Sunday November 11

Sunny intervals and a fresh southerly.

It was back to earth with a bump today. Our walk round produced good numbers of thrushes; 140 Redwings and 80 Fieldfares, the pair of Stonechats appeared at Netherstead, a distant immature gull flying east which was probably a Common Gull, five Lapwings going south (the first for a while) and 100 Linnets.

The Flash field could only manage 13 Teal, four Snipe, and eight Moorhens.

Pretty dire.

Sunday November 4 - a good bird at last

Cloudy with a few light drizzly showers, but mild with a light southerly.

The first hour of this visit was very pedestrian, and I had resorted to counting the small parties of Stock Doves heading east (the total was 80 in you're interested). A Stonechat was still present. We were surprised, and a little depressed, to see that the puddle at the pool had reduced considerably in volume.

Never fear, things started to pick up when we reached the flash field. On the right hand edge of the furthest flash I could just make out a wader with a small group of Teal. To our surprise it was the first Redshank of the year. A scope would have helped, but I'd left it in the car to spare my back.

Redshank (honest)

The fact that Redshanks failed to turn up this spring was unusual, but not as much as seeing a November Redshank here. Normally its March to July, and that's your lot.

We continued down the hedge and reached the spot where you are closest to the nearest flash. From here we established that the Redshank had disappeared. While trying to relocate it we counted 27 Teal, and three Snipe.

Then I noticed a small grey bird pottering about on the shore of the nearest part of the flash. At first I thought it was a wader, but quickly realised it was a Pipit. The strong white wing-bars and pale flanks suggested one species in particular. A Water Pipit. I called to Dave, and he got onto the bird and noticed a second bird was present. That was also a Water Pipit. With no scope available, my bridge camera proved its worth, and despite the poor light I got several confirmatory photographs.

Water Pipit

Truly terrible shot showing both birds

After peering into the back of the camera at the shots we looked up to find that the birds had disappeared. A few minutes later Dave saw two Pipits fly off before he lost them almost immediately behind the foliage we were standing under.

We backtracked to the puddle in case they had gone there, but could only find half a dozen Meadow Pipits. More thrushes had arrived, and we estimated 100 Redwings, 80 Fieldfares, and 200 Starlings. I also got a shot of the Stonechat as it was a lot more obliging than the Water Pipits.

Stonechat

I thought I was going to go through the whole year without a category A bird at Morton Bagot, so the Water Pipits have rescued the year from total ignominy.

Some later news came from Mike I. He was unfortunately unsuccessful in his attempt to see the Water Pipits, but did see a first-winter Common Gull (the first here since last winter) and also managed to flush two Jack Snipes from the sedge in front of the main pool (puddle). Again, these are the first of the autumn, in this case because I thought the area would be too dry so I haven't tried for them.

Sunday October 28 (mostly)

A couple of recent visits can be amalgamated into a single post due to the general shortage of decent birds.

On Friday I wandered around with Richard B, the only thing come close to being noteworthy were a pair of Stonechats. This morning I was joined by Dave and in much brighter conditions we were a little more successful, although the Stonechats were nowhere to be seen.

Instead we began well with a couple of late Chiffchaffs in Netherstead plantation, and then a couple of Bramblings in the same general area. Neither had been seen on Friday, and neither offered up a photo opportunity.

Its looking promising for Redpolls this winter though. A small party was present on both visits, thought to be around 15 birds.

Lesser Redpoll

Also prominent was a flock of about 30 Redwings plus a handful of Fieldfares raiding the hawthorn hedges.

Redwing

Other than that it was all a bit underwhelming. The Flash field offering 34 Teal, a Snipe, and the first Mute Swan since the last of the juveniles disappeared a month ago.

Sunday October 21

Dave and I arrived just as the fog was clearing to reveal a sunny morning.

The clearance also revealed a small flock of finches by the Netherstead barns, mainly Linnets and Goldfinches, but including at least five Lesser Redpolls and the first Brambling of the year.

Initially we could only hear it calling, but eventually it perched up in the hedge some distance away.

Brambling

At least it was a male.  Around 50 Fieldfares flew south, with smaller numbers of Redwings and a Siskin also heading over. At this point it was starting to feel as though it could be a good day.

As it turned out, the only other decent birds we found were the first pair of Stonechats of the autumn. I had begun to wonder whether we would get any at all.

Female Stonechat

Male Stonechat

There were a few more Skylarks around than usual, at least 27, while a flock of 70 Starlings settled on wires over the ridge field. The Flash field was the usual disappointment, although there were at least 17 Snipe with the geese and Teal.

As the day warmed up plenty of insects were on the wing including a Small Copper, a Speckled Wood, and a Darter sp (presumably Common).

Small Copper

So a better visit than most recent ones.

Sunday October 14

Back at the patch after our Cornish break.

Its feeling properly autumnal now. For a start a slow moving cold front deposited a deluge of rain from just before dawn until early afternoon. Dave bailed out, and so did I. The thought of a soul-destroying morning slog in pouring rain was more than I could cope with. Instead, I waited until 14.15 when the rain was showing signs of abating before setting foot out of the house. The temperature was down to a chilly 10 degrees.

Autumn fungi

The signs of autumn were everywhere, from fungi like those shown (I have long since given up on trying to identify toadstools) to newly arrived autumn migrants.

The weedy field and hedge behind the pool (still a puddle) played host to 25 buntings, including ten Yellowhammers, and also 70 Goldfinches and 15 Linnets. A couple of Chiffchaffs are still hanging on, and I also heard a tacker which was bound to be a Blackcap.

A big flock of Greylag Geese announced my arrival by flying noisily from the flash field. The disturbance caused the dabbling ducks to take flight, but they all returned, revealing the first Wigeon of the autumn and a decent count of 52 Teal.

Of course you know autumn has really arrived when the winter thrushes turn up, so I was pleased to accumulate ten Redwings, typically silhouetted as they flew around. I also heard my first Redpoll of the autumn. Its normal to get the first Redwings a week or two before the first Fieldfare, so I was very pleased and surprised to discover a single Fieldfare on wires accompanied by a single Meadow Pipit.

Fieldfare and Meadow Pipit

I flushed five Roe Deer from the weedy field, a good count for this species. Several Brown Hares were also seen.

The final bird to report was a single Peregrine, presumably the one seen three weeks ago.

Thursday October 11

Yesterday's post ended with the prophecy that ropey weather would put paid to any further wildlife watching action.

This morning there was a southerly gale and driving rain. But at 11.00 am I glanced out at the rain-splattered patio as I headed to make us a cup of tea, and blow me there's a Black Redstart sheltering under the garden furniture.

Black Redstart

It didn't stay long, and I just managed a couple of poor shots before it hopped through a gap in the fence into the neighbours garden, and from there disappeared into the farm. The rain stopped an hour later, but I couldn't relocate it. There was another (or the same) Feathered Ranunculus in the porch though, and even more unexpectedly a Hummingbird Hawkmoth did a brief tour of the garden before being blown northwards.

In the afternoon the sun came out and the wind dropped. We headed to Tate St Ives to look around the  gallery at the 20th Century art housed within. Not everybody's cup of tea, but the views of St Ives were stunning.

On the way back we stopped for an all too brief look at the Hayle estuary. The tide had not come in yet, but there were plenty of trip ticks standing around. I don't get the chance to see many Mediterranean Gulls nowadays, so I was quite happy to settle for them. Arguably the Whimbrel on the RSPB reserve was a scarcer bird these days.

Adult and 1st winter Mediterranean Gulls

Whimbrel

So the weather really is supposed to be bad tomorrow. No chance of anything else...is there?

Wednesday October 10

Guess what. I'm on holiday. We are staying in a very nice holiday property in the middle of Cornwall, i.e. not where the birds are. The locality is Vose Farm near Tregony.

We came here in 2016, and I have to admit that part of the attraction was my determination to visit Dodman Point, a headland which juts out into the English Channel but which is rarely featured even on the Cornish Birds website. Surely an under-watched gem.

This time I managed to negotiate the narrow, high-banked roads to get to the National Trust car-park at its stem. It was largely cloudy on Monday but I spent a pleasant couple of hours there looking for migrants. The final tally was two Chiffchaffs, two Blackcaps, and a Wheatear. Oh well, at least I've been.

Wheatear

Meanwhile, Vose Farm has had its moments. The day after we arrived was a cold Sunday morning, and I found about 40 Swallows and a House Martin perched on wires, while a couple of Stonechats were visible just beyond the end of the garden. They evidently all migrated during the day, because not a single one has been seen since.

I couldn't fit the moth-trap into the car, so my only chance of moths came from the porch, which had an outside light. And as it turned out the single moth present on Monday morning was a Feathered Ranunculus, a coastal species which is virtually unknown in the Midlands (just two Warwickshire records).

Feathered Ranunculus

I should probably own up to the fact that I didn't know what it was, and tentatively identified it as a Brindled Green, only to be corrected by a couple of members of the Warwickshire Moth Facebook Group.

The following night I found five micros which were new to me; Eudonia angustea, but I am aware that they are quite common, even in the Midlands.

Yesterday Lyn and I went to west Cornwall to visit galleries. This included a stop at Mousehole where we witnessed a highly entertaining drama which involved a young chap being transported across to a rocky outcrop where he had lost a newly purchased £1.5k drone with which he had been filming seabirds when one of them took exception to it and brought it down.

The recovery mission in full swing

We had to leave before we found out what happened, but I have since discovered that he did find it and that it still works. While we were watching the drama, we saw a Peregrine making an unsuccessful swoop at a Turnstone.

Today, a trip to Trelissick Gardens was very pleasant. More importantly I had spotted that the venue was only ten miles from Devoran Quay which has held a Lesser Yellowlegs for about three weeks. So I arrived at 16.45 to find the tide rising rapidly. Fortunately the second group of Redshank I looked at were accompanied by the Lesser Yellowlegs. Less fortunately they were on the opposite side of the creek, so I was only able to snatch a few distant shots (the sun was against me too).

Lesser Yellowlegs (with Black-tailed Godwits in the foreground)

All the waders were then flushed by a man on the far bank and flew downstream, but they chose to land even further away so no better shots were possible. I think this is only the third Lesser Yellowlegs I have seen in the UK.

Its nice to end with a rarity. The forecast for the next couple of days is pretty ropey, so I doubt I'll be seeing anything else before we head home.