Wednesday July 30 - Too hot ?

 A summer heatwave can be a little too much. I went birding at Morton Bagot yesterday, just missing the coolness of early morning, and found that the nearest flash has an even wider margin of mud, and roughly the same number of Green Sandpipers and Lapwings as we saw on Sunday. The wait for something unusual goes on.

At the church I noticed a small group of Swallows on telephone wires, and was left to reflect that the four adults and three juveniles probably represents one successful pair and one failure. 

The flip side of all this hot weather is that it should be good for insects. The butterfly totals have been down this year, maybe because of the cool spring, but a warm night meant there should be lots of moths.

I put the trap out in the garden and caught 370 moths of 51 species. That sounds pretty good doesn't it, but the majority were micros; 131 Ypsolophas (Ermines) and 154 Water Veneers forming the bulk. 

My only garden tick was a micro, albeit a reasonably large one. A single Eudonia pallida (known as Marsh Grey or Pallid Grey depending on which book you read) was one I had been hoping to see for years. They are described as fairly common, and I suspect that closeness to a reed-bed is the deciding factor.

Pallid Grey looking suitably pale in an egg box

The rest of the catch contained no great surprises, although Gold Triangle (another micro) was only my third.

Actually, that's not entirely true. The one big surprise was the lack of any Large Yellow Underwings (or any of the Yellow Underwing species). I'm sure I would have been catching loads of them in previous summers.

Maybe things are just as bad for moths as butterflies (they're all the same thing really anyway).

Morton Bagot - Sunday July 28

 It was a sunny and warm morning. I met Dave at Netherstead and it wasn't long before we found a decent bird. A juvenile Peregrine was sitting on the nearest pylon, the first of that species since March, and the first juvenile this year.

Juvenile Peregrine

The ringers had been hard at it since the early morning and had caught their first juvenile Grasshopper Warbler of the year, along with a Willow Warbler and a host of regulars. We were late on the scene but were still in time to see a juvenile Sedge Warbler which had just been caught.

Juvenile Sedge Warbler

We headed on our usual circuit and 400 metres further on located a Garden Warbler in the hedgerow. This was probably the bird of the day.

At the flash field we could only manage nine or ten Green Sandpipers, although I'm sure more were out of view. Teal numbers have climbed to five, Lapwings were up to 37, and a Little Egret haunted the furthest flash. 

We saw two Red Kites, but they were too distant to age. 

As it was warm there were lots of insects on the wing including Brown Hawkers and loads of Emperors. We saw several Peacock butterflies, a species which I've found as scarce as all the other butterflies this year.

Dave is something of a fly magnet, constantly getting bitten by flesh flies. However I was thrilled to see a "different" fly resting on his back. 

Chrysops caecutiens according to my app.

I've looked it up and it does indeed seem to be a Splayed Deer Fly C caecutiens, which had obviously thought it had landed on a blue Roe Deer. I'm not sure Dave was all that impressed.

Morton Bagot - Friday July 26

 First the good news. I counted 17 Green Sandpipers which equals the site record.

Wren

Now the bad news. I haven't really got to the bottom of why I'm having trouble uploading photographs to the blog, but as you can see I have found a way for now. 

I'm just going to have to lump it

 The Morton Bagot list is set to go into reverse. Following the decision of the IOC (International Ornithological Committee) to lump all the Redpolls into one species, I have now lost Mealy Redpoll from my list....in a way. 

My Morton Bagot list has slumped to 158 species. Of course I've still seen Mealy Redpoll here, I just can't add it to my species list. Lists matter to a lot of birders and I can't deny I do like listing. On the other hand I won't really miss Mealy Redpoll because identifying them is very hard. 

The driving force behind the change is the science of genetics, and I gather further changes are likely. I shouldn't complain because throughout my birding life I have benefitted from far more splits than lumps. I can still remember when Water Pipit was split from Rock Pipit, a change that everyone thought was long overdue.

I'm grateful to the IOC for giving me something to write about, because the birding has been very quiet lately.

I did pop down to the patch yesterday hoping for some change, but it was all pretty much as I'd left it. The highlight was a Sand Martin heading south, while a Grasshopper Warbler continues to sing in the chat field.

I was only able to count 10 Green Sandpipers on the nearest flash, the Lapwing flock remains stable, and Teal numbers have doubled....to two.

The really bad news is that I can no longer upload photos to the site. I'm going to have to find out what's going on.

This could be the last post.

Sunday July 21 - Morton Bagot

 After a week of birding abstinence I was keen to make the most of the weekend. Saturday dawned dull and overcast and remained that way all day. The highlight for me was finally meeting Redditch birder Mike Holley on site.

Mike was very happy with his morning and has kindly shared some of his photos. The most interesting was his shot of a Red Kite which I believe shows a juvenile bird. This is good circumstantial evidence that they have bred in Bannams Wood this year.

Red Kite - Mike Holley

He also saw three juvenile Stonechats before we headed for the nearest flash which now looks in great nick. We counted the Green Sandpipers and found a newly arrived Teal. Earlier I had heard a Grasshopper Warbler singing from the Chat field, but chose not to try to see it.

One of the juvenile Stonechats

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker - Mike Holley

This morning I returned in bright sunshine and hadn't got very for before discovering a Garden Warbler, a good sign. This was my first here this year, the site doesn't yet attract them regularly.

Garden Warbler

I reached the nearest flash and was pleased to find there were even more Green Sandpipers than yesterday. I counted 16 individuals plus a Little Ringed Plover, only the second here (and my first) this year. The Teal was still there and also the usual two Little Egrets.

Large raptors were very much in evidence. At least seven Common Buzzards and three Red Kites, Mike's juvenile and two adults.

My favourite moment of the day came on the walk back along the Morton Brook. I had just stopped to try to photograph a probable Essex Skipper when a small bird leapt out of the grass and flew past me calling a loud "tick" repeatedly. I knew immediately that it was a Grasshopper Warbler and having not actually clapped eyes on any of this year's singing birds, I was keen to see it well. As it turned out all I had to do was stand still and watch as it approached me, calling constantly.

 Grasshopper Warbler

You'll notice that it has been ringed, presumably by Tony K this year. I don't know why it was so obliging, but I suppose it is likely that there were recently fledged juveniles nearby.

In the end I didn't confirm any of the Small Skippers were definitely Essex Skippers, but I did see my first Southern Hawker dragonfly of the year.

A pretty good weekend's patch birding.

I nearly forgot, I also added a common micro-moth to my very limited site moth list when I noticed a Carcina quercana in a hedge. Unfortunately my attempt to take its picture was an abject failure.

Friday July 19 - Mostly moffs

Birding opportunities have been scant this week, but at least we now have a new carpet and my late mother's flat has been cleared of furniture. However this morning following a warm sticky night as I was in the garden preparing to investigate my moth trap I heard the screaming of Swifts overhead and looked up to see 20 of them careering overhead. This modest count was still the largest number I have seen this year as their UK population continues to decline.

As for the moths, well this was easily my biggest night this year. I counted 221 moths of at least 39 species. Typically the majority were micros, in particular the tiny Yponomeuta moths which are often impossible to identify to species level. Most were Yponomeuta evonymella (Bird-cherry Ermine) no doubt a reflection of the overgrown state of our garden. Some were definitely some of the other Ermine species. The common one I'm missing is Willow Ermine, Yponomeuta rorrella, but I had a few candidates.

Potential Y rorrella

Fortunately most of the other species, even the micros, were easier to separate. I still did my best to overlook one of two other species which were lifers. To be fair, I knew the insect in question was something I hadn't seen before, I just didn't realise it was a moth. Fortunately I was curious enough to take a photograph and ask Obsidentify what it was. The name Homoeosoma sinuella meant nothing to me and it was some time later that I discovered it was the latin name of the pyrallid moth called Twin-barred Knot-horn.

Twin-barred Knot-horn

It was rather good for Pyrallids and I also recorded only my second Grey Oak Knot-horn Acrobasis consociella, and several other species which are less than annual.

My last lifer was a macro-moth, but a very small one. As far as I can tell the Short-cloaked Moth is not rare locally, but I'd never seen one before.

Short-cloaked Moth

At least I knew it was a moth.

Sunday July 14 - Morton Bagot

 The sun was out, the ringers were ringing, and Dave joined me for a stroll around the patch. It definitely feels like everything is back to normal. We also saw no unusual birds, so certainly a typical visit.

By the time we left them the ringers had caught 74 birds including 11 Whitethroats, two Goldcrests, and a male Bullfinch.

The Bullfinch

Our circuit had a few minor highlights such as a Red Kite which flew low overhead, a Little Egret and four Green Sandpipers at the flash field, and a fly over Cormorant.

Red Kite

The warm weather was good for seeing dragonflies. These included several Ruddy Darters, and a few Small Red-eyed Damselflies which were new for the year.

Ruddy Darter

Small Red-eyed Damselfly

I also did another 15 minute butterfly count and managed 44 butterflies (plus Large and Small Skippers) of six species. This was a lot better than zero butterflies in 15 minutes at Hillers Garden Centre yesterday (admittedly in cool overcast conditions).

Things are looking up.

Friday July 12 - Back to normal

The good news is that Lyn and I are both now officially recovered from the lurgy so the birding is back to normal. The bad news is that the patch is refusing to gift me any decent birds.

I suppose that's a little unfair. On Tuesday I counted nine Mistle Thrushes at Morton Bagot, which appears to be a site record. They'll just be local breeders but it's always nice to see a success story.

This morning I had another look at the patch and discovered that nine Green Sandpipers, two Little Egrets, and 30 Lapwings are still in residence. Earlier on I had joined the ringers at their Purity Brewery ringing site. It was my first visit, other than to buy beer, and I was pleasantly surprised by the area.

The brewery have constructed a series of small ponds to assist with its filtration system. I haven't quite got my head around the process but the result is a series of small ponds surrounded by reeds, ideal for Reed Warblers and Reed Buntings at least. They were also very happy to allow the ringers access, and even supplied us with a complimentary bottle of beer each. Now that's what I call birder friendly.

One of the lagoons

I'm very much not a ringer, more of a ringer's groupie really, and was in time to see one bird in the hand. 

Juvenile Whitethroat

I probably had the best bird when I flushed a Green Sandpiper, maybe the first for the site. It was also nice to see and hear a singing Yellowhammer as a reminder of how Morton Bagot a few miles up the road used to be.

The rather distant Yellowhammer

Today was also the start date for the Big Butterfly Count organised by Butterfly Conservation. I should make more of an effort to take part in survey work, and have vowed to turn over a new leaf. I duly counted the handful of butterflies which were on the wing from 09.15 at the brewery's wetland, and also did so at Morton Bagot. It is slightly irritating that the app won't allow you to record Skippers (presumably considered too challenging for the participants), but it still felt as though I was doing something useful for conservation.

The last couple of weeks of staring out of our kitchen window has reminded me how awful is the current state of the insect population. I think I saw one butterfly, a Meadow Brown, in two weeks. Morton Bagot is obviously much better, but even there the numbers seem to be lower than in previous years. It is of course a cooler than average summer, so hopefully that is part of the issue.

Anyway, my 15 minute stint at Purity gave me three butterflies of two species (plus two Small Skippers), while at Morton Bagot it was 31 butterflies of five species (plus some Small Skippers).

Gatekeeper at Morton Bagot

The ringing figures were as follows:

Blue Tit 1

Great tit 1

Chiffchaff 2

Reed Warbler 6 (1)

Sedge Warbler 1

Blackcap 3

Whitethroat 2

Wren1

Dunnock 1

Reed Bunting 1 (1)

Sunday July 7 - It's been a while

I'm back in the field. My recent absence has been caused by a bout of Covid 19. Yes the lurgy finally caught up with me, and indeed Lyn. From my point of view it been more tedious than alarming, but it has had the unfortunate effect of causing a further postponement of Lyn's much needed op.

I'm actually still testing positive but reasoned there wasn't much chance of passing it on to anyone at Morton Bagot as long as I gave Dave prior warning. My solo visit had to be a relatively brief one, and was concentrated on the flash field.

The nearest flash is still in good nick, although there is now more water than mud.

The only waders visible were eight Green Sandpipers and 37 Lapwings. I couldn't help wondering whether I've missed anything during my absence, the only news I'd heard being the presence of a Little Ringed Plover last Saturday (John Chidwick). This was actually the only record this year so far.

Other birds seen today included seven recently fledged Mistle Thrushes, two calling Little Egrets, two Red Kites, and a tacking Lesser Whitethroat. Pretty standard fare, but I was just glad to be out.

It was a rather cloudy morning so butterflies were reluctant to fly. Among the usual Meadow Browns and Ringlets I kicked up a Small Heath and several Small Skippers (my first this year), and also a Shaded Broad-bar moth.

Shaded Broad-bar

Hopefully I'll test negative later this week and normality will return.

In the meantime I decided to stick my garden moth trap out despite it being yet another cooler than average night. I reasoned that the wind had dropped and it was getting on for a fortnight since my last effort.

The result was 44 moths of 21 species. None were new for the garden, but there were a few I hadn't seen last year or beyond; Common White Wave (2021), Scalloped Oak (2020), Small Magpie (2021), and Swallow-tailed Moth.

Best of the bunch from a scarcity in my garden point of view was the micro Spotted Knot-horn Phycitodes binaevella which was only my second, and also the first since my first year of mothing, 2018.

Spotted Knot-horn Phycitodes binaevella

Knot-horns are strange looking moths. Their natural resting position is bolt upright. The moth is resting on a bracket holding the light in position, its eye and palps are at the top and the end of its folded wings at the bottom.

I was very disappointed to miss the HOEF Bioblitz on Saturday, where I had intended to see what moths they had caught overnight in order to boost my rather modest moth list. 

Maybe next year.