Sunday December 29 - Morton Bagot

 What a gloomy, foggy week it's been. I did get out a couple of times over Christmas but my stumbling around in the fog didn't amount to much and was totally eclipsed by an excellent visit to Morton Bagot today.

The day began with a nice surprise. Dave's brother Paul, who used to put us up on our regular visits to Filey in the 1990s, was visiting from Yorkshire. It was only his second visit to our patch and I felt I needed to warn him it would probably be a waste of time. I needn't have worried though.

The Tawny Owl was showing well, and was quite oblivious to the three sets of bins grilling it. A good start.

We carried on, probably intending to walk across the marsh in the hope of kicking up a Jack Snipe or two. However, we were distracted by three ducks flying towards the flash field. They were distant, but appeared to be two Mallard and a Mandarin. The latter would be a patch year-tick, so I persuaded the others to cut out the marsh and head for the flash.

On the way we flushed a Little Egret and a Green Sandpiper, and on arrival discovered a small flock of Lapwings on the furthest flash. There seemed to be more small gulls than usual on the nearest flash so we headed for the first viewing point. From here Dave quickly alerted us to the presence of a drake Pintail, a drake Shoveler, and the drake Mandarin. The Pintail was my first in the 10 k circle this year, and possibly only the third adult drake I have ever seen here. I was ecstatic.

Also present were at least 15 Teal, 44 Black-headed Gulls and beyond the flash about 40 to 50 Greylag Geese, while a Mute Swan flew over. 

We ended up walking straight back to the car, but still added a fly-over Yellowhammer, three Snipe, and a Stonechat before we were done.

We were at pains to impress upon Paul that this was a good visit, and he certainly enjoyed our enthusiasm.

PS: John Chidwick twitched the birds in the late afternoon and discovered a female Pintail and a Wigeon in addition to the birds we'd seen. Perhaps we weren't as thorough as we thought.

This will probably be my last visit this year so I suppose I should reflect on the year just gone. Today's Pintail brought my circle total to 137, which is the lowest since I've been doing it. Previous years have tallied above 140. 

However there have been some belters this year.

Highlights were the party of six Common Cranes at Morton Bagot in early April, a Yellow-browed Warbler at Earlswood in October, and a Cattle Egret at Arrow Valley lake and Mappleborough Green in April.

Although I totally missed out on the Waxwing influx last winter, I cashed in on the mini Hawfinch invasion this autumn, seeing birds at both Morton Bagot and from my garden at Winyates East. Also new for the garden was a party of migrating Whooper Swans in late October, with a further eleven in November.

Water-levels were high for much of the year making it exceptionally poor for waders. I failed to see any Black-tailed Godwits, Redshank, Ringed Plovers, or Whimbrels for example, and only managed one Dunlin (over Earlswood), and one Greenshank (Middle Spernal). 

Earlswood's birders turned up a decent spread of less regular gulls and terns, most of which I twitched. I did miss a Knot there (it had nowhere to land), and also migrating Osprey and Marsh Harrier. Next year maybe.

Roll on 2025.

Sunday December 22 - A splash of colour

 On a cold and breezy Sunday morning, with rain in the forecast I didn't fancy Morton Bagot, so opted for Earlswood Lakes which I reasoned might host something storm-blown, and therefore rare.

An hour after my arrival reality had set in, and the best birds on show were five Goosander at the far end of Terry's, and a calling Chiffchaff from bushes on the east side of Engine. 

Luckily, my sister had invited me for a coffee at nearby Tidbury Green so I was able to spend the last half-hour sitting in the warm watching her bird feeders. Previously I had missed the regularly visiting pair of Ring-necked Parakeets, but today my timing was spot-on.

The male

The female

This wasn't all either. A partially leucistic Jackdaw was followed by a much finer corvid. The Jay is generally a nightmare to photograph. When I'm wandering around the countryside they spot you a mile off and rarely allow anything more than a rubbish record shot as they prepare to disappear.

From the comfort of a sitting room on the other hand, this particular Jay was practically posing and irresistible. 

I doubt I'll ever beat that.

Friday December 20 - More exploring

 This week the spin of the dice threw up two local venues which had thus far avoided my attention. On Tuesday I hooked up with Andy Gooding who was keen to accompany me around an area of Lapworth close to where he lives.

We met at the churchyard of St Mary's the Virgin and followed footpaths and towpaths in an approximate circle within a one kilometre square. It was a grey old day and deteriorated into light drizzle before we finished, but I enjoyed the walk as we accumulated 39 species in just over two hours.

The landscape was a mixture of pasture and small woodlands and we saw over 100 Redwings, 45 Goldfinches and decent numbers of other common birds. My favourite field was a partially flooded ridge and furrow next to the canal. As well as Redwings and Goldfinches it contained about 15 Meadow Pipits and both Pied and Grey Wagtails. A pair of Goosanders flew down the canal to my surprise, although I think they were a familiar winter resident for Andy. Unfortunately the gloomy weather did not encourage me to get my camera out. 

This morning I was at least able to remedy that as it dawned fairly bright. The walk was much closer to home, nearer even than Morton Bagot, but I didn't hold out much hope for it. A number of small farms included one called Cadborough Farm which seemed to be a dairy farm. The eventual species list was a paltry 29, but did include some surprises, most notably a calling Green Sandpiper which must have flushed from along the brook between Cadborough Farm and Tracy Farm. Annoyingly I only heard it.

On the opposite side of the Henley Road was a field of rougher pasture and a marshy scrub/woodland which looked worth a visit. Shortly after thinking it looked ideal for a Woodcock, one flushed from a few feet away giving briefly excellent views before disappearing behind the bushes. So after a year of not seeing any, that was my second in a week.

The short walk from Cadborough to Tracy Farm gave me a couple of chances to photograph some birds. There were two or three Meadow Pipits and a few Redwings, which was all I needed.

Meadow Pipit

One of about 60 Redwings

Sunday December 15 - Morton Bagot

Dave and I were back at Morton Bagot this morning following a two week gap.

In the intervening time Storm Darragh had swept across the site, bringing down one dead Elm and the ivy which was wrapped around it. Apart from that there didn't seem to be much difference.

One species seems to have moved in (or at least increased its numbers). We counted eight Jack Snipe including the first we had ever flushed from the Dragonfly ponds. As usual none were seen on the ground, and my attempts to photograph their rapidly disappearing forms was pretty hopeless. I did manage a silhouetted shot of one pitching back into the marsh but I'm not going to show it as the image creates a false impression of size making it look Woodcock-like. Instead you'll have to make do with this:

As for the rest of the visit, it was a case of the usual birds but in small numbers. These included four Stonechats, a Red Kite, a Green Sandpiper, and a Little Egret.

Only small numbers of thrushes remain, but these did at least include a Mistle Thrush.

Actually one species which we did see a lot of was Bullfinch, at least ten altogether.

Thursday December 12 - A late year tick

 My determination to carry on exploring unremarkable tracts of land within ten kilometres of my front door paid off today, even though I didn't realise it at the time.

I picked Wythall and started walking north along a muddy and very little trodden footpath heading away from Becketts Farm parallel to the Wythall by-pass. It was a dull, dank day, the only blessing being that it was hardly raining at all.

Initially a decent flock of Redwings, close to a hundred, caught my attention, but after satisfying myself that there were no rare thrushes with them (there was only one Fieldfare), I trudged on.

As I was approaching some stables I paused and was startled by a medium sized bird which took off from under the hedge I was walking along. I saw just enough of it to confirm it was a Woodcock. Only later did I realise it was my first this year.

The return journey added a calling Ring-necked Parakeet to the day, and I found a flock of over 200 Jackdaws back near Becketts.

The camera was not used at all, so I'll have to mention a much less interesting walk which took place on Tuesday. I walked from Sambourne to the coniferous part of Coughton Park without seeing very much at all, but at least I got the camera out.

Treecreeper

Monday December 9 - Weekly round-up

 It's always a bad sign when I title a blog post "weekly round-up". It generally means I haven't seen much, but on the other hand at least I've got some content.

My most recent exploratory walk was to the south-east edge of the Circle and was pretty uninspiring. A distant perched Red Kite kept vigil over the sheep pastures south of The View, a cafe half a mile south of Wootton Wawen. It was just about worth reporting.

The weekend then brought Storm Darragh. Could this bring in some interesting birds? Well it is December, so the answer was no. Nevertheless, with the ringers abandoning all thoughts of ringing at Morton Bagot and Dave choosing to bird at Marsh Lane GP, I decided to give Earlswood a look on Sunday.

The wind was still strong, and was now northerly. It was cold. Half way around Engine Pool I was wondering why I had bothered, but at least a swirling mass of mainly Black-headed Gulls seemed worth a look. Among them were a few large gulls, mainly Herring Gulls, and eventually I picked out one that looked different.

It appeared white headed, its mantle a grey somewhere between Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gull in darkness, it looked a good bet for a Yellow-legged Gull. Unfortunately it was showing no signs of wanting to land on a raft, preferring to either stay in the air or land on the water.

Something didn't feel right though. It wasn't particularly large, no bigger than a Lesser Black-backed Gull, the head was lightly streaked. Could it just be a very pale Lesser?Eventually it drifted past a normal Lesser Black-backed and it was noticeably paler. I tried photographing and filming it, and eventually reached the tentative conclusion that it was a hybrid Lesser Black-backed x Herring Gull.

The legs look yellowish straw to me, while the webbing and toes are clearly pink. This could be ok for Yellow-legged Gull, but I would have expected the legs to be brighter yellow.

In the afternoon I posted some images on the Earlswood Whats app Group site, and was asked by Matt whether I had seen the colour of the orbital ring. This should be red in Lesser Black-backed and Yellow-legged Gull and yellow in Herring (although it is still subject to individual variation). Well I hadn't, but I tried zooming in on one of my shots and got this;

Not very helpful really. The orbital ring looks grey, maybe with a hint of redness. On balance I think this supports the identification of it as a hybrid, but hopefully it may be seen again in better light.

While I was absorbed with this Gull I got a message from my sister. She had photographed a male Brambling in her garden at Tidbury Green. Perfect, an opportunity for a chat in the warm and some coffee.

The Brambling appeared after about fifteen minutes, but frustratingly refused to visit the actual feeder, preferring to sit in a bush partially obscured from view.

Annie's feeders are fantastic. A swarm of Blue Tits was in constant attendance along with a host of other garden birds. Inevitably we started comparing feeders, but I couldn't think of much which favoured ours in Winyates East. 

Oh wait a moment. Annie never gets these:

Tuesday December 3 - Some exploring, and a quick twitch

 Today was largely sunny with not much breeze. I decided to spend the morning investigating fields between Packwood Hall and Hockley Heath at the north-eastern edge of my Circle. I didn't expect to see much, but it was actually quite enjoyable.

I parked opposite Fetherston House after the very friendly owner confirmed he had no problem with that. Straight away I was watching a decent flock of 75 Redwings and a variety of other small birds.

At this point I heard the unmistakeable call of a Parakeet coming from trees near where I'd parked the car. It turned out to be in the back garden of Fetherston House, and the owner confirmed he had seen a pair of Ring-necked Parakeets visiting his feeders regularly since last autumn. He invited me into his garden, but the parakeet had fallen silent and I didn't actually see it.

I resumed my original walk down the footpath and found a field containing 25 Pied Wagtails, two Grey Wagtails, and two Meadow Pipits. 

Back home I was resigned to that being the end of my day's birding, but mid-afternoon Paul Hands posted a photo of a Whooper Swan he had seen on the balancing lake on Arden Forest Way in Alcester.

I was unable to resist going to see it, and found it was still there, sharing the tiny lake with a pair of Mute Swans. A dog-walker had allowed her two dogs off the leash and they were haring around as I arrived, causing the Whooper Swan  to honk nervously.

Fortunately it was otherwise undisturbed and very photogenic.

A nice end to the day.

Sunday December 1 - Morton Bagot

 The omens were not good today. I met Dave at the patch in pouring rain and we trudged soggily towards the ringer's favoured area with a distinct shortage of optimism. A little further on a Blackbird alarm call caused us to check out the other side of the hedge we were walking down, and we were very pleased to locate a rather soggy (and possibly pissed off) Tawny Owl.

We left the Owl where it was and continued northwards. Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad visit after all. 

The scrape field contained a herd of cows spread right across it. This rather put us off any thoughts of looking for Jack Snipe, but I later found out that the ringers had caught one yesterday.

Jack Snipe - Tony and Leigh Kelly

Dave was rather hoping that last Monday's Great White Egret might still be around, but as we approached the flash field there was no sign of it. In fact all we saw was 24 very nervous Teal, a few Mallard, and four Lapwings. However, as we started on the return journey a couple of adult Herring Gulls and a single adult Common Gull flew east. The latter was only the second here this year.

On reaching Stapenhill Wood, Dave proposed we made our way through it in the hope of a Woodcock. I have since heard that the ringers also caught one of those yesterday somewhere on the site.

We were unsuccessful, and became hopelessly separated after Dave opted for the much more challenging brookside route. After a while we could only communicate by phone, and it turned out that Dave had picked the right option. He rang to say he was watching a Hawfinch by Netherstead Farm (as its now called). I made my way towards him, but was too late.

We slowly searched for it, but after about twenty minutes we'd pretty much given up. Virtually back at our cars Dave scanned the bushes back where we'd come from and found it. This time I at least saw it, but it was miles away. It appeared to be with another bird, which I speculated might be another one. To resolve the issue I zoomed the camera up to the max and peered at the image. It turned out that the other bird was a Fieldfare.

The photograph I took was frankly horrible, but just as a record I present it now.

Heavily cropped, the Hawfinch is on the right

I decided to try for a closer image, but only got halfway down the footpath before it took off and flew in a long arc across the fields before disappearing in the direction of the village.

Getting back into my car I looked up at the nearest pylon and found it now contained an adult Peregrine.

The weather had improved considerably and there seemed to be more birds about, but our time had run out.

I'll leave you with Saturday's ringing totals.

Woodcock 1

Jack Snipe 1

Coal Tit 1

Blue Tit 29 (14 retraps)

Great Tit 6 (3)

Long-tailed Tit 4 (4)

Wren 2 (2)

Treecreeper 1

Robin 2 (2)

Blackbird 1

Fieldfare 2

Song Thrush 2

Dunnock 1 (1)

Greenfinch 1

Lesser Redpoll 1