Saturday/Sunday May 30/31 - Morton Bagot

 This weekend's story actually starts with a little confusion on my Thursday visit. I didn't mention it at the time because I was, well, confused. As I arrived at the flash field I had heard in the distance a rather Quail-like call coming from the far side of the field. It stopped as soon as it started, and didn't sound quite right so I left it.

Late on Thursday night Joe Owens at Earlswood recorded a definite singing Quail after hearing calls from his bedroom, and later the same night John Sirrett's Nocmig detected one passing over his garden at Monkspath.

So by Saturday morning as I completed my moth trapping session, I had almost convinced myself I'd thrown away a Quail record. After being unable to join the ringers at the sewage works, I called in at Morton Bagot but only had time to get to the field where the last Quail had been singing, a couple of years ago. There was nothing, and only a fly over Little Egret lightened the mood.

Later that afternoon John Chidwick paid a visit to the flash field and walked into a Greenshank and two Avocets. I was keen to see the former, so hurried over and was delighted to find the birds, and indeed John, still present. The most relevant thing to this story is that I heard that call again, and its source was revealed as the Avocets. I'm perfectly familiar with the normal "poop poop" call of the species, but they evidently make a conversational call which has much the same tone as the "whit...whit, whit" of a Quail. But the rhythm is different. It's more "whit..whit..whit..whit". I had a look in BWP when I got home and this call is described as being made between an established pair of Avocets. 

Greenshank

Avocets flying in (and Greenshank)

No doubt I should have known this call, but in my defence I saw no Avocets at all on Thursday. The rushes at Morton Bagot could hide a flock of Avocets and you'd be none the wiser. It's unusual to see a Greenshank here in spring, nearly all previous records having been from July to September, so hats off to John for a great find.

Today Dave and I were disappointed that the Greenshank and Avocets had gone, and we could find nothing better than a sub-adult Peregrine and a female Tufted Duck. 

Fortunately there were invertebrates to look at, and these included our first White-legged Damselflies of the year.

White-legged Damselfly

Banded Demoiselle (male)

Wasp Beetle

Painted Lady on Ox-eye Daisies

The Crab Spider Misumena vatia lurking beneath an Ox-eye Daisy

Finally, I should revisit Saturday morning's moth trapping as it delivered 55 moths of 32 species including 18 new for the year and two new for the garden.

Large Nutmeg (first for garden but apparently fairly common)

Orange-tipped Nest Moth (first for garden but also fairly common)

Eyed Hawk-moth (my first in the garden since 2018)

I was amused to see that none of the eleven (at least) Silver Y moths which had spent the evening feasting on the nectar of our Valerian plants, found their way into the trap which was standing just 12 feet away. Clearly some species are less susceptible to the draw of the light than others.