West Midlands Alldayer - Saturday May 6

 This was the eighth year that Morton Bagot has competed in the hugely enjoyable West Midlands Alldayer. It felt as though we were up against it all day despite having a substantial team comprising Tony K and his ringing team, Sam MacV, Gary J, and Martin W. There was also a debut for John, who was kind enough to share his records.

The weather could have been kinder. It was cloudy and dry until 09.00, and then rained for most of the day. This would be excellent if we had access to hides and overlooked a large reservoir, but in our patch of woodland, a few fields and a couple of small scrapes its not so great.

I was in the field by 04.30 to experience the dawn chorus and tick off Tawny Owl.

Unfortunately I could find neither a Barn Owl, nor a Grasshopper Warbler though both were probably present. Nevertheless the early start definitely paid off as a Mandarin was on the nearest flash (and was not seen again), and a party of six immature Mute Swans flew around (the first here for months).

The Mandarin

Most of the Mute Swans

Gary arrived just in time to see the swans as I headed home for breakfast. 

I was back an hour later to find Sam helping the ringers set up. Martin was also on site, but somehow our paths never crossed. Shortly afterwards the rain began. Most of us had heard a Cuckoo (probably two), and I had discovered a Garden Warbler near Bannams Wood. Sam and Martin later found a second bird. As usual this was a period when all the regulars were being ticked off, leaving us on about 54 species by lunchtime. The Avocet was still present and both Black-headed Gulls, and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were easy additions (in contrast to some previous years). A Red Kite belatedly put in an appearance. Ominously absent were any Teal or Shelducks.

The afternoon brought some useful gap-filling; a Shelduck, a Jay, and a Coot on the flash pools. The latter was not one I'd been counting on as they've been in short supply here lately. By now it was just me Sam and Gary braving the drizzle which returned after a brief respite. During the morning it looked like being our worst ever total, but three Swifts raised the spirits, a Mistle Thrush took us to 59, and then the pair of Tufted Ducks appeared on the Dragonfly Pond to get us to 60. 

Finally, Gary found a female Wheatear to bring us to a final figure of 61. Not quite the worst total, technically, but arguably it was. Why do I say this? 

Wheatear

The only lower figure came with 60 in 2019 when there were extenuating circumstances. That all-dayer coincided with the best bird ever found on the big day, namely a Temminck's Stint. This resulted in quite a twitch, and I lost focus and spent most of the day chatting to arriving birders.

When you've had a tough day its tempting to reflect that the patch is less good than it once was. The figures for the eight years since the patch was first entered show a mixed picture, notwithstanding an increase in observer numbers.

2014 (63), 2015 (72), 2017 (71), 2018 (67), 2019 (60), 2021 (67), 2022 (63), 2023 (61). Hopefully next year will show a return to form and confirm I'm worrying about nothing.

The ones we missed included Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker, Nuthatch (as usual), Barn Owl, Grasshopper Warbler, and Coal Tit. Apparently not present were Reed Warbler, Teal, Whinchat, Stonechat, and Willow Warbler.

Late information: Tony has shared his ringing stats. The rain forced them to end early but they managed to catch 15 species, all of which were seen during the day.

Common Whitethroat - Tony K

This is their list:

It's always great to have the ringers on site as they add another string to our bow. Admittedly when everything is singing in spring their chances of pulling something unexpected out of a net are lower, but if they are able to set nets for the autumn alldayer that could be a different ball game.