Sunday May 25 - Morton Bagot

 I set off this morning hopeful of extending the spring vibe a little further. During the week two Spotted Flycatchers were reported on Birdtrack as being at Morton Bagot. My suspicion was that the record might actually refer to Bannams Wood, so I headed up the track to the place where there had been a territorial pair last year.

The weather was not playing ball. A blustery westerly is not ideal. After about half an hour of searching I had to settle for two Garden Warblers singing at each other, and no Spot Flys.

Plan B was to walk down the road and cut across the HOEF plantations towards the place favoured by the ringers. A Red Kite headed for Bannams, and was briefly mobbed by a Peregrine. I couldn't tell whether the latter was an adult or an immature, and it eventually drifted off west.

I ended up at the flash field where I was pleasantly surprised to see that a small amount of shore had reappeared and was occupied by two adult Little Ringed Plovers. As I walked along the footpath towards the best viewing position I was dismayed to hear a digger and voices coming from the Kingfisher Pool. I had to sneak through the hedge just short of the pool to avoid any awkward conversations with the guys creating what I assume will become a fishing pool.

Once under the trees overlooking the nearest flash I was faced with nine pairs of Greylag Geese with at least eight broods of different sized goslings, and also the pair of Shelducks with their eight duckling family still intact. One or two Lapwings were also present, but I couldn't see any chicks.

On the walk back I heard two singing Lesser Whitethroats, and fluked a view of a different one which was probably heading for a nest within a dense bramble clump.

So there we are, all birds, no insects. Except I saw a Painted Lady as I walked across the old pool field. Oh drat.

My second this year. There may have been a good immigration this year, so more should follow.

Saturday May 23 - Moths

 At the start of this year I promised myself I would keep the moth stuff low-key. In the background. I'm supposed to be a birder for goodness sake. But sometimes there is no other option.

On Friday my square-bashing took me to half a square just to the south of Aston Cantlow. The habitat was intensive arable farmland and my route was restricted to one short footpath along a hedge. Across the crop field lay an enticing strip of woodland with off-putting "Private Keep Out" signs and regular peripheral Pheasant feeders. I was never going to see many birds here, and my 21 species list contained nothing more exciting than Whitethroat, Skylark and Yellowhammer. 

The highlight was a tiny moth which fluttered from the hedge and landed at the top of a cereal stem. It was clearly a longhorn moth, and I concluded the species was Adela croesella, only the second I have seen.

Lesser-banded Longhorn Adella croesella

That night was the scheduled date for the latest Garden Moth Survey. Recent weeks have seen me miss the preferred Friday night date by the odd day, so I was determined to oblige.

The trap went out and the early signs were good. It was quite warm and humid with not much breeze. I even caught a moth on the fence which turned out to be new for the garden. The Large Tabby is technically a micro, but is a pretty hefty one. It's also supposed to be local and declining, and isn't particularly attracted to light. On the other hand it's very at home in dilapidated buildings, and I think I need look no further than our shed for its source.

Large Tabby

I must admit it's not much of a looker.

I awoke at 02:00 to the sound of pouring rain, and lay in bed feeling rather guilty. The moths would be having a rough time of it. After fifteen minutes I hatched a plan, quickly dressed and nipped downstairs to find Lyn's umbrella. As it was still fairly calm I reckoned it would provide some shelter, albeit a little too late. The rain pepped up once I was back in bed, but my conscience was clearer.

I awake again at 04:45. The rain had stopped and it was starting to get light. Time to find out what was there. 

Five hours later I had established that there were 93 identifiable moths of 33 species present. Most were actually in the trap, and only five or six heavily worn individuals had to be ignored. There were no obvious fatalities, so the umbrella had largely worked. Only a few of the egg boxes were slightly damp.

There were some cracking moths to see. In total, 19 species were new for the year, and two of these, including the aforementioned Large Tabby, were new for the garden. The other was a Broken-barred Carpet, supposedly quite a common species, which I found clinging to the brickwork at the side of the utility room.

Broken-barred Carpet

The full list of the newbies can be found on the 2025 moth list page, but I can show you some of the best ones.

Alder Kitten (first since 2020)

Probably a Shaded Oak Stilt Caloptilia robustella (first since 2020)

Freyer's Pug (fifth record, last in 2023)

Miller (last seen in 2022)

Ingrailed Clay (one or two most years, but not in 2024)

The reason the tiny micro, Caloptilia robustella, is not listed as certain is that an on-line expert pointed out that a very similar species can no longer be discounted without reference to its genitalia. Luckily for this moth I had been unaware of that, and had seen it fly off. I can't say I'm sorry about that.

Hopefully there will be some birds to talk about next time.

Wednesday May 21

 I've spent the last few days bagging one kilometre squares within my circular patch. When I started watching birds in this enlarged area in the autumn 2021 I calculated there were over 300 square kilometres to visit, ideally in both summer and winter. I now have just 25 which have received no visit at all, but a lot more than that which have not seen my presence in summer. Unfortunately I've saved the worst till last. Perhaps I should have done tetrads (2km squares) instead.

On Tuesday I went to a square containing Nuthurst Farm and Junction 16 (Henley) on the M40. This was actually my second visit here this year. In winter I had found a flock of Yellowhammers, so I was hopeful I might see one today. Instead my mini-highlights (very mini) were a singing Linnet and a pair of Red-legged Partridges. It was reasonably sunny so there were one or two butterflies on the wing, the best being a Common Blue.

This morning I was up early and drove the short distance to Ullenhall. At 06.00 the weather was cloudy and the birds, well they were what you'd expect. The best was a prominently perched Yellowhammer. It wasn't actually singing, but at this time of the year it was obviously on territory. Perhaps it didn't have another male Yellowhammer within earshot to encourage it to sing.

That should have been all for now, but Whatsapp intervened.

My patch ends just short of Upper Bittell Reservoir, a large body of water which has a shoreline every autumn. You might think I'd have been deeply frustrated that I can't count it in my patch, but actually I'm not. Back in 2021 when I first devised the idea of a circular patch centred on my home I was somewhat dismayed to find that the dam at Upper Bittell should fall in it. I reasoned that this could mean my birding would be unbalanced. I'd be constantly drawn to the comparative honeypot of Upper Bittell at the expense of everywhere else. So I shifted the centre a couple of hundred metres to the south-west and Upper Bittell was excluded.

This year, however, I've relaxed my rules a tiny bit more. There are one or two sites within twenty kilometres of the house which get birds which I have little chance of ever seeing within the circle. Earlier this year I twitched Upton Warren to see a Ring-necked Duck. Today I was tempted by a Grey Plover at Upper Bittell. In the last ten years I've seen precisely two Grey Plovers, and both were in dowdy winter plumage (Blithfield Res, Staffs and Keyhaven Marshes, Hants). Technically I might one day see a Grey Plover at Morton Bagot or Earlswood, but I'm beginning to lose faith.

One big downside of Upper Bittell is that if you're not prepared to pay around £50 per year for a permit (and I am that stingy) you are stuck with viewing the far shore from the dam. If you are lucky the bird (most likely a wader) will be standing on the Point which is still miles away, but not so bad as the north shore.

The Grey Plover was unfortunately on the north shore. It took several sweeps of the scope before I saw it at all, but when I did spot it I was pleased to see it was in full summer plumage. Out came the camera, and I did my best.

Distance is another reason I don't generally go to Upper Bittell. Also present were a couple of Ringed/Little Ringed Plover types which were too far away for me to identify as I didn't have time to wait for them to fly. I have since learnt that they were Ringed Plovers, another bird I've not seen within the circle this year. But I get one most years.

I'm not sure I'll be twitching the next Little Stint to appear at Upper Bittell.

Sunday May 18 - Morton Bagot (mostly)

 This morning dawned dry again, and another sunny day was in prospect. As I headed to meet Dave at Morton Bagot I recalled that I had heard from John C that the farmer had flooded the nearest flash and that a pair of Shelducks was present with a family of ducklings. I must admit to being a bit relieved that he had done that, because the alternative would have been a dry scrape with no waterbirds at all.

We counted eight ducklings. They are all in the above shot, the eighth being hard to see as it is mostly hidden between its parents.

These were not the only proud parents on view. We discovered there were at least two Lapwing chicks at the edge of the flash, although they were very hard to see. A single Little Ringed Plover was being chased about by the adult Lapwings before the herd of cattle intervened and everything calmed down.

Before we reached the flash the most surprising discovery was a group of five Lesser Whitethroats engaged in some kind of neighbourhood dispute. This is typically the time in spring when they sing less and certainly these birds were mainly "tacking" at each other, although one managed a brief burst of song. Normally its hard enough to see one of these birds, but finding five in one place is exceptional where no juveniles are involved. It's far too early for these to have been a family party.

Also entertaining us were two calling male Cuckoos although they were frustratingly difficult to see. Inevitably we started looking at insects, seeing our first Common Blue butterfly of the year. Dave saw a Large Skipper but I was busy trying to photograph my first Large Red Damselfly this year so I missed it.

Large Red Damselfly

Later on we saw a few "new for the year" moths (Burnet Companion, and the micros Common Marble, and  Garden Grass-moth) and also a newly flying Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly.

Burnet Companion

Speaking of moths, I put the trap out in my garden on Friday night and found 35 moths of 18 species the following morning. They were pretty much the expected varieties you see at this time of the year, but included one of my favourite moths, a single Buff-tip. This amazing species beautifully mimics a broken twig. I normally catch a few each year, although I missed out in 2024.

Buff-tip

I suppose the prize for the scarcest moth in my trap went to a micro with a very long name and amazingly lengthy antennae. It was Nematopogon swammerdamella although it has recently been assigned the English name Large Longhorn. It's only large compared to similar looking brown longhorn moths. It was only the second for the garden, and four years after the first.

Large Longhorn

Looking even further back at the week, my wandering took me up Weatheroak Hill just north of the M42 on Thursday. It was the coolest and greyest day of the week, and the habitat consisted mainly of a dairy farm with lots of Friesian cows. I still managed a couple of decent birds in the form of a singing Lesser Whitethroat and a fly-over Little Egret.

The views were reasonable too.

I've recently taken to leafing through my old notebooks and it saddens me to see notes for flocks of Tree Sparrows, regular Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Little Owls and even a few Willow Tits. All largely gone now. On the other hand if I'd seen that Little Egret flying over in 1998 instead of 2025 I'd have been punching the air in joy.

Times change.

Tuesday May 13 - Black Terns and Bentley Pauncefoot

My latest random wander was around the mysterious Bentley Pauncefoot, a place which as far as I can tell doesn't exist. As you drive passed Tardebigge church you pass a sign proudly announcing you are there, followed by pretty much nothing. It appears to be a parish consisting of scattered farms.

Before I further describe the charms of this area I should backtrack to yesterday afternoon. The phone pinged at an inconvenient moment (as usual), but I held my nerve, prepared lunch, and then headed for Earlswood where Matt G had discovered four Black Terns.

These birds had presumably drifted west of their intended destination, probably the Netherlands, and had discovered that Windmill Pool was worth a look. I arrived in time to find Matt and Yvonne watching the birds intently. They were actually over Engine Pool, but almost immediately flew low over my head, calling a soft tern-like "keeya", as they returned to Windmill. My camera was hurriedly scooped from my bag and I spent the next hour or so trying to photograph them. 

If you fire off enough shots there's always the chance some will pass muster. These two were my favourites. I left at around 14:00, and later heard that the birds departed about forty minutes later.

Anyway back to today. The farmland I had chosen contained of field after field of flowering broad beans. The only natural areas were the hedgerows, the crop having been planted right up to the edges. I doubt this was an organic farm.

Despite this, there were a few things to see. Several Chaffinches and Whitethroats sang at regular intervals, but the most noteworthy creature was a butterfly. A Painted Lady newly arrived from North Africa had managed to find a few Oilseed Rape plants left over from last year's crop.

Also fluttering along the path in front of me were several tiny micro-moths which I established were Sulphur Tubic Esperia sulphurella, a fairly common moth which I have found previously at Morton Bagot.

The camera gives the impression they might be wasp-sized, but I can assure you they are a lot smaller than that. Here is another shot on the same nettle, but rather less magnified.

I don't know how these insects survive in a world of pesticides and herbicides. Thank goodness for their resilience, but how much better a walk in the countryside would be if we gave them more room.

Sunday May 11 - Morton Bagot

 It always amazes me how by the second weekend in May its as though someone has flicked a switch from birds to insects. It's not like I'm not trying to look at birds, its just that from now until July/August they'll be pretty much the same birds every week. At least that's the case here at Morton Bagot.

Dave joined me, and later wished he hadn't as his phone told him there were two Black Terns at Marsh Lane GP. He abandoned me half way round, and sad to say was too late to see them.

Before he did that he accidentally kicked up the best creature we saw this morning. A Lime-speck Pug moth was a first for the site, and that rare thing, an easy to identify Pug.

Lime-speck Pug

Dave is not into moths so hadn't a clue what it was, while I knew what it was but had completely forgotten its name. I suppose that's what comes of developing an interest late in life.

We also saw lots of new insects for the year (for me at least) including the butterflies  Small Copper, and several Small Heaths, and the dragonflies Broad-bodied Chaser, and Azure Damselfly. Dave also spotted a Large Red Damselfly which I nearly stepped on but didn't actually see.

Small Copper

Small Heath

Broad-bodied Chaser

Azure Damselfly

As for birds, the Avocets had gone, as had most of the water in the nearest flash. All that was left was the Little Ringed Plover, a few Lapwings which clearly had young as they were going ballistic at the presence of a Carrion Crow in the hedge (I fear the outcome may have been bad), and a Mallard with a brood of ducklings. The furthest flash has been taken over by large gulls this year, mostly Lesser Black-backed Gulls (23) and also several families of Greylag Geese.

On a disappointing note, we saw the remains of what I'm pretty sure had once been a Lapwing shortly before Dave headed off. I'm guessing it had been predated from a nest.

With Dave gone, all that was left was to spend some time scanning skywards in the hope of a large raptor. A Cuckoo started calling, a Yellowhammer flew over, and finally a raptor appeared.

Common Buzzard was not what I'd had in mind. Still at least it's in focus. It helped that it was hovering.

I'll be back to exploring next week. 

Friday May 9 - Morton Bagot

Before I get to this morning's visit to the patch I'll just mention that yesterday I picked an area on the northern edge of Redditch comprising mostly Abbey golf course and a little bit of the Arrow Valley. I wasn't expecting to see much and indeed I only recorded thirty species including Whitethroat, Bullfinch, and Swift.

A patch of rough ground between the river and the golf course was the most productive, and was good for Roe Deer. I also ventured north a little way up the slope and found myself surrounded by a field full of curious bullocks.

Overnight I put out the moth-trap because I won't be able to on Friday night. Unfortunately it was cold and so I caught just ten moths of seven species. New for the year were Australian Orange-tip (formerly called Ruddy Streak), and Yellow-barred Brindle. Both are common in our garden.

Having got up at 04.45 for just ten moths I found I had time for a pre-breakfast Morton Bagot visit. Yesterday a Golden Oriole had been found at Ladywalk near Coleshill, so why not park under Bannams Wood and hope for the best?

Of course I didn't hear one of those, but it was nice to see and hear Cuckoo, Garden Warbler, and Willow Warbler. Down at the flash field I couldn't see the Barnacle Goose, but did glimpse what I think was a well-grown Lapwing chick before it disappeared behind the sedge bordering the furthest flash.

A pair of Avocets have reappeared. They were feeding in the rapidly disappearing water in the centre of the nearest flash. A single Little Ringed Plover and a few more Lapwings were the only other waders present.

The ringers were catching birds near the Netherstead beehives, but I only had time for a brief chat before heading home.

Wednesday May 7 - Taking Stock

Yesterday's exploring was a bit of a non-starter because the area I chose, west of Bouts Farm near Holberrow Green, consisted of a number of houses and gardens which masked the start of the footpath I wanted to take so thoroughly that after half an hour's searching for it I gave up.

Fortunately I had a plan B which was to drive a mile up the road to Feckenham Wylde Moor, a Worcs Trust reserve. The one bird I was confident of seeing here was Reed Warbler, and indeed five were singing from within the extensive reedbeds.

I do rather like this reserve, but it has very little open water so its better for dragonflies than birds.

Anyway, those Reed Warblers were my 120th species of the year. From now on the going gets tougher list-wise. In all likelihood I will see about twenty more species by the end of the year to add to my Patchwork Challenge 2025 total. This might sound a bit unexciting, but I've no idea what they will be.

The total number of species ever seen by all observers within my circular patch is 243. These include birds now extinct locally and extreme rarities. So if you take off the birds I've personally never seen within the patch, the list reduces to 192. There is therefore the potential for at least 52 species. I still have plenty of year left. It's all to play for.

This morning I made a pre-breakfast visit to Morton Bagot. The attraction was the continuing drought and the possibility of waders exploiting the broad muddy edge.

One bird had arrived to do just that, but it was only a Shelduck, the first for several weeks. Other than that it was just a Little Ringed Plover, and three pairs of Lapwings. The unusually short grass in their field has meant that their nests are especially vulnerable this year and I don't think any chicks have hatched.

Earlier I had heard all the expected warblers including Grasshopper Warbler, Garden Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, and Willow Warbler so I was pretty satisfied with the visit. 

However, I decided to scan the furthest flash with my scope just in case, and that paid off with only my second ever Barnacle Goose at the site. The last was in 2016. If I'm not sounding as excited as I did when I found the Whimbrel, there is a reason. The bird will just have been of feral origin, or maybe even an escape. Also, I've already seen one this year courtesy of a quick twitch to Earlswood in February.

It looked a bit on the scruffy side to me, so I checked on line when I got back to see if I could rule out a CanadaxBarnacle hybrid. I felt it just about qualified, although some back-crosses can look scarily like either species.

Finally, the Cuckoo called loudly as I was leaving, but was out of view and then flew off. Another new arrival, which is less likely to be leaving is a curious development next to the Kingfisher Pool.

Presumably this is confirmation that the owners intend to stock it with fish and are concerned about the single Cormorant which occasionally turns up in winter.

Perhaps it's time to rename it the Freddie Mercury Pool.

Sunday May 4 - West Midlands All-dayer

 The weekend of the Alldayer dawned bright and sunny with not much of a breeze. Not ideal. I had dithered about whether to carry on with Team Earlswood, or to revert back to my actual patch of Morton Bagot. Having made no attempt to get a team together I opted for Earlswood.

So I arrived there just after 06.00 and spent some time trying to find somewhere to park. Eventually I discovered that the Wood Lane (New Fallings Coppice) car park was open, so I started there.

By the time I had walked to the causeway between Engine and Windmill Pool my list was modest and contained nothing more valuable than singing Treecreeper. John Sirrett appeared from the other direction and we compared notes. John is very organised and produced a beautifully printed spreadsheet and clipboard. 

We stood around, chatting, and scanning hopefully, and the strategy paid off just after 07.00 when what was probably the bird of the day, a Hobby, flew along the causeway, passing at close range. By 07.45 I was obliged to head home for breakfast, adding a few more common species by the time I was back at the car-park.

I returned just over an hour later and located Matt standing on the causeway. John S had headed off to try to add more species and from about this point I pretty much lost track of how things were going. 

By mid-day my personal total stood at 51, while the team as a whole were in the 60s. Matt and John had added Yellow Wagtail, while my main contribution had been to lose my new bucket hat to the waters of Windmill Pool (I later fished it out by lying prone and reaching down with a long stick), and then discovering a "hooting Tawny Owl" only to discover seconds later that the tree it was coming from was occupied by a Jay. They really are most accomplished mimics.

During the afternoon the team total gradually rose to a hard earned 67 species, not that I had anything to do with it as by then I had given up. Not much of a team player I'm afraid.

This morning I joined Dave, back from his holidays, at Morton Bagot. I vaguely wondered how I might have got on had I batted for Morton Bagot instead. I suspect I would not have got any more than the Earlswood Team had managed. 

We began encouragingly, finding a singing Garden Warbler across the road from the Netherstead access point. Dave briefly saw it, while I had to log it as heard only.

The weather had deteriorated since yesterday. This morning was mostly cloudy and quite cold. Dave was keen to add a few year-ticks to his own list and was pleased we heard a Lesser Whitethroat, Grasshopper Warbler, and a Cuckoo, even briefly seeing the latter as it flew passed us calling at the same time.

I was conscious that I hadn't photographed anything all weekend, so I was grateful to one of the singing Sedge Warblers for perching on top of a blossom filled Hawthorn and singing its heart out.

We continued to the flash field where the water level looks ideal for waders. Unfortunately all that was on offer were a few Lapwings and a single Little Ringed Plover. I should point out that of all the birds mentioned so far, only Lesser Whitethroat was on yesterday's Earlswood list. If only we could have a combined patch list?

Several Swifts flew over while we were there, and we concluded that they were moving north. A Red Kite appeared (it had been the last addition for Team Earlswood), and I finally spotted my first dragonfly of the year (actually a damselfly), Beautiful Demoiselle.

We only recorded 47 species in the two hours we gave it, and my total for the weekend was 66. I've had a little tot up and I reckon the combined total for the two patches seen by all participants was 76 species.

Birds absent from both lists (but almost certainly present) included Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Cormorant, and Marsh Tit. You never see them all.