Sunday March 22 - Morton Bagot

 It's been quite a remarkable few days at Morton Bagot, and I only wish I'd been there to witness the start of it. You may recall that I squeezed a couple of hours in on Thursday morning and only had time to cover the flash field end of the site. I left feeling pretty chuffed at finding my first Egyptian Goose for the site.

I now wish I'd given it a bit longer and tried the Netherstead end. I say this because the following morning John Sadler was ringing there and pulled a Cetti's Warbler out of his net. The story subsequently related was that the bird had bounced out initially, but later ensnared itself and on release had given a burst of song.

Here's what I could have won

The reason I'm harping on about this bird is that I have yet to see one here. A couple of springs ago Jason W sent me an email listing the birds he had seen at Morton Bagot that day, and included Cetti's Warbler on it. I queried it, and he said he was certain it was one, and he hadn't realised there had never been one at Morton Bagot. I went down to the place he'd indicated, where coincidentally I'd heard a very close Sedge Warbler the day before his report, and heard nothing.

Last November I heard a "mystery warbler" calling which I initially thought was a Cetti's Warbler before getting an attack of doubt and downgrading it to unidentified warbler. I should say that others who have heard my recording are divided and/or non-committal about its identity.

Having only heard about the bird after darkness fell on Friday I paid a dawn visit next day, and heard nothing. I again couldn't do the rest of the site, this time because Lyn and I were visiting a friend in Ross-on-Wye later that morning.

Enter John Chidwick who popped down to the flash field during Saturday afternoon and among the usual Avocets and Shelduck found two  Egyptian Geese, a Shoveler and a drake Gadwall.

So this morning I was playing catch up. There was still no trace of a Cetti's Warbler, but on the positive side, both the pair of Egyptian Geese, and the drake Shoveler were present. The Egyptian Geese were a lot closer than the bird I saw on Thursday.

Egyptian Geese (and a Greylag)

Shoveler

Also present were six Avocets, a Shelduck, 22 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, and three Snipe. Apparently not present was the Gadwall, although there's always a chance it was tucked away out of sight.

Spring was represented by increased numbers of Chiffchaffs, and a singing Blackcap. I also added to my annual butterfly tally when a rather tatty Red Admiral appeared near Netherstead.

The Red Admiral seems to have a chunk of hind wing pecked away

Such are the ups and downs of birding.