This morning I visited Morton Bagot for the second day in succession. It was fine and sunny, and I was keen to meet up with Dave, fresh from his annual Scilly holiday, and to see how the ringers were faring.
Tony and Sam were concentrating on catching Meadow Pipits, and they seemed to be doing pretty well. They had even caught and colour-ringed one of about five Stonechats present today.
Dave and I wandered off to the flash field where we observed the usual fare of Teal, Snipe, Lapwings etc. Only a Shoveler provided something different.
On our way back however, we got lucky. I flushed a Grasshopper Warbler into the hedge we were walking along. It had come up from under my feet, so I only had flight views initially. Was it a Gropper or a Dunnock? Fortunately it was just about visible in the hedge and remained in more or less the same spot for about a minute allowing us to confirm it was indeed a Grasshopper Warbler.
Now then, a little research has led me to the conclusion that this is the latest ever Warwickshire record. I had hoped it might be the latest West Mids record, but it was beaten by two in Staffordshire (Silverdale CP on 11 Oct 2015, and Essington Quarry on 6 Oct 2019). It just needs to stay another week.
Bearing in mind the lateness of the bird, and the need to eliminate Lanceolated and Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler from the equation, I attempted to photograph it.
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| Grasshopper Warbler |
OK, I know its crap. But if you stare long enough at the centre of the photo you should be able to see the thick black chevrons on its long under-tail coverts, and the bird's beady eye peering back at me from behind the bramble stems which divide the bird in two.
Unfortunately it quickly disappeared from view entirely.
We stopped at the ringers' pitch 200 metres away for a gloat. But that back-fired as they saw a large Egret (probably Great White) flying away as we made our way back to the cars oblivious.
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| Meadow Pipit on Saturday |
As well as the above Meadow Pipit in the hand, on Saturday I had seen a Peregrine, and was early enough to see 300+ wildfowl (Mallard, Greylag Geese, and Canada Geese) on the flash field where they roost prior to departure.
On Thursday night the moth trap had detained 22 moths including a Merveille du Jour, and a Beaded Chestnut which were both new for the year.
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| Merveille du Jour |
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| Beaded Chestnut |
The Garden Moth Survey concludes at the end of this month, but I may be tempted to keep going if it stays mild.
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