Sunday November 26 - Should have stayed at home?

 Just occasionally a visit to the patch leaves you wondering why you bother. This morning was one of those days. 

It started well enough, low cloud and a bit chilly. After about half an hour the faint mizzle in the air intensified. By the time we'd finished the cloud was low enough to obscure the top of Bannams Wood, and the mizzle had become drizzle and pretty relentless. All this meant it was a bit of a waste of time trying to photograph anything, and birding was constantly interrupted by the need to wipe spectacles and binoculars.

It was a pity the weather was so dire because there did appear to be quite a lot of birds about, if only you could see them. We estimated 160 Redwings, with smaller numbers of Song Thrushes, Blackbirds, and Fieldfares probably mostly from the continent and all intent on stripping hawthorn berries from the hedgerows before any potential Waxwings show up.

There was also the usual smattering of finches, but the only species in any numbers was Siskin which reached a creditable 50. The nearest flash was ice-bound and as far as we could see the only occupants were a few Teal.

One could get down-hearted, but back home in Winyates East at lunchtime fate dealt me an ace. A quality sofa-tick as I looked up to see a large white heron approaching from the north. I just had time to grab my bins and stumble to the window to see a glorious stately yellow-billed Great White Egret flying low over our cul-de-sac. I next grabbed the camera and sprinted to the back garden in the hope it would re-emerge. Sadly I was too late (or it had deviated from its southward course) because it didn't reappear.

Never mind, that's my 83rd garden tick in nearly twenty years of residence. My last had been a Ring-necked Parakeet in 2021. I spent an hour watching the birds which were actually in the garden and added a male Blackcap to the day tally.

Sometimes home is best.

Saturday November 25 - stalking the ringers

 I've never fancied being a ringer. I used to tell myself that a choice had to be made between birding and ringing, and I didn't want to compromise on the birding. But that wasn't the only reason. Anyone who has seen me try to open a packet of biscuits or untangle a chord will know that I'm just about as cack-handed as they come. The thought of disentangling a Blue Tit from a mist-net, or even just holding a bird without damaging it, brings me out in a cold sweat.

This is a shame, because I am still fascinated by seeing birds at close quarters, by the facts about bird movements ringing can unlock, and if I'm honest by the fact that ringers sometimes catch a rarity which would otherwise go unrecorded.

This morning I was out early, stepping into the sub-zero foot-numbing cold that you have to endure if you're going to hang out with the ringers. Stalking them, if you like.

Tony and Leigh had arrived at Morton Bagot at dawn, and were processing their first Redwing of the day as I arrived.

Redwing

Of course it wasn't Redwings I'd come to see, it was Redpolls. My hope was that among the catch of Lesser Redpolls there might be something rarer. It was fascinating to see these little finches up close. Most were immature birds experiencing their first winter, but a few were adults, the males showing the bright pink flush which makes them so photogenic. The problem for me was that no two Lesser Redpolls are exactly alike. There is a subtle difference in plumage and even size between individuals, and I was particularly keen to look at their rumps to get an idea of how Mealy-like a Lesser Redpoll could be. A pale streaked rump does not necessarily mean it's a Mealy, virtually all Lessers show one to some extent. Size is important, but even then there is an overlap with big Lessers and small Mealies. Today was very illuminating.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll - wing-length 69mm

The bird shown above is a classic male Lesser Redpoll, it's wing-length way to small to be a Mealy candidate.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll - wing-length 73mm

Same individual as in the previous shot

This second adult male was at the upper end of Lesser Redpoll in wing-length, and arguably within the overlap zone in size. Although the ear-coverts looked pale, its rump was pink and mantle feathers brown apart from a pale central stripe. Tony and Leigh were happy that this was "just" a Lesser Redpoll, and I agreed.

Immature Lesser Redpoll - wing-length 71mm

The Redpoll shown above had the palest rump of any I saw. Redpolls are very difficult to sex in immature plumage and no attempt was made. Even if it's a female it would be in the overlap zone, and if it's a male then it would be a definite Lesser on size. The generally warm brown plumage left us reasonably happy that this was another Lesser Redpoll despite the paleness of the rump and the greater-covert wingbar.

Tony and Leigh were anxious to keep the conveyer belt of birds moving because on a cold morning the less time the bird spent in the hand the better. Although they let me take a few photos, the processing time was rapid and I'm confident the birds experienced little inconvenience to their daily lives.

Female Goldcrest

Not all the birds caught were as tricky to identify as the Redpolls, but in the end I had to admit defeat. 

The ringing statistics are as follows:

Blue Tit 20 (13)

Great Tit 4 (2)

Long-tailed Tit 2 (2)

Goldcrest 1 (1)

Redwing 1

Dunnock 1

Lesser Redpoll 30 (1)

Goldfinch 2

The figure in brackets relates to re-traps and shows that there is, for example, a static population of Tits with both Long-tailed Tits, and 13 out of 20 Blue Tits being re-traps. On the other hand all but one of the Lesser Redpolls were new birds.

Thursday November 23 - Mockley Wood

Strictly speaking this post covers two localities on two days, but they couldn't have been more different in terms of quality.

Briefly, on a grey Tuesday morning I walked from Astwood Bank to Astwood Court before bearing right and trudging across fields of intensively cropped sheep pasture as far as the outskirts of Hunt End. It was pretty uninspiring, Corvids and Woodpigeons aplenty, and not a lot else. 

Moving swiftly on, this sunny Thursday morning I decided to park in Ullenhall and walk to Mockley Wood and back. I had only ever been there once before, and hadn't had much to show for it. This time, it was a whole lot better.

The approach to the wood had me almost losing my wellies in gloopy cattle-churned mud, but shortly afterwards I found a field of rough grassland which contained a Stonechat. I don't see many away from Morton Bagot, so that was encouraging.

Once I reached the wood I soon discovered it was largely out of bounds. Several signs referred to regular shooting, and it was clear they didn't want you in there. Fortunately no-one was there today and anyway the footpath skirted the wood and even went through a small section of it. Odd Siskins and a Redpoll called as they flew around, and at the north edge I first flushed a Woodcock, and then witnessed a calling Common Crossbill flying low just above the trees and into the wood. This was my third in local woods in the last three weeks, but once again it was pretty much heard only!

The path took me to a narrow lane at Forde Hall where I turned to head back. A little way along I discovered a Marsh Tit feeding in some oaks. They remain remarkably local and hard to find, so I felt very lucky.

Marsh Tit

While I was watching it, beyond the crown of the tree, I became aware that the sky was full of Golden Plovers. They were high up but swirling around, and were clearly not simply passing through. On one side of the lane was a ploughed field, and on the other some young arable crop. I am guessing that I may have inadvertently disturbed them from one or the other. As I tried to count them I soon realised there were hundreds of them. My estimate kept rising and eventually settled at approximately 220. 

The Golden Plovers

Most of the flock

I have no idea whether this is a regular stamping ground for them. Perhaps they are the flock sometimes seen at Box Trees, or maybe the ones south of Studley. It absolutely made my day.

Here are some images of Mockley Wood. The south end contains a lot of beech, but the northern section has a fair amount of conifer (Larch and Pine). 

What a shame there is no open access to the whole wood. 

Finally, I know virtually nothing about fungi, but was sufficiently impressed by some fruiting cones beside the lane to have a go at identifying them. 

Trooping Funnel (or maybe not)

I think I may be back here before too long.

Sunday November 19 - Are we Waxwing ready?

A day of sunny intervals and increasingly lengthy showers. I was surprised to find Dave waiting for me at the end of the Netherstead access road. He proposed we walk along the road looking for Waxwing-ready bushes, and given that John Chidwick had reported a complete absence of waterfowl yesterday, it seemed like as good a plan as any.

The last Waxwing winter was in 2012/13 and brought plenty locally, but none to the patch. However, the largest influx of all came in 2010/11 when as well as flocks of 65 in Alcester, 50 in Redditch, and 40 in Cheswick Green, a few were seen at Morton Bagot in December 2010, followed by 15 on January 13 2011. Unfortunately because the County Recorder was so overwhelmed that winter the name of the finder was not published so I've never discovered where exactly they were, or who saw them. I just know it wasn't me.

This winter Waxwings are advancing southwards again. There are already small parties in Cannock and West Bromwich, and there has been a record in Rugby. It's just a matter of time before they get to Redditch, and maybe this time I'll see one on the patch.

So what do we need? Well obviously lots of berries. The early signs are encouraging. The hedgerows are stuffed with hawthorn berries.

Roadside hawthorn

Hawthorn berries by the pool

The problem with hawthorn is that it's the favourite food of Redwings and Fieldfares, and usually they have been scoffed by the time the Waxwings arrive. This year we think the crop of berries is particularly strong, while the number of thrushes might be a little lower than normal. Nevertheless we saw about 70 Redwings/Fieldfares today, so maybe these berries will be gone by the turn of the year.

In my experience of seeing Waxwings in previous invasions their berry of choice seems to be cotoneaster. This may just be because they are popular with gardeners and so are concentrated in urban areas, which puts off the winter thrushes. Today we found just one cotoneaster bush. It was at High Field Farm.

Cotoneaster

However, I have heard that Guelder Rose berries can also be popular with Waxwings. Walking down through the Heart of England Forest there were several Guelder Roses stuffed with berries.

Guelder Rose

So I would say we have every chance. I just need to be lucky and persistent.

Other berries seen included Spindle and Rose-hips, but the main habitat remains dominated by birches and other deciduous saplings. No good for Waxwings but ideal for Redpolls. 

Birches

Did we see any birds today? Well it wasn't quite as desperate as yesterday. Our highlights were a pair of Red Kites passing through, a calling Marsh Tit, and yes we saw some waterfowl, specifically two Snipe, about 10 Lapwings, and 15 Teal. Most of the latter were hidden away at the edge of the furthest flash, but one Teal made it to the nearest flash where I suspect John had concentrated his effort.

The token Teal

Next week I'll be resuming the wandering so it could be another quiet one.

Friday November 17 - Filling in the gaps

 We're now firmly at the back end of autumn and December beckons. I've been out twice this week, concentrating on new areas of my circular "patch". Having probably targeted the more promising areas over the last two winters, I am now left with the gaps. Places I don't like the look of, but which have to be visited if I'm serious about birding in every square kilometre of the Circle.

On Tuesday it was Tidbury Green, an area north of Earlswood where suburban sprawl meets farmland. It was cloudy to begin with, and distinctly wet for the last hour. There were no highlights, but I suppose I can pick out a pair of Coots on a small balancing lake at the new Tidbury Heights estate, and a female Kestrel along the roadside between Dickens Heath and Earlswood.

Kestrel

Today was a bright and sunny morning. My destination was Webheath, where once upon a long time ago a Black-throated Thrush (from Siberia) gloriously proved that anything could turn up anywhere.

I walked from there almost as far as Tardebigge Church, through Banks Green. Nothing even remotely the calibre of the famous thrush popped up in front of me, although I did have a bit luck (good and bad) as a Common Crossbill, my third this autumn, flew over a small plantation near Brotherton Wood. The bad luck was that it was very high, and once again I failed to actually see it. It's a good job the call is distinctive.

Common Buzzard

Redwing

Despite the sunshine I struggled to find much to illustrate this post. At least it was another gap plugged.

Sunday November 12 - Morton Bagot

 Yesterday dawned sunny and frosty. I knew the ringers would be on site, but being a creature of habit I decided to stick to the original plan of trudging around the patch on a gloomy damp Sunday morning.

Mistake.

The ringers had had a fabulous (though exhausting) time catching Redpolls that Saturday morning, and it wasn't long before I received a rather gripping photograph. In the midst of a haul of 120 Redpolls, one bird had stood out. Larger and heavier than the Lesser Redpolls which had been attracted to the lure of taped-recorder Redpoll twitter, was a Mealy Redpoll.

Mealy Redpoll

It was accompanied by the question "what do you think?" What I thought was why hadn't I joined them? Further photos and biometrics saying that the wing length was 75mm confirmed its identity beyond all doubt.

Here it is again

Some time later Tony shared another photograph. It showed a second bird, trapped in the same net at the same time. This time the wing length was only 72.5mm, and the bird was browner. Nevertheless the rump was spectacularly pale and heavily streaked, and it was still a little larger than the other Redpolls in the catch. My feeling was that it was another Mealy Redpoll, but I decided to share the details with Andy Warr (while Tony enlisted the opinion of Adam Archer) and both agreed it was an immature female Mealy.

The second Mealy Redpoll

So these Redpolls are currently treated as a race of the continental Common Redpoll (although I prefer the old name Mealy Redpoll). All the rest Tony and Leigh had caught were the closely related British and western European Lesser Redpoll. They can be tricky to separate in the field as the feathers wear paler as winter progresses, and Lesser Redpolls also show some pale in the rump. Female Mealies can look quite brown and not as large and pale as male Mealies. It can get quite nightmarish as Dave and I found at Morton Bagot in 2016 when we had another flock of Redpolls which probably included some Mealies. It's great having ringers on site who can deliver biometrics to back up any field observations.

So that was the day I missed.

Sunday was a different kettle of fish. In a morning of persistent drizzle Dave resisted the urge to bale out, and we were joined by Tony who fancied walking round with us. I forgot to remind him of the dress code, and I have to say that his idea of camouflaged birding gear was somewhat eccentric.

Dave and Tony

Any prospect of studying Redpolls in the field went out of the window as we only saw calling fly-overs. But the day still produced enough to keep us cheerful.

After glimpsing the Barn Owl peeping out of its tree crevice we decided to try for Jack Snipe. This involves an unfortunate level of disturbance, but successfully produced three Jack Snipe and a few Common Snipe. We were also distracted by the first of at least three Stonechats and by a Red Kite which circled the field before landing in a distant tree.

Red Kite

We moved on towards the flash field and found it contained only the usual Mallard, Teal, Common Snipe, and two Shovelers.

The rain persisted, so my camera didn't get much use. Nevertheless we pronounced it a decent morning's birding.

PS: A ringing recovery of one of the Lesser Redpolls caught on October 15 2023 has revealed that it had moved to Icklesham in East Sussex by November 3 2023. It seems very likely that it would then have crossed the channel heading for France or even Spain.

Friday November 10 - Rowney Green

Today I was keen to visit another "new" square kilometre within my wider patch. I chose Rowney Green, a little village just north of Redditch. Actually, I had a slight ulterior motive because I tacked on a wander to a part of Lower Park Farm where, in January 2022, I had seen some Grey Partridges. That part of the plan proved a complete flop because the Pheasant cover where I had flushed the birds was no longer there, and neither were any Partridges.

Anyway, walking up the road to Rowney Green felt like breaking new ground. But was it really? When I came to report my sightings to Birdtrack, I found I had been there several times in spring 1997 (I should say that over the course of about four years I added all my written records back to 1979 onto Birdtrack).

Several species present in 1997 were emphatically not there now. Willow Tit, Tree Sparrow, Curlew, Yellowhammer, and Lapwing are now respectively extinct, extinct, probably extinct, possibly extinct, and probably scarce at Rowney Green. To be fair I'm not certain whether the 1997 visit covered exactly the same area, and in fact I'm pretty sure I hadn't been to the Worcestershire Wildlife Trust reserve known as Newbourne Hill Wood.

On the flip side I did see Raven today and rather more impressively, twice heard a Common Crossbill which circled me above the conifers in Newbourne Wood.

Luckily, many common birds remain common.

Mistle Thrush

Robin

Newbourne Wood looked great, a mixture of Larch, Scots Pine, Spruce, Holly, and Birch, home to plenty of Goldcrests and Coal Tits, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if Crossbills are regular there in years when their population levels are high.

Tuesday November 7 - SO97

 Now that we're in November it's time for me to explore other areas of my Circle. I've covered about 60% of the square kilometres over the last two winters. The vast majority of the Circle is in SP06, SP16, SP07, and SP17. The land to the west, SO97 and SO96 has hardly had a look-in.

Today I made my first visit to the four squares in SO97. That is Broad Green/Tutnall to Blackwell Golf Course. I have to admit that viewed on the map it didn't look particularly appealing, but you won't know if you don't go.

As it turned out it was a little tame. But so long as you lower your expectations a good day can still be achieved. For example Jays were quite easy to find, and for once one was close enough for a photograph.

Jay

My one noteworthy sighting came as I headed south along Agmore Lane. I noticed two or three Buzzards standing in a ploughed field, and then a couple more. Two of them were standing over a corpse of a Rabbit and were pulling it apart. I then noticed more Buzzards in and around the field and came up with a grand total of 10. Unfortunately, I only managed to get a shot of one of them actually feeding.

Buzzard tucking in

I'll leave you with one other thought. The Holly is full of berries and it just so happens that it looks like being a Waxwing winter.

A berry-laden Holly

It's all to play for.

Sunday November 5 - Morton Bagot

 Over the last few days there has been quite a bit of birding activity at the patch, although the birds have not really risen to the occasion.

On Friday I tramped around, hoping to accidentally on purpose flush a Short-eared Owl. In the event I kicked up nothing at all, but did at least see two Mute Swans, an adult and a juvenile, on the flash field. These were the first here for months.

I also kept a half-hearted tally of Woodpigeons flying south (578), as there was clearly some movement going on. I later learned that other localities recorded far more than that.

On Saturday evening Tony was back with his mist-net at the wagtail roost. He caught 19 Pied Wagtails and two Reed Buntings.

This morning it was the turn of me, Dave, and Andy Gooding to see what we could add. Dave started counting Woodpigeons before I turned up, so we carried on diligently all morning. Most movement was in the first couple of hours, and it was all southwards. Our final tally was a respectable 2,004 which eclipses any single flock that has been counted here. Most parties were under 150 strong, but Dave had a flock of 310 before I arrived.

Woodpigeons on the move

It is my understanding that these are all British birds heading for the south coast, and that most of them continue into France and Spain.

The only other birds migrating visibly were 147 Fieldfares and a few Redpolls and Siskins.

We decided to walk through the marsh, flushing six Snipe and a Jack Snipe in the process. The latter was our first of the autumn. The flash field contained two Green Sandpipers, 15 Lapwings, a handful of Teal, 104 Mallard, and a Pintail which I believe was the bird seen a fortnight ago. Between us we counted two to four Stonechats, while Andy saw a Marsh Tit.

Pintail

So all in all things are pretty much as you'd expect, and I'm tempted to switch tactics and start exploring other local areas for most of the winter to come.

Thursday November 2 - Some you win

Unbeknownst to me, while I was enjoying a wander around around Kinwarton, a rather good bird was flying around a few miles to the north. Mark Clarke had happened upon a Short-eared Owl somewhere between Alcester and Studley, and posted a photograph of it on the Local Nature Sightings Whatsapp Group forum.

So the following afternoon I took a complete punt on the HOEF land between Coughton Court and Middle Spernal. Alas, I was to be disappointed.....and very wet. The sunshine and showers forecast turned out to include one long torrential mega-shower which no self-respecting SEOwl would be likely to be braving.

I eventually blundered as far as Middle Spernal Pool where a Goosander at least gave me a little compensation.

Goosander

This morning another Whatsapp message (this time Earlswood) reported a Goldeneye on Windmill Pool. Storm Ciaran was a little tardy, and the weather was positively pleasant. Unfortunately just as Lyn emerged, the rain began. I wasn't about to get another soaking.

Then, just after lunch it seemed to abate and I made the dash over. This would be a year-tick, and also an Earlswood tick (my Earlswood list has many gaps).

Goldeneye

It was still present, although no longer bang in the middle of the lake where Joe Owen had found it. Instead it had drifted to the lee of the bushes south of the yacht club, so the views were a little distant.

Any thoughts of carrying on birding when I got back to the causeway were scuppered by a further pepping up of the rain.

I'm clearly a fair-weather birder these days.