The moths are back.

After a total blank last weekend, I actually caught some moths last night. Only six of them, but clearly the slightly warmer night was enough to encourage them onto the wing.

The highlight was my first Merveille du Jour since 2018. 

Merveille du Jour

A very pretty moth and well named for a change. It is indeed a marvel of the day (apologies for any mistranslation).

The second new one for the year was a Barred Sallow, also no slouch in looks.

Barred Sallow

For the record, the others were Common Marbled Carpet, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Light Brown Apple Moth, and Ruddy Streak.

Wednesday October 14

 I've had a bit of a nightmare this morning. My photos can no longer be put onto my computer owing to me using an ancient machine and Apple doing an upgrade I can't access. Or something. Anyway the solution is in hand, I think, and I should be able to add them at a later date.

What you could have seen was a terribly small image of an adult Common Gull which was a patch year-tick and flew over Netherstead shortly after my arrival. Ironically this was the only gull I saw all morning.

The other year-tick this morning was a Golden Plover, but even I didn't see that. It just called twice up in the blue sky somewhere as it flew over. No other waders were on site as far as I could tell.

At least 91 Lesser Redpolls and 200 Goldfinches were in the area, along with 25 Linnets. A few Stonechats are still in the pool field, but I didn't see more than three.

There was a fair amount of visible migration taking place. At least 60 Redwings, 72 Starlings, a Fieldfare, and 14 Chaffinches all went west.

The flashes contained 10 Shovelers, 12 Teal, two Mallard, and a Grey Heron.

Roe Deer

A Roe Deer posed beautifully for a photo which I can't show off, and I also got a shot of one of two Yellowhammers which were a welcome reminder of their former presence here.

Hopefully normal services will be resumed in due course.

Back on the patch - Sunday October 11 - Redpoll crazy

It was good to be back at Morton Bagot this morning. I was joined by Dave, and the calm sunny conditions had also tempted the ringers to set up their nets. More of that later.

It wasn't long before it became clear that birds were moving. A flock of 67 Redwings heading south-west were the forerunner of several substantial parties adding up to a count of 238 by noon. We later saw a party of 30 Fieldfares which followed a similar trajectory.

However, four female ducks which flew north had us just as interested. We felt sure that they were Pintails and as this would double the previous highest count recorded here, it seemed sensible to make haste to the flash field. Sure enough they were there, along with five Shoveler and 16 Teal.

The four Pintail

The Shovelers

Anyway, back to Netherstead. We had noticed several Lesser Redpolls before we reached the ringers, but it was evident that they had recorded loads of them. Tony reckoned about 100, nearly half of which they'd caught, and we had no reason to doubt the figure. For our part counting was impossible because they were all over the place in small groups. I got a shot of two in a bush.

Lesser Redpolls

But you know what they say about a bird in the hand.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll

Juvenile Lesser Redpoll

As always, Leigh and Tony imparted a wealth of information explaining how to age the birds they had caught. For example adults have a pinker breast if they are males, and browner wing bars than immatures because at this time of year they have completed their moult leaving pristine flight feathers. These birds are almost certainly all from Northern England and Scotland, and apparently the recovery rate for Redpolls is relatively high so there is a good chance that some recoveries will follow.

Dave and I left them to it and headed back to the pool field to try to count the Stonechats. We eventually came up with 11 for the whole site, a little lower than last week but still a decent number. One disappointment was that the pool had not endured. During the week Sam from HOEF had counted four Mute Swans, a pair and two immatures, on it.

It was not all about winter visitors. We had three late Swallows hurrying south, and recorded a couple of Blackcaps but no Chiffchaffs (although Tony and Leigh saw a couple).

I will add the ringers' final totals as soon as I have them....

The results are in and they make for eye-watering reading:

The total number of birds caught was 176 ! Out of these, 121 were Lesser Redpolls, and out of them 112 were juveniles and only nine were adults. What's more, one of them was a control, so we'll soon learn where it was ringed. Exciting stuff.

The full list:

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1

Marsh Tit  1

Blue Tit 35 (10)

Great Tit 4 (1)

Blackcap 1

Goldcrest 3

Wren 3

Robin 1

Greenfinch 5

Lesser Redpoll 121

Goldfinch 1

Adult male Lesser Redpoll - per Tony Kelly

Goldcrest - per Tony Kelly

As well as the exceptional catch of Lesser Redpolls, another surprising feature was the very low catch of Great Tits. There is no obvious explanation for that.

Many thanks to Tony and Leigh for sharing the figures.

Pallid Harrier - Middleton RSPB

 Unusually, this morning I checked the RBA web page before heading on my planned visit to Morton Bagot. What greeted me was news that a Pallid Harrier had been identified from photographs of what had been assumed to be a Hen Harrier at Middleton RSPB yesterday. The newly re-identified bird had been seen again this morning.

Time for a change of plan.

I hadn't been to Middleton RSPB since 2014, when I had twitched a Pacific Golden Plover. Pallid Harrier was a bird of similar status although it does rest uneasily on my British list from a distant view of a wintering bird in Norfolk in 2003. This however was the first West Midland record (discounting a perfectly good one that the National rarities committee harshly rejected from Belvide on the grounds that a hybrid could not be eliminated)...or so I understand.

The first challenge was to find my way into the site. You now have to drive past the Aston Villa training ground. Covid restrictions meant that the walk to the pits was a winding one through woodland. I took a wrong turning somewhere and met birders coming towards me who were in fact also on their way there. I followed them and reached the spot where a gaggle of ageing, covid-vulnerable, birders were vaguely trying to self-distance. I felt right at home.

There followed an hour of scanning, and lots of chat with old friends like Glen Giles, John Sirrett, and Graham Mant, while we waited for the bird to appear. Before us were hundreds of Canada and Greylag Geese, Lapwings, and Teal, and smaller numbers of other dabbling ducks. A Sparrowhawk put in a brief appearance causing a panic among birds and birders alike, while a Great White Egret stuck its head up behind an island before flying to a more obvious spot. A couple of Cetti's Warblers sang from the reedmace. A Ruff was flying around with the Lapwings at one stage.

Eventually a shout went up. The Pallid Harrier was in view. Initially miles away, it then obliged by getting closer. Panicking Lapwing and Teal scattered in all directions while equally anxious birders tried to get on the bird and stay on it. My mission, I decided, was to try to get any sort of image for this blog. These are my best efforts (heavily cropped).

Pallid Harrier showing narrow hand (the shot's not sharp enough to allow the primary tips to be counted)

In this view the white rump can be seen and also some breast streaking

One surprising thing about this bird is that it isn't a juvenile. Its actually an adult female. My shots are not clear enough to show this, but the image from which the original re-identification was made show a streaked upper breast and no real shawl which would have been typical of a juvenile.

Once it had gone out of view I was obliged to head home as I have a routine doctors appointment to attend.

Poor old soul.

Monday October 5 - a record smashing day

Despite failing to arrive before 09.00 I was optimistic for today from the off. Weather conditions were close to perfect, mostly cloudy with a very light north-westerly following days of heavy rain. Admittedly I could have done without the showers, but the birds more than made up for them.

I quickly started to get that early autumn buzz. Two Yellowhammers flew west, and there was a steady trickle of Chaffinches. Where there had been virtually none, Song Thrushes "tsipp" calls came from the hedgerows, while a party of six Mistle Thrushes flew over. A Peregrine took off from the masts by the chat field, and just before I took shelter from the first shower of the morning I could see a pair of Mute Swans bobbing up and down on the pool.

The pool ? Yes it was back, and although the Mute Swans soon left, it was great to see wildfowl enjoying the return of a much missed habitat.

Mallards

Attracted to the rushes surrounding the pool were Stonechats. I started to count them and was soon into double figures. The site record is nine, but on every sweep I could see more. I reached 15, and later added two at Netherstead giving a record smashing count of 17. Wow, could today get any better? It could.

There was no way of getting all 17 in one shot. 

Birds were constantly in view. The Skylark count reached 29, Meadow Pipits trickled over all morning, up to eight Lesser Redpolls were flying around, three Swallows went south, and finally a Redwing, unequivocally Scandinavian in origin, flew over.

Lesser Redpoll

I had not expected to record any waders today, but still heard a Green Sandpiper over the pool, and saw a Snipe in flight beyond the flash. Here was the only place determined not to please, I only counted 19 Teal some of which were relinquishing their dowdy summer eclipse plumage, a few Mallard, and two Shovelers.

I had seen several tit flocks, the best containing at least 15 Long-tailed Tits and several Goldcrests. Of more interest to me were the warblers associated with them, and I tallied four Chiffchaffs and five Blackcaps which wasn't too bad for October.

As I reached the raptor watch point at Stapenhill Wood the star bird turned up. I heard it first, a sort of "tyoop" call that stopped me in my tracks. What was that? It called again, closer. Whatever it was it was going to be good. By the third call I was pretty certain it would be a Crossbill, but the species has a range of calls and this wasn't quite the same as the most common "kyip". That is why I decided I had to see it, and why there is no recording to support the claim. Sorry. It flew right past at close range, and was indeed a Crossbill. The first here since 2015. OK I have seen some over my garden this year, but where we live is surrounded by conifers, while there are none at Morton Bagot so Crossbills are scarce here even in a good year. This looks like being a good autumn for them.

Not many patch days are genuinely exciting, but this one certainly was.

Salford Prior Gravel Pit - Sunday Oct 4

As predicted, it has rained and rained for the last two days. This morning it was still drizzling, but was forecast to stop by late morning. How late though? After a couple of "what shall we do?" phone conversations with Dave I opted to stay at home and he decided to return to Marsh Lane GP for the second day running.

By early afternoon I was thoroughly fed up of watching West Brom lose again, and decided on a new plan. Horrible though the weather is, it had been dropping Common Scoters and Rock Pipits onto various reservoirs in the Midlands. Salford Priors GP looked a good bet, and Morton Bagot didn't.

I arrived in cloudy conditions and spotted a Stonechat on the hedge by my car straight away. Better than that, in the distance I could see an expanse of floodwater. Very encouraging. I found a way onto the site and set up my scope to look at what is now a muddy prairie. A Peregrine was standing in the middle of it, and nearby were lots of geese, Greylags and Canadas. But hang on a minute, there was something different with them, in fact four somethings. They were Pink-footed Geese, surely wild ones. I scrambled for my camera but then couldn't find them. Geese were flying to the flooded pit, had they joined them?

They had, and I spent an awful lot of time trying to get a record shot. The problem was that they were intent on washing all that gloopy mud off themselves and so were constantly preening. In the end these were my best efforts.

Four Pink-footed Geese plus a Greylag and a Canada

Definitely two P F Geese, possibly three

I tried walking around the back of the pit to get the sun behind me, while I texted Neil D, on whose patch I was adventuring. It turned out he was in Norfolk (and given the recent National news I couldn't blame him). At first Neil thought that Jon B, who had been here this morning hadn't seen them, but it later transpired that he had. So no glory.

The Pink-footed Geese became nervous as I made my way around and all four took off and returned to the fields, greatly enhancing their wild credentials. Like all geese they are prone to escape from collections and tempt patch watchers to tick them. These birds were the real deal.

I headed away from the pit and started scanning the distant (very distant) floodwater. I immediately spotted a long billed wader and hurried to a better spot. From here I could see two Greenshank and a Dunlin. At this point Neil texted back with Jon's full list, and it was long. The stand out was a Knot, the second record for the site. It's been more years than I would like to admit since I last saw a Knot, so I was very keen to see it. Three hours later I had to admit defeat. If it was still here, I couldn't find it.

During the course of those hours, a third Greenshank dropped in, and the Peregrine got onto the tail of a party of Teal I had inadvertently flushed. To my relief they all escaped.

I suppose I had the option of marching into the field to try to get closer, but I didn't want to do that. Instead I settled for perfectly acceptable scope views, and utterly terrible record shots.

Three Greenshanks and a Dunlin (honest)

Among the other birds Jon had recorded was a Rock Pipit. Even with the scope I felt I had no chance. I could see plenty of Meadow Pipits, and at least 50 Pied Wagtails, but if there was a Rock Pipit among them I was going to miss it. Instead, I managed to spot a Wheatear, not on Jon's list. Hah!

As I wandered back I counted four Wigeon on the pit, and saw plenty of Little Grebes, Shovelers, and Tufted Ducks among the numerous Mallard, Teal, Canada Geese, and Greylag Geese all of which Jon had seen in greater quantities. 

Back at the road a final vestige of summer was a party of eight Swallows which flew north. You're going the wrong way!

I have to admit that Salford Priors is a lot more exciting than Morton Bagot, but your patch is your patch, and I'll be back on it tomorrow.

Worrying about moths

 Bound, as I am, to fulfil my weekly commitment to the Garden Moth Survey, I have been eyeing the weather forecast with some trepidation. Friday night looks a washout, and even Saturday night might be. Last night looked marginally better, so I lined the bottom of the trap with kitchen paper to soak up any excess water, and put it out.

By late evening there was a light drizzle, and at 01.00 I was awoken by rain on the window. I managed to get back to sleep but by 05.30 I was awake again, worrying about the moths. I knew that heavy rain was due at around dawn, and I finally cracked at 06.30 and went to have a look.

The rain had stopped and there was a Brimstone Moth on the window. I found things to do until 06.50 when I had another look and saw the first wasp crawling along the edge of the box. Time to act. I turned the light off, flicked off the wasp and hauled the trap indoors. Five minutes later the rain arrived in earnest.

The trap contained eight Lunar Underwings and a Setaceous Hebrew Character (and another wasp). Not brilliant but better than nothing and although some of the egg boxes were soggy, no moths had drowned.

My reward for all this angst was waiting on the wall of the house. A Black Rustic was braving the increasingly terrible weather, my first this year.

Black Rustic

I only hope next Friday is drier.