Tuesday June 21 - Birding on the doorstep

 Anyone expecting to read that I have added Little Bittern to my West Mids list will be very disappointed in me. I got the news promptly and then allowed myself to be distracted by worries about possible long queues for hides, long waits for a bird that may not appear and all the other things which put me off twitching. The upshot was that I delayed an extra day, and this morning learned it had gone. I just don't have what it takes any more.

Instead I have been moving very short distances and birding within the confines of Redditch. On Friday I made an early morning visit to Arrow Valley Lake to beat the heat. This produced at least two newly fledged Little Egrets, proof of breeding which was reinforced when I met Mark Islip who told me a pair had fledged four young. This is probably not the first breeding record for Worcestershire because after a failed attempt here in 2017, juveniles were seen at Upper Bittell in 2020 and it is likely that breeding occurred there.

This morning I visited Lodge Pool and Southcrest Wood for the first time. It was another warm morning and the birdlife on offer at the former was limited to breeding Great Crested Grebes, Mute Swans, Coots, and Moorhens. It was still nice to tick the localities off, and I did see some Jays, Blackcaps, and other woodland birds in the splendid wood.

The highlights were non-avian. On a log at the pond in Southcrest Wood sat two Yellow-bellied Slider terrapins. This is a race of Red-eared Terrapin, and they do look fine creatures. They are of course bad news for the other inhabitants of the pond which they appear to have eaten because I saw nothing else there. This is an American species thoughtlessly released into the wild by their owner to wreak ecological havoc.

On my way back to Lodge Pool I spotted my first Brown Hawker dragonfly of the year as it flew over the main road. At the pool itself several Small Tortoiseshells, a Comma, a Marbled White, a Meadow Brown, and a Painted Lady formed a half decent butterfly list.

Painted Lady