Wednesday December 24 - Earlswood Lakes

 Do you know, as I was typing the words "I don't think I'll be posting anything more this side of Xmas" a little voice inside me said "don't tempt fate". Or maybe it should have been well done for tempting fate.

Because this morning, as we awaited the arrival of family for a pre-Xmas present exchange, my Whatsapp pinged to say there was a Scaup at Earlswood. I was of course stuck...for a few hours.

By early afternoon I was free to go, and thankfully the bird did not want to spoil Xmas.

This was only the sixth for Earlswood, the last being in 2017. I hadn't seen any of them. It is a female, and judging by the vermiculated grey feathers on the mantle, perhaps an adult. It just goes to show that, even in December, a burst of easterlies can blow in something special.

I just had time for a quick march around Engine Pool, and so was able to find a 1st w Common Gull and count 28 Snipe on one of the rafts.

Also, with the sun out at last, a Fieldfare posed for me (admittedly behind vegetation). 

It's a bit better than trying to photograph a silhouetted dot at the top of a tree, which is what I usually end up doing at Morton Bagot.

Once again, Merry Xmas everyone.

Tuesday December 23 - Clowes Wood

 This morning the dice was rolled and told me to try Clowes Wood. Another grey cloudy morning was probably not ideal for visiting a tract of mature woodland, but I reminded myself that there were historical records of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Firecrest, and (in summer) Wood Warbler for this wood. Maybe I'd get lucky.

I only had an hour or so to spare, and predictably my only woodpecker was Great Spotted Woodpecker, and my only 'crest a Goldcrest.

In fact my best birds were a pair of vocal Marsh Tits, but they were being disturbed by a couple of dog-walkers and their five barking dogs, so I barely got a view of them. 

Anyway, I don't think I'll be posting anything more this side of Xmas, so seasons greetings to everyone who reads this blog.

Sunday December 21 - Morton Bagot

 Before I get to today's effort, I'll just mention that yesterday I visited a raised area of pseudo-parkland in Redditch between Woodrow and Greenlands. The views across the Greenlands suburb were quite nice, but I barely troubled the scorers. The most noteworthy sight was probably a count of about 70 Goldfinches.

Today the weather decided to revert to cloudy and grey as Dave and I met for another bash at Morton Bagot.

We got off to a decent start when a rather small immature Peregrine flew by, giving us brief palpitations before we discarded the possibility of it being a Merlin. After that it was all a bit  quiet. We established that there were definitely two pairs of Stonechats on site, and estimated 50 Linnets with a smaller number of Redpolls in the new growth forest which now occupies the ridge field.

The flash field was being disturbed by a quad-bike in an adjacent field, so we only saw 18 Teal plus 14 Mallard on small pool currently occupying the HOEF scrape field. Fieldfares, Redwings, and Siskins were assessed as totalling 40, 50, and 30 respectively. Mind you our ability to count was tested when a flock of Lapwings circled in the distance. We decided on 62, but I took a photo to count the dots later.

It turned out that, on zooming in, there were at least 85 birds in this shot. So not only can we not find rare birds, we can't count either.

Tuesday December 16 - Cookhill area

 The wandering resumed this morning with a return visit to a lay-by west of the village of Arrow. Previously I had headed east along the south side of Old Park Wood on the Ragley Estate. This time I went north-west along a footpath skirting the west side of the wood.

The estate is known for its love of "sporting interests", and it wasn't long before I ran into a whole lot of cannon fodder, aka Pheasants. There were well over 100 of them, quite a sight to behold. The Pheasant cover they emerged from contained a few Chaffinches but was otherwise a bit disappointing.

Some of the Pheasants

Once I reached the main road I was crossing the county boundary from Warwickshire to Worcestershire, and found a footpath which ran west beside a very impressive garden in the hamlet of Cookhill. The most interesting feature was a garden pool large enough to support several Mallard and Canada Geese, which I saw, and also Coot and Moorhens which I did not. The owner was friendly and told me what she had seen this year.

I was able to add to her garden's list because I heard a Brambling calling from the trees on the other side of the lake. Unfortunately it slipped away before I managed to actually see it.

Sunday December 14 - Morton Bagot

 A mild sunny morning at the patch. Dave had arrived before me, but hadn't seen much. This was to set the tone for the rest of the visit,

Our most unexpected find, I wouldn't call it a highlight, was finding a long dead Tawny Owl in the metal barn near Stapenhill Wood. Other than that it was business as usual, 58 Lapwings, 23 Teal, a Red Kite, a Peregrine, two Stonechats, and most of the other species we'd expect to find here in December.

The Lapwing flock

One disappointment was being unable to find any Jack Snipe (or Snipe) in the marsh. 

Thursday December 11

 There's no denying it, December has failed to deliver anything out of the ordinary this week. 

On Tuesday I braved the rain, visiting Blythe Valley for an hour before the showers pepped up, and then calling in at nearby Earlswood before a particularly heavy shower caused me to give up.

The bit of the Blythe Valley which is in my Circle included some dense spinnies in which I could imagine a Yellow-browed or a Pallas' Warbler accompanying the Long-tailed Tit flocks I sifted through. In my dreams.

At Earlswood I met John Oates, dripping wet, on the trail of a darker-mantled Herring Gull. We considered whether it might be the bird I struggled with during the spring, or perhaps it was a northern Herring Gull race argentatus. Either way it didn't show especially well before the rain pepped up and we both headed home. 

possible Northern Herring Gull

This morning, in much more benign conditions, I explored Outhill just a mile or so east of my house. It was pretty tame bird-wise, with nothing more interesting than a Red-legged Partridge, a calling Bullfinch, and a small flock of Fieldfares.

However the views towards Redditch were pretty nice.

Fieldfare

Morton Bagot - Sunday December 7

It was a dull grey morning with a forecast of rain arriving. Dave opted for Marsh Lane, leaving me to try to make the best of what promised to be a pretty dull day.

On such occasions you need to come up with a plan to make things happen. I met Tony at the old pool field. He emerged clutching a large net, having been attempting to catch Jack Snipe. His plan had borne fruit, flushing three and catching and ringing one of them. I chose not to make my own attempt as I was sure those Jack Snipe needed a rest.

And anyway I had my own plan. Having noticed more than usual on the drive in, I decided to log Blackbirds. I didn't say it was a very good plan. But perhaps it was, because my final score of 23 Blackbirds just beat the previous record for the site.

The flash field contained a healthy population of 78 Teal, the largest total this year, but apart from some Mallard there was nothing else.

Some of the Teal in the gloom

On the return journey I spotted a single Stonechat, and then decided to gird my loins and plunge into Stapenhill Wood. This produced a Marsh Tit, at least 10 Siskins, and maybe 50 Redwings. Unfortunately no definite Woodcock were flushed.

A less overgrown part of the wood

Back home I timed my arrival to coincide with a visit to the front garden of one of the local Blackcaps.

Not such a gloomy day after all.

Saturday December 6 - Earlswood Lakes

It was looking like ending up a very disappointing week, but today Earlswood came to the rescue. Although there has been a Water Rail lurking near the stump feeder at the southern end of Terry's Pool for some time, my visit was inspired by a pair of Egyptian Geese reported by John Chidwick to be standing on one of the rafts on Engine Pool.

I arrived in time to see them. This is a naturalised species, its appearance locally, though annual, is usually brief. Earlswood seems to be the hotspot, and there had been one here in the first half of the year. However, that had been seen at dusk and was gone the next day, so this was my first chance of 2025.

It was tempting to sex the grey one as female and the browner one as male, but from reading up on them it seems that variability is typical and not necessarily an indication of gender. It does seem likely that they were a pair anyway. 

Since my last visit about a month ago the lakes have filled up with water and there is no longer any semblance of a muddy edge. The Tufted Duck flock has burgeoned to 30 birds, there were three Goosanders, and I counted 14 Snipe on the raft with the Egyptian Geese.

I gave the Water Rail fifteen minutes, but it didn't appear. Meanwhile the Egyptian Geese flew off towards Windmill Pool and may have left altogether.

Earlier this week my wandering took me to Upper Bentley, 36 species and no highlights, and on Thursday to Hob Hill, 25 species with no special birds but a nice view towards Beoley.