Saturday August 31

I haven't been birding today, but this morning I had an idea ! Gosh.

For many decades before I started writing this blog I kept regular notes of all my birding visits. These were intended as an annual reference for when I submitted records at the end of the year, and now I'm a bit older I am rather fond of them.

So this is probably very self-indulgent but I have created a new page called "Down memory lane" in which I plan to scan pages of particularly interesting (to me at least) diary records.

The first consists of two entries:

My first Midland twitch, 4th January 1980, to see a very rare bird indeed, and
My first ever diary entry, 16th July 1979, just because it is the earliest record of any visit.

I will try to make them interesting.

Wednesday 28 August

A quick evening visit in still, fairly sunny conditions. It was pretty quiet on the flashes, just three Green Sandpipers, two Snipe, 29 Teal and a Lapwing. The walk back was more fun as a few passerines showed quite well.

First was this juvenile Sedge Warbler, possibly the one Dave saw on Sunday.

Up to six Whitethroats flitted about, and I also saw at least three Whinchats. Perhaps I overlooked their continuing presence on Monday.

Monday August 26

A late change of plan gave me the opportunity to get to the patch for the second day running. I initially began at Church Farm, but after my car filled up with wasps from a skip next to the church and I was then joined by one of the farm dogs I decided to give up and start at Netherstead Farm instead.

Inevitably I saw a few birds I missed yesterday, but in general I found the patch a little quieter. No Whinchats for example. I saw a photographer with a massive lens photographing one of the Tufted Duck broods, but our paths never crossed.

There were two significant additions from yesterday. A juvenile Shelduck flew in and started feeding on the left hand flash.

Shortly afterwards a flurry of wings announced the arrival of a decent flock of Teal. I counted 33, which was more like the sort of counts I should be getting. A couple of Grey Herons stalked around at the back of the flash, so I decided to snap one of them.

Butterflies started to show well as the day warmed up, and I saw Small Heath, Small Copper, and Common Blue in addition to the whites, Peacocks, and Small Tortoiseshells.

Back home, an afternoon of gardening with Lyn was reasonably productive, while our buddleia sported Large and Small Whites, six Small Tortoiseshells, Peacock, Comma, and a splendid Red Admiral.

Sunday Aug 25

I was a little later starting than I intended, but by about 9.00 am I was joined by Dave for the first time in several weeks. He quickly earned his spurs by finding the first notable birds of the day as two rather distant Swifts drifted from over Bannam's Wood with about 160 hirundines which were too distant for certain identification. Around Netherstead Farm a flock of about 150 other hirundines, maybe 60:40 in favour of House Martins over Swallows, swooped repeatedly around the little copse.

We strolled to the flash where we were very pleased to see that the two juvenile Black-tailed Godwits were still present.

They remained until 1030 when they transferred to the back flash, and five minutes later flew off strongly to the north. We considered ourselves particularly jammy because we had dawdled on route due to the presence of several passerines in the hedge and weedy field adjacent to the main pool. These included at least nine Common Whitethroats, and four Whinchats.

A distant Whinchat

The latter were originally in the hedge-line, but soon took to the middle of the field where they were really just dots perching on the vegetation. Back at the flash we saw a couple of Green Sandpipers, 10 Teal and a Snipe as supporting cast to the Godwits.

The return walk produced my 110th year tick when we found a Spotted Flycatcher among the willows and ashes beside the brook. Unfortunately I couldn't get a shot of it and eventually we lost it altogether. Meanwhile the day was warming up and a quick sweep of the weedy field produced a count of at least 220 Small White butterflies making the field seem alive with movement. Four Sand Martins flew west, and several more Whitethroats appeared. We decided to return to the flash, but the only new bird was a Sedge Warbler for Dave which disappeared before I could get onto it.

All in all a very successful bank holiday visit.

Twitching the patch

I am writing this blog on Wednesday evening after successfully twitching a couple of Black-tailed Godwits found by John and Pat Yardley this evening. The Godwits were a year-tick and Pat was a lifer. Work commitments had caused me to arrive home at about 18.45 and without my car or tripod (in the boot of my car). It's a long boring story, which I will spare you. So I didn't take my camera.

Yesterday evening was rather more typical. The birding wasn't too bad, although I was plagued by flying ants crawling all over me every time I stood still. The ants were themselves were having a tough time as I counted five Whitethroats, a Redstart, and a Whinchat all fly-catching enthusiastically.

The flashes and pool produced four Green Sandpipers and a Snipe, and there was nothing close enough to attempt to photograph. So instead, and in desperation, I took a shot of this plant.

Frankly, I don't know what it is. There are small clumps of it here and there in the weedy borders of the fields. I thought it was Fumitory before I checked the books. They suggested it was not. Perhaps its a vetch of some sort. I have yet to reach any conclusion.

Probably best to stick to birds.

Sunday August 18

I was a bit pushed for time this morning as we had arranged to go to see a friend in Abergavenny in time for lunch. The sunny morning was perfect for sifting through migrants, and the bushes were full of them.

By the time I left, John and I had accumulated 15 Whitethroats, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, a Sedge Warbler, five Willow Warblers, a couple of Chiffchaffs and a fine first-winter male Redstart. John also found the first Whinchat of the autumn, but it disappeared before I could see it.

With all this activity in the hedgerows it might have been reasonable to hope that last night's torrential showers would have produced some waders. Sadly, all we could see was a single Green Sandpiper.

I didn't take any pictures apart from an rear-end view of a bird which I know to be a Willow Warbler. I was tempted start a mystery bird competition, but I'm afraid most of my shots would qualify, so here instead is Fred the tortoise reunited with its relieved owner.

Down in Abergavenny Lyn and I spent an enjoyable afternoon sitting in the the garden of Dr Geoff Brown, an indefatigable 90 year old, watching the Swallows and Martins perching on wires just beyond his garden. Among them was a Sand Martin, miles from the nearest water course as far as I know. A few miles short of Geoff's house we drove under a Red Kite hunting in the shadow of the Skirrid Hill.

Tortoise break-out

After a long and stressful day at work I found my opportunity to go birding delayed by news, from my neighbour, that a child had been going door to door asking if anyone had lost a tortoise. A quick check of the back garden produced no sign of Fred, and a tortoise-shaped hole in a lower fence panel by the shed. I began a search and soon picked up the trail from other neighbours. This led to a house about 200 yards away where our tortoise had been discovered on a doorstep by 10 year-old twin girls. Their mother told me I was five minutes too late as Fred had been taken away to a local rescue centre. At least we know where he is.

It was 19.00 before I went birding and the patch proved to be extremely quiet. A couple of Grey Herons stood on the flash with a Green Sandpiper, 16 Lapwings and six Teal.

It's a while since I put a drawing in, so the quiet night gives me the excuse. In fact the best birds, two Yellow Wagtails, flew over as  I made my way back to Morton Bagot church.