Morton Bagot Birder: Friday February 16 - Hopwood (and a quick twitch to Earlswood)

Friday 16 February 2024

Friday February 16 - Hopwood (and a quick twitch to Earlswood)

I finally managed to get out birding today, choosing to visit another gap in my Circle map. This time it was Hopwood, just north of the M42. In fact I parked at Hopwood Services where I was pleased to find a large flock of Siskins feeding on alder seeds. It was a bright sunny start, so the camera came out.

Male Siskin

Female Siskin

Seeing Siskins at close range in bright sunshine is hard to beat.

The map told me that a footpath led north from the Services towards Hopwood itself. What it didn't tell me was that it led through an excellent looking area of scrubland which If I'd had a bit more time might have worth spending longer in. The best bird here was probably a Bullfinch.

A quick loop around some local farmland brought me one unexpected sighting as six egrets which I assumed were Little Egrets flew in from the direction of Upper Bittell before appearing to land in a field behind a stand of trees. These days you can't take anything for granted with Egrets, so although I hadn't seen anything to suggest Cattle Egret I did at least try to relocate them in the hope they hadn't been as far away as they'd seemed. Unfortunately, I couldn't find where they were, and I had run out of time.

Back home I made sure Lyn was OK, before noticing in a Whatsapp message that there was an Egyptian Goose at Earlswood. Well I only saw one around here last year, so I had to go.

Egyptian Goose at Earlswood

As twitches go, it was about as efficient as you can get. The bird was exactly where Tony Philp had said it was.It was also an Earlswood tick.

The recent mild weather has encouraged a few insects out. Bumblebees frequently fly past the front window, and I was encouraged enough to put my moth trap out on Tuesday night. I caught just two moths (Clouded Drab (nfy) and Common Quaker). The next night was even balmier and Lyn suggested I try again. Perhaps I should have because I later learned that Jason Waine caught 139 moths of 29 species in his garden at the other end of Redditch that night. I'd have been pleased with that number in July. Mind you, his garden does back onto a substantial wood.

I think I'll have another go tonight. Watch this space....The result was:

27 moths of four species. 24 of them were Common Quakers, the others were Clouded Drab, Satellite (first since 2020), and Dotted Border (first since 2021).