Sunday May 25

A cloudy and rather damp morning. The rain overnight and yesterday had created plenty of puddles and raised the water levels in all the water courses.

I started at Netherstead, and soon confirmed that the two Reed Warblers were still singing and remaining hidden from view. Some crow alarm calls caused me to look up in time the see a Raven out-distancing its pursuers. An opportunity to get a flight shot.

Raven

It was too cool for insects to be on the wing so today was always going to be devoted to birds. As I reached the main pool I found that my first Little Grebes of the year were in residence. As is generally the case they weren't keen to be photographed, diving and eventually re-emerging in the pool-side vegetation whenever I got too close. But I managed some record shots.

80. Little Grebe (two)

The field behind the pool contained several singing Skylarks, and I finally got a shot of one of them on the ground.

I reached the flash, and found that the wet weather had not produced any waders. However, within a few minutes two Redshanks did turn up.

One of the Redshanks

The remainder of the visit produced a silent Cuckoo (perhaps a female) with a male still singing in the distance, and a series of other common birds which I couldn't resist snapping.

Yellowhammer

Reed Bunting

Lesser Whitethroat and Reed Bunting

Greenfinch

Kestrel

And a dot shot for the photo-year list

81. Swift

I had a frustrating near miss on the way home when I found a Jay hopping around in the road, while my camera was in the boot. I managed to retrieve the camera while the bird remained, only to have it flushed by a passing car.

Wednesday May 21

A still sunny evening. I arrived later than usual with a cunning plan up my sleeve. Initially it was all pleasant enough. A Reed Warbler was singing invisibly from the hedge bordering eastern edge of the pool field, rather odd. A party of Canada Geese and two Redshanks on the Flash.

Behind me a Lapwing was calling anxiously from the tilled field. I think she may have chicks.

A Sedge Warbler was singing from the straggly hedge-line at the west side of the pool. I couldn't see it, but as I looked up the hill towards Bannams Wood I realised the cunning plan had paid off. A Barn Owl was hunting over the field in front of the wood.

I would obviously like to show you some marvelous shots at this stage, and goodness knows I tried. But the light was too poor, and my camera was not up to the job (neither was its operator), so after discarding loads of fuzzy white blobs, this is the best I could come up with.

79. Barn Owl

At least you can tell it is one. The bird itself performed wonderfully off and on for about 30 minutes from 21.00. I also heard the Grey Partridge again while I was watching the Owl.

Scarce raptors

Another beautiful sunny day, with just a light southerly breeze. A call from Dave as I was on my way alerted me to his car having been discovered to have a puncture. He would be late. I had in any case planned to survey the breeding birds around Netherstead Farm, so his delay simply gained me some extra time

I spent an hour or so mooching about, counting the local House Sparrows etc, noting a couple of Starlings (not seen here since early April), and hearing a Cuckoo. I also had an interesting chat with Yad (Jad?) originally from Sweden, who told me about various impending comings and goings (mostly goings unfortunately) of certain residents of the hamlet.

Dave arrived and we started birding. Almost immediately he spotted a raptor heading from the south. A Kite. We dashed to a place where we could get a better view as the bird, a Red Kite, which slowly approached and eventually circled away to the east.

78. Red Kite (approaching)

The fly past

Heading away

I managed to get a series of shots of it (plus a lot of shots of blue sky) before it was lost from view. The second here this year, and a nice pull back after I was not around to see the one in March. It didn't appear to be wing tagged, but I imagine that is not as significant as it used to be.

Feeling pretty chuffed we headed towards the pool. On reaching the half-way pond Dave pulled another one out of the bag, as he spotted a pair of Hobbies circling. They came closer and eventually flew over, but they were too high and quick for me to get a shot of them.

Being a sunny day, we were always on the look out for interesting insects. Thus I was pleased when we found several Small Heath butterflies.

Small Heath

These diddy little creatures always settle with their wings up. In flight the upper surface appears all orangy brown, but unless you are looking at a dead specimen, you will never see that properly.

At the pool I was pleased to see that the Canada Geese have bred successfully, and five goslings were counted.

The flashes by contrast were pretty poor. The near flash is about 50% dry, and contained only a few Mallards, Lapwings, and a Pied Wagtail. On the way back we found another new butterfly for the year.

Small Copper

The Small Copper is about the same size as the Small Heath, but is generally commoner, and certainly prettier.

Finally we reached the dragonfly pools where, at long last, I saw some dragonflies (well actually damselflies).

Azure Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly

The feel good factor is definitely back.

Wednesday May 14

After a fine sunny day, my evening's birding was not without incident. To begin with Jon was contacting me pretty regularly to let me know how well he was doing at Haselor scrape, where he tells me he is going every night. Tonight's offerings were two Oystercatchers and a close Yellow Wagtail.

Morton Bagot, by contrast, has been going through a "quiet period" for about a month!  But maybe there were some encouraging signs tonight. To begin with there was a wader on the flash. OK it was just a Little Ringed Plover, but its been a couple of weeks.

With news of the stuff at Haselor, I felt determined to get something. And suddenly something turned up. Another wader, this time a Redshank. I'm almost embarrassed to admit this was only the second this year.

Not too bad. I strolled back past a singing Sedge Warbler and several pairs of Tufted Ducks. A male of the latter was caught in the act of doing its head nodding display.

Onwards and upwards. Near Bannams Wood I paused to take in a quite impressive sunset.

Just then a slightly familiar call, "krriak" stopped me in my tracks. It was coming from the other side of the hedge. It called again. A Grey Partridge. This species has the extraordinary ability to remain invisible for most of the year, but must surely be resident. I got through the hedge, and hung around. The habitat it was in consisted of long grass blanketing a field with Felix's saplings in it. There was no chance of a view of the bird, and it also stopped calling.

Perhaps, at least in the short term, the lack of agricultural chemicals on Felix's land will prove beneficial for this species.

Sunday May 11

Another cloudy, windy morning. After I had done a quick tour of the south end, Dave joined me for a walk around the rest of the patch.

It proved to be pretty uneventful. The pair of Shelducks was still present, and we eventually saw a couple of Swifts going over. The current chick situation is that one brood of Lapwings has hatched, one brood of Mallard, and so far two broods each of Moorhens and Coots.

Coot chicks at the dragonfly pools

Dissatisfied with our efforts we decided to drive to Haselor to see if there was anything there. This plan proved useful insofar as the single Shelduck was still present, proving that the Morton Bagot birds were different. We also saw a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, a Redshank, and a Lapwing chick.

Saturday May 10

This was a visit that nearly didn't happen. I had prearranged to take our friends, Richard and Jan, around the patch. The Tawny Owl chicks being a particular target. The forecast by Thursday was so bad I nearly cancelled, but we held our nerve and it paid off.

The overnight rain stopped by 7.00am and the sun broke through. Heavy shower clouds scudded overhead and the rain held off until we were safely back home.

We parked at the church and headed straight for the Tawny Owl tree.

Mission accomplished

It was great to share this sighting, so although the wind was gaining in strength I felt that the morning had been a success regardless of whether events nosedived.

I needn't have worried though. We battled into the gale, past singing Whitethroats and Yellowhammers until we reached the flash. Through the trees it was immediately apparent that Shelduck was finally getting onto my year list. There were actually a pair present, the first since the pair I missed in March.

77. Shelduck

I scanned the remaining flash, but there were still no waders. Well the young Lapwing was still present, along with a number of grown-ups. Above us several Swifts appeared and defied my attempts to get a worthwhile photograph. I suspect this could become a theme this summer. Then a call, and another, definitely Yellow Wagtail. It called once more but I couldn't see it. Another year tick.

The field behind us produced a male and female Wheatear, and also this Brown Hare.

I led my companions along my usual route. The strong wind made it tough to get sustained views of passerines, but we saw a Whitethroat well, and heard Bullfinches, Reed Warblers, Chiffchaffs, and a Cuckoo before we returned to the car.

Thursday May 8

After a day of sometimes torrential rain I thought a visit to the patch would surely produce the goods. Think again. Not a single wader on the flash, again, and no migrant passerines to speak of.

Oh well. Sharing the disappointment was Redditch birder Neil Duggan. He at least was a tick. I showed him where the Tawny Owls were, and we both photographed the one bird we located in the canopy.

The pool filled up with a dozen Tufted Ducks, and on the walk back the singing Lesser Whitethroat popped out for just long enough to allow a hastily taken shot.

More wet weather is forecast for the weekend so I guess I'll be trying my luck again.