Sunday June 1 - Morton Bagot

 It's not been a great week. It culminated at Morton Bagot when Dave and I suffered the dispiriting experience of watching an egg-collector working his way through the old pool field with dog and whistle, attempting to find nests in the sedge. Our presence probably put him off and he and his female accomplice and spaniels soon sloped off empty handed. I have reported him, complete with photographic images and his likely car registration number to the RSPB crime unit. Their advice is not to share images on social media in case it prejudices any potential prosecution.

As far as birds are concerned, we saw all the expected residents, noting that the Shelduck family are still complete, and one Lapwing chick is almost full-grown. The only migrant activity was the arrival of a pair of Avocets at the nearest flash, while Little Ringed Plovers have increased to three.

Many passerines now have fledglings, and a small group of Long-tailed Tits caught my eye by perching on telephone wires. 

Insects were present in small numbers, and presented some photo opportunities.

The rest of the week was handicapped by my choice of venues.

On Tuesday it was an early morning visit to Alcester Heath, where I tried to convince myself there might be a chance of hearing a Quail. The habitat obliged, but there were none present. To be fair its not been a very good year for them nationally.

If that was bad, it had nothing on my Thursday visit to Headless Cross. I suppose some of the Swifts I saw were probably nesting locally, and the various patches of woodland which are thankfully a feature of Redditch produced a few birds including a singing Chiffchaff.

Finally, my Garden Moth Survey on Friday night produced a decent 45 moths of 25 species including nine new for the year, and one lifer (new for the garden). That was a micro called Bactra furfurana, or Marsh Lance if you prefer the recently invented English name.

I can't really take a great deal of credit for the discovery. I caught it in the half-light of dawn simply because it was resting on the glass of the trap and I thought it would fly off if I didn't. I later examined it and wasn't sure whether it was a moth or a caddis-fly. My phone app came up with the name, and I confirmed it by checking books and images on line. 

It's actually a pretty good moth, being described as local. It is associated with rushes and sedges so probably wandered from Ipsley Alders just up the road.