There was quite a gathering at Morton Bagot this morning, mostly a ringing team, plus me and Dave. We timed our visit quite well because just as we started to saunter off Leigh called us back to see a juvenile Grasshopper Warbler they had just caught.
Earlier in the morning they had caught an adult female with a brood patch, while another bird had unfortunately escaped before it could be ringed.
Our tour of the site produced a vocal couple of Kestrels suggesting recently fledged juveniles, and at the nearest flash 14 Lapwings, two Green Sandpipers, a Little Egret, and the first returning Snipe of the "autumn".
I had paid a visit on Thursday when I'd counted 11 Green Sandpipers and four Little Ringed Plovers including a fledged juvenile, but today they were nowhere to be seen.
Back to today. The remainder of the circuit confirmed the presence of five Red Kites, all of which seemed to be adults. A couple of the pairs seemed to be testing their territorial boundaries, while another was visible over Bannams. Another indication of how times have changed was that we were quite pleased to count a mere six Swifts.
The pair of Stonechats was still present at the dragonfly pools as we completed the circle.
Naturally we were also on the lookout for insects. It's the cricket season, and Dark Bush Crickets are now reaching their final growth stage.
Another common cricket here is Roesel's Bush Cricket, but of more interest to me was one in our garden yesterday. I'm fairly sure I haven't seen one there before, so I was keen to pot it to show Lyn, before releasing it into the no-mow section of the lawn.
Moth trapping in the garden on Friday night had produced 172 moths of 40 species, only six of which were new for the year. None was particularly unexpected, but the best looker was probably a Swallow-tailed Moth, a species I missed last year.
Bringing the subject back to birds, another part of Thursday morning had included a brief visit to Shortwood Roughs hoping to see the Tundra Bean Goose which I've heard has now bred at this site with a Greylag Goose and produced hybrid young. I say "this site" but I must have got something wrong because there was no sign of any Geese and nothing but various cereal crops "by the canal" which is where Birdguides suggested the bird had been. However, I did see an adult Hobby as I made my way back to the car.
And finally, today's team ringed the following:
Grasshopper Warbler 2
Sedge Warbler 1
Reed Warbler 1
Blackcap 1
Chiffchaff 8
Whitethroat 7
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Blue Tit 28 (3)
Great Tit 10 (2)
Robin 6 (1)
Wren 1
