Tuesday April 30

I was only able to get out birding today in mid afternoon. My target was Grey Partridge again. I was unsuccessful again. There were one or two interesting things to talk about though.

On my last visit I had noticed a Kestrel mantling a prey item in the ridge field. It remained in the same spot for over an hour as I saw it as I was heading to and also returning from the flash. I had assumed it was on a rodent or something. Today however, I found a half-eaten cock Pheasant in the same place. BWP states it can take prey items up to the size of Lapwing, but will also eat carrion. I would therefore imagine that the Pheasant was discovered as a carcass and had not been killed by the Kestrel.

The field behind the main pool is probably best described as set aside, but since the farmer has scraped in much of the vegetation it has become a great draw for all sorts of birds. Today I estimated 200 Woodpigeons and 30 Stock Doves as well as finding five Wheatears and a male Whinchat. I also accidentally flushed a Skylark off a nest containing three eggs. As I never deliberately search for nests, this was, I think, the first Skylark nest I have ever seen.

The Flash contained just the pair of Little Ringed Plovers, and the pool hosted 12 Tufted Ducks. The Little Owl was showing so I took a few photos.

Little Owl refusing to look at the camera

I reported my failure to find the Grey Partridges to Mike, and he texted back that he hadn't seen any Crossbills at Hillers. A nil - nil draw then.

Good birds on a non-birding day

I had taken today off to recover from yesterday's exertions, and Lyn and I decided to go to Hillers Farm Shop at the edge of the Ragley Estate for lunch. I took my bins because one nice thing about Hillers is that it includes an extensive garden, and tucked away in the corner is a small hide overlooking a tiny pond in the bordering woodland.

As we made our way through the garden I was vaguely aware of some odd song notes coming from the top of a Scots Pine. I stopped to look and was astonished when a female Crossbill appeared in a gap below the crown. Lyn has never seen Crossbill, so we spent a while trying to see it again. During that time it became apparent that the tree-tops also contained several buzzing Redpolls, and at least one Siskin. Then a male Crossbill appeared and sat in front of the orangey tree bark. We went to the hide and mentioned this to the one incumbent, who thankfully knew what Crossbills were and commented he hadn't seen any for years.

When we left the hide, no Crossbills having appeared at the pond, the chap joined us to search for them. We heard calls several times, and finally five Crossbills flew out, with one later returning to give Lyn a reasonable view as it perched in a larch.

On the way back home we called at Haselor scrape. It contained four Snipe, two Yellow Wagtails, a Shelduck, and a Redshank. This was my kind of "non-birding" day. Driving past Morton Bagot I noticed Mike's car. I rang him and found he had just seen the pair of Grey Partridges which gave me the runaround at the weekend. He later joined us for a cup of tea and a biscuit (or two), and said he had been unable to find the Whinchats.

I have just completed a colour drawing of yesterday's male based on my sketches, and it is depicted here.

 I have another day off work tomorrow, and again it is a non-birding day. So watch this space!

Persistence pays off

Determined to give it my best shot I drove through the darkness, passing a Muntjac with its kid en route, and arrived to start birding at 04.35am. A Pheasant called to announce its presence as I opened my car door, and within a few minutes Tawny Owl was safely secured for the day list. My main target for this cold pre-dawn start was Grey Partridge, but sadly I failed to hear any at all as it slowly became light enough to tell the Red-legged Partridges from the Hares and Rabbits in the ridge field.

I cut my losses and headed for the flash. Here a Little Owl swooped into a tree, but there appeared to be nothing else to see. By 07.15 I was heading for breakfast. I did at least locate a single female Whinchat,  hear a distant Cuckoo, and record Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Coal Tit, and Marsh Tit by the time I reached the car, but on balance I felt the morning had been disappointing.

An hour later I was back at Netherstead where I joined Dave hoping for a change in fortune. I was on 50 species, which wasn't too bad really, and we set about mopping up the easy ones I had missed this morning. Linnet, House Sparrow, Buzzard, Robin (would you believe), and Lesser Black-backed Gull all fell as we met up with John who was lurking near where he had seen the Whinchats yesterday. Scoping across the field  we located two distant chats, which appeared to be a male and female. While I was watching, Dave called out a Jay. I didn't get on it and the species would elude me all day. Dave then found us a Wheatear, and we saw one of two Little Ringed Plovers which John had seen on the flash. A pair of Starlings was seen before John headed off. Shortly afterwards Dave called Yellow Wagtail, and I managed to hear it before it was lost behind the hedge. Our last three day ticks before a brief interlude at Haselor scrape were Sparrowhawk, Raven, and House Martin.

At Haselor we saw a Redshank and a Shelduck, but I am not counting those on the day list as I currently regard it as a separate site.

By lunchtime I was dead on my feet and welcomed Lyn's suggestion that I have a power nap. What a poor old soul I am. The hour's kip did me the world of good though, and by 15.00 I was back on site determined to at least try to sketch the male Whinchat. By now the westerly wind, which had been almost non-existent first thing, was both strong and cold. In the lee of a sheltered hedge I had a nice view of a female Blackcap, and on the way to the flash this Fox trotted past.

It seemed to be heading for a lamb's carcass, but eventually sensed me watching and ran off. At the flash I added my 63rd species of the day as a Snipe was in view. Shortly afterwards I scanned the horizon behind me and picked up a suspiciously familiar silhouette. Swinging the scope around I was thrilled to confirm only my second ever Red Kite on the patch. It was circling low and I could see it twisting its forked tail and splaying its long fingered wings, seen in profile to be kinked downwards from the hand. I thought about whether I had time to risk a record shot but it wasn't really close enough. So instead here is one I drew earlier.

Red Kite

I walked up the slope away from the flash hoping to relocate it, but it was nowhere to be seen. Texts were sent to Dave and John (sorry guys) and I prepared to continue toward where the Whinchats were. But suddenly my progress was arrested by a louded piping call. I looked around and watched as an Oystercatcher flew from the direction of the flash and away over the pool. This was almost as exciting as the Kite. I failed to see one here last year, and this could easily prove to be the only one we get in 2013. I rang John, and as I did so I spotted it again, heading back north and possibly losing height. John could stand it no more and announced he would come back out.

I saw him shortly afterwards but we had different goals, as I went to sketch the pretty stunning male Whinchat and John headed for the flash. Sadly the Oystercatcher must have moved on.

My final day tally was a pretty respectable 65 species, and between us we record 66 on the patch today, only four short of the all time day-list record.

Wrestling with temptation

So far this year Morton Bagot has been OK, but not great. Carol and John have both texted me to say that there is now a pair of Whinchats on the patch. I am, despite the colder spell, going to do one of my twice yearly all day birdwatches there tomorrow. Hopefully I will break 60 species at least, unlike my disappointing day last April.

Meanwhile, down the road, all the waders etc which we should be getting here are currently sitting pretty on Haselor scrape. Today it contained three Common Sandpipers, eight Snipe, a Redshank and a Yellow Wagtail. Which brings me to the point of this post. Should I extend the patch to include Haselor?

It's tempting. The pros are that it would add to the available wader habitat, and seems to attract Gulls more readily than Morton Bagot. It is also at the side of the road so can be covered quite easily in a 10 minute sweep of the bins whereas a visit to Morton Bagot takes at least an hour. From a Patchwork Challenge point of view by adding the area including the road on the 10 minute journey to the site would still be within the rules as the area would increase to just 2.245 square kms, well within the maximum area allowed.

On the other hand, it feels like moving the goalposts half way through the game. It is also just another shallow water body, so still no diving ducks and probably still no Terns.

I could consider it as a second patch, but its so small it wouldn't really be satisfactory. It's like a light snack to Morton Bagot's square meal.

On balance, I think l'll keep the patch as it is this year. But next year I may well include it.

And another thing, I keep seeing diddy little Sparrowhawks over Bannams and Spernal Woods. I am really tempted to retro tick  the Accipiter sp I saw in March as a Goshawk.

But I think I can resist that one.

The cold returns

A sunny morning but the overnight passage of a cold front resulted in a breezy chilly visit. I was also constrained on time and so didn't take any photos (that I'm not embarrassed to show), or do any sketching.

I started at Netherstead and found at least two singing Sedge Warblers and the first of two Lesser Whitethroats. Scanning the former crop field failed to produce any Grey Partridges, but the ploughed field contained at least eight Wheatears (probably Greenlands) and a female Whinchat. Unfortunately I lost the latter after I had erected my scope. It had been on the ploughed stubble with the Wheatears, and I would have liked a better look really.

The flash was very disappointing considering the overnight conditions. Just a solitary Little Ringed Plover, although at least three Lapwings are now sitting.

That was about it. I had a good view of a Willow Warbler, and eventually counted six Whitethroats and three Blackcaps.

Although most of the summer migrants are now on schedule, I noticed that the botany is still lagging behind, for example there is no sign at all that the Bluebells are close to flowering in Bannams Wood. It won't be too much longer though.

Dipped

Today felt like a good day to go birding, so I wasn't too surprised when I got a text at work from Matt W. He was watching a pair of Grey Partridges at Morton Bagot, and kindly supplied details of where they were. It sounded like I just had to turn up.

My journey home produced a bit of a mega bird as a Hobby flew over Winyates Green just north of Badgers Nursery. This could be my lucky day.

It wasn't.

I failed to find any Partridges other than Red-legged, and despite staying until well past dusk I couldn't convince myself that I could even hear Grey Partridge. That said, I probably did. It was just that each time I heard a "possible" it was too distant, or drowned out by other birds (and by a helicopter on one occasion) and was never followed up immediately by further calls. Still, its great to know that at least one pair is still around.

I did manage one year-tick, a Sedge Warbler was singing from the Netherstead reedbed. The Flash wasn't too bad either, containing a Curlew, a Little Ringed Plover, at least five Snipe, two summer-plumaged Black-headed Gulls, and then a late Green Sandpiper which flew in from high above me.

Green Sandpiper

Other snippets were six Redpolls which flew west, three Wheatears, three Chiffchaffs, and two Whitethroats. Notably absent were any Teal, Tufted Ducks, or Gadwall.

A scarce visitor at last

For the first time this spring I found we were birding on a reasonably nice morning, not much wind and a  temperature which was about the seasonal norm. The birds responded accordingly. As Dave arrived I could report a distantly calling Cuckoo, and singing Common Whitethroat, while Dave had followed up a "tack" call in a hedge by the road which proved to have been made by a Lesser Whitethroat.

Text messages from the last couple of days spoke of Curlew and Redshank being present on the flashes, and we set off in that direction. We then got a call from John. He had seen a Curlew and two Whimbrel, which seemed to drop in to the flash as he stood watching.

We put on a spurt, and on arrival found he was quite right, two Whimbrel and a Curlew were strutting around the field, eventually reaching the back flash.

Two Whimbrels dwarfed by a Curlew and two Greylags

My camera is still partially functional and I took some record shots notwithstanding the birds were about as far away as they could be. I was chuffed with the Curlew, but the Whimbrels were the real stars. This is the third record for the site, the previous ones being a singleton on April 30 2007, and three on Apr 24 2010. John was phoning around to alert others, and learned from Mark Islip that there had been two at Arrow Valley Lake this morning which had flown off. This is just five miles west of us, so they were surely the same birds.

Scanning the rest of the flashes we noted there were now just four Teal, and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers. Dave and I headed off, and eventually found three female Wheatears, about six Meadow Pipits, two fly-over Redpolls, a singing Blackcap, and a singing Willow Warbler my last year tick of the day.

I made a brief attempt to find Dave's Lesser Whitethroat on the way home, but it was not performing.

A quick post-script. I was at Compton Verney yesterday where the birding highlight of a glorious spring day was a distant Red Kite.