The morning started on a bit of a bum note. Dave and I discussed the mystery warbler we had heard last week and which I had recorded the following day, and I agreed that I was no longer happy to call it a calling Cetti's Warbler. Unfortunately we also couldn't bring ourselves to identify it as anything at all, except that we were certain it was neither a sylvia warbler such as Blackcap, nor a Wren. It'll have to remain a mystery.
Ironically, a Blackcap was calling from a hedge near where I'd parked, and Tony K later caught three of them. Pretty unusual for November here.
Shortly after we left Tony catching yet more Redpolls, a young guy appeared and admitted to being a regular reader of this blog. Thankfully, he liked it. His name was Derry and he was keen to play us a recording made on his phone here at Morton Bagot in September. He believed it to be a purring Turtle Dove, and it certainly sounded like one. A singing Turtle Dove at Morton Bagot in September? I tried to think of an alternative, and rather lamely came up with the fact that Pheasants can make some odd noises. Unfortunately Derry had not actually seen a Turtle Dove that day, nor indeed a Pheasant.
Birding is as much about hearing birds as seeing them, but it can be a frustrating business.
Derry joined us for a while, but had to decline our offer to join us for the rest of the morning. This was a pity because about half an hour later the sight of panicking corvids got Dave onto a Goshawk. I managed to see it, probably the adult female we saw last week, just before it disappeared into Bannams. Sorry Derry.
Unfortunately we saw no geese all morning, but the flash field did offer up 10 Wigeon, 55 Teal, 20 Lapwings, and a Snipe.
It's a bit sad really that the wintering Lapwing flock can no longer reach close to a hundred birds we were used to seeing here ten years ago.
Other birds recorded today including a male Stonechat, a Marsh Tit, and a decent flock of winter thrushes. Dave flushed a Jack Snipe which unusually flew off into the distance to the extent that I didn't even see it.
Finally, Tony had had a reasonable morning, showing us a photo of a female Sparrowhawk he had caught earlier.
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