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.
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