Sunday September 20 - Morton Bagot

 After a cloudy start, the sun came out and the day warmed up.

My attempts to find unusual birds were again largely unsuccessful, although I did manage a new "latest date for Morton Bagot" when a Sand Martin was picked out from a small flock of House Martins and Swallows which were hawking insects over the field next to the Morton Brook. Although it was quite close at one stage I failed to manage even a record shot. The previous latest was 16 September 2011.

Other birds present which I didn't photograph included 28 Meadow Pipits, six Blackcaps, nine Chiffchaffs, a Grey Wagtail, three Green Sandpipers, and at least six Shovelers.

To be honest I got a bit bogged down examining plants and finding invertebrates. Even then there was nothing new, but I did at least photograph some of them.

Garden Spider

Hairy Shieldbug

Small Copper

Dragonflies on the wing included at least six Willow Emeralds, a Common Darter, and a Migrant Hawker. The last hurrah of summer perhaps.

I'm off for a short break next week, so hopefully I'll have something different to report next time.

Friday September 17 - Weekly roundup

It's always a bad sign when I title a post "weekly roundup". What it means is that I've tried my best and come up with not a lot.

On Tuesday I walked around two of the lakes at Earlswood and saw nothing better than a Little Egret and the 5cy Yellow-legged Gull. I did at least take a photograph of a bird.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Morton Bagot on Thursday wasn't much cop either. I counted 45 Meadow Pipits heading south, and 49 House Martins which were basically just feeding. There were still at least seven Shovelers on the nearest flash, but this time the cows didn't help me out so I had poor counts of Teal, Snipe etc.

When the sun came out I spotted a Willow Emerald damselfly dangling in the hedge by the flash field.

Willow Emerald

Our garden somewhat bucked the trend as I found a new bug, Cinnamon Bug while I was gardening on Wednesday. 

Cinnamon Bug Corizus hyoscyami

My app identified September Cranefly Tipula paludosa in my moth trap this morning. There were 51 actual moths, 26 of which were Lunar Underwings (new for the year).

Lunar Underwing

Going back to birds, Tony Kelly caught a remarkable 54 Blackcaps (and 12 Chiffchaffs) at the sewage works earlier this week. It always amazes me how many Blackcaps are caught in mist nets in autumn compared to the number I actually manage to see.

Sunday September 13 - Morton Bagot (and some garden moths)

 It was extremely wet overnight, and after seeming to desist, the rain returned shortly after I arrived. By the time I reached the flash field it was chucking it down. The saving grace was that it was quite warm and there was virtually no breeze.

I had seriously considered going to Earlswood, but the lure of the patch proved too great and I had resigned myself to a quiet, damp birding morning. What I hadn't expected was two patch ticks, and given the conditions, even less anticipated was that they were both migrant moths. Sorry to disappoint.

The first was a seemingly white moth I kicked up as I made my way around the scrape field. I chased it and was pleased to find that it was a Vestal. This is a species I had only ticked (in the garden) a few weeks ago, so to get one at Morton Bagot was a proper bonus.

Vestal

Shortly afterwards, as I approached the flash field I kicked up another moth. This turned out to be a Rush Veneer. I get one or two in the garden during the year, and they seem to be turning up more often in recent years. Another migrant.

Rush Veneer

Anyway, what about the birds? The first bit of encouragement came when a flock of 25 Snipe flew around me. I guessed they had been flushed by cattle from the flash field, and when I finally got there I did indeed see a herd of cows and lots of Snipe. Unfortunately they were in the long grass with an indeterminate number of Lapwings and Teal.

The scrape field and the field next to it also contained three Stonechats and my only Whitethroat today. All its companions have left for sunnier climes.

An interesting development is the appearance of a muddy patch between the nearest and furthest flashes. It's quite difficult to view, but seems to be a favourite area for Green Sandpipers and Snipe at the moment. It has potential, but you'll need a scope.

Part of the muddy patch

On Saturday, John Chidwick had visited and counted eight Shoveler. This morning they were still present on the nearest flash, but hard to count due to intervening vegetation. Later on numbers were augmented by the arrival of another four, making 12 in total.

As the rain pepped up and I reached the Kingfisher Pool a small flock of birds were working their way past me along the hedge. They included at least six Blackcaps to add to a few I'd heard earlier, and about four Chiffchaffs. Once in position at the viewing point, I checked the adjacent hedge and was surprised to see two or three Spotted Flycatchers. They were in exactly the same place as they had been last Sunday, so even though I didn't see them in the week, I suspect they are the same birds.

Spotted Flycatcher

I spent an hour sheltering from the rain, entertained by low flying hirundines including up to six Sand Martins, possibly a record count for the site. (It wasn't even close, the record is 11).

Just as the rain stopped I realised I was going to be late back unless I got a shift on, so my return was hot, sweaty, and uneventful.

However, I mustn't forget to mention Friday night's garden moth trapping. I caught 115 moths of 28 species which included one which was new for the garden. The BulrushVeneer is a species I had ticked this summer at Spernal STW, but I was pleasantly surprised to find one resting on the side of the house well away from the nearest watery habitat.

Bulrush Veneer

I would have to concede that like most reedbed specialists, it's not much of a looker.

Thursday September 10 - Morton Bagot

 I was out early this morning, hoping to intercept the roosting Geese before they headed off. But you have to get up really early to see them, and as I arrived at 06:00 they were already flying away. Slightly less expected was a count of 119 Mallard on the nearest flash. They too started to head away later. 

The effort paid off to some degree. A Cetti's Warbler (same one as in spring?) was singing in the usual hedge, 17 Teal, two Shovelers, three Green Sandpipers, at least 10 Snipe and a similar number of Lapwings kept showing in the marshy grassland between the two flashes.

Shovelers

I had started at the church for a change, and the walk back through the scrape field was quite productive. A Yellowhammer, several Reed Buntings, a Grey Wagtail, and at least 18 Meadow Pipits flew over. Three Stonechats, a Whinchat, a few Swallows, and a Sand Martin lurked at the north end of the field.

Swallows

My new found enthusiasm for plants gave me Wild Carrot, Broad-leaved Dock, Curled Dock, and Soft Rush for my PSL list.

Tuesday September 8 - Earlswood Lakes

This morning it rained, well drizzled, constantly until I arrived at Earlswood. A light westerly and grey clouds overhead made it feel like autumn really has arrived.

As I donned my wellies in the Malthouse carpark a steady stream of Tits kept me entertained, and with them several Chiffchaffs and a Blackcap. Yep, definitely autumn.

I had one goal, which was to see the second calendar year Yellow-legged Gull which John had recently photographed. The usual fifth calendar year bird was still present, and it didn't take me long to locate the 2cy bird. 

After that success the remaining visit was on the disappointing side. Nevertheless the dull weather had forced all the hirundines down, and among the 80 or so Swallows were about 25 Sand Martins (not found on the alldayer), and about a dozen House Martins.

Apparently absent were waders. Not even a single Common Sandpiper or Snipe was visible. I ended up at the bottom end of Windmill Pool counting Teal (nine), and noticing at least one Bullfinch (another species missed on Saturday). A Little Egret appeared, but I ended up peering at Docks and wondering how to identify them.

This one is Wood Dock I think.

Morton Bagot - Sunday September 6

The day after the alldayer invariably supplies birds which failed to show up on the big day. Today was no exception. The big news from Earlswood was an Osprey found by John Oates at 08:00. It remained for about fifteen minutes before heading south, but I think if I'd had the opportunity to go for it, I would almost certainly have arrived just too late.

It was all change at Morton Bagot too. The ringers opted for Spernal STW, while I joined Dave for our usual mid-morning circuit. 

We had a brilliant time, the sort of day that makes you wish the WestMidsAlldayer was a weekend event, and not just for one day. I reckon if you tallied up Earlswood, Morton Bagot, and Spernal's total for the two days you'd get a figure of 82 species.

Anyway I'm getting ahead of myself. As I clambered out of my car at Netherstead, Dave had already spotted two Stonechats in the usual spot. Whilst trying to relocate them I spotted a male Redstart and a Lesser Whitethroat. Not bad for starters.

Redstart

Lesser Whitethroat

In addition we saw the first of an eventual seven Common Whitethroats before hearing a Yellow Wagtail calling as it flew over. Five minutes later it either returned, or another one went over. Unfortunately neither of us managed to actually see it/them. We then repeated the feat with a heard only Meadow Pipit, the first here this autumn.

We'd have been reasonably happy if that had been our lot, but the day just kept getting better. Another Stonechat and a Whinchat were in the scrape field, and although we couldn't see much more than a few Teal and Green Sandpipers on the furthest flash, things improved at the nearest. The big highlight was when Dave spotted there were Spotted Flycatchers hunting from the hedge which divided the nearest flash from the Kingfisher Pool. It soon became apparent there were at least five there, plus another Redstart (this time a female/immature), Chiffchaff and Blackcap. We were willing one of the Spotted Flys to morph into a Pied Fly, but you can't have everything.

Spotted Flycatcher

Instead regular scans of the nearest flash gave us 30 Teal and eight Lapwings.

By now I was running a bit late, so we had to up the pace. Nevertheless we located a Whinchat on the tree guards, before Dave heard a Tree Pipit calling as we reached the raptor watch point. Fortunately for me I heard it's third "speez" so could add it to my year list.

Whinchat

Meanwhile the ringers were having a decent time at Spernal. They caught five Cetti's Warblers, a Reed Warbler, and a Sedge Warbler, all species which were additional to anything seen at Earlswood or Morton Bagot this weekend.

Butterflies seen included Clouded Yellow, Brown Argus, Common Blues, Small Coppers, and Small Heaths, and we also saw Silver Y (moth), and Dark Bush Cricket.

If only every weekend could be like this.

Earlswood Lakes - Saturday September 5

 I have to confess that I feel a bit guilty for spending the WestMidsAllDayer helping the Earlswood team instead of gritting my teeth and trying to eek out what I could from Morton Bagot.

The ringing team were at Morton Bagot and caught 80 birds, and although the species total is likely to be quite low the catch included 10 Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat (at the time of writing neither species had been found at Earlswood), and 20 Blackcaps (the Earlswood team struggling to detect a handful).

Meanwhile, at Earlswood the team got off to a splendid start when Matt located the Barn Owl which had been seen a couple of days ago. I understand this was the first they had found on an alldayer.

I arrived on site half an hour after the event and chose to start at the Scrublands. Here I found a Pheasant (possibly the only one found today), a Rook, and a Shoveler flying off with Mallard. That, or another was seen at Terry's Pool late in the afternoon by Matt. I reached the bottom of Windmill Pool where I found seven Teal, a Kingfisher, and a Common Sandpiper. Apart from a Snipe (which I didn't see) the Common Sandpiper was the only wader seen all day.

I joined John Oates, and then John Sirrett as I approached the causeway. A Yellow Wagtail had been seen, and fortunately it was still there when I arrived. My only previous record this year was a (heard only) record from Morton Bagot on the spring alldayer.

Yellow Wagtail

While John O and I were watching the Yellow Wag, John S shouted for us to look up, as a Hobby was twisting and turning after Swallows overhead. We stood around on the causeway for about thirty minutes adding several common species, such as five Ravens and a Collared Dove. 

Eventually I had to leave for breakfast, but I still managed to add a distant Red Kite to the day list as I got to the car. 

Late morning saw me parking at Malthouse Car-park and making a circuit of Terry's Pool. By now most of the easy stuff had been ticked off, so I was pleased to add a juvenile Little Grebe to the team's total.

Little Grebe

I got to Field House by which time I was largely playing catch up. All the same a single Song Thrush was a tricky one which was new for the total. I again joined John O, and we saw a Sparrowhawk, before walking to the fields by the Craft Centre where the Wheatear was still present.

The regular Yellow-legged Gull was located on Engine Pool before I again went home.

The afternoon was less productive. The nearest I came to adding anything was when John O and I deliberated about a likely Peregrine which we decided was too distant the count. My last birds were Meadow Pipit and Blackcap giving me a personal total of 63 species.

Meanwhile Matt was ploughing on. He added a Little Egret, some Skylarks, and a Reed Bunting bringing the total up to 73 species. 

In addition, at least eight Clouded Yellows were found, and with John O's help I added a number of plants to my still rather small flora life list.

Tuesday September 1 - Earlswood Lakes

 A fine sunny morning with a very light breeze. Nevertheless I went to Earlswood Lakes, and to my surprise my visit coincided with a couple of better than average birds.

I was at the south end of Windmill Pool when a Greenshank turned up. John Oates Whatsapp'd that it was flying around Engine Pool (where I'd been thirty minutes earlier). Fortunately within five minutes of his message I heard distant calls, which got progressively louder until the bird itself came into view and landed on the mud not too far from where I was stood.

Greenshank

It stayed for barely a minute, calling regularly, before it decided Earlswood was not up to scratch and it flew off over the scrublands to the south. 

John had also mentioned that a Wheatear was in the horse paddocks near the craft centre, so I headed that way and duly located it.

Wheatear

Surprisingly, despite messages which indicated that John, Matt and Janet were all wandering around, I never set eyes on any of them before it was time to leave.

My botanical efforts remain a little frustrating. I successfully followed John's instructions to locate some Hart's Tongue ferns at the side of Engine Pool, but attempts to find anything new for myself fell foul of my inability to "see" (or frankly understand) the necessary features of plants which my app told me I was looking at. At least I know they won't fly away, so I could try again with better preparation.

Hart's Tongue

One step forward, two steps back at the moment.

Possibly Spear-leaved Orache

Other birds seen included six Teal, a Common Sandpiper, and a Little Egret.

Sunday August 30 - Morton Bagot

 Considering that it's the height of the migration season we should have done a lot better today. We began by surprising a Barn Owl, but unfortunately it flew off shortly after we blundered into it.

Migrant-wise it was very quiet. The wind is back in the west, which won't have helped. A few common warblers and a single Stonechat was about the best we could come up with.

Common Whitethroat

The flash pools are still full of water so the only waders we saw were a Green Sandpiper and 17 Lapwings. At least the Teal numbers are building up (29 today), and with them a single Shoveler.

Shoveler (with two Teal)

It was left to insects to brighten the day. We saw two Clouded Yellows, and pointing the camera at random flies gave me two new ones for the site (and for me); a drone fly called Eristalis nemorum, and a tachnid fly which was almost certainly Tachnis fera. There is a look alike, but that is much rarer and comparing photos when I got home led me to conclude we had seen the common version.

Clouded Yellow

Stripe-faced Dronefly Eristalis nemorum

Tachnis fera

Friday August 28 - Earlswood Lakes

 This morning, with a vague plan to go to either Earlswood or Morton Bagot I stumbled downstairs and checked my phone. John Oates had just found a Wood Sandpiper on the mudflat at Windmill Pool, Earlswood. That made my mind up.

After a brief look at the mudflat at Engine Pool (I hadn't read the message carefully enough), I joined John at Windmill Pool where the Wood Sandpiper was still showing well.

It showed the crisp markings of a juvenile, and although John had been out in torrential rain yesterday without much joy, it seems likely that the recent weather was responsible for its arrival either late yesterday or overnight. It didn't seem particularly bothered by humans walking past, but dogs were a different story and always caused it to flush.

I tried taking some video of it here before I wandered back to the causeway with John. We last saw the Wood Sandpiper half way along the pool with a Common Sandpiper after it had been flushed by dog-walkers.

Back at the causeway John showed me two species of fern for my PSL list: Wall-rue and Black Spleenwort.

Wall-rue

Black Spleenwort

Finally, on my way home I decided to pause along Springbrook Lane to see if any Whinchats had arrived. I didn't see any, but I did get a tick. Peering over the wall of the bridge I noticed a distinctive looking moss. It turned out to be Grey-cushioned Grimmia, The first bryophyte for my list.

Grey-cushioned Grimmia

I'll be putting my moth-trap out tonight, so I'll probably extend this post tomorrow morning.

Garden Moth supplement: Well it was worth it. I caught 101 moths of 25 species. All but one were species I've seen in the garden already this year, but the new one was also a lifer. I could tell it was a Vestal resting on the glass of the front door even from looking at the moth from underneath. This is a migrant species (maybe now breeding in the UK) which is occurring ever more regularly in the Midlands. So it's fair to say it was on my radar.

Vestal

The distinctive stripe can sometimes be red, but my example was largely dark striped (with just a hint of red).

Shortly after I had finished cataloguing the catch, a final sweep of the walls produced a second Vestal. This one was tucked away above the hinge of the door. It's actually not unprecedented for garden moth ticks to come in twos. I suspect that pheromones given off by moth A are detected my moth B, and thus there are two. 

Wednesday August 26 - Morton Bagot

 Recently I saw an extraordinary picture of eight Great White Egrets and 27 Grey Herons paddling in the shallows at Belvide Reservoir, and now thanks to a message from Mike Lane, I was able to see one in the flesh at Morton Bagot.

Admittedly just one Great White Egret and one Grey Heron (which flew off before I got the camera out). Nevertheless this was the second Great White here this year, and the first I managed to see.

Mike had seen it in flight over the raptor watch point, and noted it had appeared to lose height over the flash field. Lucky for me.

Wednesday August 26 - Earlswood Lakes

It's not often I head into the countryside and more or less ignore the birds, but yesterday I did just that. Following a recent conversation with John Oates when I let slip my new-found enthusiasm for pan-species listing, he kindly offered to show me as many of the trees around the lakes and in Clowes Wood as he could in a couple of hours. So yesterday morning I took him up on the offer.

In summary, I was shown 15 species of tree, seven species of fern, and three species of horsetail. Some were ones I had seen before but hadn't got around to ticking off, but many (mainly ferns) were entirely new.

Hybrid Black Poplar populus x canadensis

Greater Horsetail

Common Male-fern

I probably haven't picked a very good time to get into plants. Everything is drooping, brown, vegetated and hard (i.e. even harder than usual) to identify. John did a fine job of finding trees and so forth for me, but its one thing being shown things and quite another getting to know them. It's definitely a work in progress.

I have ordered a Fern field guide and new camera batteries (I managed to use up two batteries during the morning) so when I go on my own I'll be better prepared.

This morning I went back, but to look at birds. I only had time to check Windmill Pool, but it was nice to be back looking at familiar species.

Juvenile Little Ringed Plover

As you can tell from the above photo, it started to rain before I left.

I nearly forgot. In the Scrublands I photographed a lichen which I believe is called Oakmoss.

Sunday August 23 - Morton Bagot

 Another sunny morning, of course, saw myself and Dave undaunted by our recent quiet visits, giving the patch another go. We're now at the right end of August and the birds started to respond.

To begin with we found the first of an eventual three Whinchats. That one was in the hedge bordering the scrape field (now lacking water entirely), and we soon found it was accompanied by several Whitethroats, a Stonechat, and best of all a Redstart.

Before we left the field, Dave spotted a Clouded Yellow.

We then switched our attention to the flash field, scoping the furthest flash from the ridge and looking through the largest gap in the trees. From here Dave spotted a Goosander unexpectedly swimming around among the distant Mallard. This was the first here this year, and a species which is scarce at Morton Bagot at the best of times. Unfortunately it proved impossible to photograph, as did a Badger which trotted across the field before disappearing into the cover of the long grass.

We moved down to the hedge and got into the best spot to watch the nearest flash. Initially it looked like a bit of a waste of time, but as luck would have it the cattle in the field decided to approach and inadvertently flushed 13 Snipe, 24 Teal, and four Green Sandpipers all virtually invisible until they were suddenly flying around in panic.

Little else was seen, aside from two or three more Stonechats at Netherstead.

Briefly, the garden moth trap on Friday night produced a decent count of 86 moths of 29 species for the GMS. Best in terms of our garden was the ridiculously tiny Apple Leaf-miner (only the third I have noticed), two Beet Moths (the first since they crashed onto the seen in 2022), and a Small Blood-vein (first for a couple of years). My favourite though were a couple of Chinese Characters, a moth which hides in plain sight by looking like a bird-dropping.

Weird or what?

Tuesday August 18 - Morton Bagot ....and then Earlswood

 Another quiet morning at the patch. It was largely cloudy for once, with a moderate westerly. There seemed to be markedly fewer warblers than a week ago, so they're starting to clear out. Noteworthy birds were a Peregrine on a pylon, and a Tufted Duck in flight over the flash field.

A flock of 50 Greylag Geese had no rare geese with them (the Tundra Bean Goose is still being reported occasionally at Arrow Valley Lake), while ducks were represented by six Teal and a few Mallard. Most of the waders had to be scoped from the top of the hill as they still favour the furthest flash, but in any case they were just five Green Sandpipers and a couple of Snipe. There are still two Stonechats on the tree-guards, but no sign of any Whinchats.

Never mind, my new found enthusiasm for trying to identify plants added a few species to my list, the best being Cyperus Sedge. I am inputting my plants onto irecord again (although I've never seen any evidence that anyone adjudicates on them).

Cyperus Sedge

One good thing about looking for plants is that you sometimes notice interesting insects. Today I added the very common (in my garden) Light Brown Apple Moth to the patch list, and also saw a hoverfly Helophilus pendulus which it turned out I'd seen here before.

Light Brown Apple Moth

Helophilus pendulus

Shortly after I had typed out the above, John Oates Whatsapp'd with news he'd found a Sanderling at Earlswood. I had seen the one there in May, but even so the chance of another one was too much to pass up.

I parked at the Wood Lane carpark at 15:30, noting to my dismay the sign saying it would close at 16:00. Unaware that this never happens, and that in any case I would have been able to leave, I was probably too rushed and was unable to find the bird. Fortunately I decided to drive across the causeway and enter the Malthouse carpark, where the sign says it closes at 20:00. This time I got the encouraging sight of a calidrid sp flying along Engine Pool, but too distant to be sure it was the Sanderling.

Things then got even crazier as I retraced my steps from down the Wood Lane side from the car-park. John texted that 10 Black-tailed Godwits had dropped onto the lake I was at. The walk down that side consists of a series of gaps, followed by yards of willows. I lengthened my stride, and found the Sanderling by looking through one of the gaps in the foliage.

Sanderling

I got a quick shot of the bird, an adult, before continuing towards the south end where the Godwits were...or had been. Another text from John; they were now off the Wood lane carpark. This was getting annoying. I hurriedly retraced my steps, almost stepping on a Brown Rat which dashed across my path, before finally seeing the Godwits.

Most of the Black-tailed Godwits

They were all juveniles, and I managed eight in the same shot. By now I was under considerable time pressure and had to head home without locating the Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers which were also there.

Many thanks to John for finding the birds. They reminded me just how exciting autumn migration can be (just not at Morton Bagot).