Thursday March 19 - Mappleborough Green and Morton Bagot

 Another fine sunny day. My plan was to check out a large field at Middletown in the hope it might be in suitable condition for Golden Plovers (it turned out to have a growing crop in it and was totally unsuitable), and then visit Mappleborough Green Flash again.

At least there were some waders this time, but a Green Sandpiper and a Lapwing was not really what I had in mind. There were still plenty of Teal, but the bright morning sun shining in my eyes no matter where I could view the flash from soon put me off.

So at 10:00 with my plan complete, I reasoned there was time to fit in a shortened visit to Morton Bagot. Thank goodness I did.

All seemed pretty much as normal as I approached the flash field. Avocet numbers had increased to eight, the five Lapwings included a pair which were behaving territorially, the Shelduck pair was still present, and I counted two Green Sandpipers and 30 Teal.

But then, as I scanned across to the furthest flash, I spotted an Egyptian Goose emerging from behind the rushes. Ok I know its just a feral species which I'd already ticked off for the year at Earlswood, but the key issue is that it was the first I had ever seen here in nearly twenty years of watching. That made it special.

Egyptian Goose flanked by Avocet, Lapwing and barely visible Black-headed Gulls

I'm loathe to say with certainty that it was the first for the site because back in pre-blog days, maybe 2008 or 2009 I met a birder who casually mentioned he had seen an Egyptian Goose here "the other day". Unfortunately he didn't submit the record to the county recorder, and I never worked out exactly what date he'd seen it or who he was. So it never got recorded.

As I made my way back to the car I had another bit of luck. Walking across the scrape field I heard a repeated "poop" call, a bit like a Moorhen, but not really. I thought I knew what it was. Water Rail makes that call, as an alternative to the more familiar squeal. I approached the tiny pond choked with bulrushes and got out my mobile phone. The Merlin App, which I am fond of slandering as being not much use, might actually help me for once. The first bird it "heard" was a Skylark (and to be fair there was one singing). With the bird still calling, the app detected it and announced it as a Water Rail. I got closer and the noise stopped. I was clearly not going to see it.

Finally, with the temperature pushing 19 degrees, butterflies were on the wing. Along with Peacocks and Brimstones, I saw a Comma. The first here of the year.

Comma

Quite a morning.

I'll be putting the trap out tonight, so there should some moth data to come.