Friday May 1

The new month dawned bright but cold, with a light north-easterly persisting. Not a good direction.

My visit this morning was aimed at further surveying and sketching. Eventually I achieved both, but regret to say that there was very little bird activity to get excited about. A female Wheatear may prove to be the last of the season, while a new Sedge warbler sang at the flashes. A Meadow Pipit was a surprise find, but there was also a pair here at the same time last year so perhaps its not too unusual.

The Teal have all gone, but a Little Ringed Plover, two Redshank, and the Little Owl remain.

I had originally intended to sketch Little Grebes (they had gone), or Cormorant (none seen), or Grey Heron (one just flew around briefly), which just left Coot. Obliging, but not very exciting.

As I was leaving I was distracted by a newsworthy event, but more Midlands Today than Morton Bagot Birder blog. A huge fire had sprung up in the direction of Redditch. As I watched a huge explosion sent a ball of orange flame into the billowing black smoke.

It may have been on one of the Matchborough industrial estates. I hope no-one was injured.

Wednesday April 29

After a brief period of heavy rain this morning I was quite keen to get down to the patch after work. I only achieved this by 19.00, by which time the low sun was dazzlingly bright, and the wind was a stiff westerly. Not very auspicious.

Which just goes to show what I know, because this was to be a better than average visit. To start with the flash was quite busy, with a pair of Little Ringed Plovers, the pair of Redshank, and no less than six Teal still present.

Peering through the hedge I noticed a Yellow Wagtail standing on the mud. Before you yawn, I feel I should point out that I didn't see one here at all last year, my only record being a single heard-only record. So I decided this bird would be recorded with a photograph no matter what. So yes, here we go again, after a great deal of effort and long periods of trying to relocate it in the middle of the field I eventually took a series of, ahem, record shots, of which this is the best.

Yellow Wagtail

 The bird in question is just close enough to deduce that it is a female. As the sun started to sink to the horizon I thought I had better give the pool a quick look. I was pleasantly surprised to see about a dozen Swallows there, no doubt as a result of the chilly temperature. a little group perched pleasingly on the branch which sticks out of the pool.

Down the road, Haselor was also producing the goods. Jon Yardley rang to let me know he had discovered three Whinchats there, but also that it was almost out of water. This is a pity because I had it down as a secret weapon in the upcoming bird race competition thing which Matt Griffiths is organising for May 9.

Briefly, Morton Bagot is to be temporarily supersized to include Haselor scrape and Middle Spernal to give us some chance of competing with the likes of Earlswood, Newton scrape (wherever that is), Charlecote, and apparently Draycote and somewhere in the Tame Valley. It sounds like two competitions in one to me, but it should be fun anyway. Our team currently consists of me, Dave Scanlan, Mike Inskip, Jon Yardley, and possibly John Coombes.

Tuesday April 28

Ah well, I'm working again.

Nevertheless birds can turn up when and where you least expect. This morning I was walking to our paper shop in Redditch when I heard a half forgotten song. A bird which I have only recorded on two occasions at Morton Bagot was singing just out of earshot of our garden.

The species in question was Garden Warbler. Despite not having my bins with me, I was able to watch it with the naked eye as it clambered about between bursts of song.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Neither a garden tick, nor a patch bird, but a real fillip for the day to come.

Sunday April 26

A cloudy start, although it brightened later, but remained chilly with a light northerly breeze.

With Dave unable to make it this morning I decided to divide my time between sketching and surveying. The target of the former pastime was the Pheasant. There were plenty of males to choose from, although I only saw one female.

It was quite interesting to see the amount of individual variation demonstrated by the cock Pheasants. One showed a broad white neck band and almost white crown, while another would have a narrow neck band and a grey brown crown for instance. But at the end of the day they were just Pheasants, so I headed for the pool/flashes hoping for something better.

In the event it was to be the stonechat field which produced the goods in the form of two male Whinchats. I will have to rename the field as the chat field.

Whinchat

The birds were typically difficult to approach, hence the rather small image. The pool contained only the Little Grebes, while the flashes played host to four Teal, two Redshanks, and a Little Ringed Plover. Given the overnight rain, I had hoped for rather more.

Frustration of the day was two silhouetted and distant wagtails heading west well out of earshot. It looks like Yellow Wagtail is going to be difficult to come by again this year.

Friday 24 April

An early start due to an inconveniently mid-morning doctor's appointment. Once the fog dispersed it was a beautiful sunny morning.

I parked under Bannam's Wood and walked back towards the pool, seeing a silent Willow Warbler in birches, and noting that the Tawny Owl was visible. Traditionally this is around the date I normally do a big day, but this year I have been signed up to do one on May 9 against other patches, but with Morton Bagot being temporarily expanded to include Middle Spernal and Haselor scrape. More of that in a future posting.

Anyway, I couldn't help wondering how I might have got on today had I been doing a big day, and the walk to the flash field produced another migrant in the form of a Wheatear, and my first Cuckoo of the year calling from miles away. At the flashes the Redshanks were still present, and also at least three Teal. My second Owl of the morning was a Little Owl.

Little Owl

At the time I took the photo I thought that its rather chocolate brown underparts might mean it was a juvenile, but I am now sure it is an adult because the crown is spotted.

I returned to my car, and then drove to Netherstead. Here I quickly discovered that a Sedge Warbler was singing well from the reedbed.

Sedge Warbler

My departure was then delayed when I noticed a very pale headed Buzzard perched on a post.

Hmmm, Buzzard?

I edged nearer, never really believing it would turn out to be better than a Buzzard. Eventually it chose to take off, and the views were conclusive.

An unusually pale Common Buzzard

Aren't they always?

Upton Warren

Regular readers of this blog will be aware that I rarely stray from Morton Bagot, and these days I almost never twitch anything.

However, the presence of the first ever Red-necked Grebe on the Moors Pool at my old stomping ground of Upton Warren was too much to resist. The additional advantage of the locality is that the concrete hide there is the only wheelchair friendly hide in Worcestershire, as far as I know, so ok for Lyn.

The news was encouraging, and suggested that the Grebe had been touring the pool. Unfortunately, by this afternoon it had evidently decided that the east side of the pool was ideal, this being the furthest place from the concrete hide it could get. so I'm very sorry but my bridge camera could only manage distant record shots, as you will see.

Red-necked Grebe, distant and asleep

Red-necked Grebe awake, but still distant

It looked an awful lot better in the scope, and I was rather proud of Lyn when she successfully picked it up through the bins.

There were also other distractions. A second-summer Mediterranean Gull was standing in the Black-headed Gull colony.

Mediterranean Gull

A very distant Whimbrel was standing on the island in front of the east hide, but too distant from the concrete hide for even an attempted record shot. But much more obliging was a Water Rail which swam in front of the concrete hide a couple of times.

Water Rail

Apart from the Whimbrel, none of these species has yet occurred at Morton Bagot (as long as you ignore a pager message from a few of years ago which I am sure related to a Little Grebe). Cetti's Warblers sang, Sedge Warblers too, and I have to admit that it crossed my mind to wonder whether I should reconsider my current birding strategy.

Naaah! I'll be back on the patch tomorrow.

Wednesday April 22

A sunny morning with a light north-easterly wind.

I began by locating a pair of Red-legged Partridges at Netherstead, the plan being to sketch them.

The rest of the morning was devoted to the very noble process of surveying the breeding birds along the road from Netherstead to Church Farm, and thereafter walking down to the flash field to see what was there.

The answer was not a lot. The pair of Redshanks are getting frisky, and a pair of Little Ringed Plovers was just visible on the back flash with 11 Teal and several Mallards, Geese etc.

Walking around I noted at least two, possibly three, singing Lesser Whitethroats, three singing Whitethroats, and a singing Willow Warbler.

I also bumped into Matt Willmott who also hadn't seen much.

Finally, on the road I noticed a Wood Mouse. It seemed strangely unwilling to run off, and my rather unpleasant photograph illustrates why.

One blind mouse

For what its worth I assisted it off the road and into the long grass. I'm not sure what had caused its affliction.