Sunday March 30

I arrived a little later than usual to find that Dave was on site and had already had three Morton Bagot year ticks. He had firstly been to check out the Tawny Owl and had found it in residence, and then had heard a singing Blackcap and about four singing Chiffchaffs along the road from the church to Bannams Wood.

It was therefore with a sense of anticipation that we set out, noting the light south-easterly breeze which would surely bring success.

A couple more Chiffchaffs were logged around Netherstead Farm, but as we approached the pool the sparsely cropped field adjacent to it failed to produce the hoped-for Wheatear. I did at least finally get a shot of a singing Skylark for the photo-year list.

62. Skylark

Meanwhile Dave was scanning the pool, at the back of which he spotted the Green-winged Teal on the bank. Pool tick!

There were no other ducks on the pool, and soon there was no Green-winged Teal either as it took off and headed for the flashes.

Once we got there a quick scan revealed that the three Green Sandpipers had been joined by a Redshank, the first of the year.

63. Redshank (being photo-bombed by the Green-winged Teal)

A quick count of the rest of the flash revealed 28 Teal, four Common Snipe, and about 10 Lapwings. No sign of the Little Ringed Plovers, annoyingly for Dave.

We headed back without much of a plan. On the way I finally got the chance to add Green Woodpecker to the photo-list.

64. Green Woodpecker

Hopefully I will get a chance to take a better photograph than this as the year progresses. I also snapped some blossom, which I think is Blackthorn.

Whatever it was, it's pretty.

Back at the cars we decided to drive to the church to try to get me a Blackcap for my year-list, and then head back to the flash to give Dave another chance at Little Ringed Plover.

The second part of this plan worked well, as an LRP was now present. We also noted a fourth Green Sandpiper. As we stood watching I heard Dave say, "what's this?", and then "Curlew!"
As I scanned hurriedly in the general direction, he unexpectedly ran back into the field. Evidently the Curlew had flown behind an Oak Tree and Dave expected it to reappear on our side of the hedge, which it did...apparently. Could I get on it? No chance. It started to drop, and then went out of sight. I know its just a Curlew, but this species, which used to breed here, is now quite tricky to see each year. The only realistic chance is March or April, and I may just have missed my opportunity. Bugger!

Back at the the car the Blackcap finally piped up, and I took some shots of Chiffchaff, of which this is the best.

The ups and downs of patch watching.

Saturday March 29

Jon Yardley kept me informed about birds on the patch today, or at least to the extent of confirming that The Green-winged Teal is still present.

I visited Compton Verney with Lyn, Jane, and Bill. A very nice place and an impressive exhibition of works by Rodin and Henry Moore.

A Cedar

A Moore

A Rodin

A Jackdaw

Crows are intelligent birds, and this one is clearly trying to indicate the wind direction.

Its a sign.

News update

Matt Wilmott has texted with confirmation that the Green-winged Teal is still present today. He also saw 44 Teal, six Green Sandpipers, two LRPs, a Jack Snipe, and 21 Snipe.

Dress rehearsal

This weekend the clocks go back forward, and despite my longer working day I should be able to get out birding in the evening.

Today I had the opportunity to see how that might pan out. I had taken the day off for the very sad reason of attending the funeral of Dave, a friend and former work colleague of Lyn's. The humanist ceremony took place in Shrewsbury and we returned home by late afternoon. There was just time to get to the patch for the last hour before it was too dark to see anything.

The light wasn't great. Heavy cloud and a chilly easterly wind suggested little would be seen. With no news at all since Sunday I had assumed that the Green-winged Teal had gone. Not so.

Still here

It was literally the first bird I looked at when I got to the flash. Another photo in the bag. After that it became apparent that there was actually very little change from Sunday. I counted 48 Teal, 39 Mallard, 22 Greylag Geese, nine Canada Geese, three Green Sandpipers, and two Little Ringed Plovers. I also spotted a female Gadwall, which is presumably the bird present earlier this month.

A Chiffchaff called, and on my way out the Tawny Owl was visible in its tree.

Next week might not be too bad after all.

Early spring promise

A bright sunny morning. It was not to last though, and soon heavy and prolonged showers started arriving, while the temperature remained distinctly chilly.

I began at Netherstead, and couldn't resist taking a shot of a Song Thrush. My previous effort this year was back-on, so at least you can see its spots this time.

The blue sky in the above shot soon gave way to grey as shower after shower swept through with barely a break. Consequently I arrived at the flash having spent most of the last hour rushing from sheltered bush to sheltered bush. Indeed,  after a quick peep to see if the Green-winged Teal was still there, encouragingly it was  now on the nearest flash, I managed two year-ticks whilst not really birding. First a Chiffchaff called and flew over my head and along the hedge, then I heard a Golden Plover calling and looked up to see it circling. The rain was too heavy to get my camera out.

Finally, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Time to take some more Green-winged Teal shots.

I did a quick count, and got 30 Teal, a drake Wigeon, and about six visible Snipe. Then I finally found the Little Ringed Plovers which have been here since midweek.

60. Little Ringed Plover

There appeared to be a pair of them. A Pied Wagtail appeared, and then a White Wagtail, an early one, presumably heading for Iceland. It seemed to be in first-summer plumage. This continental race of Pied Wagtail is a good bird for Morton Bagot. I have seen them here before, but only two or three times and always in April. I tried to take some record shots, but they are pretty awful. After some deliberation I decided this picture  was the best of the dross.

White Wagtail

Shortly afterwards Steve Roberts arrived. The wagtail seemed to have gone and I was starting to suffer mild hypothermia, so I left him watching the Teal and headed along the hedge.

A little later I was back at the flashes, and found a small group of birders twitching the Teal. They had found that there were now three Little Ringed Plovers, and I saw that there were also three Green Sandpipers. As I finally headed away I started seeing more Chiffchaffs, and counted four altogether, including this one for the photo-list.

61. Chiffchaff

The return journey produced no more migrants, and with few insects braving the cold I decided to end with a shot of a Brown Hare.

Friday 21 March

With the weekend approaching, the Green-winged Teal has lasted the week. Today Matt Willmott found that it was showing well on the near flash.

It wasn't alone. Green Sandpiper numbers have increased still further to nine birds, easily a record for spring passage here. The two Little Ringed Plovers remain, and a Chiffchaff has finally turned up. No Red Kite though.

Gripped off

I knew this would happen. With the Green-winged Teal stubbornly refusing to leave, visiting birders are starting to find stuff.

Today it was a Red Kite which was seen by Mike and also Matt Griffiths and A N Other as it spent at least five minutes flying in the air space over Bannam's Wood. I have since heard a report that there might have been two Red Kites, but I'm not sure of the details.

I gather there are now two Little Ringed Plovers in residence.

Meanwhile, some good news and bad news for Mike. He added Sand Martin to his patch list, with birds over both Haselor and Lower Spernal Farm Pool, but then heard from a householder at Spernal that a Red Kite had been seen there on Tuesday.

With any luck the Kite(s) will still be in the area at the weekend.