Tuesday August 26 - Morton Bagot

 My concentration on adding records for the 10 km circle around our house this year has meant that I had rather lost track of how well or otherwise things have been going at Morton Bagot. So a week or so ago I added up how many species I'd seen there this year and established it was just 100. At the weekend Black-tailed Godwit and Greenshank improved matters, but several woodland residents were still missing from the list. This morning I decided to walk along the road to Bannams Wood to try to further rectify the situation.

It wasn't long before I came across a tit flock, and eventually added Marsh Tit and Coal Tit to the patch year-list although I must admit both were done on call only.

Once I'd got back to the usual circuit it turned out that todays results were to be similar to last week. There were now two Whinchats in the scrape field, while the farmer has reflooded the nearest flash resulting in an increased count of Teal and the single Garganey returning from presumably being unidentifiable on the furthest flash on Sunday. The waders were squeezed to the edges once more and I could only count eight Green Sandpipers and four Snipe.

Rather belatedly I decided I should try to take another photograph of the Garganey for posterity, but found I was unable to relocate it. Presumably it had swum too close to the nearest edge and was now out of sight.

Faced with the prospect of no photographs to post, I was rescued by a couple of odonata. A female Willow Emerald and a male Migrant Hawker posed nicely.

The female Willow Emerald is a little fatter in the abdomen than the male

Like most Hawkers you have to be lucky to see a Migrant Hawker settle

Sunday August 24 - Morton Bagot

 This morning dawned clear with sunshine and high cloud. There was barely any breeze. It felt like a Morton Bagot morning, particularly after John Chidwick had come up with a Greenshank yesterday.

Half way to the flash field Dave and I noticed some birds flycatching at the far end of a hedgeline. Being rather desperate to see a local Spotted Flycatcher, we approached and scoped what turned out to be several Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, and Blackcaps. However, accompanying them was a Whinchat, our first this autumn.

The views can best be described as adequate.

We reached the flash field and quickly discovered an adult Black-tailed Godwit, the first here for a couple of years. The water in the nearest flash was continuing to evaporate, but was still fine for at least 18 Snipe and eight Green Sandpipers. Most of the Teal had disappeared, possibly to the furthest flash, and we were unable to confirm whether the Garganey was still present.

While we were immersed in counting the waders we became aware of a distantly calling Greenshank, presumably yesterday's bird. The sound seemed to be coming from beyond the furthest flash. Maybe Morton Springs fishing pool, which we never visit, is now receptive to waders.

Finally, Friday night's moth trapping (after I'd discouraged several Hornets) brought me a total of 86 moths of 30 species. The variety was less than exciting, and the only one's new for the year were the very common Square-spot Rustic, and the very small (and common) Mompha subbistrigella.

Friday August 22 - Morton Bagot and Earlswood weekly round up

 The lack of posts this week reflects a rather quiet week, or at least it was for me. My one visit to Earlswood came on Thursday and featured three Common Sandpipers and a good gathering of hirundines, mostly Swallows.

Birds seen by others during the week included Gadwalls, Yellow-legged Gulls, a Green Sandpiper and Common Gulls.

At least at Morton Bagot you rarely find out what you missed because hardly anyone ever goes there. This week it's been all about the Garganey which was still there this morning despite the nearest flash having lost half of its water surface.

I have to say it doesn't do much. The typical view is of it head down, feeding constantly. It's nice to know the flash contains sufficient goodies to tempt it to stay, and enough invertebrate prey to allow at least 15 Green Sandpipers and 14 Snipe to do the same.

Knowing the age and sex of the Garganey would ideally require flight views, but the only opportunity was a quick stretch while I was watching it on Tuesday.

I think I can see the pale grey leading edge of the forewing, which would make it an adult drake in eclipse.

Other birds seen at Morton Bagot included an adult Red Kite today, and several Lesser Whitethroats among the other warblers. Hopefully I'll have a bit more to report in the next few days.

There was an unexpected sighting of a Black-shouldered Kite in Gloucestershire a few days ago, but sadly it didn't turn up here.

Sunday August 17 - Morton Bagot

 We are now in the first peak of autumn. By that I mean the time when the summer visitors start to desert Europe, and with any luck one might turn up at your local patch en route. For that reason I formulated a cunning plan, which was to get to Morton Bagot at dawn and hope that something exciting, like a Tree Pipit, would migrate over me.

Well, it was a thought. In fact I saw very little, nothing moving overhead and just a few warblers in the bushes. 

Part two came when I returned after breakfast. Dave was away, but Andy Gooding joined me. We walked down from the church and arrived at the flash field to find the nearest scrape full of water. No matter, it was also full of waders.

We counted 16 Green Sandpipers, seven Snipe, and 24 Lapwings. Not bad. I turned my attention to the ducks and noticed there had been an influx of 19 Teal. Make that 18, one of them turned out to be much more interesting. A Garganey trying to blend in, and nearly succeeding.

Garganey

Garganey on the left, with two Teal

All seven Snipe

We weren't quite done. Andy spotted a bird of prey sitting in the shade of a tree beyond the flash. It turned out to be a Tawny Owl. I can't remember having seen one in this part of the site before.

Tawny Owl

In case you are wondering what the second peak of autumn is, I would say the middle of October when the Redwings and Fieldfares arrive. Hopefully accompanied by something a little rarer.

Saturday August 16 - Earlswood (and garden moths)

 Earlswood Lakes continues to prove irresistible. On Friday morning I saw very little on my post dawn visit, just a Common Sandpiper. There was one moment of interest though. At about 06:30 the Swallows started to tower and twitter, so I scanned around in the hope that a Hobby might have caused their discomfort. Instead I got onto an accipiter cruising behind the foliage of the woodland surrounding Terry's. It looked broad-winged but was immediately hidden from view. Ten seconds later piles of Jackdaws piled out of the wood in panic. Goshawk has yet to be recorded at Earlswood, but maybe it won't be too long a wait.

On Friday night the garden moth trap got an airing, and I caught new species for me. I'll come back to that later. Early on Saturday morning I had just finished going through the remaining moths when a Whatapp message from John Oates had me heading back to Earlswood. He had found a juvenile Mediterranean Gull. Sadly I was half way there when he posted that it had flown off.

Later the same day I got news that the long-staying 4cy Yellow-legged Gull had appeared on Engine Pool. Back I went, and this time there was no problem.

Back to moths. The new one was a small macro with the rather uninspiring name of Small Rufous. They are described as "local", the reason being that it's one of the Wainscot clan all of which live in waterside vegetation. Our garden is a little bit too far away from such habitat to benefit from such species. But ironically I caught two of them, and neither was subsequently found next day as I went through the trap. 

This wasn't the only species identified on Friday night which was absent the following morning. Centre-barred Sallow (nfy), Dingy Footman and Mother of Pearl had also disappeared by this morning.

The full tally was 118 moths of 36 species, but the best looking moth (arguably) was flying around the front garden when I got back from Earlswood and so could not be included in my stats. It's hard to beat a fresh Flame Carpet.

Wednesday August 13 - Earlswood Lakes

 With the heatwave now in full swing, and a busy social calendar unusually engulfing Lyn and myself, I find myself increasingly drawn to making dawn raids to the gravelly shoreline at Earlswood.

The thing about the lakes is that to stand the best chance of finding something you have to get there early, before the dog-walkers and casual strollers find the shore equally irresistible. 

This morning I just beat the sun poking its head over the horizon and scanned Engine Pool for something new. All seemed to be normal, loads of Pied Wagtails recently emerged from their roost, pretending to be waders. Eventually I got onto seven small ducks flying away down the length of the pool and identified them as Teal. They disappeared from view and I assumed they had gone, but some time later found all seven again dabbling in the shallows at the south end.

Two of the seven Teal

 The fact that this was a noteworthy event says a lot about Earlswood. It should contain stable populations of all kinds of waterfowl, but is just too disturbed. 

Returning to the causeway I saw the familiar figure of John Oates approaching and we met up to compare notes. From where we were, we couldn't really be sure that the Teal were still present. The morning then took an exciting, though ultimately disappointing turn, when John heard a Common Sandpiper calling from Windmill Pool. We quickly spotted it flying across the water, but shortly afterwards noticed a second wader flying down the lake at some distance. It appeared brown backed and long-winged, larger than the Common Sandpiper. I suggested Ruff, and John thought that could be a possibility. It landed on a spit right down at the bottom of the lake so we set off in hot pursuit (neither of us carrying a scope).

The bad news is that we never saw it again. Once closer to the spit we scanned in vain, and so we went down to the far end where the only wader was a single Common Snipe. John was sure that wasn't the bird we'd seen, and certainly I had never thought it was a Snipe. We eventually established there were two Common Sandpipers present, but again they were not the bird we'd seen.

Near misses are all part of the birding game. It can be a frustrating hobby at times. I had to leave, while John returned to Engine Pool where the Teal had also checked out. He did however see a Gadwall, which I had missed.

Much ado about nothing you may think, but it will be enough to encourage further optimistic early morning visits.

Monday August 11 - Earlswood Lakes

 I had the opportunity for a few hours extra birding today when Lyn and Maureen, visiting from Australia, decided on a shopping expedition to Solihull. My only part was to drop them off and pick them up.

I spent the intervening time at Earlswood, trying to see the confounded Mandarin. This time I was successful. It was sitting on its preferred bough good as gold.

Earlier in the morning another Ringed Plover had turned up, but this time I was tipped off that it had flown off before I even left the house.

The second visit had to be late morning, just as the grockle was arriving to ruin the tranquility of the place. But despite youngsters playing music at full volume and dog walkers throwing sticks into the lake so that their dogs could splash around ad infinitum, I still managed a brief view of another half decent bird. As I scanned one of the rafts I noticed a Sedge Warbler at its edge, though it soon disappeared into the vegetation growing over most of the structure.

I may be wrong, but I get the impression that not many Sedge Warblers are seen at Earlswood Lakes these days.

Sunday August 10 - Morton Bagot

 As the latest heatwave approaches, Dave and I were out in the "almost" midday sun slogging around Morton Bagot with very little optimism. But it turned out to be a good morning.

On arriving at the flash field I could see a Green Sandpiper and a load of Greylag Geese  on the furthest flash, but having opted to travel light (without scope and tripod) we soon moved on to get a better look at the drying nearest flash. Before we got there we could hear some large gulls kicking off, and it turned out they were mobbing a Great White Egret standing gormlessly on the dry mud. We are sure it must have just arrived.

 

It was constantly being dive-bombed by Lesser Black-backed Gulls and after about ten minutes flew towards the furthest flash. Ten more minutes later it had had enough and we saw it flying north before gaining height by circling, and being lost behind the trees we were sheltering under.

I felt I was due some good luck after an unlucky streak during the week, and on moving to the Kingfisher Pool to see how many Green Sandpipers had chosen to rest there (five), we spotted a Little Grebe. This was the first here since 2021, so it deserved a photograph. This species has an annoying habit of disappearing into thin air, and once we emerged from behind the willow through which we had been looking, it had "gone". I'm pretty certain it had simply dived, but we never saw it again.

Two Kingfishers appeared briefly as we trudged back.

We didn't see much else, so I should mention my hapless attempts to see birds at Earlswood during the latter half of last week. On Thursday I dashed over to try to see a Ringed Plover, but it had gone. The following day I made yet another attempt to see the Mandarin on Terry's Pool. John Oates appeared and offered to show me its favourite perch. The branch in question proved empty. I'll be trying again tomorrow.

Finally, my garden mothing exploits produced 25 moths of 18 species on Friday night, which was fewer than I had been expecting. Only three were new for the year; a very worn Willow Beauty, an Iron Prominent, and most notably only my second Wax Moth.

Iron Prominent

Wax Moth

On Saturday I had a garden butterfly tick when I noticed a small moth or butterfly fluttering pathetically at the end of a strand of cobweb. I decided to go and rescue it and when I uncupped my hands found I was holding a beautiful Purple Hairstreak. I let it go before my brain caught up and reminded me I should have found a way of taking a record shot.

Wednesday August 6

 It's probably fair to say that most patch birding involves seeing the expected species, with just a slight chance of winning the lottery. With such low expectations you can't really be unlucky, or at least that's what I thought. This week has tested that theory.

On Monday I decided to go to Earlswood in the hope of seeing a Mandarin Duck which had been seen over the weekend. It was a rather dull morning with a bit of a breeze, so the optimistic side of me reasoned I might also find something. 

What transpired was that I couldn't find the Mandarin (though it was seen later in the day) and I got stung by a Wasp. Not ideal. The juvenile Little Ringed Plover was still off the causeway, and my walk around the tree-lined Terry's Pool where the Mandarin was hiding, at least allowed me to take a not very good photograph of a Kingfisher.

Today I decided to try my luck at Morton Bagot. Once again I was unfortunate. The cause of my angst was a pale moth which fluttered passed before pitching into the grass at my feet. I had been wondering what it was, but was rather startled to find it had hook-tipped wings. A photograph might be required for me to check which species it was. The moth wasn't co-operating particularly well, flopping about, mostly on the other side of grass stems. I finally had it in a reasonable position and pressed the shutter, only to find that the battery in the camera was now exhausted. By the time I'd changed it, the moth had sneaked off. I'm pretty sure it was a Pebble Hook-tip, a site tick, but it would have been nice to get a shot.

I continued to the flash field, which still looks great, but could only count two Common Snipe and five Green Sandpipers. I later discovered that a further eight Green Sands were on the adjacent Kingfisher Pool, although they took off bound for the safety of the first flash as soon as they saw me.

At least it was sunny, so the camera was used.

I've occasionally seen Green Sandpipers using the rubble in the far corner of the Kingfisher Pool before. They do not feed here, but just rest up until some annoying birder turns up to disturb them.

Guilty as charged.

Sunday August 3 - Morton Bagot

 A cloudy morning with barely any breeze. Dave and I were keen to see whether the Wood Sandpiper was still present, but before we got to the flash field, an unexpected find was a Reed Warbler in one of the hedgerows. Clear evidence that passerine migration is underway.

We set up my scope to view the furthest flash but there didn't appear to be any waders there. Moving on to the nearest flash the omens looked good. The water-level had dropped and waders could be seen around its edge.

An hour later we had to admit that the Wood Sandpiper was not among them. Instead we counted 15 Green Sandpipers, and found the first three Common Snipe of the autumn. The Water Rail put in a brief appearance, while five Teal swam around. Morton Bagot was back to normal.

A moulting adult Green Sandpiper

Some of the Green Sandpipers fed in the grass, these are smart juveniles

The three Common Snipe

We also saw two Willow Emerald Damselflies, but unfortunately were unable to photograph them.

On Friday night the moth trap was switched on, and hurriedly switched off when it was found to contain three angry Hornets. An hour later it went on again, and this time no Hornets turned up.

I wondered whether the false start would affect the moth catch, but despite a relatively cool night I still found 61 moths in and around the trap the following morning. None were new for the garden, but seven species were new this year. Highlights were a Sallow Kitten (which completed a clean sweep of Kitten species this year), and the migrant Rush Veneer which was my first since 2022.

Sallow Kitten

Rush Veneer

Thursday July 31 - Earlswood

 Some overnight rain encouraged me to give Earlswood a look this morning. I discovered one or two minor arrivals; a juvenile Little Ringed Plover and a Little Grebe on Engine Pool along with the continued presence of a Common Sandpiper, a Common Tern, and a Willow Warbler among the numerous Chiffchaffs.

I decided to walk around Terry's Pool after Engine Pool for a change, but other than lots of Tits it didn't hold that many birds.

Just before I left I joined John Oates on the dam. He asked me if I was into botany at all, and I had to admit that I wasn't. The main problem being that I can never remember the names of plants from one year to the next (or even a week later sometimes). John on the other hand is much more on the ball, and was pleased to show me at least seven species I have never knowingly seen, growing along the dam.

These were, if I've remembered correctly, the rather scarce Monk's Hood Skullcap, and Trifid Bur-Marigold, and also Orange Balsam, Corn Mint, Niger, Hemp Agrimony, and Gypsywort.  

Trifid Bur-Marigold

I'll have to come back one morning when I've got more time to try to find them again.

While we were chatting John was pleased to discover the first colour-ringed juvenile Black-headed Gull here since the breeding season.

It turned out to have been ringed near Marlingford, Norwich on June 10 2025. That's a pretty fair distance for a dispersing juvenile gull.

Changing the subject to the dreaded moths, I managed to find only my third Hawthorn Blotch-miner yesterday simply by opening the bathroom window. This species, Coptotriche marginea for those who prefer latin names, is common and no doubt resident in our garden.

It is of course a micro, and therefore not everybody's cup of tea. It is perched on the rim of my smallest glass pot just about to regain its freedom.

Tuesday July 29 - Morton Bagot

 This was a morning of low cloud and threatened drizzle which delivered, both the rain and another opportunity to see the Wood Sandpiper. To be quite honest I was expecting that it had gone, so was delighted to relocate it. 

Less thrilling was the fact it was in the same place at the back of the furthest flash. However, I did what we should have done on Sunday, and got as close to the fence as I could before a lack of elevation left the bird out of view.

After about ten minutes it disappeared behind a dense stand of rushes and failed to re-emerge. One or two Green Sandpipers occasionally appeared, briefly raising hopes. 

I really wanted to photograph it, but distance and intervening vegetation made this challenging. These are the best of a sorry bunch.

Spot the bird competition: hint, above the left hand Greylag Goose

This at least shows it stretching its neck

I know I shouldn't put the camera on maximum zoom, but I just can't help it

Shortly after this marvellous set of photos was taken the weather took a turn for the worse, and with the bird missing entirely anyway, I decided to throw in the towel.

So these are very bad record shots, but at least you can tell its not a Green Sandpiper.

Sunday July 27 - Morton Bagot

 This morning Dave and I were joined by Andy Gooding, and we proceeded on the usual circuit on what would prove to be an eventful visit. For the first thirty minutes the only highlight was a distant adult Red Kite, followed by three more circling over Bannams. These last three were considered to be juveniles from the neatness of their flight feathers.

Andy had seen three Little Egrets flying over before he joined us, and we later saw one of these (presumably) flying back the other way. He also spotted a Froglet and a young Toad in the nick of time before my size nines descended on them. For some reason, Toads are much commoner at Morton Bagot than Frogs are.

Frog above, Toad below

The walk came to an abrupt standstill when we reached the ridge from which it is possible to scope the furthest flash. I started scanning, noting that 60 Greylags had landed there, and that there were a few Lapwings. I then spotted a "proper" wader in the form of a Green Sandpiper. Near that was a slightly smaller, lighter backed wader. At first I thought it might be the Common Sandpiper I'd seen last time, but as it kept disappearing and reappearing amongst the rushes at the back of the scrape, I began to feel sure it was actually a Wood Sandpiper. At one point the two waders flew, and both had square white rumps. 

Unfortunately we were three birders sharing one scope. Although a second Green Sandpiper then appeared, it was always obvious which was the Wood Sandpiper. It was slightly smaller, paler, its neck slightly more extended upright, and its back end shorter than the Green Sands. Eventually I relinquished the scope for Dave to have a look and he concurred with the identification, commenting that he could see a hint of spangling on its back. 

I should say that even with a scope the bird was very distant. Andy eventually got his turn, while Dave and I discussed what we'd got on it. The only inconsistent feature was that neither of us could see a whiteish supercilium which is usually so obvious on Wood Sands. This could be explained if the bird was an adult, which would have a more uniform head.

As you may have guessed from all this screed, the bird was not photographed. After the bird seemed to disappear we decided to check the nearest flash. If nothing else I was keen to see the record 20 Green Sandpipers counted by John Chidwick yesterday. 

Disappointingly, with the flash pool once again full of water, we could only see six or seven of them, and still no sign of the Wood Sand. We went back to the traditional viewing spot at fence level, but closer to the furthest flash than we had been. Rather gallingly we hadn't previously noticed that the grass in the flash field had been mowed, so we would have had a half decent view and maybe I'd even have got a record shot if we proceeded forward to the fence instead of scoping from the top of the hill. Now it was too late and all the Sandpipers had disappeared.

It was time for me to return. Dave and Andy decided to go for a wander in the hope of finding another wet area where the Wood Sand may have gone.

I later heard they'd been unsuccessful. I returned in the afternoon, but saw only three Green Sandpipers, although five young Mistle Thrushes in the flash field was noteworthy.

Saturday July 26 - Mostly about moths

 Before I get onto another bumper moth night, I will just mention birds. As expected, the Black-crowned Night-heron reappeared the day after I dipped on it, and it has been there ever since. I have not been tempted to return. Instead I went to Earlswood Lakes on Thursday and saw all the expected species there, the one highlight being two Red Kites over the west side of Engine Pool. I alerted John Oates as they were practically over his garden, and he dashed out to discover there were actually five of them, presumably a family party.

The next day Joe Owens found two juvenile Greenshank on Engine, but they were flushed by joggers before I even considered leaving the house. Today John Chidwick supplied news from Morton Bagot, seeing an impressive 20 Green Sandpipers there.

Its a good job that Saturday night brought me another shed-load of moths, I could start getting a complex. The final score (subject to me finding more in the utility room tonight) was 177 of 60 species. Of these six were new for the year and a further five, at least, were lifers.

The first of these was the largest and most impressive. A Gypsy Moth was captured on the window frame. Once extinct in Warwickshire, they have made a bit of a comeback thanks to our warming world, but it's still a good find.

It was a male (the females are whiteish) and is about the size of a 50 pence piece. 

The next goody was a lot smaller. Measuring about six centimetres, a small moth on the perspex lid of the trap looked unfamiliar. However as it was from the tortrix family, that didn't necessarily mean anything. My identification app narrowed the field down to a Gypsonoma species, and further research ended up at Small Brindled Tortrix Gypsonoma minutana. Not only new, but described as "very local" in my Field Guide.

No sooner than I had seen that, I spotted an equally tiny one as I started going through the egg boxes in the trap. Oddly, I pretty much knew what it was before I started research. The Triple-spotted Nest Moth is closely related to the clothes moths we all love so much, but it's rather distinctive.

I think they are fairly common. Maybe the Blackbird nesting in the garden this year helped to introduce it.

Elsewhere in the box I spotted a big Pug. These moths are all basically small, and horribly similar looking. But this one looked different and turned out to be the rather scarce Plain Pug. I know it sounds dull, but it's more distinctive than many of them.

With a wingspan of up to 26 mm, this is one of the larger Pugs and is technically a macro-moth.

The last addition to the garden list was found clinging to the bathroom window. We are back in the baffling world of the Tortrix moths and I jumped to the incorrect conclusion that it was a Common Marble. Fortunately I don't trust myself to identify this group without checking on the ID app. That preferred Enarmonia formosana, whatever that was. The app was right. It was indeed that species aka Cherry Bark Moth.

We're back onto moths measuring 8mm long here, but seen through my camera it was very attractive.

They are also apparently common. It is likely that it's caterpillar stage is associated with our apple tree, which appears to be having a bumper crop this year.

Other notables included another tortrix, Cochylichroa atricapitana, and the pyralid Nephropterix angustella (both garden seconds). But I think I've shown almost enough moths so I'll leave it there.

OK one more: this tiny moth is a bit of a mystery. My app hadn't got a clue, and I'm afraid it's now awaiting "determination" because I think it might be very rare indeed. Possibly.

It's probably just a Bryotropha terrella, but I'm not sure. It just might be Athrips rancidella which would be a county first. Time, and the skill of the county recorder, will tell.

Tuesday July 22 - Grimley and Morton Bagot

 I was very tempted to call this post confessions of a lapsed twitcher. About twelve days ago a Black-crowned Night-heron was discovered at Camp Lane Pits, Grimley near Worcester. For some reason there was a delay of five days before the news was widely broadcast. But when it was, the bird became very popular with lots of county listers. That was when I should have gone.

Instead, my initial reaction was to wonder whether I'd seen one in the county before. I concluded I probably hadn't, and indeed it turned out that it had been a bogey bird for most in Worcestershire. My problem was that it was more than 20 kms away, and therefore could prove awkward in my current domestic circumstances. I kind of wrote it off. But as the days passed and the bird stayed, it bothered me more and more.

This morning I could stand it no longer. I got up early and went. It was a long time since I'd been to this part of Grimley, and I was in for a shock. The pit I remembered was quite small with a few gravel islands. Twenty years on, its huge, reed-lined, and impressive. Fortunately another birder had arrived just before me, Dan, a patch birder from just the other side of the river. He knew where to go, but like me he hadn't dragged himself away from his patch until today.

An hour later, though joined by several other hopeful twitchers, the omens looked bad. There was no sign of it. My time ran out and I reluctantly headed back to the car empty-handed. Fate gave me a bit of a break before I left the site as an orange-tailed bird "ticked" loudly before disappearing into a hedge along the north footpath. It had to be a Redstart, and with a little patience, I got a second chance to see it reasonably well.

Later in the morning I got back to what I know, and went to Morton Bagot. It wasn't too bad. The highlight was a Common Sandpiper among the Green Sandpipers, my first there this year.

There was even some back up in the form of a calling Yellowhammer, and a Garden Warbler within a loose mixed flock of warblers.

It may yet be that the Night Heron is still at Grimley, but I think the main problem is I just don't care about my Worcestershire list anymore. I probably won't go again.

Sunday July 20 - Earlswood and Morton Bagot (and moths)

 Trying to predict the best place to go birding, taking account of the weather, is a rather inexact science. I suspect most committed birders (or those who should be committed) do this. 

This morning it seemed like a no brainer. It was pouring with rain at 05:30, so within forty minutes I was at the largest water body within my Circle, Earlswood Lakes, hoping for the best. I'm reluctant to say expecting to see something because disappointment is also part of the game.

Sadly it didn't do the business. I got thoroughly wet for the sake of a Little Egret, three Common Sandpipers, three Common Terns, and a tatty second-summer Common Gull. The latter was only my second or third this year (they're not common around here), so I guess that got the accolade of best bird.

The Little Egret

In fact Earlswood is in a rather sorry state at the moment. The low water levels may bring the promise of wader passage, but they're also bringing death to the bigger fish in the lakes. Numerous dead Pike and Carp floated in the shallows. The Canals and River Trust have at least contracted someone to try to do something about it, and this morning water was being pumped into Windmill Pool with the intention, I assume, of increasing the oxygen levels.

After a late breakfast I headed for Morton Bagot in order to meet up with Dave who'd started at our normal time. The rain was now more showery, but after failing at Earlswood I was no longer feeling optimistic. Dave's best find was a Hobby which I missed after failing to follow his directions, but between us we managed to muster 10 Green Sandpipers, two Grasshopper Warblers, a Willow Warbler, and four Lesser Whitethroats. So pretty much the usual stuff.

Predicting moths is slightly different. The main prerequisite seems to be a warm night, preferably with not much breeze and maybe a little rain. Moonless is best. I picked Thursday night, mainly because Lyn and I were going to the theatre on Saturday and I didn't want to be too knackered. I still expected a big haul of moths, so 174 of 54 species was good, but not that good.

There were no major surprises either. About half the catch were the tiny Yponomeuta micros, and most of those were Bird-cherry Ermines. The rest were mostly familiar ones, and only 11 species were new for the year. There was also one which was new for the garden, but it was a tiny micro (6mm) and also apparently common (just not in our garden). That was Buff Mompha Mompha epilobiella. I should say that it never ceases to amaze me that common moths should wait this long to make their debut on my list. 

Mompha epilobiella

There were still a few noteworthy species. The first Least Yellow Underwing for four years, the first Maple Pug for a similar length of time (I proved myself lamentably inept at identifying it, having thought it was the very similar Slender Pug). An on-line expert came to my aid.

Least Yellow Underwing on the right (the other one is a worn Mint Moth)

Maple Pug on the window

White Satin Moth (first for two years)

Beautiful Plume. I see roughly one per year although they no doubt live in the garden.

Finally, the following evening I was pleased to see another Hummingbird Hawk-moth feeding on the Valerian, this one avoiding the local sparrows.