Thursday September 18 - Morton Bagot

 A pre-breakfast wander around Morton Bagot this morning in cloudy conditions produced very little of note. The breeze was from the south, and there were a few migrants heading south into it over the two hours I was there; 23 Meadow Pipits and 6 Siskins. 

There were very few summer migrants hanging on; 25 Swallows and three House Martins circling the tree tops to catch any early rising insects, with about five Chiffchaffs and three Blackcaps in the bushes.

The flashes have virtually no muddy surround but held 51 Mallard, 24 Teal, three Green Sandpipers, and 14 Snipe. Most of the latter were again in the field by the nearest flash.

I wasn't tempted to get my camera out, but thanks to wildlife cameraman Andy Harris who follows my blog, I do have a brilliant photo to show. He got in touch with me after I posted my rubbish shots of the Goshawk from last weekend. Andy lives just beyond the south-eastern edge of my Circle, and had seen a Goshawk from his garden. He took four fantastic shots of it, and has given me permission to use them. This was my favourite.

Goshawk - photo by Andy Harris

I thought I'd show this because it illustrates how distinctive a juvenile Goshawk is. 

They remain broadly in this plumage for almost two years before moulting into adult plumage which is more Sparrowhawk-like. The key plumage feature is the streaked (not barred) breast which distinguishes it immediately from Sparrowhawk. Structural differences shown here are the rounded tail tip (cf square ended in Sparrowhawk), and the relatively long broad-based wings with bulging secondaries.

This area doesn't have a great deal going for it ornithologically, but it does ok for Goshawks.  Your best chance is February and March when the adults display, and early autumn when juveniles are on the look out for a new territory and can wander quite widely.

Finally, an abrupt change of subject. Yesterday John Oates saw two Little Stints at Earlswood Lakes. They were extremely flighty and soon disappeared to the south. I would love to have seen them, but there was no opportunity. It just goes to show that although things seem rather quiet at the moment, you have to stay vigilant. Anything could drop in.