Sunday November 9 - Morton Bagot

 The morning started on a bit of a bum note. Dave and I discussed the mystery warbler we had heard last week and which I had recorded the following day, and I agreed that I was no longer happy to call it a calling Cetti's Warbler. Unfortunately we also couldn't bring ourselves to identify it as anything at all, except that we were certain it was neither a sylvia warbler such as Blackcap, nor a Wren. It'll have to remain a mystery.

Ironically, a Blackcap was calling from a hedge near where I'd parked, and Tony K later caught three of them. Pretty unusual for November here.

Shortly after we left Tony catching yet more Redpolls, a young guy appeared and admitted to being a regular reader of this blog. Thankfully, he liked it. His name was Derry and he was keen to play us a recording made on his phone here at Morton Bagot in September. He believed it to be a purring Turtle Dove, and it certainly sounded like one. A singing Turtle Dove at Morton Bagot in September? I tried to think of an alternative, and rather lamely came up with the fact that Pheasants can make some odd noises. Unfortunately Derry had only heard the possible Turtle Dove that day, although he had also not seen a Pheasant. 

Birding is as much about hearing birds as seeing them, but it can be a frustrating business.

Derry joined us for a while, but had to decline our offer for him to continue with us for the rest of the morning. This was a pity because about half an hour later the sight of panicking corvids got Dave onto a Goshawk. I managed to see it, probably the adult female we saw last week, just before it disappeared into Bannams. Sorry Derry.

Unfortunately we saw no geese all morning, but the flash field did offer up 10 Wigeon, 55 Teal, 20 Lapwings, and a Snipe.

It's a bit sad really that the wintering Lapwing flock can no longer reach close to a hundred birds we were used to seeing here ten years ago.

Other birds recorded today including a male Stonechat, a Marsh Tit, and a decent flock of winter thrushes. Dave flushed a Jack Snipe which unusually flew off into the distance to the extent that I didn't even see it.

Finally, Tony had had a reasonable morning, showing us a photo of a young female Sparrowhawk he had caught earlier.

Immature female Sparrowhawk - T Kelly

Over the last three days the ringing team caught an impressive 233 birds including seven Blackcaps. 

This is an amalgamation of their results for the last three days:

Sparrowhawk - 2 (an imm male and an ad female)

Blue Tit  - 106 (56) - One of the retrapped Blue Tits had originally been ringed in 2019

Great Tit - 13 (9)

Long-tailed Tit - 2

Blackcap - 7

Goldcrest - 1

Wren - 5 (2)

Redwing - 1

Song Thrush - 1

Dunnock - 4 (2)

Meadow Pipit - 5

Greenfinch - 11

Lesser Redpoll - 57

Goldfinch - 18 (1)

Looking slightly further back, they've had the results of three controlled Lesser Redpolls as follows:

Ringed Cannock Chase, Staffs 8/9/25 controlled Morton Bagot 24/10/25

Ringed Smallfield, S Yorks 12/10/25 controlled Morton Bagot 25/10/25

Ringed Stonehaugh, Northumbria 19/10/24 controlled Morton Bagot 26/10/25

So all three were ringed and controlled on passage southwards, although the Northumbria one relates to a bird ringed last autumn and therefore making a similar journey this autumn.

Fascinating stuff.

Saturday November 8 - Morton Bagot

 With the ringers present on site again, I was keen to join them in the hope that the mystery warbler might be caught. Unfortunately neither team set their nets near where the bird had been calling, and in any case I again failed to hear it. If you think this seems a lot of fuss over a Cetti's Warbler, you'd be right. The "rarity" I can't shake out of my head is Dusky Warbler. I guess I'll never know for sure.

It turned out to be a bit of a disjointed morning. As soon as the mist cleared I became aware  of large flocks of Woodpigeons heading south-west. I logged 1,130 before the tap was turned off, and no more appeared. 

Shortly afterwards I heard the calls of Greylag Geese and managed to see them heading north. Among them I spotted a smaller goose, and managed a quick shot of it before they all disappeared.

It's the fifth bird from the left

Even when I magnified the image in the back of the camera I couldn't be sure what it was, but suspected Pink-footed Goose. I mentioned the bird to the ringers, and although they hadn't seen it, one of them, Sam, was able to confirm that they had seemed to be dropping beyond the flash field.

I decided to go back to the car to get my scope. On the way I noted a male Stonechat which flew over the ringer's table (at some height) while the ringers were busy at their nets. 

So as I returned to the rise from where the flash field can first be viewed I was encouraged to see some geese two fields beyond it. I set the scope up, and was very pleased to discover a Pink-footed/Bean Goose among them. I texted Rob W at Bittell, and he confirmed that the long-staying Tundra Bean Goose was still there. Eventually I got good enough views to confirm I was indeed looking at a Pink-footed Goose.

Pink-footed Goose (third from left)

I think this is the third record for the site.

Unfortunately I ran out of time, and didn't even check the flash field. On my walk back I heard a Brambling which I presume is the same one as I had yesterday.

Friday November 7 - Morton Bagot

 A cloudy morning with a very light south-easterly. Tony was on site ringing, but not in the place where the presumed Cetti's Warbler had been heard. I headed back to the thick hedge in question, and recommenced the vigil. I can't quite shrug off the thought that the bird might have been something a lot rarer. Sadly there was no sign of it anyway. Instead a Brambling flew over calling (I have belatedly realised that this, and the one seen on my last visit, were the first here this year). A few Meadow Pipits were haunting the the scrape field, perhaps attracted by insects stirred up by the recently installed cattle.

Meadow Pipits

I rejoined Tony to touch base. He was starting to catch more Redpolls, so anticipated he could be quite busy. Some gunshots had blasted out from the direction of Castle Farm, and these had led to several small groups of Mallard flying around. I decided a visit to the flash field might be a good idea.

Half way there, a very distinctive Dunlin call split the air. I scanned around, hearing a couple of more distant calls but failed to latch onto the bird. Still a 10 k year-tick though, and also the first Dunlin here since 2023.

The furthest flash did indeed hold some new arrivals. Eight Wigeon were swimming out of cover. The nearest flash was less impressive, holding small numbers of the usual Teal and Snipe.

Most of the Wigeon

Other birds seen today included at least 210 Starlings heading west, about 150 winter thrushes roughly half of which were Fieldfares, a Stonechat, a fly-over Yellowhammer, and a Peregrine.

Spot the Wren competition (no prizes)

Pied Wagtail on the roof of my car

Wednesday November 5 - The moth-trapping ends with a flourish

 This weekend marks the last for the 2025 Garden Moth Survey, and as I want to save time for another attempt to see the putative Cetti's Warbler at Morton Bagot, I decided to deploy the moth trap early. It should also be said that it was a very mild night with not much wind, so pretty ideal.

The moths did not disappoint. I attracted 29 moths of 19 species, which is pretty good for November. These included one lifer, and five which were new for the year.

The garden "first" was a migrant micro called Rusty-dot Pearl. It's actually quite a common moth, particularly if you are lucky enough to be trapping on the south coast. Even inland they are not that rare, but our garden hardly ever gets migrants so I was thrilled to finally see one.

Rusty-dot Pearl

Rather more spectacular was a Mottled Umber resting on our fence. This was also my first since 2020, so it certainly floated my boat.

Mottled Umber

Hardly less impressive looking was my first December Moth since 2021. The gap in my records is probably a reflection of the fact I rarely try to catch moths after early November. 

December Moth

The same can be said for the next three new for the year moths; a Sprawler, three November Moths (ag), and a Winter Moth.

Sprawler

November Moth ag

Winter Moth

My full list, for those interested, was as follows:

Australian Orange-tip Tachystola acroxantha (2)

Oak Longhorn Carcina quercana

Light Brown Apple Moth Epiphyas postvittana (3)

Rusty-dot Pearl Udea ferrugalis

December Moth

Red-Green Carpet (6)

Common Marbled Carpet

Winter Moth

November Moth ag (3)

Double-striped Pug

Mottled Umber

Merveille Du Jour

Barred Sallow

Sprawler

Shuttle-shaped Dart

Turnip Moth

White Point

Vine's Rustic

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Tuesday November 4 - Tutnall

Now that it's November it is time for me to resume wandering the lesser visited square kilometres within my 10k Circle of interest. The random(ish) finger pointed to Tutnall in the north-west sector. I had previously visited just once, in June 2025, so I was keen to get in a winter visit.

It has to be said that this plan of campaign is very unlikely to produce any unusual birds, but this particular square did provide some nice views.

 The landscape was dominated by a short grassy sward upon which several herds of cattle grazed. Searching for birds in the more arboreal landscape towards the village was hampered by a fresh breeze and incessant road noise from the A448 dual carriageway.

The most obvious birds were corvids and pigeons, the former including a pair of Ravens and the latter a flock of 24 Stock Doves. Slightly less expected was a group of mainly large gulls resting in one of the fields.

I hadn't opted to take my scope, but as far as I could tell they were mainly Lesser Black-backed Gulls plus a few Herring Gulls.

My total species count was just 29 in two hours. Pretty typical I'm afraid.

Monday November 3 - The Morton Bagot mystery call

 The calling bird Dave and I briefly heard yesterday has been bugging me. So much so that this morning I got up at dawn and headed back to the patch to try to hear, and ideally record it.

The walk down from Bannams got me an instant success when a calling Brambling  flew over. I arrived at the bottom of the hill and hung around without much expectation.

Then after about half an hour it suddenly started calling from the thick hedge at the bottom of the field. How to describe it? A rather flutey "toik", like a cross between a Wren and a Blackcap. It was quite a burst and once it had stopped, my brain cells whirred and I came up with a name. Cetti's Warbler .... maybe. 

Obviously everyone knows the song, but the call is less familiar. What's worrying me is that I should know it. I've heard several over the years, although admittedly not for a while. 

I did manage to video the bush while the bird was calling. But for some  reason it won't upload. Trying this Mystery caller 

If I've correctly identified the call, this is my first for Morton Bagot. Hence all the angst. My best chance of seeing it is hoping that the ringers can catch it at the weekend.

PS: After a week of soul-searching and the apparent disappearance of the bird I've decided to down-grade the identification to unidentified Warbler sp. What I can say is that it was definitely not a Wren or a Blackcap. All very frustrating.

Sunday November 2 - Morton Bagot

Dave joined me on a sunny, quite mild morning at Morton Bagot. He suggested we try the road first before cutting down towards the main part of the site. He was thinking of Goshawk, as the last three or four have been near the wood and had been on days he hadn't been there.

Unfortunately we saw nothing better than Buzzard. However the change in route meant we were in a good place to record a single Yellowhammer as we made our way down the slope, and also hear a call neither of us recognised. Whatever it was soon stopped calling and a brief search of the area failed to turn anything up. We'd either let a major rarity slip through our fingers or, more likely, it was something familiar making an odd call.

Now that we are in November I am logging everything. This included regular parties of Starlings all heading west. The final count was over 200, none of which paused for a second. A few Skylarks were also moving, and later on we saw two substantial flocks of Woodpigeons going south, again over 200 birds in total.

At the flash field we counted seven Lapwings, a Little Egret, and 20 Teal. We also found a Stonechat there, making three for the site today, and a calling Chiffchaff. The latter showed well in the ivy surrounding a large tree.

Chiffchaff

The sunshine was encouraging one or two insects into the air, including a probable Comma, and several Darters. The identity of the one I photographed was the subject of some debate, but I think it was a Common Darter (some brown in the legs and a black line only across the top of the frons), although its abdomen did look slender as is more typical of Ruddy Darter.

Common Darter

 We reached the raptor watchpoint in time to see a Sparrowhawk whizz past and briefly perch in an ash. Shortly afterwards, Dave called me back. He was watching a large raptor over the wood (we were about as far from Bannams as you can get at Morton Bagot). There was no doubt it was a Goshawk, and a large one. I got the camera out, telling Dave it was hardly worth it. However, I managed one useful shot which showed it was an adult female and not one of the juveniles I had been seeing.

Ad fem Goshawk on left, Buzzard on right

We ended the morning reflecting that once again Morton Bagot had punched above its weight.