Friday March 8

Typical early March. The temperature gauges have been heading in the wrong direction, and it's been hard to get motivated.

Nevertheless I convinced myself my cold had gone (it hasn't) and spent Wednesday morning exploring Rough Hill Wood on the south side of Redditch. It was foggy for the entire visit, but as I was in a wood it didn't really matter. Part of the reason for the visit was that Jonathan B (still writing his book on the birds of Warwickshire) had reminded me that he was hoping for additional breeding records for the east side of Redditch which was once within Warwickshire but is now part of Worcestershire. Just to complicate matters further, Rough Hill Wood is a Warwickshire Trust Reserve and is wholly in Warwickshire anyway.

I actually rather enjoyed the visit. It's a smashing wood and looked to have plenty of potential. No Lesser Spots called or drummed to announce their presence, but I did see a Marsh Tit and heard a Tawny Owl hoot. The latter was a year-tick, but it occurs to me that I am now well off the pace and if I do stick to the plan of surveying east Redditch for birds, this could prove a pretty ordinary year.

Rough Hill Wood

Lyn has caught my cold, but despite this we managed to keep our Thursday appointment at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford to see Midsummer Nights Dream. I'm glad we did because it was excellent.

On the downside I got a text half way through the performance; Little Gull at Lower Bittell. This is probably the first twitchworthy (well Shakespeare made lots of words up) bird of the year, and I was well and truly stuck.

This morning optimism got the better of me and I went to see if it was still there. It wasn't, although a flock of 44 Black-headed Gulls briefly raised my hopes. The visit wasn't a complete waste of time as an Oystercatcher appeared at Alvechurch Fisheries during my visit. 

Oystercatcher

Not exactly unexpected as they bred here last year, but still a year-tick.

While the birding has got off to a slow start, my mothing has been a lot more promising. The frosty mornings of the last week relented slightly last night so I gave it a go. This morning the resultant six Common Quakers and a single Small Quaker plus a chilly easterly breeze told me I probably shouldn't have bothered.