Morton Bagot
Oh dear, it's not coming home. In an attempt to shrug off the post-match blues I went to Morton Bagot this morning.
Very warm and sunny, the heatwave has once again evaporated most of the water from the nearest flash leaving a substantial area of mud. This was being exploited by at least 14 Green Sandpipers and a Snipe, and these had attracted an opportunistic juvenile Kestrel which attempted to swoop onto several waders. It also disturbed a Mistle Thrush causing it to reveal its presence through its call. A couple of Teal could just about be identified in the heat haze as they swam around the furthest flash.
A number of Clouded Yellow butterflies have been seen in the West Midlands recently, so I was hopeful I might find one these scarce migrants here for the first time. Sadly, although there were plenty of other butterfly species on the wing, my search was unsuccessful.
Earlswood
On Tuesday I'd spent a couple of hours at Earlswood where there is now a broad margin of compacted stony mud around both Engine and Windmill Pool. It had been a cloudy early morning, but the only wader I saw was a single Oystercatcher.
There had been up to three Oystercatchers in the days running up to my visit, and my photograph demonstrates the reason for the attraction. I believe it was attempting to break into a freshwater Mussel, although I can't tell which species was involved.
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