This morning I had three options; 1. go to Morton Bagot, 2. do another Spotter Sheet Walk, or 3. Try to see the Hen Harrier seen recently in the Snitterfield/Wolverton area.
I opted for options 2 and 3. So I went back to Morgrove Coppice and went on the trail which took me across to Spernal Park. I was a bit unlucky because a heavy shower drenched me shortly after arrival and just as I got onto the only tit flock I saw. As I sheltered, they all headed away and for the rest of the walk I saw very little.
Meadow Pipits
A couple of Meadow Pipits were the subject of the only photo I attempted.
If you thought that was bad, it was nothing to my attempt at option 3. This consisted of driving along the winding road past Wolverton, where the Harrier was seen on Monday, looking for somewhere to park. In the end I gave up and drove to Snitterfield Bushes which overlooks an airfield which I thought might be the sort of place a Hen Harrier might go.
After an hour I had seen a couple of Buzzards, a Kestrel, a Stonechat, and a mixed flock of 60 Linnets and Goldfinches. A hedgerow full of hawthorn berries had attracted about 30 Redwings and a few Fieldfares.
Although my Morton Bagot patch is largely on HOEF (Heart of England Forest) land, it also comprises areas they do not own, and they have not built any car-parks here to service the good dog-walkers of Redditch, so I pretty much carry on birding as I did before they formed.
However, I do appreciate that where they have located car-parks, they have created a wonderful wildlife-friendly amenity. Earlier this year I paid my subs and joined as a volunteer. Naturally I was keen to avoid any hard manual labour, like planting trees, what a wimp, but when they came up with the idea of volunteers completing Spotter Sheets for land accessible from one of their car-parks, I jumped at the chance of joining in. It was something I could do without unduly troubling my ailing muscles.
The idea seemed simple enough. I was to go to a wood, I chose Morgrove Coppice as I was familiar with it, and record everything I see. Everything? I quickly decided to ignore the plant kingdom on the grounds that I only have a tenuous knowledge of plant identification, and if they didn't know that Larch, Scots Pine, Birch, Oak, Hazel, and Bramble was there in proliferation there was no hope for them.
Insects seemed absent (it was a morning visit), and I didn't see any mammals other than humans and dogs. That just left birds, which by a happy accident is what I do.
I had two options; the accessible path Lyn and I know well, or the Wild Walk which would take me up into Spernal Park. I picked the former, and set about recording.
A couple of hours later I was back at the car looking at my 30th (and best) sighting, a female Stonechat.
Stonechat - A Morgrove Coppice tick, no less
Prior to this find I had been entertained by a singing Song Thrush, a tit flock containing numerous Goldcrests and a few Nuthatches, Treecreepers, Coal Tits, and a Marsh Tit, and a few fly-over finches, the best of which was a Brambling. Actually that may have been calling from trees, but I couldn't see it anyway. At least 23 Redwings was probably an underestimate of the numbers in the wood.
All I then had to do was go home and email my sightings to HOEF. Easy-peasy.
The continuing mild weather encouraged me to put the moth-trap out. My neighbour's wasps seem undaunted by the approaching winter and were well-represented around the trap this morning. Moths, on the other hand, weren't. I could only find two; a Ruddy Streak (common and boring), and a Red-green Carpet.
Red-green Carpet
Quite an attractive late autumn moth, this was my fifth this year.
The only bit of luck today concerned the weather. I arrived in pouring rain, but within five minutes it had cleared and sunshine dominated.
Dave arrived and we headed for the south end with high hopes. However, it soon became apparent that the finch flock was much reduced. Only about 27 Lesser Redpolls and 10 Linnets remained.
Lesser Redpolls feeding on Mugwort
We resumed our normal circuit, and succeeded in flushing a single Jack Snipe from the pool field, actually a disappointing return compared to previous winters, while the nearest flash was a little better than recently, containing 47 Mallard, 14 Teal, a Canada Goose, three Wigeon, and two Grey Herons.
We counted three pairs of Stonechats in the usual places, and noticed that thrush numbers had dropped to about 20 Redwings and two Fieldfares.
Female Stonechat
There comes a time each year when nature seems to flick a switch from autumn into winter, and mild as it was, that day was today.
A sunny morning with a very light south-westerly. The balmy weather may have been partly responsible for the fact that there were more birders and walkers in the area than I have ever seen before.
Fieldfare
I decided to venture into the marshy area of the former pool field, and hadn't gone far before I flushed medium sized mammal. It wasn't large enough to be seen above the level of the rushes, but it was sufficiently alarming to flush a Jack Snipe, then a Common Snipe and another Jack. Needless to say I was not able to get a shot of them in flight.
I saw the first of six Stonechats here, and then moved on to the Flash field. Here, a cacophony of Chaffinch calls indicated that they were mobbing an Owl, and eventually a Little Owl broke cover. Meanwhile the nearest flash was considerably more interesting than at the weekend. It harboured 18 Teal and three Wigeon including a nice adult male.
Wigeon and Teal
A flock of 45 Goldfinches was still present in the weedy field, and a few Lesser Redpolls feeding on Mugwort (thanks to my Twitter correspondents who identified it for me.) I decided to head down to the south end to see whether the main flock was present.
By the time I got there it was late morning and the flock was found feeding close to the public footpath. This meant that the steady stream of walkers and dog-walkers who stopped for a chat were unwittingly making getting a good view of the Redpolls quite challenging. Actually I didn't mind because they were all very pleasant and had plenty of interest to say.
Meanwhile I had spotted a pale Redpoll among the flock. Unfortunately it was the wrong kind of pale. Each time they flew it was easy to pick out by its pale milky tea primaries and tail feathers. It was clearly a leucistic Lesser Redpoll. I wanted to get a shot of it to prove it wasn't anything better, but it was hard to locate once it had disappeared into the crop. Eventually I had a millisecond to get a record short when it joined the other Redpolls on telephone wires.
The leucistic Lesser Redpoll to the right of normal ones
It actually didn't look as impressive on the wires as it did in flight. I think this flock will prove a draw for the rest of the winter. Expect confusion.
A visit to Morgrove Coppice with Lyn may well prove to be our last of the year in spite of our stated aim to visit once a month. The problem was mud clarting up the wheelchair's wheels. It required a sustained attack with kitchen roll on our return.
Our reward for making this visit was a calling Brambling, about 30 Redwings, and a few Redpolls for me, and some nice views of woodland in afternoon sunshine for Lyn.
Back at the house a couple of nights ago a brown Lacewing, possibly Hemerobius micans, flew into the utility room. I should point out that this identification is based on an internet search and is subject to the proviso that the species cannot be identified for certain without a microscopic examination. However, the above species is a plausible fit, and it did make me think I should have another go with the moth trap.
So last night the trap went out and this morning contained three micro-moths of two species and a caddis-fly. Two of the moths were the common migratory species, Diamond-back Moth, but the other one was something new, a tortrix called Acleris sparsana.
Acleris sparsana
All right its not the prettiest moth in the book, but it brings my total for the year up to 1,997 moths. Clearly I'm going to have to keep going to break to 2,000 barrier.
The lacewing Hemerobius (micans?)
A Brambling flew over calling as I strolled to the paper shop. It seems to be an above average autumn for them.
There are days in early November which can be pretty exciting, all you need is the right conditions, lots of birds, and a major rarity hopping onto a hedge in front of you. Well, two out of three ain't bad. We had the weather, we had the birds, and that was it.
The sky was steely grey and the breeze virtually non-existent. Even as I arrived I could see Blackbirds and Song Thrushes bursting out of the hedges. A good sign. Better still, I scoped the weedy field at the south end of the site, where we had seen record numbers of Redpolls a few years ago and I could see finches. A very good sign.
Dave arrived and we made our way there. Sure enough there was a large flock of Lesser Redpolls in the field feeding on seeds. A few Goldfinches and Linnets were with them but the Redpolls seemed determined to stick together. A quick estimate put their number at 80 to 100, but the following snatch of video suggests over 150 finches, and I would say they were nearly all Redpolls.
Of course we were mainly interested in relocating the Mealy Redpoll trapped during the week. After about thirty minutes we had seen no sign of it, so maybe it has indeed gone.
Lesser Redpoll
While watching the Redpolls we were aware that there were loads of other birds flying about. Hundreds of Fieldfares and Redwings were going over, with plenty of Starlings, a variety of finches, and a single Yellowhammer.
So we abandoned the field and struck out northwards to see what else we could find. In the event it was more of the same, but no less impressive. Our estimate of numbers rose steadily, but with the birds all so mobile our estimates of 380 Redwings, 200 Fieldfares, 100 Starlings, 15 Blackbirds, and 10 Song Thrushes may wildly underestimate the true numbers. It seemed that everywhere you looked there were birds.
Fieldfare
We amassed nine Stonechats across the site, saw a single Snipe in flight, and noted down about a dozen Greenfinches.
The only place to disappoint was the flash field which produced a paltry three Teal.
A rarity may well be hiding somewhere. At one point I tried to convince Dave I could hear a Red-flanked Bluetail (based on hearing a tape of one in Lion Wood), but he just grinned and I realised I was going mad.
This morning I was not entirely surprised to discover my moth trap empty, apart from two wasps. So I switched my attention to birds, and specifically to vizmig.
The thing about vizmig (visible migration) is that you have to get up early. By the time I generally get to Morton Bagot its pretty much over, and all I get is its tail end. But in order to beat the predators to the moths I have to be up early, while Lyn sleeps, to empty the trap. For most of the year I am too busy studying the insects before me to look up, but today was an opportunity.
It was quite impressive. The sky was at times full of Woodpigeons, particularly between 07.00 and 07.30. But I gave it an hour and came up with the following counts:
Woodpigeon - 895
Stock Dove - 2
Fieldfare - 13
Redwing - 74
Starling - 25
Chaffinch - 5
Redpoll sp - 2
Woodpigeons over Redditch
Most parties were between 20 and 30 strong, but the largest contained 180 birds. The thing is, at this time of year in calm conditions this movement happens everywhere. You just have to get up.
Going back to moths, I have finally got around to adding a page showing my garden moth list. After just three years of garden trapping it has reached 319. That's just in my garden.
Compare that to birds. In 16 years since we moved here my garden bird list has struggled up to 81 species. My Morton Bagot list, also recently revamped, stands at 154 after 13 years of watching. My Worcestershire list, thanks to the recent addition of Red-flanked Bluetail is on 256, and my West Midland Bird Club region list is on 299.
So I've seen more species of moth in my garden in three years than I have birds in the West Midlands in my entire life.
Wow!
Mind you, there are about 2500 moths on the British list compared to a little over 600 birds, so I won't be seeing them all.
Stop Press: While I was titting about in the garden Tony and Leigh spent a little time at Morton Bagot trying to catch Meadow Pipits. They caught six in all, and have kindly sent me a photo of one.
