Tuesday February 28 - Last day of winter (The Alnes)

A cloudy morning with several drizzly showers and a very light north-easterly saw me return to the Alne for one last winter wander. I started at Great Alne and then walked through Aston Cantlow as far as Little Alne before completing the circle. A pair of Teal on the river at Great Alne was a good start.

Spring is underway as far as the Rooks are concerned, and I counted two rookeries in Great Alne; 33 and 11 active nests respectively. For everything else winter is still an issue. There were plenty of Redwings for much of the route, and an equal number of Fieldfares just south of Aston Cantlow, but only about 30 - 40 of each. 

The most productive area was between Haselor New Grounds and Great Alne. Three Shoveler were seen in flight, almost certainly disturbed from Haselor scrape (which I didn't visit), and then 30 Golden Plovers circled downward in much the same area (a year-tick would you believe). An area of rough ground was full of Wrens and Blackbirds, but the highlight was a party of 13 Lesser Redpolls. I photographed a male, which I've just noticed is ringed. 

A male Lesser Redpoll

The river valley produced at least four singing Treecreepers, and at Aston Cantlow the sun peeped out for long enough to encourage a Buff-tailed Bumblebee to start buzzing about. A couple of Mistle Thrushes were with Redwings in some horse paddocks, and I got the camera out to record my first flowering Primrose of the season.

Primrose

Pretty soon the rain returned, and the last hour reminded me that meteorological winter isn't over until tomorrow. 

And the weathermen say colder weather is ahead. 

Sunday February 26 - Morton Bagot

 Sunny intervals with a cold northerly breeze. Dave and I went through the motions of walking around the patch this morning with optimism at a low ebb. This is a fairly wretched time of year for the patchworker, and it's very tough to find anything new to talk about.

One bird we do quite well for is Bullfinch, but they are always elusive and more often heard than seen. Nevertheless I often endeavour to get a photo of one (it must be a male of course) for this blog. This morning's attempt was my best yet, while still being pretty rubbish. A couple of Stonechats may have been the wintering pair, and there was a small increase in the number of Reed Buntings visible, albeit only six.

Bullfinch

An immature Mute Swan flew around before we got to the flash field, and was at least something different. The furthest flash now holds three Wigeon, while the combined flash total for Teal was 27. We also saw one Green Sandpiper, and six Black-headed Gulls. 

Green Sandpiper

The rest of site contained small numbers of the regulars, and we flushed three Common Snipe while checking the dragonfly ponds for frogspawn. These pools rarely hold Snipe, so we considered this a tiny victory to conclude a pretty steady visit.

PS: John C saw two Green Sandpipers during the afternoon.

Friday February 24 - Trainspotting

 It is sometimes said that twitchers are little more than trainspotters. Now I would no longer call myself a twitcher, but this morning on a walk up the river Alne from Little Alne to Wootton Wawen I did spot a train.

According to the name plate it is the Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, so I reckon it can go onto my self-found list.

I'm glad I saw the train, because the birds on offer were distinctly mediocre. The highlights were a Marsh Tit and a Kingfisher at Little Alne, a couple of hunting Sparrowhawks, a flock of 30 or so Siskins, a fly-over Yellowhammer at Wootton Wawen, and a Little Egret.

Little Egret

One other find surprised me. I heard a crunch under my feet and discovered I had stepped on a freshwater mussel shell. In fact there were quite a few strewn about. Maybe the river deposited them when in spate, but perhaps more likely they are the cast-offs from a feeding Otter or Mink.

Duck Mussel ?

When I got home I discovered there are several species of freshwater mussels, and I made an extremely tentative identification of Duck Mussel.

Birdguides suggests I should have gone to Studley STW where apparently a Willow Warbler was singing this morning. Presumably it had over-wintered.

Tuesday February 21 - Wootton Pool and the other Bagot

 A cloudy, and slightly chilly morning with very little breeze. I chose to continue Alne walking, starting at Wootton Pool, walking north to Henley and then completing the circuit through Preston Bagot.

Wootton Pool is about as easy to watch at this time of the year as it ever gets. The lack of foliage giving a fairly unimpeded view of most of the pool. No doubt my counts missed a few birds because it still isn't perfect, but I reckoned there were at least 19 Tufted Ducks, a drake Gadwall, a Great Crested Grebe, a Little Grebe, 12 Mute Swans, and 20 Coots to look at.

I always get a slight thrill of anticipation when a flock of Tufted Ducks is present

No Ring-necked Ducks, Scaup, or even Pochard on show. Next time maybe.

Gadwall

The fields north of the pool are mostly arable, and in previous years contained Lapwings, and even Curlews. Today just half a dozen singing Skylarks and a Kestrel were remotely noteworthy.

I reached the bridge at Henley and was pleased to find a small rookery with plenty of activity, and a couple of Grey Wagtails. The cloudy sky was bad news for photography, but did mean that the southward journey from Preston Bagot did not require walking into dazzling sunlight.

The view south-east from Preston Bagot

As you can tell from the above shot, the farmland is now dominated by pasture (sheep). So perhaps it was no coincidence that a Red Kite appeared, no doubt looking for any carrion it could find.

Red Kite

No longer rare, but still uplifting for someone like me who remembers when they were so rare that such a discovery was unimaginable. Once I reached the canal I could see another former rarity, a Raven towering over the surrounding Rooks and Jackdaws.

A final surprise was a Grey Heron which flew into a conifer plantation. The noises from within suggested the possible presence of a small heronry. 

I'll have to check that out another day.

Sunday February 19 - Morton Bagot (and a new garden moth)

 A mild mainly sunny day with not much of a breeze. Positively springlike in fact. Dave and I resumed our efforts to spot the differences between this visit to the patch and the last one. It was to prove a better than average morning.

We began along the Netherstead access road where I spent some time trying, with limited success, to photograph the single Marsh Tit which was visiting the feeders. We then headed towards the flash field, seeing a pair of Bullfinches and two Stonechats on the way.

I missed a Little Egret Dave had tried to point out as it disappeared from view, but when we got to the rise which is the best place from which to view the furthest flash, my luck changed. The first Shelduck of the year was swimming on it, and after Dave had counted eight Lapwings we also spotted a drake Wigeon (another year tick) as it swam out of view. I managed a horribly blurred record shot of the former before it took flight.

The Shelduck

The nearest flash brought us a second chance to see the Little Egret, the three Green Sandpipers seen by John C yesterday, at least 32 Teal, two more Stonechats (both males), and a Grey Heron. We were also joined by another birder, Gary Jilks, a rare event in itself.

Little Egret

Grey Heron

A bit of a downer was confirmation that the Kingfisher Pool has been completely drained, but it remains to be seen whether a master plan is afoot. Either way it is bad news for all the dragonfly larvae which might have expected to emerge there this summer.

We completed our visit by adding a couple of Redpolls to the list, and watching at least 19 Goldfinches which are obviously still finding enough to eat in the remains of the uncut strip.

Goldfinches

And of course the approach of March has not gone unnoticed by the local Brown Hares.

Brown Hares

It won't be too long before insects start to feature.

In fact, I made a late decision to stick the moth trap out in the garden last night and it paid off with an overdue garden first. The moth in question was Dark Chestnut (I caught two), and also a Chestnut, a Common Quaker (nfy), and a Pale Brindled Beauty. (Inadvertently wrote Pale Mottled Willow on earlier draft, which I just noticed)...bloody silly moth names.

Dark Chestnuts

Dark Chestnut (left) and Chestnut

Surprisingly, Obsidentify let me down. It couldn't come up with an identification for the Dark Chestnuts, but was quite happy to identify the Chestnut. Fortunately a perusal of the available literature and on-line images confirmed that the white dots visible on the outer edge of the forewing ruled out Chestnut.

It appears that Dark Chestnut emerge in November and fly until late February which explains why they were a bit tatty and why I hadn't seen one before.

Saturday February 18 - Henley-in-Arden (then chasing some wild geese)

 I wasn't going to bother writing up today's effort, but events late in the afternoon have persuaded me otherwise.

The Henley bit consisted of following the Alne north through the town with a short diversion to Buckley Green where it rained and I saw nothing very interesting. 

The highlights were saved for the town. Firstly I heard a Blackcap singing in a small park area adjacent to the car-park, but couldn't see it. Secondly, I was striding back down the High Street when I noticed a moth, specifically a Pale Brindled Beauty, resting on the side of an office building.

Pale Brindled Beauty

Back at home this afternoon I got a message from Josh. Stuart Hares had located the Tundra Bean Goose and Pink-footed Goose at Shortwood Roughs. I headed straight for Grange Lane and parked by the canal. A quick scan produced some distant Geese so I did a very dodgy three-point turn and drove to  back down the lane thinking they would be visible from the footpath.

This was where things went a bit wrong. Basically I misjudged how far away they were, and half way along the path I realised I was in the wrong field. Then I heard Greylags calling from behind a big hedge so I crept up and scanned them with the bins. The Geese had obviously clocked me and were standing to attention. Eventually I located the Tundra Bean and the Pink-foot, but they were in a dip in the field and still quite distant. I cautiously dropped to my haunches to try erecting my tripod, but the game was up. The geese took off and circled the field twice before heading north back to Bittell. I could see the slight size difference between the two stars but not much else. Even a record shot was out of the question.

Apologies to anyone else who was hoping to see them there.

I have a snippet of Morton Bagot news. John Chidwick saw three Green Sandpipers there this afternoon.

Wednesday February 15 - back to the Alne

 Events are conspiring to keep me at home this week, but I had the opportunity to get out today and probably wasted it on another visit to the river Alne.

I parked by the Henley Hotel and followed the river up stream to Danzey Green, with a diversion in the Botley Mill area. The habitat didn't look particularly enticing, being almost entirely made up of sheep-grazed pasture, but the river itself was at least bordered by a strip of messy woodland. It is also starting to look like a river.

The view from the bridge near Botley Mill

As for riverine species, my only success was a Grey Wagtail which was singing for maybe the first time this year. 

Other "notables" were Mistle Thrush, Siskin (three), and singing Treecreepers (two). The phrase grasping at straws may be appropriate here.

Mistle Thrush

Having spent much of last month walking along the Upper Arrow, and then just north of Redditch, it was almost refreshing to find myself looking at a Pheasant near Danzey Green. They are very much associated with places where they are released (i.e. not Redditch), and I also suspect that bird flu has put a stop to some of the shoots releasing Pheasants this winter so the population may have dwindled (temporarily no doubt).

As for the onset of spring, well I did see a single Lesser Celandine in bloom, and also quite a few Snowdrops.

Sunday February 12 - Some welcome distractions

 It's not often that I try to catch moths in February, and never on a Saturday night before Morton Bagot birding. But last night was cloudy, mild, and windless, it was time to be bold. I put the trap out.

There were two consequences. Firstly I was a little bit late getting to Morton Bagot, and secondly I got a garden tick.

Morton Bagot was dull. The Green Sandpiper and 29 Teal were still present in the flash field, and we saw thirty or so thrushes, mostly Fieldfares, and 19 Meadow Pipits in the newly planted area of the Red-backed Shrike Field. Tony was ringing, but indicated he was having a pretty poor morning. A single Mute Swan flying around was the nearest thing to an unexpected visitor, and our mood was darkened by the discovery that the land-owner has drained the Kingfisher Pool (although it only seems to affect northern end of what we had previously assumed was a single pool). It was not a pretty sight.

So, on a brighter note lets consider last night's moths. I caught twelve moths of four species, including one that was new to me. When I think about it, moths are amazing. It's mild, but still too cold for butterflies and most other insects, but the moths don't care. 

The highlight was the presence of eight Pale Brindled Beauties. I generally catch one a year, simply because January and February are too cold to be bothered with insects, so the trap doesn't get much use. In one night I have more than doubled the total number of this species I have seen.

Pale Brindled Beauty

I also logged two Spring Ushers and a Chestnut, before spotting an interesting looking micro clinging to the side of an egg box in the trap. I was sure it would be something new, and indeed it proved to be Tortricodes alternella also known as Winter Shade.

Tortricodes alternella

I admit that its not much of a looker, and also that it is quite a common moth, but it pushes my garden list up by one so I'm not complaining.

Thursday February 9 - the Alne starts to trickle

 This morning I started my walk on the Warwickshire side of the A435 opposite Pink Green, and quickly located where the fledgling Alne trickled out of a culvert designed to see it safely under the main road.

The not so mighty Alne

From here I shadowed it towards Aspley Heath and Tanworth-in-Arden, west of which our paths crossed briefly before I circled back to skirt the HOEF land at Trap's Green.

The farmland around here is still dominated by sheep and horse pasture although there was a short wooded section near Aspley Heath from which emerged a Raven. The birds on offer were the typical common stuff, so it was mostly just a case of adding dots to my 1km distribution maps.

However, I did have a couple of mini-highlights when I got to Trap's Green. Firstly a Kestrel struggling with a prey item as it flew away from the newly planted area. I have been finding Kestrels to be rather thinly distributed, especially north of Redditch.

The other boost to my morale came when I diverted away from the bridle path to check out a half-seen passerine and put up a party of 14 Yellowhammers. This was only the third time I have found a double-figure flock in the Circle, and is also the furthest north.

The Yellowhammers alighted in trees bordering the road

They had obviously been feeding in the long grass between the new trees. I did actually see a handful here last winter, and then a singing male in summer, but its good to know that they are still around.

I'm sorry if the birds haven't been particularly riveting lately but I'm enjoying the challenge of visiting places no sane birder would...oh dear!

Tuesday February 7 - The source of the Alne

 Ok, so its not exactly the search for the source of the Nile, but this morning I have switched rivers and decided to locate the source of the river Alne which flows through the Warwickshire half of my Circle before joining the Arrow at some point south of Alcester.

A Google search made it a bit easier, and pointed me to a square kilometre at the curiously named Pink Green. Driving up the A435 out of Redditch there is a sign pointing the way, but I have never seen anyone take it. Now I know why. The tiny road goes about 100 metres to a farm, where there is nowhere obvious to park.

In the end I turned round and went to Green Hills farm west of the Ullenhall turn off. From there I followed the footpaths to Pink Green farm to start the search. It was a very bright sunny morning, ideal for photography if only there had been anything worth a shot. I settled for a singing Dunnock on the basis that its a bird which tends to get ignored, and also because I recorded double-figures of them within a one km square for the first time.

Dunnock

The habitat was on the dull side of interesting. Acres of short-cropped sheep pasture, and straggly hedgerows plus one small wood. A flock of 20 Meadow Pipits found it ideal, but other than the ubiquitous Redwings, Blue Tits, Great Tits, and corvids not much else was on offer. At least the farms dotted about hosted plenty of House Sparrows.

Anyway, what of the Alne? I skirted the Meadow Pipit field and found a ditch and small pond. This seems to be it, the source of the mighty Alne.

Such a thrill, the source of the Alne

I plan to pick it up again later this week and follow it towards Tanworth-in-Arden. I can hardly wait.

Sunday February 5 - Morton Bagot

After the first frost for a while, the day was sunny and bright. The ringers were doing their stuff and we paused for a chat before heading for the pool field which contained a showy Stonechat, a couple of Reed Buntings, and a Jack Snipe.

Stonechat

 We walked on to the flash field where we were pleased to see our first Green Sandpiper of the year along with a decent count of 55 Teal.

Green Sandpiper

The rest of the visit was pleasant enough, several Bullfinches, Redwings, Meadow Pipits, Goldfinches and two drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers were all typical of the site.

Tony and Leigh caught 27 birds (including nine re-traps) of nine species as follows:

Blue Tit 5 (3)

Great Tit 1

Long-tailed Tit 5 (5)

Wren 1

Robin 2

Dunnock 1

Pied/White Wagtail 3

Bullfinch 2

Reed Bunting 7 (1)

Their efforts were split between the morning and the evening and this explains the presence of a few roosting Pied Wagtails and Reed Buntings in their statistics.

Pied/White Wagtail - per Tony K

Evidently the sunset wasn't bad either.

per Tony K

Saturday February 4

 Continuing with the recent theme of unimpressive birding along the river Arrow, I joined Josh Toogood this morning as we headed from Arrow Valley Lake to the Vale Golf Course.

Josh is also on a mission to try to find some of the declining or mythical species rumoured to occur in this part of the world. It was great to finally meet him and discuss what we knew about Dippers, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Willow Tits from this part of Worcestershire. We concluded that the former and latter are unlikely to be extant, while the middle one just might be here somewhere.

But not today. In fact we saw pretty much nothing. A couple of Kingfishers and Grey Wagtails, and plenty of common stuff. I don't think either of us will be trying again any time soon.

Back at Arrow Valley Lake I could see three drake Goosanders, a couple of Little Egrets and 15 Cormorants.

Herring Gulls

A pair of Herring Gulls are probably local breeders, the slightly larger male on the left giving its long-call display to the female. I have yet to prove that Herring Gulls breed in Redditch, but I'm quite sure they do.