Wednesday April 16

I was trying to think of a word to describe the experience of April for me, and I think I've come up with one; frenetic. In the past if I'd been asked for my favourite month I'd always have said May. Not any more. April is definitely the new May, but it passes so quickly.

Already I'm starting to worry that it's too late to see some species locally. Ring Ouzels have surely gone through, Curlews too. Actually they are pretty much lost as a local breeder.

On Monday I "picked" Broad Green as the venue for my latest wander. It didn't seem to have a lot going for it, but at least it had altitude. One the higher areas within the 10k Circle around Redditch, I was pleased to find lots of recently sown crop fields. Within thirty minutes of leaving the car my constant scanning of these paid off as I at last added Wheatear to the year-list.

A nice male, maybe bound for Iceland or Greenland rather than Scotland. The dark brown flight feathers at least suggested this was a bird which was making its first return to its breeding grounds.

This turned out to be the only addition to my list, but I did also see a Red Kite, and singing Linnet to pad out the notebook with a little quality.

The following day I was back to my routine of pre-breakfast dashes. This time it was to Earlswood where the shingle island hosted one of four Common Terns, a couple of White Wagtails, three Little Ringed Plovers, a Common Sandpiper, and an Oystercatcher. The latter had been visiting fairly frequently during the last few days, but never when I'd been there.

The previous day Lyn and I had been at the cinema when Mark C was down at Haselor watching a Greenshank. By the time I saw the message, it had been followed by negative news so I thought my chance had gone. Scroll forward to Tuesday afternoon, and it was visible once more. I had to go. This is generally more of an autumn species than a spring one, but I had still only seen one bird in each of the previous two years.

Thankfully it was still there, and showing pretty well.

The reason I called it an autumn bird is that three or four times as many make the return trip as their numbers are swelled by newly hatched juveniles. Although for all birds there are a lot more of them in autumn, this doesn't necessarily mean they are easier to see at that time.

The fact is that for a lot of migrants, spring is your best chance. Bird want to be seen in Spring, not by humans but by other birds. So they arrive in striking plumage, or they sing loudly, or they just strut about in the middle of fields instead of skulking in hedgerows.

If you want to see a Cuckoo or a Grasshopper Warbler, or hope to get lucky with a Wood Warbler or Pied Flycatcher spring is by far your best bet.

This morning I pre-breakfasted at Morton Bagot. It was cold and windy, and I saw almost nothing. A pair of Little Ringed Plovers was at least new for the site for the year.

But tomorrow could be different, you just never know.

Sunday April 13

 To continue the story from last time, I duly visited Lakeside on Thursday and although the healthy wooded margins favoured by the Redditch town planners produced plenty of singing Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, I didn't find anything unexpected.

As I was close to Arrow Valley Lake I called in for a quick look and saw that the Egretry contained at least nine Little Egrets.

Moth-trapping in the garden on Friday night added six species to the year list, but my twenty moths of eleven species contained no great surprises.

This morning I joined Dave at Morton Bagot, and my expectations were high. Perhaps too high. We found at least four Whitethroats singing from bramble patches and hedges in various places, but only glimpsed one of them. An apparent singing Sedge Warbler was eventually considered to be a Blackcap which added a remarkably accurate rendition of Sedge Warbler song to its normal song. I've heard mimicry in Blackcaps before, but never of Sedge Warbler.

This was from the hedge overlooking the flash field. There, the water level continues to look excellent for waders, but contained only a pair of Avocets, at least four Lapwings, three Snipe and three Green Sandpipers. Also present was at least 31 Teal, and best of all a squealing Water Rail, which we even (very briefly and distantly) saw. One or two Swallows and Sand Martins appeared sporadically while we were there, but try as we might we could not find any Wheatears, Redstarts or other passage migrants.

During the afternoon I decided it was high time I went to Earlswood to see the White Wagtails which have been present all week (apart from the early morning hour I spent there on Wednesday). This time they were very easy to see, exactly where you'd want them to be, on the shingle island off the causeway.

Female White Wagtail

Male White Wagtail

Also present, and new for the year for me, was at least one, probably two, Common Sandpipers and a Common Tern, plus the usual Little Ringed Plovers and an awful lot of people.

Common Sandpiper

Common Tern

Wednesday April 9 - Stuck in the slow lane.

I know it's my own fault, but my determination to keep exploring new ground has left me stuck in a rut whilst being aware of potentially "new" birds elsewhere in the Circle.

Birds I could have seen had I made the effort include Redstart (Haselor Scrape and Lower Bittell), White Wagtail, Common Sandpiper, and Common Tern (all Earlswood). I'm gambling that I should catch up with all those species later this year. Mind you Spring is not a month you can afford to play it too cool. Migrating birds generally don't hang around, they are anxious to get to wherever they intend to breed asap. Ignoring those Redstarts in particular could come back to haunt me.

My first jaunt this week was to Asplands Husk. This is a patch of woodland, probably part of the Ragley estate just off the road south of Astwood Bank. Naturally its private, but fortunately a footpath is sufficiently close to allow part of it to be examined. Not that I saw much. A Raven slunk silently away, probably from a nest, while a few Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs sang to announce their presence. The highlight was probably a Swallow which flew from around buildings along the road.

It was good for mammals though. Plenty of Brown Hares lolloped about in the fields beyond the wood, and a Roe Deer paused for quite some time.

This morning I decided to pay a pre-breakfast visit to Morton Bagot hoping to jump start the year list. Mike Inskip had been down on Monday and had seen no Avocets and six Shovelers. I saw no Shovelers and two Avocets. Both were on the furthest flash, so it looks as though the flock has moved on.

I also failed to see any passage migrants, a distantly singing Willow Warbler being the only new bird. At least there are still 36 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, and six Lapwings present in the flash field.

Tomorrow I plan to explore the bird life of an industrial estate in Redditch. Happy days.

Saturday April 5 - mostly Morton Bagot

 It's been a scratchy end to the week, culminating in today's visit to Morton Bagot. The wind direction has been stuck in the north-east, so although its been sunny its not been warm.

The ringers were out in force, but their activities had been hampered by the strength of the wind. I carried on past them but had very few stand-out moments. The best was discovering that the Avocet flock has increased further. A new site record of a dozen are now present, with eight on the nearest flash and four on the furthest. Unlike last week the larger group suddenly got together for an Avocet face-off, and I got a shot of the flock.

Also present on the nearest flash were two Green Sandpipers, at least seven Lapwings, and 24 Teal, although the highlight for me was a brief fly-through of my first Sand Martin here this year.

Very disappointingly I could find no Wheatears or Redstarts etc to boost my year list, although a female Stonechat did put in an appearance for the Chat clan.

Earlier in the morning I'd paid my second visit in two days to Earlswood Lakes. The attraction was the falling water line which has now revealed the shingle island and a muddy perimeter to Engine Pool. Unfortunately luck has not been with me. Yesterday, after I'd left, the Earlswood birders found two Little Gulls (there had been five two days previously), a Green Sandpiper, and a Little Ringed Plover. This morning I at least saw the Little Ringed Plover, and a good flock of hirundines, mainly Sand Martins (37) but including four House Martins proving that it was witheringly cold.

A second Little Ringed Plover showed up after I'd left, of course.

During yesterday afternoon Lyn and I went to Compton Verney where the art installations we saw could best be described as strange. I managed to secrete my camera in my bag and that paid off when I crept up on a Brimstone butterfly feeding in the sunshine.

That was one more butterfly than I managed at Morton Bagot today.

And finally, I put my moth trap out last night and caught 22 moths of 10 species, which wasn't bad considering the temperature dropped to 3 degrees C. The stand out was an exceptionally early Poplar Kitten. They are not supposed to emerge until the end of May.

Poplar Kitten

I've now had feedback from David Brown (Warwickshire Recorder for macro moths) confirming that this is easily the earliest ever recorded in Warwickshire, beating the previous record of one on 23 April 2011.

Thursday April 3 - Alcester area

 I spent this morning birding the southern edge of my Circle. I started at Hoo Mill on the river Alne just east of Alcester. I suppose I was hoping to bump into a newly arrived migrant, but only Chiffchaffs and a singing Blackcap fitted that bill. However, a flock of 60 Fieldfares also count as migrants.

However I did locate the three Parakeets which have been present around here for several years. John Coombes, upon whose patch I was gatecrashing, had managed to establish that they formed a bizarre inter-species menage a trois, consisting of two female Alexandrine Parakeets and a single male Ring-necked Parakeet.

Alexandrine in front, Ring-necked behind

Ring-necked Parakeet

The Alexandrine Parakeet is considerably larger than the Ring-necked, and has a purple shoulder patch, but no ring around its neck (a male would have a ring). Only the Ring-necked Parakeet is countable as a tick because the species has been naturalised (breeding in the wild) for several decades. Alexandrines are still treated as escapes although they too occasionally breed successfully in the UK, so maybe one day they'll get upgraded.

A less obviously naturalised species (but still introduced) is Little Owl. My one "reliable" site is in the Alcester area. I'd visited it three times this year without success, and tried again on the way down to Kinwarton, again failing.

However it was a case of fifth time lucky when I called in on the way back and blow me it was there. Initially sitting in branches on the east side of its tree it then chose to drop to the ground allowing me to snap a distant record shot.

It's not clear why Little Owls are in decline. It's been happening for decades. The most likely culprit is a shortage of one of its favourite food supplies, moths. They seem happiest in isolated trees in fields, just the kind of habitat where larger moths are in decline due to overuse of pesticides. Other possible reasons are the expanding Buzzard population (proposed by one old Warks birder who reckoned Little Owl corpses were regularly found in Buzzard nests), or maybe nest competition from Jackdaws and Stock Doves, both of which have increased in numbers in the last thirty or forty years. 

There is a school of thought that over-zealous photographers (toggers) may have played a part. I'm not at all sure about that (and I didn't get near at all, as you can probably tell from the poor quality photo), but just to be on the safe side I'll be keeping the exact location to myself. Although I should say its pretty well known to birders in Alcester.

Wednesday April 2 - Mappleborough Green

 I had the opportunity to get in some pre-breakfast birding this morning, and chose Mappleborough Green as my destination. I just about made it for dawn, but once the sun had risen it became tricky to see the flash pools against the light.

This could have been a great visit, but I suffered the frustration of unacceptable views of two potential star performers. More of that later.

Very much in mind was Little Ringed Plover. They are pretty reliable here, but didn't give themselves up easily. Initially I saw one flying around the ploughed field next to the northern flash, but eventually three appeared at the back of the flash itself.

While I was watching them, my first Willow Warbler this year sang in the distance. Again, this was a half-expected arrival. Also on the flashes were 57 Teal, a Green Sandpiper, and a Shelduck. Several Fieldfares and Redwings were a reminder that not everything has yet headed to northern climes. 

Finally I was slightly irritated when a Chat-shaped blob flew off one of the fence posts and disappeared over a hedge (maybe Stonechat), but very frustrated indeed when I got onto two probable Hawfinches as I looked back towards Mappleborough Green from the flash. They made it to my notebook, but then my conscience kicked in and I added a "?". The problem was distance. They looked big and short-tailed, flew with a slow bouncing flight, their wings flicking, possibly showing white. For a moment I thought they would land in trees by the A435, but they kept going and were lost. I think I'm going to have to throw them away.

Birding is always full of probables and possibles and you need to be hard on yourself when drawing the line.

Tuesday April 1 - Preston Bagot (and a late twitch to Earlswood)

 I have to admit that I have a slight aversion to birding on April 1. If you did find something good, you can just imagine the eyebrows being raised. "Oh yes, April Fool, very good." Having said that, I cannot remember a birding April Fools joke, and I'm pretty sure I've never stumbled on anything earth-shattering on that date.

But people have though, and genuinely. The classic which comes to mind was on April 1 2005. An old friend of mine, Roger Broadbent, was birding along the canal near his home at Ingestre in Staffordshire when he came across a Belted Kingfisher. I mean bloody hell, hardly any British records, a North American species of Kingfisher on a canal in Staffs? On April 1? Do us a favour. I was at my desk at work when I got the call, and had to be persuaded it wasn't a joke. Fortunately I had a boss who would let me take time off at very short notice, so I dashed home to Redditch, shedding items of clothing as soon as I got through the door and changing into birding attire before jumping back into the car and heading for Staffs. Lyn later said the sight of strewn clothing when she got home from work was quite alarming.

I got there in time and saw it. It was a Friday. Many who had waited for confirmation plumped for Saturday and missed out. By then it was heading for Aberdeen where it was found a few days later, I'm not making this up, by Roger's son who was a student at Aberdeen University. 

That's a good reason for loving birding.

Anyway back to today. I had picked Preston Bagot, an area of pleasant rolling countryside at the eastern edge of my circle, it consisted of field after field of pasture nibbled almost to the roots by sheep. Very little of any consequence popped into view.

Plenty of Chiffchaffs though, and the light was fantastic.

Chiffchaff

Blackthorn hedge

Nuthatch

Stop Press: Just after I'd finished blogging the Whatsapp pinged. Joe Owens had found a couple of Little Gulls at Earlswood. This is a species I have seen every year since I started the extended patch, but only ever on a single day each time. I needed to see them.

So fifteen minutes later I was at Engine Pool, Earlswood, and to my relief so were the Little Gulls. They were both adults and were feeding on the wing with a dozen or so Black-headed Gulls. Seeing them was the easy bit, photographing them much trickier.

These are my best efforts, plus one of Joe in the background.