Sunday March 6

 It continues to be cold, grey, and very un-spring like. Dave and I went through the motions at Morton Bagot, meeting Tony who was ringing - mostly Blue Tits. Not that we were doing much better.

By the end of the morning we had recorded 47 species, none of them unusual for the site. On the journey in, my car flushed a Mistle Thrush below Bannams Wood. On reflection, that was probably the bird of the day.

The main feature was the large number of corvids, mostly Jackdaws, feeding in the fields from below Morton Springs fishery and over towards Studley Castle. I wrote 400 down in my notes, but made no serious effort to count them, and suspect the actually figure was much higher.

Very few birds were singing, and flocks of Starlings and Redwings added to the winter feel. The flash field contained the usual 30+ Teal, and 21 Lapwings, while the continued presence of a pair of Shelduck, and at least four Coot was a nod towards spring.

Fieldfare

In desperation we wandered slightly beyond the usual circuit, recording a few Siskins and Fieldfares whilst failing to relocate the 30 or so Black-headed Gulls we had seen heading away from the flash field.

Two pairs of Buzzards displayed in the usual places, but in all honesty this was one to forget.

Friday March 4 - Filling the gap

 It is generally understood that there is a starvation gap for seed-eating birds at the end of winter. The same might be said for birders. Where the birds are concerned a solution can be supplementary feeding by concerned nature-lovers. In my case the question is how to fill the gap in my year-list once I've run out of wintering birds and am waiting for the summer migrants to trickle in.

After changing my mind several times this week, I decided my best bet was to go back down to the Coldcomfort Wood/Alcester Heath area. In years gone by I might have hoped for a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker or a Curlew. These are both classic March/April birds which are now spiralling to oblivion locally.

It was chilly, and a bit grey. Not much chance of an early butterfly to break the winter blues. However, the day was brightened by the sound of a singing Yellowhammer. The fields along Coldcomfort Lane were largely stubble, so they should be good for that hunger gap. Indeed there must have been some sustenance available because I added small flocks of Linnets and Chaffinches, and one or two more Yellowhammers.

Yellowhammer

At the end of the lane lives a chap with the right idea. A well-stocked feeder on the edge of the wood, opposite his house, was alive with Tits, Nuthatches, Chaffinches etc. I paused for several minutes to watch the action. Several Coal Tits and Marsh Tits joined the fray, and eventually so did one of at least four Great Spotted Woodpeckers present in the adjacent wood. But no small cousin turned up. 

I ventured into the wood (very muddy), and listened in vain for any "quee quee quee" calls or longer than usual drumming. The wood and its neighbours form part of the Ragley estate and there are numerous signs warning you not to leave the footpath. At the far end of the wood was a large flock of Fieldfares, Redwings, and Starlings. A Raven croaked in the distance. The temptation to stray was enormous, and might have been irresistible if the right woodpecker had perked up, but none did. Perhaps they've gone from here too.

So no happy ending this time. I do, however, have some Morton Bagot news. The ringers have been active, with a little night-time adventure bagging them a Woodcock. 

Woodcock per Tony Kelly

What a stunning bird.

Tuesday March 1 - Meteorological Spring

 So here we go, Spring is here. The Met Office says it starts today, so that's the cue I needed to start recording breeding birds.

What to do? I decided to "officially" record some of the early breeders. This meant a trip to the two heronries I have come across during February to count the occupied nests.

Heronry A contained five nests, and heronry B 10 nests. I don't suppose heronries are a big secret, but one of these was at a private site which hadn't been reported to the County recorder for over 10 years, so I'll say no more about it.

I also kept an eye open for rookeries, and noticed three (two of them with Lyn on our way to Stratford). 

Everything else was pretty much a case making a judgment about whether to count birds as potential breeders yet or not. It's still very early, but broadly speaking I regard singing birds as likely breeding birds which may need confirming later.

At Arrow Valley Lake a Mute Swan was sitting on a probable nest, while Great Crested Grebes were getting frisky.

Displaying Grebes

Winter was still hanging on to the winter visitors, with plenty of Siskins at Arrow Valley Lake, and 160 Redwings, a few Fieldfares, and three Grey Wagtails at another site.

Siskin

Grey Wagtail

At Arrow Valley Lake two Chiffchaffs were flicking about, refusing to sing, searching for insects. I decided to call them early passage migrants.

It was distinctly chilly all day so it's very much a case of Spring in name only for now.

Sunday February 27

 Dave and I returned to the Sunday morning Morton Bagot stroll, and in an entirely traditional way we saw very little.

If I'd been keeping a Morton Bagot list this year, a Coot on the dragonfly pools would have been a year-tick. One species surprisingly absent was Stonechat. There is usually a late February surge as it is one of the earliest migrants through the patch.

There was a small party of 12 or so Meadow Pipits which seemed like an increase on the wintering numbers.

Meadow Pipit

A small party of Goldfinches and Reed Buntings joined the Skylarks to feed in the Red-backed Shrike field. 

The water level at the flash field remains high, and apart from a Snipe and 20 Lapwings, there were no waders. Three Wigeon, and about 20 Teal were long-stayers, but the arrival of more Shelducks (three in total) was a reminder of spring.

The furthest flash

The temperature was barely in double figures by midday, and so we left before there was any realistic prospect of finding the first butterfly of the year.

Friday February 25 - more pins in the map

Did I mention that I'm a bit of a nerd? Well you've probably figured that out already. This post will give you an inkling of the extent of that nerdiness.

As well as accumulating a list of the birds I see in my Circle each year, I am also attempting to record birds in every square kilometre available. So that's over 300 potential dots on the map. It doesn't stop there. I'm also doing mammals, butterflies, dragonflies, and (technically) moths. 

Birds have a non-breeding season and a breeding season, so yes I'll be covering both seasons. 

On Tuesday I parked under the M42 and completed a circuit northwards to Weatheroak Hill and back. I did this for no better reason than to fill in an annoying gap in my maps. The habitat was dire, sheep pasture, horse paddocks, hedgerows, and a small fishery. There were no highlights, unless you consider a flock of 138 Redwings, a Grey Wagtail, and a pair of Coots to be worth the effort.

Here's a sneak preview of a map. It pretty much shows everywhere I've been since the beginning of November because it shows the winter distribution (and numbers to some extent) of Robin. 

Three more years and all these squares should be blue

No doubt you're wondering where everywhere is. The map is centred on our house in east Redditch, and the gridlines are taken from the ordnance survey. Wythall in the north, Alcester in the south.

I may not actually post any more maps. There are issues regarding secrecy for breeding birds, but I reckon it will take me ten years to do everywhere properly. All my records go onto Birdtrack, or irecord depending on whether they are birds, mammals, or insects, so they'll all be recorded for posterity.

Anyone can do this, so I recommend any budding nerds out there to give it a go. It's fun.

Today I headed for Umberslade Park, a place I'd never been to before. It was much more interesting than where I went on Tuesday. Birding highlights included two Woodcock, two Teal, and a few Tufted Ducks. 

I was able to cover most of it by, broadly speaking, sticking to footpaths. However, much of the site is privately owned.

Token bird

There were no year-ticks, but that didn't matter because two more square kilometres were assigned a dot.

Sunday February 20 - In search of easy ticks

 The weather was a bit confusing today. A brief conversation with Dave led to him heading for Marsh Lane for the second week running, while I decided to try my luck at Lower Bittell. We had been convinced that it was going to rain from mid-morning.

My plan was to grab some easy year-ticks. On the way there I paused to look at three Egrets in a field opposite the Citroen garage at Bordesley. They proved to be Little Egrets as usual.

Lower Bittell was unexpectedly low, well lowish, and had a proper muddy edge. The only wader-ready habitat in my Circle so far this year. There were no waders on it, but you can't have everything. What I did see was nine Little Grebes and four Gadwalls. Compared to my last visit in November, the rest of the reservoir was a bit disappointing. I counted 51 Tufted Ducks, 10 Teal, and 14 Coot along with a smattering of Mallard, and a few Cormorants and Grey Herons.

Gadwall waiting for the Coot to stir up some food

At least 80 Siskins landed in an alder and twittered loudly, and a couple of Grey Wagtails were also seen.

After an hour I decided to head to Morton Bagot. It still wasn't really raining. However, on reaching the small roundabout by Old Birmingham Road I noticed a couple of small flash pools in a field and thought I had caught sight of something white by one of them. So I pulled into a lay-by and investigated.

The white thing turned out to be litter, but closer examination of the edge of the pool gave me a Green Sandpiper, my 90th year tick for #LocalBigYear. 

Green Sandpiper

I suspect that the pool will dry up well before spring, but if it stays wet it could be worth a look.

By the time I got to Morton Bagot the threatened rain was starting to fall. I decided on a brisk walk to the flash field, 56 Lapwings, 23 Teal, and three Wigeon, before circling back to the church. The route gave me a Red Kite which flew past as I scrabbled to get my camera out of my bag.

Red Kite ...just

My first here this year, so it was worth the visit.

Friday February 18 - Arrow Valley Lake

 The big storm was a little slow arriving and only did so when I was half way around Arrow Valley Lake. My focus was on gulls, and I counted 204 Black-headed Gulls before 36 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 10 Herring Gulls glided past. Any other gull species would have done, but none turned up.

Tearing my attention away from gulls the remaining inhabitants were completely predictable: eight Great-crested Grebes, 14 Goosanders, 10 Cormorants, the usual Mallard and Geese, and three Coot. A single Little Egret sheltered under the trees on the main island.

Cormorant

Goldcrest

The river Arrow was in full spate, and a Grey Wagtail just about allowed me close enough for a shot.

Grey Wagtail

I'm now back home contemplating what to do about the fence panel which just blew across the back garden.