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.