Sunday January 26 - Morton Bagot and Big Garden Birdwatches

 I have to admit that I didn't go to Morton Bagot today. I decided it would rain and so wimped out. Fortunately Dave S and Mike H had no such qualms (and it didn't rain until later), so I am grateful to them for visiting the place and doing pretty well.

Between them they saw a Hawfinch, a probable Jack Snipe, at least two Red Kites, a Tawny Owl and a Little Egret. That'll teach me.

As for me I decided to take part in the Big Garden Birdwatch.....twice. My own garden fared reasonably well; 28 birds of nine species. This was probably the best my "smaller than a tennis court" Winyates East garden has ever managed.

I then went to visit my sister in Tidbury Green where her "larger (well longer) than a tennis court" garden absolutely massacred mine. We counted 47 birds of 15 species in the allotted hour. They included a male Blackcap, two Jays, and a male Brambling.

The full results are as follows:

Winyates East: Woodpigeon 2, Blue Tit 2, Great Tit 1, Robin 2, Blackbird 2, Dunnock 1, House Sparrow 5, Greenfinch 7, Goldfinch 6.

Tidbury Green: Woodpigeon 2, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2, Jay 2, Magpie 2, Jackdaw 3, Blue Tit 7, Great Tit 1, Blackcap 1, Robin 1, Blackbird 3, Dunnock 2, Chaffinch 4, Brambling 1, Greenfinch 4, Goldfinch 12.

Incidentally we both saw fly-overs and birds in neighbouring gardens which we couldn't count according to my interpretation of the rules. These included Redwings (Winyates East) and Stock Doves  plus a shed load of extra Goldfinches at Tidbury Green.

Saturday January 25

 It's been a very quiet birding week. 

My two exploratory walks were to Oldberrow Hill, and Butler's Hill Wood. The less said about them the better. My only year-tick came yesterday when I wasn't even birding (although arguably I'm never not birding) when I noticed a Red Kite from the A435 at Branson's Cross.

This morning I went to Morton Bagot hoping to take advantage of a window of fine weather between storms. What I hadn't bargained on was that the site would be frozen after the temperature dipped overnight.

It was steady. The one good thing was that the bright sunshine meant I finally got my camera out of the bag.

As you can see, the blog is still functioning.

Sunday January 19 - Morton Bagot and a Bittell Gull roost

 Before I get to today's birding I will just mention that on Thursday I tried my luck at a square kilometre surrounding Junction 16 of the M40, just north of Henley. For the most part it was as unexciting as you might expect, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a flock of 20 Yellowhammers on Nuthurst Farm just west of the motorway.

Anyway, today I joined Dave at Morton Bagot and we completed the usual circuit in cold, cloudy conditions. This was my first visit this year when the site was not frozen solid, and the birds responded accordingly. The flashes played host to 33 Teal, a Mute Swan, and slightly more unexpectedly four Wigeon. A Green Sandpiper was the third year-tick, although we only heard it.

The biggest surprise came when we prepared to view the Kingfisher Pool. A small group of Mallard flew up and popped over the hedge to the nearest flash and we heard a strange whistling call unlike anything I've ever heard before. I joked it could be a Whistling Duck, but then we spotted the bird itself and quickly concluded it was indeed. But which species?

The reason you have never heard of Whistling Duck (or maybe you have) is that it is not a British species. So we were left to Google Whistling Duck images before coming up with an identification of Fulvous Whistling Duck. Many years ago I saw "Tree Ducks" in India, and I suspect they were actually this species or Lesser Whistling Duck. Fortunately today's birds took off and circled the flash before pitching down on the furthest flash. In that brief flight they were transformed into a much more distinctive bird with seemingly black upper and under wings and white rumps. That rump colour proved to be diagnostic.

I can't count them as a tick of course....not on the British List.

In the afternoon I headed for Bittell Reservoir to do my bit for the BTO's Wings project. The idea was to count gulls at a gull roost. I was aware that the Bittell roost is largely a sub-roost and that the bit in my Circle (Lower Bittell) has no roosting gulls at all. Nevertheless I thought my data would count. It turns out that the times I counted were outside the parameters of the survey (I couldn't actually discover a time stipulation other than "around dusk") so I guess I left too early.

Oh well, Lower Bittell gave me several easy year-ticks. Coot, Tufted Duck, Great Crested Grebe, Shoveler and Gadwall were all missing from the year list because I hadn't visited anywhere with sufficient unfrozen water until today. The best bird was probably a squealing Water Rail, but I didn't have time to wait to see if it would show itself.

I had to head to foreign lands (Upper Bittell) where I was sure a gull roost (or at least sub-roost) would form. Sure enough it did. I counted 647 Black-headed Gulls, 12 Herring Gulls, and 153 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and in the course of doing so discovered a single adult Mediterranean Gull in with the flock.

All this this was achieved with the help of a scope and tripod. If you don't own one, don't even bother going to Upper Bittell. Its a big beast, and the gulls roost just off the north shore. As I don't have a permit I was stuck on the dam, the south-east edge of the reservoir. I saw Martin Wheeler at Lower, and he joined me on the dam at Upper just as I was finding the Med Gull. Unfortunately I was intent on counting, so I was only vaguely aware he was there as I completed the count. When I did see him I obviously wanted to show him the Med Gull, but as I adjusted my tripod height the gulls flew, and although I felt sure it would still be among them I couldn't relocate it. Perhaps it had gone.

Finally, you may have noticed I've managed to get some photos onto the blog. It would be nice to think that the problem was just a glitch and my troubles are over. My gut feeling says no, but for the time being normal service is resumed.

Problems

 I'm having more problems loading photos onto my blog. I'm not sure how to resolve this, but in the meantime I'll post updates here @mortonbagotbirder.bsky.social

I'll still be updating my lists on this blog.

PS: The link should now work.

Sunday January 12 - Morton Bagot

 It's been a pretty good weekend. Even yesterday in dense freezing fog I managed three year-ticks; a Siskin at Matchborough when I went to pick up a prescription from the pharmacy, a male Blackcap in the garden, and a calling Redpoll when I made a brief attempt (unsuccessful) to see six Hawfinches which Andy Gooding had seen in the churchyard at Studley.

I needn't have worried about Hawfinch because this morning Dave and I found one at Morton Bagot, the first here this year. Our initial sighting was a bird flying out of view behind a hedge, but a couple of hours later we located what was probably the same bird at the far end of the dragonfly pool field. This time it perched up and proved to be a splendid male.

Thanks to the presence of birds at Studley, this was not my first this year, but walking around the still frozen site we managed to add seven species to my year list.

The first was a Tawny Owl, which showed very well as usual. Less auspicious additions followed; a flock of a dozen Snipe in flight, a party of 14 Lapwings heading west, a very brief view of a Stonechat in flight, a Little Egret, and a Reed Bunting. 

The one I've missed out was arguably the best of the day. Unfortunately it was also the most distant, a drake Goosander which flew south-west. It was my first here since 2018.

The ringers were on site, and while we were with them we had a Yellowhammer fly over at considerable height. A noteworthy site record these days.

Although there didn't appear to be any Teal, Moorhens or other water birds present, as soon as the pools thaw they should return.

Friday January 10 - Frozen

 The current freezing weather is not really doing my style of random square bashing any favours. The two I picked this week were Kite Green (just east of Henley) on Tuesday, and Rough Hill Wood (just south of Redditch) today. Neither locality gave me a great deal. The first produced over 100 Redwings just before the temperature really plummeted, while today I at least added Sparrowhawk to the year-list.

Fortunately other birders had been more successful locally, giving me the opportunity on Thursday morning to revisit a churchyard near Studley on the trail of a pair of Hawfinches.

I found them quite easily on arrival, although I did have to wait about half an hour to get the above image. The birds were feeding on Yews among a flock of at least 16 Greenfinches, but unfortunately I couldn't get a clear view when they were actually in the Yews.

I suspect these might be the birds which haunted Morton Bagot, about two kilometres away, during November, although I must admit this is pure conjecture.

Saturday January 4 - Morton Bagot

 My first visit to the patch this year was in some ways a triumph, and in others frustrating. I had switched from Sunday after seeing the weather forecast, although it seems by no means certain that tomorrow will be unbirdable.

Morton Bagot was frozen solid as expected. The ringers were on site but had chosen a different spot, so I found myself alone with no one in view when the bird of the day (or annoyance of the day) flew over. I had been alerted by an alarm call from a crow and looked up to see a largish accipiter flying above treetop height and directly across two fields to disappear into Bannams Wood. It had white undertail coverts which would make it an adult or at least sub-adult, but I didn't get much more on the plumage except to say it looked steely grey as it headed away. It felt enough like a Goshawk for me to count it as such after a period of deliberation. I think it must have been a male because it was not Buzzard sized.

I reached the ringers, but none of them had seen it. They reported having walked through the marsh for Snipe this morning, and had also seen a Barn Owl shortly after arriving. As I was chatting to Tony I heard a Stonechat call, but he told me they had put a tape on after seeing one in the chat field. It seems I had heard the tape and not the bird. 

After failing to locate the actual bird, a volley of gunshots opened up from the direction of Castle Farm, and presently several flocks of geese appeared and flew on. They were mostly Greylags. Several Mallard also appeared, but finding the flashes totally frozen, they carried on too. It was all a bit frustrating.

Some of the Greylags

A few easy year-ticks, Grey Heron and Ravens flew over, but I decided I might as well head back.

Back at the dragonfly pools I had a good idea. I decided to skirt the smaller pool where I had previously flushed a Jack Snipe, and sure enough one got up from under my feet, flipping back over the bank of the other pool where it disappeared, as they do.

It wasn't really a day for the camera, but I couldn't resist a perched Common Buzzard before I climbed into my car.

Thursday January 2 - New year, new resolutions

 Happy New Year everyone. On the first day of the year we woke up to heavy rain, which was a bit disappointing to say the least.

I have made a couple of resolutions which may seem contradictory. Firstly I intend to be more dedicated to exploring random tracts of land within ten kilometres of the house. Usually I start off quite well but as soon as spring arrives I cannot resist regular visits to watery sites like Morton Bagot, Earlswood, and Mappleborough Green Flash. I'll keep up weekly visits to Morton Bagot this year, but other birding will be more random. We'll see whether I can keep that up through the summer.

My second plan is to be a bit more relaxed about birding just beyond my self-imposed 10 km circle, extending it to 20 k just for twitching birds I'm unlikely to see in the core area. I still have care-related time constraints so it'll probably be a case of tick and run.

In fact I spent the afternoon of New Year's Day attempting just that. I went to Upper Bittell Reservoir, where a Caspian Gull had been seen a few days earlier. Unfortunately this was a case of dip and run because it didn't appear to be there. 

This morning I took myself off the Kemp's Green, an area of farmland between Umberslade and Ullenhall. The year list got a bit of a boost, but the species on offer were fairly modest. My best discoveries were a Golden Plover and a Yellowhammer, both of which were ticked audibly and not visually.

As it was sunny I was hoping to photograph something, but the only birds which came close enough were a small party of Long-tailed Tits.

Oh, one more thing. I've rejoined the world of social media by signing up to BlueSkySocial. My account currently has seven followers and no posts. Hopefully I'll eventually see something worth reporting.