Sunday November 27 - Morton Bagot

A cloudy morning with no breeze was ideal for birding, but we're getting into winter now. Birds are largely settled so the chances of winkling out anything unusual are slight. Our visit to Morton Bagot was pretty typical for the time of year.

A Yellowhammer, which flew over, vied with a pylon topping Peregrine to take top spot. Tony was ringing and had just caught a couple of Redwings as we joined him for a chat.

Redwing

Redwings (c40), Fieldfares 16+, and Blackbirds 12, all achieved reasonable numbers. We sometimes wonder how many Redwings and Fieldfares you need to look at before you stumble on a rarity. Probably more than a lifetime's worth.

Most of the other usual birds were present on site, but the numbers of most barely reached double figures.

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

The flash field was disappointing. A handful of Teal, and Lapwings. We also flushed five Common Snipe from the scrapes.

Tony has now sent me his ringing results covering the weekend. He saw a couple of Red Kites yesterday and caught plenty of passerines, plus a Woodpecker.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - female per T Kelly

Song Thrush - per T Kelly

The full catch list was: 

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Blue Tit 28 (13)

Great Tit 7 (6)

Long-tailed Tit 9 (9)

Goldcrest 1

Wren 3

Blackbird 4

Redwing 19

Song Thrush 1

Dunnock 4

Meadow Pipit 2

Greenfinch 2

Lesser Redpoll 3

Goldfinch 7

Tony points out that considering the massive number of Blue Tits caught last week (70 birds) it is remarkable that there were another 15 new birds this weekend. In contrast, all the Long-tailed Tits were retraps.

Saturday November 26 - Tardebigge

 There have been a few Kittiwakes around this month, and several of them have been near misses for the Redditch area. Upper Bittell and Upton Warren both had one, and yesterday the closest of all was one at a balancing lake near Arrow. I got a call from John Coombes, and was a bit slow to react due to the fact I was watching a World Cup match, and I assumed the lake was outside the Circle. Eventually I realised the boundary sliced through the north-west corner, and I went to try my luck. Too late.

So with Kittiwakes still in mind, I decided to give Tardebigge Reservoir a look this morning. This meant parking at the church where Hawfinches had been seen again in the last few weeks. Well it would be rude not to have a look for them. Initially all I saw were Chaffinches and Redwings, and I had decided to head for the reservoir when I met another birder. He had seen them this morning, so I tagged along with him, and in no time he spotted one. At about the same time I got onto one flying over the church. His was still sat in a tree (a silhouette against the sun), so I checked the back of the church only to see my bird bounding away again. So no photos.

The reservoir was a disappointment. Over 100 Black-headed Gulls, the usual dozen Tufted Ducks and a Great Crested Grebe. At least there were large numbers of Fieldfares and Redwings in the trees on the south-west side. 

Still plenty of berries

Back at the church a small group of birders were staring hopefully into the trees, among them Chris Lane who had seen a Hawfinch on arrival. We chatted for a while near the entrance, and as I headed for my car a Hawfinch called and flew away above me. 

I think the phrase I would use to describe these Hawfinches is present but flighty.

Back home, we've had the first two Blackcaps, both males, back for the winter this week. 

Tuesday November 22 - Farmland birding

 On an ideal day for birding, mostly sunny and not much wind, I decided to resume my exploration of the Circle. I chose an area of farmland south-west of Redditch, and went on a four hour yomp north of Upper Berrow Farm across a mixture of pasture and arable fields.

The arable bit

What you tend not to get in such countryside is any kind of scarce bird, and indeed I can report that the 40 species seen included not a single stand-out species.

On the other hand, you do see a lot of birds and that can be all you need to feel you've had a good morning. In terms of quantity the top of the tree were Starlings. The northwards walk took in mostly pasture and a few muddy farms, and it was mainly here that I counted 352 Starlings, along with 112 Redwings, and 56 Fieldfares. Ditchford Bank Farm right on the edge of the boundary had most of them, and also a minimum of 17 Collared Doves which is the most I have seen so far.

The arable fields accounted for flocks of 43 Skylarks, 16 Meadow Pipits, 17 Pied Wagtails and 10 Yellowhammers.  The latter were in a field I couldn't get access to, as was a flock of 100 Stock Doves and 200 Woodpigeons. In the absence of any satisfactory bird shots, I decided to photograph the berries of Black Bryony which seemed plentiful in several hedgerows.

Black Bryony

The flowers are extremely inconspicuous, but the berries more than make up for any deficiency. Needless to say I had my identification app to thank for a species I was previously unaware of.

Sunday November 20 - Morton Bagot

 Yesterday was the day to be out. I was accompanying Lyn to a Craft Exhibition in Stratford ! Meanwhile, Tony K was catching shedloads (mostly Blue Tits) at Morton Bagot, but the place to be was Lower Bittell. While most birders were grilling the Red-throated Diver, Tundra Bean Goose, and finding a Kittiwake on Upper Bittell, one lucky observer was at Lower Bittell as a Spoonbill towered overhead and left to the south-east.

This morning I joined Dave for the usual Sunday amble around the patch. In bright sunshine there was just about enough to keep us entertained.

The new scrapes in the pool field are filling up with water nicely, and the area harboured a Kingfisher, three Snipe, and a male Stonechat.

Kingfisher

Stonechat

We reached the flash pools and could see a pair of Shovelers with the Teal, but we didn't immediately appreciate how many of the latter there were. As luck would have it the whole lot took flight at the arrival of an adult Peregrine. When they briefly landed in the middle of the pool we counted 155 Teal before they were harassed away again, finally landing on the furthest flash.

The drake Shoveler

The Peregrine

Some of the Teal

We also logged about 40 - 50 Fieldfares, a similar number of Redwings, six Greenfinches, a Golden Plover and a Redpoll (both of which we only heard).

Fieldfare

Female Stonechat

The Teal flock was not too far short of the site record count which stands at 197 and dates back to the 2011 winter.

Yesterday's ringing totals were as follows:

70 (16) Blue Tits 

12 Great Tits

1 Skylark

10 (3) Long-tailed Tits

2 (1) Robins

1 Blackbird

1 Fieldfare

4 Redwings

3 (1) Wrens

1 Dunnock

1 Chaffinch

1 Bullfinch

2 Greenfinches

2 Lesser Redpolls

4 Goldfinches

Total 115

Lesser Redpoll - per Tony K

Thanks as ever to Tony for sharing the statistics. One of the Blue Tit retraps had been ringed here on 16 December 2018. The Skylark had been caught on Thursday evening using a thermal image camera.

Friday November 18 - Earlswood Lakes

 Back in October, my sister happened to call on us on the day when there was a massive migration of Redwings and Fieldfares over the house, and she was very impressed by the spectacle. So impressed that we agreed I would take her birding later in the year.

Today was the day, and we agreed on Earlswood as the venue. It was bright and sunny, which was good, and she enjoyed the morning despite the fact that there was no wonderful wildlife event going on. In fact it was a little quiet.

The semi-resident adult Yellow-legged Gull put in an appearance, but the gravel island has virtually disappeared and we had to accept we weren't going to see its legs.

Yellow-legged Gull

It's difficult to get anyone who is not a committed larophile particularly excited about gulls, but we did also find four Common Snipe on one of the manmade islands. Much more impressive.

Snipe

As for the wildfowl, we counted 21 Tufted Ducks, didn't count the numerous Mallard, and located a drake Gadwall on Windmill Pool.

Gadwall

The passerines on offer were the usual species, and it was nice to be able to point out the different calls to Ann, who was keen to learn. Highlights here were a couple of Redwings, and about a dozen Siskins.

The one that got away came half way down Windmill Pool. A Goldcrest was calling loudly, and we edged forward hoping to discover the cause. Whatever it was shot out from the undergrowth and through the trees before either of us got a clear view. It was probably a Sparrowhawk, but could have been anything, with even Woodcock a possibility.

It would be nice to think we could do it again some time.

Wednesday November 16 - Boundaries

The decorator has decorated, and shortly after he left Lyn took a call. Terry H was ringing to let me know there was a Red-throated Diver at Bittell. 'Which Bittell ?" I asked. "Upper Bittell" Lyn replied. That's a shame, I thought.

Its a completely daft reaction to being told about a properly rare bird, but there you go. My Circle includes Lower Bittell, but not Upper. 

But still, I thought I'd go anyway. It was raining for most of the journey, but when I parked, it had abated. By the time I'd walked to the dam it was drizzling. Steve Roberts was on the dam and indicated that the Red-throated Diver was with the nearest Great Crested Grebes. I risked one photo before the camera got too wet.

Red-throated Diver

After about 15 minutes of watching the Diver, and scanning the distant far bank without much enthusiasm I decided I'd got wet enough.

By the time I'd got back to the car the rain had stopped, and another thought occurred. Might as well have a quick look at Lower. I drove down there and strolled to a vantage point.

I could see Gadwalls, Little Grebes, Shovelers, and Coots. Ho hum. Then I spotted some distant Tufted Ducks, so decided to get the scope out. 

Panning to the left of the Tufties I found the BIG ONE. Yes a bonafide #LocalBigYear patch tick. I had reached my target of 140 species with a month to spare. I've never been so pleased to see a Goldeneye.

Goldeneye

The light was awful and the bird was distant. I'm on cloud nine.

Strange business, Patch-watching.

Monday November 14 - changed plans and confusion, but the list moves on

 Having sat out an opportunity to go to Morton Bagot yesterday, preferring to watch England compete in the T20 Cricket World Cup Final - and win, I was intending to go there today. Dave had covered the patch and recorded 42 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, 17 Lapwings, and lots of winter thrushes and Meadow Pipits.

The only issue was the planned arrival of a decorator. He was due at 09.30, so I reckoned that wouldn't mean too late a start. By 10.30 he hadn't arrived and I was reduced to sweeping the leaves on the drive to take my mind off my frustration.

He did then turn up, but I decided I only had time for a brisk walk around Arrow Valley Lake. This proved to be a blessing in disguise.

On surveying the lake from the duck-feeding spot I noticed a large splash. This turned out to be a hunting dog Otter. Within about ten minutes it caught an enormous Carp, and I had some great views of the ensuing struggle.

Otter with prey

It was a perfect morning. Misty cloud and no appreciable wind. As a result I strolled very slowly round, checking several Tit flocks for any patch Gold, and scanning the water for anything noteworthy.

The result of all this was a typical selection of common passerines, two Shovelers, a Tufted Duck, and 21 Cormorants. Pretty standard fare, the only surprise being the complete absence of any Great Crested Grebes.

More fishermen's friends

Shortly after I got home, my vague plan for a late afternoon visit to Morton Bagot was disrupted by an Earlswood Whatsapp message. A female Common Pochard was on Windmill Pool at Earlswood. 

At last! I headed there straight after lunch and was relieved to find it still present.

The Pochard

This species has greatly declined since I first started birding, but it still surprised me that it took until November to finally add it to the #LocalBigYear list. It brings the list to 139. 

No doubt it was the excitement of getting a tick, but I added some Whatsapp confusion by accidentally informing the Group that it was on Terry's Pool instead of Windmill Pool. Doh!

Saturday November 12 - "Feeest"

 I was up early this morning to see whether the exceptionally mild weather had resulted in any unusual moths in my moth trap. The upshot was that I found 12 moths of eight species, three of them new for the year. 

The best species though, was a bird. At around 08.00 I had finished looking at moths and was about to go inside when a distant call stopped me in my tracks. A couple of seconds later, and much louder, I heard "feeest" and looked up to see a chunky pipit bounding westwards. It called again and I had no doubt at all that I was looking at either a Rock Pipit or a Water Pipit. Unfortunately the two calls are very similar, and although I thought it sound strong enough to be a Rock Pipit, I couldn't be completely certain it wasn't the rarer species. I certainly wanted it to be that. I tried playing some on line recordings, and some of them sounded indistinguishable from one another to me, so I am resigned to leaving it as either/or.

The three new for the year moths were a rather tatty Acleris sparsana, a splendid Feathered Thorn, and my first Sprawler since 2019.

Feathered Thorn

Sprawler

This morning I also planned to resume the exploring. I had identified a route from Bouts Lane, near Holberrow Green which took me eastwards to Cladswell and back. It was very sunny and mild day, and it turned out that the landscape was a mixture of horse and sheep pasture, with a couple of arable fields and a small scrubby wood.

Obviously I didn't see anything rare enough to rival the Rock/Water Pipit, but it had its moments. Redwings abounded in the hedgerows, with smaller numbers of Fieldfares. The proportion was 261 to 15. A party of 15 Linnets had found a small market garden by one of the farms to feed in. About 50 Rooks and a similar number of Jackdaws fed in the horse paddocks.

Redwing

Rooks

There were also a few minor surprises. A singing Chiffchaff near Cladswell, single Siskin and Redpoll flying over, and a pair of adult Herring Gulls which flew around me, calling loudly.

Herring Gull

The arable areas produced a handful of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, and best of all up to four Yellowhammers.

Yellowhammer (backlit unfortunately)

Sadly this species looks to be following Tree Sparrow and Corn Bunting into local extinction.

Tuesday November 8 - Tardebigge Reservoir

This morning I abandoned my original plan which would have involved walking around virgin countryside (probably just fields) in favour of Tardebigge Reservoir. This was entirely because it was very windy overnight, and forecast to be just as windy through the day. I was thinking Great Northern Diver and Kittiwake. Dream on.

The water level at the reservoir had risen in response to the recent rain, but the bird life remained pretty similar. At least there were plenty of gulls to look through, with far more large gulls than I am used to seeing.

As it turned out they were Lesser Black-backed Gulls (82), Herring Gulls (14), and Black-headed Gulls (101). Oh well, next time maybe.

The usual suspects

Other waterfowl included 312 Canada Geese, one Greylag Goose, 62 Mallard, 15 Tufted Ducks, a Great Crested Grebe, and a Kingfisher.

The journey back along the canal was too windswept to produce anything noteworthy, but at least I was able to get the camera out.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Part two of the morning's plan was largely foiled when I found Alvechurch Fishery had left their gates closed. A quick scan of Lower Bittell from the Mill Shrub causeway gave me no Pochards or Goldeneyes, and not enough else to be worth recording.

Sunday November 6 - The pox has arrived

 This morning's visit to Morton Bagot began with fog and ended with rain, but the intervening period was pretty ideal for birding. We chose to walk along the road before heading down the footpath to the pool field, which is starting to look promising. The highlight here was the first Jack Snipe since January, but we chose not to disturb it again after accidentally flushing it. We also kicked up five Common Snipe, one of which was later showing on the flash field.

Common Snipe

We counted 17 Lapwings and six Teal there, and also noticed a dead goose. This possible sign of Avian Flu was compounded by the presence of a single Greylag Goose which crash-landed into the Kingfisher Pool where it proceeded to swim around, flicking its head repeatedly. I suppose it was inevitable that Bird Flu would get here eventually. Beyond asking DEFRA to collect the corpses (and I gather they need prodding by the land-owner to do so) there is not much to be done.

As it happened we met the owner of the Kingfisher Pool, Sally Walton from Castle Farm, and had a very interesting conversation with her. It seems that a much photographed Little Owl on her land has, like the Morton Bagot Little Owl, disappeared this year.

Other birds seen today included many thrushes, and a Stonechat. 

Stonechat with grass stem spoiling the shot

Finches remain thin on the ground, but we did notice about 30 Siskins and a dozen Goldfinches along the Morton Brook.

Goldfinch and Siskin

Pied Wagtail on the pool field scrapes

We didn't really count the Redwings and Fieldfares, but I would guess at about 100 of the former and 25 of the latter.

The highlight of the weekend though was Alvechurch beating League One Cheltenham Town 2 : 1. Up the 'church. In my teens I used to go to Lye Meadow to watch them play, and the village was where I was brought up. 

Nowadays wildlife takes precedent but I appreciate the team's fantastic achievement.

Friday November 4 - Back to exploring

 Now that November is here I have resumed my project of birding in far-flung and little visited parts of the Circle. Tuesday was very windy and my walk from Blunt's Green to Henley golf course and back was something of a non-event. I took no photographs and saw nothing which came close to being a highlight.

This morning was better. For a start it was sunny with a very light north-westerly breeze. At least I was certain I would take some photos. My route was a walk along Bushwood Lane from the A34 to Copt Green, looping back along even tinier lanes to my starting point.

Kestrel

Although I also saw a Kestrel near Blunt's Green, this morning's bird at Copt Green was much easier to photograph. The oddest sighting was a Kingfisher flying along a hedge, presumably heading to a small brook I later happened upon.

The only woodland on my route was a small patch opposite the entrance to Lapworth Park, but there was nothing to suggest it wasn't private so I contented myself with watching from the road. Several Goldcrests, and Coal Tits kept me entertained, and a Redpoll flew over.

A couple of Linnets were noteworthy near where the Kestrel had been perched. Over 100 Woodpigeons and a few Skylarks flew south during the course of the morning, and I gradually accumulated a list of other fairly common birds.

Long-tailed Tit

Treecreeper

Grey Wagtail

You might think that my tally of just 37 species with nothing very scarce, let alone rare, would be disappointing but that's not how I see it. I love exploring although I see from my Birdtrack records that I have been to both Copt Green and Blunt's Green before, during the BTO Atlas surveys fifteen or so years ago.

Before I sign off, I have some news about the Parakeets seen near Spernal a week or so ago. I'm very glad I didn't submit to the temptation to name them Ring-necked Parakeets because Neil Duggan tells me that some Parakeets seen in the Alcester area are thought to be escaped Alexandrine Parakeets. The males are a lot bigger than Ring-necked Parakeets, and there is a considerable male/female size difference, all of which ties in with the impression I got of the silhouetted birds I saw.