I made a comparatively early start, getting to the patch by 08:15. Not as early as Tony who had arrived at 04:00 with his thermal imager and had caught two Grasshopper Warblers and seen the Water Rail in flight. Interestingly he had originally ringed one of the Groppers on April 27 2024, retrapped it on April 11 2025, and again today. Clearly this bird really likes Morton Bagot and is not unduly put off by the indignity of being handled each year.
Also arriving before me was Andy G, although he only arrived 15 minutes before I did. We soon met up and birded together for most of the morning. It wasn't long before we added a new singing Sedge Warbler at the pond where the ringers normally set up, and then a singing Garden Warbler about 100 metres further on. As this was my first of the year I wanted to photograph it, but this proved quite challenging. My best effort can probably be described as barely a record shot.
We also heard the two Grasshopper Warblers and the first of five Lesser Whitethroats. Andy had seen one well sometime before we met up, but I didn't set eyes on any all day.
We made our way to the scrape field and approached the pond favoured by the Water Rail. To our delight it was singing well. The song accords well to the description of the female's, which is different to that of a male.
At approximately the same time I commented to Andy that there was no chance of hearing a Reed Warbler today as the habitat wasn't quite right. Almost immediately one started singing in what I consider to be a deliberate attempt to make me look foolish. Not that I care, a patch year tick trumps everything. It seemed rather distant and may have been either in the bulrushes surrounding the largest pond, or even in the hedge beyond. With Lapwings in the area I was loathe to go any further, so it went unseen.
It was all going so well, there was bound to be a disappointment. This came when we couldn't find any Avocets or Teal on the flash pools. However, John C had seen a pair of the former yesterday, so there's still a chance they'll be available for next Saturday's alldayer. We also got a nice surprise when a Little Ringed Plover walked out from behind a bank of rushes in the corner of the nearest flash.
If it stays dry next week there may be a little more of a shoreline on offer for passing waders.
Shortly afterwards I flushed a Tawny Owl from a hedge, but our attempts to relocate it were unsuccessful. You could tell from the angry Blackbird calls that the local birds definitely knew where it was.
Looking back across the field with the tree guards Andy spotted what would be the bird of the day. A silhouetted chat was extremely likely to be a Whinchat and when we circled around to get the sun more behind us it did indeed prove to be a fine male.
A fitting conclusion to an excellent morning.
I totted up 54 species, which is not bad in three hours. I am hopeful we will break the 60 barrier next Saturday.
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