Friday November 18 - Earlswood Lakes

 Back in October, my sister happened to call on us on the day when there was a massive migration of Redwings and Fieldfares over the house, and she was very impressed by the spectacle. So impressed that we agreed I would take her birding later in the year.

Today was the day, and we agreed on Earlswood as the venue. It was bright and sunny, which was good, and she enjoyed the morning despite the fact that there was no wonderful wildlife event going on. In fact it was a little quiet.

The semi-resident adult Yellow-legged Gull put in an appearance, but the gravel island has virtually disappeared and we had to accept we weren't going to see its legs.

Yellow-legged Gull

It's difficult to get anyone who is not a committed larophile particularly excited about gulls, but we did also find four Common Snipe on one of the manmade islands. Much more impressive.

Snipe

As for the wildfowl, we counted 21 Tufted Ducks, didn't count the numerous Mallard, and located a drake Gadwall on Windmill Pool.

Gadwall

The passerines on offer were the usual species, and it was nice to be able to point out the different calls to Ann, who was keen to learn. Highlights here were a couple of Redwings, and about a dozen Siskins.

The one that got away came half way down Windmill Pool. A Goldcrest was calling loudly, and we edged forward hoping to discover the cause. Whatever it was shot out from the undergrowth and through the trees before either of us got a clear view. It was probably a Sparrowhawk, but could have been anything, with even Woodcock a possibility.

It would be nice to think we could do it again some time.

Wednesday November 16 - Boundaries

The decorator has decorated, and shortly after he left Lyn took a call. Terry H was ringing to let me know there was a Red-throated Diver at Bittell. 'Which Bittell ?" I asked. "Upper Bittell" Lyn replied. That's a shame, I thought.

Its a completely daft reaction to being told about a properly rare bird, but there you go. My Circle includes Lower Bittell, but not Upper. 

But still, I thought I'd go anyway. It was raining for most of the journey, but when I parked, it had abated. By the time I'd walked to the dam it was drizzling. Steve Roberts was on the dam and indicated that the Red-throated Diver was with the nearest Great Crested Grebes. I risked one photo before the camera got too wet.

Red-throated Diver

After about 15 minutes of watching the Diver, and scanning the distant far bank without much enthusiasm I decided I'd got wet enough.

By the time I'd got back to the car the rain had stopped, and another thought occurred. Might as well have a quick look at Lower. I drove down there and strolled to a vantage point.

I could see Gadwalls, Little Grebes, Shovelers, and Coots. Ho hum. Then I spotted some distant Tufted Ducks, so decided to get the scope out. 

Panning to the left of the Tufties I found the BIG ONE. Yes a bonafide #LocalBigYear patch tick. I had reached my target of 140 species with a month to spare. I've never been so pleased to see a Goldeneye.

Goldeneye

The light was awful and the bird was distant. I'm on cloud nine.

Strange business, Patch-watching.

Monday November 14 - changed plans and confusion, but the list moves on

 Having sat out an opportunity to go to Morton Bagot yesterday, preferring to watch England compete in the T20 Cricket World Cup Final - and win, I was intending to go there today. Dave had covered the patch and recorded 42 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, 17 Lapwings, and lots of winter thrushes and Meadow Pipits.

The only issue was the planned arrival of a decorator. He was due at 09.30, so I reckoned that wouldn't mean too late a start. By 10.30 he hadn't arrived and I was reduced to sweeping the leaves on the drive to take my mind off my frustration.

He did then turn up, but I decided I only had time for a brisk walk around Arrow Valley Lake. This proved to be a blessing in disguise.

On surveying the lake from the duck-feeding spot I noticed a large splash. This turned out to be a hunting dog Otter. Within about ten minutes it caught an enormous Carp, and I had some great views of the ensuing struggle.

Otter with prey

It was a perfect morning. Misty cloud and no appreciable wind. As a result I strolled very slowly round, checking several Tit flocks for any patch Gold, and scanning the water for anything noteworthy.

The result of all this was a typical selection of common passerines, two Shovelers, a Tufted Duck, and 21 Cormorants. Pretty standard fare, the only surprise being the complete absence of any Great Crested Grebes.

More fishermen's friends

Shortly after I got home, my vague plan for a late afternoon visit to Morton Bagot was disrupted by an Earlswood Whatsapp message. A female Common Pochard was on Windmill Pool at Earlswood. 

At last! I headed there straight after lunch and was relieved to find it still present.

The Pochard

This species has greatly declined since I first started birding, but it still surprised me that it took until November to finally add it to the #LocalBigYear list. It brings the list to 139. 

No doubt it was the excitement of getting a tick, but I added some Whatsapp confusion by accidentally informing the Group that it was on Terry's Pool instead of Windmill Pool. Doh!

Saturday November 12 - "Feeest"

 I was up early this morning to see whether the exceptionally mild weather had resulted in any unusual moths in my moth trap. The upshot was that I found 12 moths of eight species, three of them new for the year. 

The best species though, was a bird. At around 08.00 I had finished looking at moths and was about to go inside when a distant call stopped me in my tracks. A couple of seconds later, and much louder, I heard "feeest" and looked up to see a chunky pipit bounding westwards. It called again and I had no doubt at all that I was looking at either a Rock Pipit or a Water Pipit. Unfortunately the two calls are very similar, and although I thought it sound strong enough to be a Rock Pipit, I couldn't be completely certain it wasn't the rarer species. I certainly wanted it to be that. I tried playing some on line recordings, and some of them sounded indistinguishable from one another to me, so I am resigned to leaving it as either/or.

The three new for the year moths were a rather tatty Acleris sparsana, a splendid Feathered Thorn, and my first Sprawler since 2019.

Feathered Thorn

Sprawler

This morning I also planned to resume the exploring. I had identified a route from Bouts Lane, near Holberrow Green which took me eastwards to Cladswell and back. It was very sunny and mild day, and it turned out that the landscape was a mixture of horse and sheep pasture, with a couple of arable fields and a small scrubby wood.

Obviously I didn't see anything rare enough to rival the Rock/Water Pipit, but it had its moments. Redwings abounded in the hedgerows, with smaller numbers of Fieldfares. The proportion was 261 to 15. A party of 15 Linnets had found a small market garden by one of the farms to feed in. About 50 Rooks and a similar number of Jackdaws fed in the horse paddocks.

Redwing

Rooks

There were also a few minor surprises. A singing Chiffchaff near Cladswell, single Siskin and Redpoll flying over, and a pair of adult Herring Gulls which flew around me, calling loudly.

Herring Gull

The arable areas produced a handful of Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, and best of all up to four Yellowhammers.

Yellowhammer (backlit unfortunately)

Sadly this species looks to be following Tree Sparrow and Corn Bunting into local extinction.

Tuesday November 8 - Tardebigge Reservoir

This morning I abandoned my original plan which would have involved walking around virgin countryside (probably just fields) in favour of Tardebigge Reservoir. This was entirely because it was very windy overnight, and forecast to be just as windy through the day. I was thinking Great Northern Diver and Kittiwake. Dream on.

The water level at the reservoir had risen in response to the recent rain, but the bird life remained pretty similar. At least there were plenty of gulls to look through, with far more large gulls than I am used to seeing.

As it turned out they were Lesser Black-backed Gulls (82), Herring Gulls (14), and Black-headed Gulls (101). Oh well, next time maybe.

The usual suspects

Other waterfowl included 312 Canada Geese, one Greylag Goose, 62 Mallard, 15 Tufted Ducks, a Great Crested Grebe, and a Kingfisher.

The journey back along the canal was too windswept to produce anything noteworthy, but at least I was able to get the camera out.

A male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Part two of the morning's plan was largely foiled when I found Alvechurch Fishery had left their gates closed. A quick scan of Lower Bittell from the Mill Shrub causeway gave me no Pochards or Goldeneyes, and not enough else to be worth recording.

Sunday November 6 - The pox has arrived

 This morning's visit to Morton Bagot began with fog and ended with rain, but the intervening period was pretty ideal for birding. We chose to walk along the road before heading down the footpath to the pool field, which is starting to look promising. The highlight here was the first Jack Snipe since January, but we chose not to disturb it again after accidentally flushing it. We also kicked up five Common Snipe, one of which was later showing on the flash field.

Common Snipe

We counted 17 Lapwings and six Teal there, and also noticed a dead goose. This possible sign of Avian Flu was compounded by the presence of a single Greylag Goose which crash-landed into the Kingfisher Pool where it proceeded to swim around, flicking its head repeatedly. I suppose it was inevitable that Bird Flu would get here eventually. Beyond asking DEFRA to collect the corpses (and I gather they need prodding by the land-owner to do so) there is not much to be done.

As it happened we met the owner of the Kingfisher Pool, Sally Walton from Castle Farm, and had a very interesting conversation with her. It seems that a much photographed Little Owl on her land has, like the Morton Bagot Little Owl, disappeared this year.

Other birds seen today included many thrushes, and a Stonechat. 

Stonechat with grass stem spoiling the shot

Finches remain thin on the ground, but we did notice about 30 Siskins and a dozen Goldfinches along the Morton Brook.

Goldfinch and Siskin

Pied Wagtail on the pool field scrapes

We didn't really count the Redwings and Fieldfares, but I would guess at about 100 of the former and 25 of the latter.

The highlight of the weekend though was Alvechurch beating League One Cheltenham Town 2 : 1. Up the 'church. In my teens I used to go to Lye Meadow to watch them play, and the village was where I was brought up. 

Nowadays wildlife takes precedent but I appreciate the team's fantastic achievement.

Friday November 4 - Back to exploring

 Now that November is here I have resumed my project of birding in far-flung and little visited parts of the Circle. Tuesday was very windy and my walk from Blunt's Green to Henley golf course and back was something of a non-event. I took no photographs and saw nothing which came close to being a highlight.

This morning was better. For a start it was sunny with a very light north-westerly breeze. At least I was certain I would take some photos. My route was a walk along Bushwood Lane from the A34 to Copt Green, looping back along even tinier lanes to my starting point.

Kestrel

Although I also saw a Kestrel near Blunt's Green, this morning's bird at Copt Green was much easier to photograph. The oddest sighting was a Kingfisher flying along a hedge, presumably heading to a small brook I later happened upon.

The only woodland on my route was a small patch opposite the entrance to Lapworth Park, but there was nothing to suggest it wasn't private so I contented myself with watching from the road. Several Goldcrests, and Coal Tits kept me entertained, and a Redpoll flew over.

A couple of Linnets were noteworthy near where the Kestrel had been perched. Over 100 Woodpigeons and a few Skylarks flew south during the course of the morning, and I gradually accumulated a list of other fairly common birds.

Long-tailed Tit

Treecreeper

Grey Wagtail

You might think that my tally of just 37 species with nothing very scarce, let alone rare, would be disappointing but that's not how I see it. I love exploring although I see from my Birdtrack records that I have been to both Copt Green and Blunt's Green before, during the BTO Atlas surveys fifteen or so years ago.

Before I sign off, I have some news about the Parakeets seen near Spernal a week or so ago. I'm very glad I didn't submit to the temptation to name them Ring-necked Parakeets because Neil Duggan tells me that some Parakeets seen in the Alcester area are thought to be escaped Alexandrine Parakeets. The males are a lot bigger than Ring-necked Parakeets, and there is a considerable male/female size difference, all of which ties in with the impression I got of the silhouetted birds I saw.