Saturday/Sunday September 6/7 - All day birding (Earlswood and Morton Bagot)

 Many local patch birders look forward to the Spring and Autumn West Midlands all-dayers which take place on the first available weekends in May and September, and I am no exception.

In fact, somewhat selfishly as a man with two patches nowadays, I wish it could be extended to an all weekender. Mind you, I don't have to organise it. All I have to do for the Earlswood team is turn up. 

On Saturday I joined the commander in chief (the man with the clipboard), John Sirrett, at around 06:00 am. Fellow team member Joe Owens lives there and had already heard Tawny Owl from his bedroom window at 02:00, and added the first Meadow Pipit of the autumn shortly after it got light.

John and I were joined by Joe at the south end of Windmill Pool where we stared at the acres of mud which up until Thursday had supported a Ruff, the two common Sandpipers (Green and Common), and two Little Ringed Plovers. Only the LRPs were here today. Nevertheless we did gain an unexpected prize when we heard some distant calling Siskins, again the first this autumn. Later another five flew over the causeway and we all saw them.

I won't labour species by species through the day, suffice it to say we ended up on 69 species after Matt Griffiths added Linnet as the final tick late in the afternoon. I understand this was one more than was seen last year.

The day lacked a great deal of onward migration, so it was pretty much a case of trying to see all the birds we knew should be there. Highs included sightings of the regularly visiting Hobby, Red Kite, five fly-over Shovelers, and two Little Grebes which were found on the "Night Heron Pond" by Tony Philp.

Lows were the apparent absences of Common Sandpiper, Mistle Thrush, Marsh Tit, Rook and Kestrel. My own personal nadir was a probable Spotted Flycatcher which I could see through the foliage in the Scrublands sitting in a hawthorn on the far side of a horse paddock. I'm afraid I fumbled the ball. Instead of waiting for it to move, when I would like to think it could have been confirmed or denied, I instead shifted position for a better view and maybe a record shot, only to find it had disappeared. I wasted quite a lot of time trying to relocate it, but with no further evidence either way I had to let it go.

Which brings me to Morton Bagot today. A chance of redemption presented itself when Dave arrived unusually early and texted me with news he was watching a Spotted Flycatcher. "Keep on it" I texted back as I jumped in the car. But it had disappeared by the time I arrived. All we could see were Blackcaps fly-catching from the hedge near where it had been. 

This threatened to put a damper on the visit, but it turned out to be a superb morning. The sultry conditions seemed to have produced a fall of migrants, many of which were leaping out of hedgerows in pursuit of flying insects, including a hatch of flying ants. The majority were Blackcaps, but they were joined by Whitethroats and Lesser Whitethroats. A conservative estimate would be 20+ sylvia warblers and many Chiffchaffs. 

We found Tony Kelly manning his nets. He had chosen to target Meadow Pipits and had caught three or four. One flew out of the field as we chatted, but our attention was diverted to a Chat on the horizon. It turned out that there were five Whinchats on the bushes and tree-guards in the field. We abandoned Tony and headed for the flash pools.

On arrival we spotted a Tufted Duck, actually pretty unusual here these days. Worth a photo in fact.

Tufted Duck

That was on the Kingfisher Pool, but the arrival of a guy in a bulldozer meant it soon headed across a hedge to the nearest flash, while we crept through a gap in our hedge to get to the gallery under the trees.

From here we counted 45 Teal, a Shoveler (which made up for the five I'd missed at Earlswood), the Garganey (still present), and five Green Sandpipers. I actually saw the Garganey in flight for the first time, and confirmed it was indeed a drake.

Garganey

Shoveler

Having established there were no Glossy Ibises present, we started to amble back and found we had saved the best bird till last.

Reaching the old pool field we scanned the hedgerow behind it, and realised there were loads of warblers dashing about. I erected the scope and started to scan. One particular section was especially lively, and I confess I was hoping to pull Spotted Flycatcher back. However I found something better. A Tree Pipit was sat on the top of a strand of hawthorn, pumping its tail as they do. We took turns to look at it through my scope, but I'm afraid its distance from us precluded any chance of a photo. This was obviously the first this year, and actually my first here for several years.

At this point it started to rain. Time was pressing on, and I had to leave. Fortune had one more trick to play when I spotted a Garden Warbler in the hedge we were walking along. I think this is my first September record here. Unfortunately Dave missed it, while I failed to relocate his Spotted Flycatcher before I went home.

A final postscript. Mid afternoon I got news of a Ringed Plover (and fly over Dunlin) at Earlswood. I abandoned the cricket and drove back to Earlswood where I was disappointed, but not surprised, to find it had gone. I did at least see the regular Yellow-legged Gull which had not turned up during the all-dayer, and also three Little Egrets.

What a remarkable weekend it had been. We even got a fly past by the Red Arrows....not really. Maybe it was their support team.

An unexpected sighting at Morton Bagot