinches and Reed Buntings joined the Skylarks to feed in the Red-backed Shrike field. 

The water level at the flash field remains high, and apart from a Snipe and 20 Lapwings, there were no waders. Three Wigeon, and about 20 Teal were long-stayers, but the arrival of more Shelducks (three in total) was a reminder of spring.

The furthest flash

The temperature was barely in double figures by midday, and so we left before there was any realistic prospect of finding the first butterfly of the year.

Friday February 25 - more pins in the map

Did I mention that I'm a bit of a nerd? Well you've probably figured that out already. This post will give you an inkling of the extent of that nerdiness.

As well as accumulating a list of the birds I see in my Circle each year, I am also attempting to record birds in every square kilometre available. So that's over 300 potential dots on the map. It doesn't stop there. I'm also doing mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, and (technically) moths. 

Birds have a non-breeding season and a breeding season, so yes I'll be covering both seasons. 

On Tuesday I parked under the M42 and completed a circuit northwards to Weatheroak Hill and back. I did this for no better reason than to fill in an annoying gap in my maps. The habitat was dire, sheep pasture, horse paddocks, hedgerows, and a small fishery. There were no highlights, unless you consider a flock of 138 Redwings, a Grey Wagtail, and a pair of Coots to be worth the effort.

Here's a sneak preview of a map. It pretty much shows everywhere I've been since the beginning of November because it shows the winter distribution (and numbers to some extent) of Robin. 

Three more years and all these squares should be blue

No doubt you're wondering where everywhere is. The map is centred on our house in east Redditch, and the gridlines are taken from the ordnance survey. Wythall in the north, Alcester in the south.

I may not actually post any more maps. There are issues regarding secrecy for breeding birds, but I reckon it will take me ten years to do everywhere properly. All my records go onto Birdtrack, or irecord depending on whether they are birds, mammals, or insects, so they'll all be recorded for posterity.

Anyone can do this, so I recommend any budding nerds out there to give it a go. It's fun.

Today I headed for Umberslade Park, a place I'd never been to before. It was much more interesting than where I went on Tuesday. Birding highlights included two Woodcock, two Teal, and a few Tufted Ducks. 

I was able to cover most of it by, broadly speaking, sticking to footpaths. However, much of the site is privately owned.

Token bird

There were no year-ticks, but that didn't matter because two more square kilometres were assigned a dot.

Sunday February 20 - In search of easy ticks

 The weather was a bit confusing today. A brief conversation with Dave led to him heading for Marsh Lane for the second week running, while I decided to try my luck at Lower Bittell. We had been convinced that it was going to rain from mid-morning.

My plan was to grab some easy year-ticks. On the way there I paused to look at three Egrets in a field opposite the Citroen garage at Bordesley. They proved to be Little Egrets as usual.

Lower Bittell was unexpectedly low, well lowish, and had a proper muddy edge. The only wader-ready habitat in my Circle so far this year. There were no waders on it, but you can't have everything. What I did see was nine Little Grebes and four Gadwalls. Compared to my last visit in November, the rest of the reservoir was a bit disappointing. I counted 51 Tufted Ducks, 10 Teal, and 14 Coot along with a smattering of Mallard, and a few Cormorants and Grey Herons.

Gadwall waiting for the Coot to stir up some food

At least 80 Siskins landed in an alder and twittered loudly, and a couple of Grey Wagtails were also seen.

After an hour I decided to head to Morton Bagot. It still wasn't really raining. However, on reaching the small roundabout by Old Birmingham Road I noticed a couple of small flash pools in a field and thought I had caught sight of something white by one of them. So I pulled into a lay-by and investigated.

The white thing turned out to be litter, but closer examination of the edge of the pool gave me a Green Sandpiper, my 90th year tick for #LocalBigYear. 

Green Sandpiper

I suspect that the pool will dry up well before spring, but if it stays wet it could be worth a look.

By the time I got to Morton Bagot the threatened rain was starting to fall. I decided on a brisk walk to the flash field, 56 Lapwings, 23 Teal, and three Wigeon, before circling back to the church. The route gave me a Red Kite which flew past as I scrabbled to get my camera out of my bag.

Red Kite ...just

My first here this year, so it was worth the visit.

Friday February 18 - Arrow Valley Lake

 The big storm was a little slow arriving and only did so when I was half way around Arrow Valley Lake. My focus was on gulls, and I counted 204 Black-headed Gulls before 36 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 10 Herring Gulls glided past. Any other gull species would have done, but none turned up.

Tearing my attention away from gulls the remaining inhabitants were completely predictable: eight Great-crested Grebes, 14 Goosanders, 10 Cormorants, the usual Mallard and Geese, and three Coot. A single Little Egret sheltered under the trees on the main island.

Cormorant

Goldcrest

The river Arrow was in full spate, and a Grey Wagtail just about allowed me close enough for a shot.

Grey Wagtail

I'm now back home contemplating what to do about the fence panel which just blew across the back garden.

Wednesday February 16 - Batten down the hatches

 There's a storm coming (two storms actually). Today's was nothing special, the wind from the south-west making it unseasonably mild and annoyingly windy at Morton Bagot.

The fact is that to gain any benefit from stormy weather in the Midlands you need to be birding at a reservoir, or at least a large pool. Not Morton Bagot. But I was there anyway, perhaps feeling guilty at having ducked out of my normal Sunday stroll.

The birding highlight was a Grey Wagtail flying over Netherstead, which just about says it all. The flash field gave me 46 Lapwings and 30 Teal, while the drier areas produced two Stonechats, and about 10 Skylarks.

A Brown Hare stole the show. I guess the strong wind was carrying my scent away.

Brown Hare

Plan B was to head for Arrow Valley Lake. The wind dropped as I arrived, and so did my optimism. However it had its moments. A Kingfisher, 11 Goosanders, and a Reed Bunting were the pick, while the 100+ Black-headed Gulls were not accompanied by any Kittiwakes.

Goosanders

The council workers were enthusiastically chopping down trees. Redditch District Council may have misread the Green Agenda policy. It's rewilding guys, not dewilding.

Finally, moths. I have decided to put my trap out less often this year, but will still be targeting warmer nights. Last night was pretty mild (though possibly too breezy), but I gave it ago and duly caught two moths. One was another Pale Brindled Beauty, but the other was a very nice Spring Usher.

Spring Usher

Interestingly both of these moth species last appeared in my trap in 2019. It could be just a coincidence, or maybe they have a cycle of 'good years" every three years. Pure speculation I know.

Friday sounds like it will be wild, but February storms often disappoint. Kittiwakes will be the birds to look for.

Monday February 14

 With Sunday a washout I decided to spend Monday morning back at Tardebigge church for another attempt to see a Hawfinch.

Two hours later I was wishing I hadn't bothered. It was pretty dull with a few showers and there was not a sniff of the intended target. Instead I saw pretty much the same birds as last time, including 45 Redwings and a Green Woodpecker which at least posed for a shot.

Green Woodpecker

I need to get this twitching malarky out of my system, and get back to proper birding.

Friday February 11 - Kinwarton area

 More decisions to be made. I could hang around Tardebigge church again hoping for the Hawfinch, I could pick a sewage works (I had Wootton Wawen in mind), or I could follow up on John Coombes' tip off regarding a field with about 40 Bramblings in it down at Kinwarton. That's what I plumped for.

I parked in Alcester, and headed along the Monarch's Way footpath. This was new territory for me and crossed some pretty decent looking scrubland.

Song Thrush

And also some traditional arable farmland.

A nice wide field margin

In the distance the advance of the Heart of England Forest was plain to see, and also a very distant Red Kite, #LocalBigYear 86.

Coming to a field near you

What's not to like!

In the course of the walk I met a lady who kindly pointed out a tree on her private land where a Little Owl was sitting. #LocalBigYear 87.

Little Owl

Eventually I reached the field, which was at the intersection of Coughton Fields Lane and the B4089. I was in for a treat. At least 80 Linnets, about 15 Yellowhammers, and at least 16 Bramblings were estimated. I'm pretty sure I didn't get to grips with the whole flock.

The favoured hedge

Brambling

I came away feeling I had gone for the right option.

Tuesday February 8 - Swings and roundabouts

This morning I decided to head for St Bartholomews church, Tardebigge in the hope of locating the Hawfinch seen there recently. I'm not very familiar with the wild west of my Circle, and took a wrong turning on the way, getting totally lost in Batchley before finally rocking up just in time to be knee-deep in kiddies and their parents dropping them off at the school next to the church.

So I suppose it's not too surprising the the next hour produced nothing better than a Mistle Thrush, a Treecreeper, and several Nuthatches. I decided to head down to the canal and follow it until I got to Tardebigge Reservoir.

It looked pretty much the same as my last visit, April 1999. Three Great Crested Grebes bobbed up and down on the water, a number of Mallards quacked around the edge, and a substantial flock (177) of Black-headed Gulls occupied the middle.

The number of times I've scanned through local flocks of Black-headed Gulls and found nothing doesn't bear thinking about. This time however, I noticed this.

Look familiar ?

It can't be !

It bloody is !

Adult Mediterranean Gull

So white

This is the first record of Mediterranean Gull for Tardebigge Reservoir (I checked), and my first for the Redditch area. Any disappointment over the non appearance of the Hawfinch was blown away.

Med Gull is a pretty regular visitor to well-watched water bodies in Worcestershire, even back in 1999. However another bird I saw on that April day at Tardebigge Reservoir was Tree Sparrow, and they have almost entirely gone from the county.

The times, as Bob Dillon once said, they are a changing.

Sunday February 6 - Morton Bagot

Our usual Sunday stroll around the patch was achieved in the face of a pretty stiff westerly and one or two showers. These are not ideal conditions for birding here, and we duly saw very little.

But on the plus side the furthest flash did at least contain some birds, specifically 56 Lapwings, at least 29 Teal (they were hard to see properly), and four Wigeon. The #LocalBigYear highlight came when we noticed a Shelduck flying off to the west.

Shelduck making for the exit

I believe this puts me on 84 for the year, which means I'm underperforming as usual. 

Although the rarity of the moment, a female Ring-necked Duck, is firmly outside my Circle, being at Lifford Reservoir in south Birmingham, a Hawfinch has been seen at Tardebigge church which is definitely in the Circle and will be my point of focus next week.

Friday February 4 - The plan stalls

 It's been a rather disappointing few days. I thought I had a good plan, which was to visit two sites which I thought might add a wader or two to the year list. 

I had seen tweets from Heart of England Forest which encouraged me to give their new wetland habitat at Oak Wood a chance on Wednesday morning. The locality is at Traps Green a mile or so north-west of Ullenhall. Its always a bit tricky visiting an unfamiliar site, and on this occasion I spent a good hour looking for the wetland before realising I had walked past it. To be fair, January has been very dry, and it may be early days in the development of the habitat. What I saw was a very small wet area with no waders or any other water birds on it. At least I found a Yellowhammer, and 26 Meadow Pipits in the newly planted woodland to take the edge off my frustration.

This afternoon I decided to spend a few hours at Great Alne, allowing me a longer look at Haselor Scrape than the normal five minute scan from the gateway. About 200 Woodpigeons occupied the field of root crops on the west side of the road, but the scrape just yielded the usual Teal (38), Wigeon (26), and Shoveler (two). A Grey Wagtail searched for food at the back of the nearest scrape.

The afternoon was lifted when I found a tiny Woodland Trust wood next to the River Alne called Coffee Pot Wood. I'm not very good at identifying wild flowers, but found a little cluster of Snowdrops and Winter Aconite, a new species for me. Enough to brighten any day.

Winter Aconite

Spring really is just around the corner. Also in the wood was a Jay giving an excellent imitation of a calling Buzzard (it had me fooled for a while), and then a Kingfisher calling from a branch surprisingly high above the river. 

Morton Bagot remains the best bet for waders in the Circle.

Tuesday February 1 - New month, new plan

 A sunny morning with a light, but freshening north-westerly and a distinctly milder temperature saw me heading to Spernal STW. Time to start targeting some species to boost the #LocalBigYear list. That's the plan anyway.

Parking among the dog-walkers at Haydon Wood car-park I headed north along the Arrow, passed the sewage works to St Mary's Church. My aim was to locate some Mandarins (present last year and already seen by Mike I a week ago) and hopefully add a few extra ticks.

One of those extras, a Chiffchaff, found it balmy enough to burst into song. It was somewhere inside the sewage treatment works complex, so I couldn't see it. 

I had more luck with a pair of Mandarins, flushing them inadvertently from the river, I later tracked them down a kilometre upstream where I got a shot and left them in peace.

Mandarins

There seems to be a small and growing population centred on the river Arrow and I was pretty confident of seeming them.

It is possible to view the small reservoir within the sewage works from beyond the river, but the views are very poor and distant. I counted at least 16 Teal and a similar number of Mallard along with a substantial flock of Black-headed Gulls.

The river is a magnet for wagtails, and I noticed nine Pied Wagtails, and five Grey Wagtails without much difficulty. 

This morning's haul was the very least I had hoped for, and it may be that another visit will gain a few extra species.

Yesterday a female Blackcap appeared right outside the living room window, and for once my camera was to hand.

Blackcap

So that's the living stuff accounted for, let's move on to the corpses.

I excavated the pellets found at Morton Bagot on Sunday and came up with four skulls. After some rather frustrating research I concluded they were three Field Voles, and a Common Shrew, may they rest in peace.

The e-mail from the moth recorder alluded to in my last post also related to specimens. In this case it was a number of moths which unfortunately expired during my year's moth-trapping efforts. The vast majority of captures are released to fly again, but these ones weren't. 

Confirmed as new for the garden, and in some cases the 10 km square, were:

Agonopterix heracliana

Stigmella atricapitella

Tawny Marbled Minor

Marbled Minor

Coleophora lutipennella - 1st for SP06

Round-winged Muslin (found dead)

Elachista canapennella

Yponomeuta malinellus (Apple Ermine) (found dead)

Grapholita janthinana - 1st for SP06

Poplar Kitten (found dead)

Aproaerema anthyllidella - 1st for SP06

Yponomeuta cagnagella (Spindle Ermine)

Acleris laterana

November Moth

I am uncomfortable with the taking of specimens for the advancement of science, but it is recommended by the County Recorder where the species cannot be identified from a photograph. One that I released before realising its significance was a potential first for the County.