Sunday October 8 - Too warm, too quiet

 The dream team was back today. Dave joined me for a traditional thrash round Morton Bagot. Being the dream team means we were dreaming of what birds we might see, and then asleep when they, potentially, presented themselves.

I won't go into the grisly details, but it was one of those frustrating mornings when very little was happening. To compound the issue whenever something that looked or sounded interesting flew over, we weren't on the ball enough to nail it.

The ringers were present, and keen to try out a new method of catching Stonechats. Sadly the birds in question would not take the bait, and not one was caught. Dave and I were at least seeing them, and we counted five all told.

Stonechat (unringed)

A few Meadow Pipits were heading south, as were Skylarks, Redpolls, and Siskins. We also saw at least three Chiffchaffs, a Marsh Tit and lots of butterflies, mostly Red Admirals. 

Nine Snipe came out of the marsh. A Green Sandpiper, 17 Lapwings, 34 Teal, and two Shovelers was standard fare at the flash pools.

Yesterday was no better. I tried my luck at Bittell Reservoirs where the locals were just as dispirited by the lack of anything new as you'd expect. Rob W told me that despite a generous edge, Upper Bittell had not seen a wader for a month. I was unable to assist, settling for counting the distant wildfowl. Plenty of Coots (206) on Upper, and Moorhens (40) on Lower. It didn't make me feel like shelling out £46 for an annual permit. I suppose I did see an adult Yellow-legged Gull flying over the lower res.

With all this warm weather you might think that moths would be worth trapping. Well I tried on Tuesday night I caught 22 of 11 species. This wasn't a bad result and did include two Beaded Chestnuts and a Brindled Green, both new for the year.

Beaded Chestnut

Brindled Green

Well I guess you can't catch a county first every time.

Stop Press: A Hummingbird Hawkmoth twice visited the Honeysuckle which rambles attractively over our garden shed (or messily straggles over our dilapidated eyesore...Lyn's point of view) this afternoon. 

Ringing results: The team caught a Stonechat using traditional methods on Wednesday:

1st winter female Stonechat

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Blue Tit 15

Great Tit 6

Stonechat 1

Song Thrush 2

Dunnock 2

Meadow Pipit 3

And today caught another 50 birds (plus two retraps)

Marsh Tit 1

Blue Tit 18

Great Tit 10

Long-tailed Tit 3

Chiffchaff 1

Wren 1

Dunnock 1

Meadow Pipit 9

Greenfinch 6

Linnet 1

Reed Bunting 1