Monday September 11

I very rarely visit the patch two days running, because you tend to see the same birds as the day before. But after sitting at home all day waiting for a dealership in Bromsgrove to return our car (I had foolishly scratched the bodywork last winter in a wholly avoidable episode involving our car, our garage, and a frosted windscreen) it was agreed I deserved a treat.

So at 16-30 I parked at All Saints church in bright sunshine and headed for the flash field. Remembering that I needed to find new arrivals, I photographed one in no time at all.

Cormorant

The flash pools had, as expected, a familiar feel. 77 Greylag Geese, eight Canada Geese, eight Teal, 25 Mallard, a Little Egret, two Grey Herons, the Black-tailed Godwit, the two Ruff, and the Greenshank. There had been an increase in Green Sandpipers and Snipe, 12 and 11 respectively. So it was probably worth coming.

At this point an alarmingly dark cloud, which stretched beyond the horizon, reached me. Torrential rain followed. An hour later it showed signs of abating and I started to head back. A Tufted Duck flew in, and I disturbed a Spotted Flycatcher from the hedgerow.

Sunday September 10 - red letter day

A cloudy morning with a light south-westerly breeze.

Things began enjoyably enough as I started logging Meadow Pipits heading south, eventually reaching a total of 35. Swallows and House Martins also seemed to be on the move, at least 29 Swallows and 10 House Martins were thought to be moving, although 50 or so were considered to be just feeding.

Dave arrived and we headed for the pool. There is now far less evidence of warbler activity, apart from Chiffchaffs, and we saw just one Whitethroat and heard a couple of tackers.

All this predictability was to change as we approached the pool. A large bird was flying towards us from the north-west, and on raising binoculars I realised it was an OSPREY. This being the first record for the site I scrabbled for my camera, barely registering that Dave called out Greenshank, in response to a call he heard. We watched the Osprey flap steadily south-east, and I managed to get a few record shots.

Osprey

Osprey disappearing over the south end of Bannams Wood

Like many birders, I suspect, I have a list of ambition birds for the patch. Many are probably unattainable, but Osprey was definitely on that list and always seemed a possibility. A reality at last.

I could have quite happily gone home without seeing anything else, but within a few further steps Dave drew my attention to the fact there was a small flock of Little Egrets on the pool. The total was a record six, so naturally I tried to take a photo which got them all in shot.

Little Egret flock

We continued towards the flash field. 80 Canada Geese and 70 Greylag Geese were immediately obvious, but our attention was firmly focussed on the nearest flash.

The flash in all its glory

This year it seems to consist entirely of soft gloopy mud. This has proved a great draw for waders and today's total was one Lapwing, four Snipe, a Black-tailed Godwit, two Ruffs, and nine Green Sandpipers. Strangely, Teal seem to be less keen, and we could only see about half a dozen. Numerous hirundines, including five Sand Martins, were feeding in the lee of the bordering hedgerow, along with five or six Chiffchaffs.

Back at Netherstead we counted 73 Stock Doves with a handful of Woodpigeons feeding on pasture.

We returned to our cars and headed home. But the fun wasn't over. A Red Kite with an entourage of mobbing Jackdaws drifted south past the plantation.

Red Kite

And finally, as I drove towards All Saints Church, I found I was in an episode of Countryfile.

It seems that September isn't so dull here after all.

Post Script: During the afternoon I was returning from my parents' house when I spotted a Common Swift over King's Heath. This will surely be my last of the year.

Thursday September 7

A calm sunny start, although it quickly clouded over. A light westerly breeze.

The early signs were encouraging. Lots of hirundines, 12 Chiffchaffs, three Whitethroats, a Blackcap, and a Spotted Flycatcher. A trickle of Meadow Pipits reached a modest total of 15.

The hedgerow alongside the pool contained 90 Goldfinches, and 30 Greenfinches. About five Reed Buntings and two Yellowhammers was a slight improvement on the last few weeks.

The flashes produced the goods this morning. Two juvenile Ruffs were my first since 2014, while the Greenshank has been joined by a second bird. Six Green Sandpipers, two Snipe, a Starling, and eight Teal were also present.

Ruffs

The size difference between the two birds was extreme, quite clearly a male and female.

Finally, I saw a couple of birds I haven't seen for several weeks. A Treecreeper, and a Chaffinch. The lack of the latter species lately has been extraordinary. It is partly a time of year thing, certain species disappearing into the undergrowth during their annual moult. However, they are in a steep decline here this year. I only hope they will bounce back.

Sunday September 3

As forecast, the day dawned cloudy with a very light south-easterly breeze. However it went off-script mid-morning as the rain, just a light drizzle, arrived early.

The result of all this was a slight suppression of passerine migrant numbers, but we still managed three Whitethroats, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Willow Warbler, and about six Chiffchaffs. Best of all was an immature Yellow Wagtail with the Pied Wagtails at the pool.

Yellow Wagtail

Also present on the puddle pool, were the Black-tailed Godwit and the Greenshank. They stood together for quite some time, but trying to get them to line up properly for their photograph was like posing naughty school children. One would stand still while the other preened, once it stopped doing that, the other one would be blinking or preening. These were my best efforts:

Pretty soon the Godwit flew to another pool and we carried on to the flash field.

The furthest flash was smothered in Greylag Geese (at least 86), while the nearest flash contained seven Green Sandpipers, 10 Common Snipe, and 16 Teal. Both the Black-tailed Godwit and the Greenshank put in brief appearances.

I'll say this about the flash pools, they may not attract a great turnover of waders, but the few that do find it during the autumn clearly value it because they stay for weeks.

The pseudo-woodland/hedge under which we sheltered to watch the waders also produced an owl. Dave flushed it as we approached and thought it may have been a Tawny. I was directly behind him and couldn't see past the cone of his umbrella, and so didn't see it at all.

About 50 Canada Geese landed on the newly created stubble field, while at least 70 House Martins and 30 Swallows hunted insects low over the fields.

There was no sign of the Great White Egret, which I am mentioning because Jim Winsper saw it along the River Alne near Wootton Wawen on Friday. So it's still in the area.

Friday September 1

I can't decide if I like September or not. If I lived anywhere on the coast, or was a regular at a large inland reservoir I would definitely like it. Migration is in full swing and there is the promise of rarities from all points of the compass.

But I birdwatch here. On a little patch of farmland in the middle of the country with a few drying pools. Experience suggests that I may struggle.

This morning was warm and sunny, with just the faintest whiff of a south-westerly breeze. A couple of Meadow Pipits headed south and I spent an enjoyable half hour watching a large tit flock in Netherstead plantation. The flock included several Chiffchaffs, a couple of Willow Warblers, a couple of Whitethroats and a Blackcap.

Willow Warbler

The House Martins and Swallows gave alarm calls to alert me to the presence of a Hobby, which made a successful kill at the edge of the plantation canopy. A little later on, a Peregrine was also getting mobbed by hirundines.

I moved on to the flash field, where things were pretty much the same as last week, 16 (possibly 17) Green Sandpipers, a Greenshank, a Black-tailed Godwit, 11 Teal, four Snipe, and half a dozen Lapwings.

And that was about it. The jury is still out as far as September is concerned.

Sunday August 27

A hot sunny morning with hardly any breeze, what there was was westerly. I was joined by Dave and we began by checking the copse by Netherstead which contained a nice Willow Warbler and a few Chiffchaffs. Down at the road we managed to see a Blackcap, the first of two positively identified plus another five or six "tackers" which remained out of sight. A pair of Grey Wagtails flew over.

Blackcap

We continued to the pool, briefly diverted by a small Toad, which crawled through the grass. Shortly afterwards we spotted a Whinchat and a Wheatear keeping company at the edge of the sparsely weedy field. Further interest was added by a calling Yellow Wagtail which disappeared before we could see it.

Whinchat (left) and Wheatear

The pool and flashes contained the Black-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, four Snipe, and at least eight Green Sandpipers. In other words no change.

With the day being so warm there were inevitably plenty of insects to see. A very dark Darter was considered to be just a Common Darter. We also saw plenty of "normal" Common Darters, a few Ruddy Darters, a Southern Hawker, several Brown and Migrant Hawkers, an Emerald Damselfly, and numerous blue damselfly species.

Common Darter

Migrant Hawker

We struggled to find many more migrant warblers, recording just three Whitethroats. However, two (probably four) Spotted Flycatchers showed very well indeed.

Spotted Flycatcher

A very pale moth was some kind of Wainscot. Unfortunately I don't know enough about them to reach a positive identification.

Wainscot sp

Back at Netherstead we heard the first Meadow Pipit of the autumn and I counted at least 10 Common Buzzards.

Thursday August 25

Earlier this week the grey muggy conditions looked ideal for producing birds. I was stuck at work, and a text from Matt W on Monday revealed that I was indeed missing stuff. He had recorded a big fall of passerines including a Redstart, 17 Chiffchaffs, 11 Willow Warblers, and five Lesser Whitethroats, while waders included a Curlew (not previously recorded here in August).

This morning the weather was a little fresher and sunnier, with a light south-westerly breeze. Its still the prime migration period though, so I was reasonably optimistic. Starting at Netherstead I began counting Chiffchaffs (and ended up with a total of 13 for the morning), but could only find the occasional Lesser Whitethroat and Whitethroat. However, when I reached the gate before the beehives, I looked to my right to find three passerines sitting on the telephone wires. A mystery bird photo coming up.

As a further clue, each was gently pumping its tail. I was pretty sure I knew what they were, but in order to confirm my suspicions I had to climb the gate and edge through the long grass in the field to get the sun behind me.

This achieved, I was delighted to find that they were indeed Tree Pipits. Not guaranteed to be seen every year, and often just as a fly over. These birds remained scrupulously silent throughout the period of observation, which is actually another helpful identification aid, as Meadow Pipits are nearly always pretty vocal.

So much easier with the sun behind you

Although I photographed all three birds they were too far apart for a group shot. One by one they flew off as I tried to get closer, but I don't think they went far.

I resumed by normal circuit, and as I approached the main pool heard, and then saw, a Yellow Wagtail as it undulated away into the distance. Almost as scarce here as Tree Pipit. The pool itself was hopeless, but the flashes produced one surprise. This was that the Black-tailed Godwit, which I had thought had gone, was still here. Also still present was the Greenshank, 14 Green Sandpipers, and four Snipe.

On the return journey I found four Spotted Flycatcher, including two juveniles, and at least one Hobby.

Turning to insects, I got a decent view of a perched Migrant Hawker, but it was disturbed by a Brown Hawker before I could get the camera out. The cloud was increasing as the morning wore on, so other than a Small Tortoiseshell (sadly now quite scarce) I didn't see too much.

Yellow Shell

I did disturb an attractive little moth, which I decided was a Yellow Shell.

Finally, when I got to the end of the dragonfly pool field I looked back to see another pipit on wires in the furthest corner. I scoped it and headed back, suspecting another Tree Pipit, but it disappeared before I could get close enough to be 100% sure.