Tuesday October 31 - Kinwarton

 I fancied a change this morning, so went to Kinwarton near Alcester. With bad weather on the horizon I thought this might be the last still day for a while.

Parking at the Dovecote I first investigated the small pool there. The headline act was a singing Cetti's Warbler, with a squealing Water Rail as support. Unfortunately neither showed themselves. The pool itself contained only a few Moorhens, a family of Mute Swans, and two Little Grebes. One of the latter seemed to be chasing flies around, and eventually I tried to film it doing so.

There was a good selection of the usual common birds around, and it sounded as though some of them were mobbing an Owl. As usual I couldn't spot it.

Speaking of owls, one reason for my visit here was the presence last year of a Little Owl, the only one I now know of locally. Sadly the tree it prefers was still in full leaf, so I couldn't tell whether it was still there.

My route took me to the edge of Alcester and back, but I didn't see a lot. A couple of Yellowhammers flew over a large field, and a Kestrel showed well despite the gloomy light.

Male Kestrel

Eventually I was back where I started, except that I took a right fork to try to find a small pool where I had seen a Pintail last year. I never quite made it to the pool but was diverted by a pair of Parakeets. The calls sounded different to the normal Ring-necked Parakeet sounds, and I suspected something else. Sure enough they flew past, a big one and a small one. I rang John Coombes as I was on his patch and he confirmed my suspicion that they were a pair of Alexandrine Parakeets which have been there for months. 

I had also heard "another" Cetti's Warbler. John was surprised by this, and I must admit that when I returned to the Dovecote Pool there was no sign of one there. So maybe it's just one highly mobile bird.

In the last few minutes the sun showed signs of coming out. A swirl of birds from behind some trees proved to be a flock of 220 Starlings, but I couldn't see what had disturbed them. To finish up I tried to photograph a Fieldfare which was perched on a tree-top.

Fieldfare

Having failed on the Owl at least gives me the excuse to return once the leaves have dropped. Its actually a nice area to birdwatch in.

Sunday October 29 - That Wagtail

As I was queuing in the chemist yesterday morning the day took an unexpected turn as my phone pinged. It was a message from Tony with some photographs of a striking Wagtail he had ringed the previous evening at Morton Bagot. The accompanying picture made my jaw drop. It reminded me of an Amur Wagtail, a Siberian mega-rarity which shouldn't be turning up in a Wagtail roost near Redditch.

The Wagtail per Tony K

The white flanks were completely at odds with those of a Pied Wagtail, and apart from what I took to be a couple of displaced dark feathers the greater coverts looked white. 

I dashed home and conveyed my thoughts to Tony, asking whether he made had any descriptive notes. It turned out that he had been ringing alone, had caught another 20 normal Pied Wagtails and a couple of Starlings which had taken a while to extract, so he had been in no position to do anything other than take a series of photos. He shared these with me.

The Wagtail - per Tony K

This second photo showed one or two anomalous features. The Black bib appeared to be linked to the side of the breast (when it should have been isolated and small) and there was an obvious grey patch on the breast sides (which should have been white). I only knew this after digging out an old British Birds article about the first British record.

The Wagtail - per Tony K

In the third photograph the black bib did look a bit more isolated, but it was clear I needed to share the shots with other birders. I therefore messaged several birders and shared the photos on the two Whatsapp Groups I am in.

This proved very helpful. Matt Griffiths had noticed the presence of some white feathers in the black crown (this could indicate abnormal plumage, the sort of leucism you sometimes see on Blackbirds for instance). John on the Local Nature Sightings Whatsapp Group posted a photograph of a similar bird on Scilly which had been mooted as a possible Amur Wagtail, before being demoted to "odd" Pied Wagtail. Andy Warr pointed out it appeared to have dropped most of its greater coverts making the wing look whiter than usual. Everyone who replied agreed it was a striking bird, but all felt it was probably not an Amur Wagtail. 

So what was it? 

1. It could simply be a very extreme Pied Wagtail.

2. It could be a partially leucistic Pied Wagtail. 

3. It could be an intergrade (hybridisation between a Pied Wagtail and one of the many other forms of alba Wagtail)

4. Perhaps it really is an Amur Wagtail in an unfamiliar plumage.

My guess would be option 2, but in the absence of any further evidence we'll probably never know. I did say to Tony that if he catches it again he could remove a feather or two for DNA testing, something that is now seemingly routine when Observatory Staff catch a tricky bird.

Today I returned to the patch for some more run of the mill Morton Bagot birding. I was keen to photograph a typical male Pied Wagtail for comparison. 

Male Pied Wagtail

Not a very good shot, but it shows the typical greater covert pattern of black centred feathers and broad white tips, a large black bib, and grey breast sides (it also has grey flanks which are hidden by the way it was holding its wings) of a Pied Wagtail.

Also present today were more Stonechats, two Green Sandpipers, five Snipe, and the first Wigeon of the autumn.

Stonechat

Wigeon

Excitement over, it's back to reality.

Friday October 27 - Morton Bagot

 It was a foggy start at Morton Bagot this morning, and I was a bit later than I had intended. The ringers were on site, and you never know what you might miss. As it turned out I did miss a bit of a treat.

Sparrowhawk - per Tony K

A lovely adult male Sparrowhawk, the orange eye an indication that it was an adult (rather than the yellow iris of a younger bird). I think they have caught at least one here before, but it still makes for a good day.

Anyway, I spent most of the rest of the morning hanging around the ringers because it was too foggy to do much else. Regular small parties of Redwings came into view out of the fog, and eventually they caught one.

Redwing, aged in the hand as a juvenile.

My own contribution was to take them to see the Barn Owl which was showing once more, and to spot a fast moving Peregrine.

Eventually the fog started to lift and I decided to walk to the flash field to see if there was anything there. On the way I had the rare opportunity to photograph a Goldcrest in the field. They are normally too fast for me.

Goldcrest

There were also quite a few Lesser Redpolls about (25+), about 100 Redwings, a few Fieldfares, and a Snipe, but the highlight was a calling Golden Plover which unfortunately eluded my binoculars despite calling five or six times.

The water has drained away from the pool field, so the Pintail has disappeared. The Flashes contained 31 Teal, seven Lapwings, and three Shovelers.

In the afternoon Tony returned to Morton Bagot to target the Pied Wagtail roost. He had a very successful session, catching 21 Pied/White Wagtails and the first Starlings ever caught on HOEF land.

Here are the day's results, retraps in brackets as always (plus a few from Saturday)

Sparrowhawk                                1

Blue Tit                                        16 (3)

Great Tit                                        7 (2)

Long-tailed Tit                              5 (1)

Goldcrest                                       1

Wren                                              2

Redwing                                        1

Song Thrush                                  1

Starling                                          2

Dunnock                                        1 (1)

Pied/White Wagtail                       21

Meadow Pipit                                3

Greenfinch                                     1

Lesser Redpoll                              20

There is a reason I have recorded his Wagtails as Pied/White. He caught one particular Wagtail which looked very odd indeed. Further details of that bird will be posted on Sunday.

Tuesday October 24 - Morton Bagot (and a few garden moths)

 A cloudy morning with hardly a breathe of wind (maybe southerly) following some overnight rain. It was too gloomy a day for getting the camera out, but pretty lively for birds.

I was surprised to see that the eclipse male Pintail was still present along with similar numbers of duck to Sunday. There were also lots of freshly released Pheasants which had presumably strayed from the shooting grounds near Castle Nurseries.

All this potential prey was no doubt what has encouraged the adult Peregrine to reappear and take up residence on the pylons.

Peregrine

Shortly after leaving the Peregrine to continue to survey his domain I noticed a panic of Woodpigeons and Jackdaws towards the north end of Bannams Wood. Looking through the melee I spotted the cause, a Goshawk. The views were much more distant than I had had of the one in August but it shared that bird's jizz and size. I watched as it powered into the wood and disappeared. I couldn't tell whether it was an adult or an immature due to distance and light.

So that's not a bad start. There didn't seem to be a great deal of overhead passage, but the site was still alive with birds. Thrushes were constantly flushing from the hawthorn hedgerows and I estimated about 70 Redwings, 20 Fieldfares, and a good number of Song Thrushes and Blackbirds. It's easy to forget that many of them are also migrants from the continent.

One of many Song Thrushes which accompanied the Redwings

Plenty of the usual finches were also in evidence, although there may have been fewer Redpolls than on Sunday. There was no sign of the Barn Owl, but I did hear a day-hooting Tawny Owl, and in a different part of the site discovered a cacophony of Blackbirds and other species mobbing something in a dense area of woodland edge. There was almost certainly an Owl in there, but I was unable to see it. This short piece of video gives an idea of what it was like.

This was the sort of day when you can be happy with what you see, but wondering what you've missed. Its just impossible to get a good look at everything.

Other noteworthy migrants included three Chiffchaffs, a male Blackcap, and small numbers of Meadow Pipits, Reed Buntings, and Chaffinches.

Meadow Pipit

One surprise was the apparent absence of any Stonechats, but as I say there are likely to be plenty of birds I missed.

Finally, I put the moth trap out, ignoring all the warning signs (a cool night and a full moon), and duly caught just three moths; two November Moth ag, and a Red-line Quaker. Both were new for the year, but are more or less annual in the garden.

Sunday October 22 - Morton Bagot belter

 There is usually one day in late autumn when Morton Bagot rises to the occasion, and today was the day. It was relatively still with high cloud, and a few sunny spells.

I met Dave in the usual spot and we started our normal circuit. It was immediately apparent that Redwings were arriving in decent numbers, along with a party of Fieldfares, and lots of Redpolls. Our cumulative estimate for the latter was 90 + (I actually logged 93, but many will have gone unrecorded and there may have been some duplication.)

We also noticed one of these.

Barn Owl

But I haven't got to the good bit yet.

The recent rain has caused widespread flooding, and at the patch that meant the old pool field was temporarily looking as it used to every winter. A sheet of water at the deep end hosted 68 Canada Geese, 86 Mallard, a Teal, a Greylag Goose, and a year-tick....an eclipse drake (or maybe immature male) Pintail.

Pintail

But this was still not the morning's highlight. 

Moving on to the flash field we found this a little bit of a let down. Another 22 Teal, two Shovelers, the first two of an eventual five Stonechats, and a Green Sandpiper on the next-door Kingfisher Pool.

We carried on along the Morton Brook as Skylarks, Siskins, and more winter thrushes and Redpolls regularly flew over. It had a really good feel about it.

Eventually we found ourselves walking up to the raptor watchpoint above Stapenhill Wood. On the other side of the hedge there was a panic among the small birds, and then a small raptor shot over the hedge in front of us. I automatically called "Sparrowhawk" before realising my mistaking and correcting it to "Merlin". It was an adult male and Dave had an excellent view while I blew my chances by making a failed attempt to get a record shot. I don't know why I do this, its like a Pavlov's dog response. The result was that my only mental image was the first one in the split second I first identified it.

Anyway, it was another year-tick and the highlight of the morning. An earlier Pavlov's Dog moment saw us failing to identify a snow white bird as it had flown south. On seeing a field of cows in the south end of the patch we diverted to check them out. From where we stood we had an excellent view of the fields towards Castle Farm. No white birds could be seen although we located a distant adult Common Gull, followed a few minutes later by a second-winter bird which made its way north-east. These were the first at Morton Bagot this year.

Harking back to my previous post, where I rambled on about lists, I feel compelled to mention that the Merlin has taken this year's local list (Circle List) to 141, beating last year's total. And last year I was really trying.

All very satisfactory.

Thursday October 19 - Chances missed?

 Not all birders keep lists, but to me it's important. I have not one, or two, or even three. I hold loads of lists. Annual lists, patch lists, year lists, a British list, moth lists, dragonfly lists, and so on. Ironically, my least important is my British list and I've never worked out an all time World list. Lists wax and wane in importance. Currently my Morton Bagot list is top, but I haven't added anything to it since a dead Kittiwake earlier this year (yes I know, you can't count dead birds) but its my list so I'll play by my own rules.

Although I keep all these tallies, they are only a background to my birding. The fun of birding to me is never knowing what you are going to see tomorrow, and the challenge is to try to find something new. Naturally I have a Find List (birds I have found myself). I can't remember what it stands at, but it's there in my head. Now that I'm restricting myself to local birding, it is all the more difficult to add anything to it.

There are a few candidates out there, and top of that list, the most likely "find" is Cattle Egret. I've seen one or two over the years, but I can't recall finding one. In the last few years their numbers in the south of England (particularly in the Somerset Levels) have been going through the roof.

Where is all this introspection leading? Well on Tuesday morning I was driving Lyn to Solihull. It was a Lyn day, and she needed some retail therapy. As we hammered up the A435 just north of Redditch I glanced to the side and noticed a pasture field with cattle and some white things in it. I was doing 70 mph, but looked again. The white things could have been plastic buckets, but surely they were Egrets with cattle, in a field, at the right time of year. 

What to do? I said something like "what were those?" followed by something like "I need to go back", while Lyn said something like "but it's my day". In the end I had to accept I had no binoculars in the car, and let's face it they could have been Little Egrets, or even plastic tubs. I took the path of least resistance, and we went shopping.

Four hours later I was back home and heading back to the scene of the disaster. For disaster it was, they were no longer there. At least that ruled out white buckets!

Since then I have been back four times, I have driven around the area looking for cows, and I have seen not a single Egret (plenty of cows).

On Wednesday I carried on to Earlswood. The promised storm seemed not to have arrived and it was quiet. The highlight was two flocks of Redpolls (20 over Terrys Pool and 40 at the bottom of Windmill Pool). I didn't see them very well, but Earlswood is good for getting close to birds so I settled for taking shots of a Goosander and a couple of large gulls.

Goosander

Adult Herring Gull (British race argenteus)

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull (West European race graellsii)

I met up with John Sirrett for a chinwag. At one point a Canals and Rivers Trust guy strolled up and told us he'd seen an Osprey over the Mill Shrub (Lower Bittell) the day before.

So today I visited Lower Bittell (between more failed Cattle Egret hunts) on the off-chance that the Osprey might be still there. It was a long-shot, and it was nowhere to be seen. Mind you, having forgotten to bring my scope I abandoned all thoughts of straying to Upper Bittell which has a much better track record for the species.

Lower Bittell was as quiet as it always seems to be, with the same cast of characters; a few Little Grebes, Shovelers and the like. At least there was a party of Redwings at Alvechurch Fishery, typically dashing out of the hawthorns and disappearing without giving a chance of a photograph.

Raven

A calling Raven was the best of the rest.

Monday October 16 - An afternoon stroll

 About six weeks ago Lyn and I were invited to a beautifully kept garden in Studley overlooking the river Arrow and Studley Castle beyond. We were the guests of Mike and Linda Moffatt, and it was a lovely afternoon. I felt moved to reciprocate. Except that sitting in our tiny garden surrounded by 1970's estate properties would hardly cut it, so I offered a stroll around Morton Bagot instead.

This afternoon, being the time agreed, Mike, Linda and I set off on a nature ramble. I felt like a tour guide, and was anxious that they should enjoy themselves but worried we might see next to nothing.

It was cloudy, but still. In many ways ideal. I usually don't carry my telescope with me, but bringing it this time proved a masterstroke. I was pretty confident we would see Lesser Redpolls and indeed we did, but the views were uninspiring. Things really started looking up when we spotted a Peregrine on a pylon, definitely a bird for the scope. 

What I wanted was a smart little bird which Mike and Linda might not have seen well before, to sit in a hedge for long enough to allow a proper eyeful through the scope. A Meadow Pipit duly obliged.

Meadow Pipit. A shame about the light but you can't have everything.

I enjoyed the comments such as "it looks like a Thrush". It does indeed, although as a seasoned birder you can forget stuff like that.

The rest of the afternoon went just as well. A Little Egret showed beautifully in flight, a Mistle Thrush perched up distantly (but fine in the scope), and the nearest flash contained more Teal than I've seen since last winter. I counted 118 on a combination of the two flashes.

There were a few birds for me; calling Yellowhammer and Siskin, and a flock of about 25 winter thrushes heading west which I believe were Fieldfares (although they didn't call). We flushed a Snipe, and scoped a Stonechat (unringed).

Throw in a few Roe Deer and Muntjacs, and I think it's safe to say the afternoon was a success.

Sunday October 15 - Morton Bagot summary

 This morning I joined the ringers at Morton Bagot, briefly, before trying my luck on the rest of the site. But before I get to that, this is a summary of the last few days' ringing there.

On Thursday Tony put in a solo effort, and came up with impressive numbers of Lesser Redpolls in particular. Today it was the turn of Leigh and her team, who were equally busy and caught even more Lesser Redpolls.

Thursday                                        Sunday

Blue Tit             46 (4)                    36 (6)

Great Tit            6 (2)                      11 (3)

Marsh Tit                                                 1

Long-tailed Tit                                        5 (1)

Goldcrest             1                                  2

Chiffchaff           1

Treecreeper        1(1)

Robin                                               1

Stonechat            1

Wren                                                1

Dunnock             1       

Greenfinch           6

Lesser Redpoll    54                          65

Goldfinch                                                  1

Reed Bunting                                    1

 So there is no doubt that Lesser Redpolls have been on the move in big numbers this week.

The team have caught 119 different birds in the course of four days. Today the majority were juveniles, but there was also the odd pinkish male.

Juvenile Lesser Redpoll

Adult male Lesser Redpoll

Reed Bunting (female/immature)

Away from the ringers I actually saw very little. On Saturday John Chidwick had seen 20 Redwings in the hedge by the flash, but today I saw just two. 

There was a pair of Stonechats at Netherstead, but regrettably I didn't approach them closely. The reason I should have made more effort is that Tony is now colour-ringing them, and I had forgotten that he caught a male on Thursday.

Thursday's male Stonechat

So I missed the opportunity to see whether that particular bird was still here. 

The flashes are now full of water, and were disappointingly bird-less. Just a few Teal, Mallard, and Lapwing were present.

Leigh mentioned that they had seen a Sparrowhawk patrolling the hedgerows near the mist nets, and on my way back to the car I saw it approaching.

Sparrowhawk out of the blue

So all in all there was plenty to see as long as you remembered to pack your mist net.

                                                 

Friday October 13 - the plan that came together

I looked at the weather forecast last night; heavy rain overnight, then cloudy with a strong south-westerly to be followed by more rain, and decided it probably wasn't a day for going to Morton Bagot. Instead I fancied my chances of finding a Rock Pipit at Earlswood.

So just before 09.00 am I was standing on the causeway, scanning about. Within a few minutes  I found myself looking at a Rock Pipit. As I believe someone once said on the A Team (a 1980s TV show) "I love it when a plan comes together".

Shortly afterwards I realised there were two. I messaged the Whatsapp Group, and stuck them on Twitter. Having done my duty I settled down to get some photos. I never carry a scope at Earlswood, so my best chance of a decent view is peering at the back of my camera. Mind you, these birds were doing their best to oblige.

Rock Pipit A

Rock Pipit B

Shortly afterwards I saw and heard a potential third bird flying over and heading to the bottom of Windmill Pool. So I set off on a mission to check it out.

Other birds found on Windmill included two Common Sandpipers and a Green Sandpiper, but both species had been present for a few days. 

Eventually I was back on the causeway without having seen another Rock Pipit. Tony Philp was there, asking where the Rock Pipits were. I pointed to the shingle shore where the two birds were still together, but then looked down below the dam and saw another one, the third bird.

Rock Pipit C

It was around this time that things became over-complicated. I couldn't help noticing that on the images in the back of the camera, bird A looked browner than birds B and C. I started to wonder whether it could be a different race, or even whether it was actually a Water Pipit.

I had taken some video of it when it was at its closest, and back home a freeze-frame of the outer tail feather looked whiteish. Not persil white, just whiteish. I got it into my head that this might be an indication of the continental race, littoralis.

Here is a screenshot from the video.

And here is a shot of bird A and bird B together. A is the one furthest away.

Rock Pipits A and B

The video of the Rock Pipit can be seen on https://youtu.be/-Mu5vrXcRiM 

Here is one more image of bird A.

Rock Pipit A

My research has proved inconclusive, and it appears that they just can't be identified to sub-species level in the autumn.

Monday October 9 - When home is best

 My walk to the paper shop yesterday morning told me all I needed to know about where I should spend the day. Several parties of Redwings and a few Fieldfares were heading west, and my Whatsapp was pinging like mad as other birders were having a similar experience.

So a little later than would have been ideal (09.25) I stood on our front drive, looked towards the north-east and resolved to give it an hour. Almost immediately it started to deliver as long strings of well-spaced Redwings started to appear. I was counting furiously, but will have missed any that had the audacity to fly across the back garden shielded from view by the house.

Every now and then it would go quiet for five minutes, and I'd wonder if the show was over, but each time it would resume. Most parties were at least 20 strong, and many were between 90 and 120 birds. They just kept coming, and it wasn't just Redwings. Every now and then the odd Fieldfare would appear, and on one memorable occasion a flock of about 100.

There were other birds too. A few Skylarks, one of them trying to sing as it headed west. Three finches looked white bellied with longish deeply forked tails, and I suspected they were Bramblings. They didn't call, but a little later another one followed them and it did. A few Siskins called, but I couldn't see them. The strangest sight was two calling Bullfinches heading west high above the house. They're not supposed to migrate, but clearly they do.

My final thrush tally was 1495 Redwings (including those seen on the walk to the shop), and 133 Fieldfares.

One thing I didn't attempt to do was photograph anything. As I don't like to post an unillustrated story I decided to put my moth trap out.

The result was 38 moths of 16 species including one new for the garden (and a lifer) in the form of a Blair's Shoulder-knot resting on the brickwork next morning.

Blair's Shoulder-knot

There was also a couple new for the year; Merveille du Jour (two), and Angle Shades. They are also great lookers.

Merveille du Jour

Angle Shades

A major feature of the night was the presence of 20 Box Tree Moths, bad news for any of my neighbours who might be lovingly tending a Box Tree hedge.

Box Trees beware

As a final coup, on Tuesday morning I spotted yesterday's Hummingbird Hawkmoth feeding on the honeysuckle again. I even got a recognisable image, but it was blurred so I'll wait to see if it gives me another chance.

Morton Bagot was covered by Dennis and Marion who have kindly shared some of their photographs. An adult Peregrine was a nice spot in rather misty conditions, but my favourite shot was one of an animated party of Teal.

Teal - by Dennis Stinton

Peregrine - by Dennis Stinton

I was at the funeral of Paul Hyde, an old friend who I used to see regularly at Draycote and many other sites around the West Midlands. He was a superb birder, and the excellent eulogy by Glen Giles reminded us of his ability to identify birds on the briefest of views or faintest of calls....and always be right. He was also an extremely nice guy.