Saturday March 29 - Twitching Upton Warren

Many years ago I was as regular a visitor to Upton Warren near Bromsgrove as I now am to Morton Bagot. Although my allegiances have shifted, rather like a footballer who won't celebrate scoring a goal against his old club, I still have a soft spot for the place.

So when a rare bird turns up there, I am sorely tempted to go. Today the reserve played host to its first ever Ring-necked Duck, an American species unlikely to turn up within the confines of my new circular patch. Actually this duck, a drake, is almost certainly the same as one which has been putting in regular appearances at Grimley, near Worcester, since the turn of the year. It could be argued it's getting closer.

Anyway, I went to see it. My first visit to Upton Warren since I twitched a Spotted Sandpiper there two years ago.

It's the front one

I was relieved to find enough space in the small car-park and also in the Lapwing Hide (as its now called). Since my last visit, the reserve has acquired signposts telling you where each hide is located. It couldn't have been simpler.

Ironically my Upton Warren list remains on 202 because I forgot to amend it when the powers that be lumped the Redpolls into a single species.

Fairly similar to Tufted Duck, the best features are the prominent white rings at the base of and near the end of the bill, the lack of a tuft (although some male Tufteds show this), and the grey flanks with prominent white fore flanks.

Here's a test. Which one is it?

Not so easy when it's further away. Try looking closely at the second "Tufted" from the left.

Meanwhile back in the Circle, on Friday my wandering took me east of Henley-in-Arden and proved unexpectedly fruitful when a raptor flew approached from my right. I briefly lost it behind trees but then it re-emerged as an adult Goshawk. It then disappeared behind more trees but I was encouraged when loads of Jackdaws flew up in panic, and then the much larger Gos came back into view before continuing to the north.

Unfortunately I am obliged to be extremely vague about the actual location even though there was no suggestion that this bird was displaying or doing anything territorial. Egg-collectors have a lot to answer for.

Last week the weather was warm for the time of year, but the only butterflies I saw were Brimstone and Peacock, the latter in the garden. Annoyingly the "preferred" date for this week's garden moth survey coincided with a dip in the overnight temperature to zero. I put the trap out anyway and was pleased to find it contained 17 moths of three species this morning. They were 14 Common Quakers, two Hebrew Characters, and my first Brindled Beauty of the year.

Brindled Beauty

Moths are tougher than you'd think.