Thursday April 25 - Morton Bagot

 The chilly weather of the last ten days continued today. I completed the normal circuit at Morton Bagot and counted singing birds diligently. There were no new arrivals but migrants are getting through in spite of the weather. Although I didn't cover all the patch, the seven singing Lesser Whitethroats heard this morning equals the site record. In addition a single Grasshopper Warbler, three singing Sedge Warblers, ten singing Chiffchaffs, ten singing Whitethroats, and two singing Willow Warblers was a decent return for the effort.

The highlight of the morning was arguably the discovery that the single pair of Lapwings on the flash field has managed to produce a chick.

Lapwing and chick

Although it was nice to witness the event, it brings me mixed feelings. Over the last decade the breeding pairs here have reduced steadily and this may be the last pair here. The problem is probably chick survival, and I'm afraid it is more than likely that this little mite will disappear in the next few days.

On a more positive note I saw a Tawny Owl in the shed, my first here this year. Two male Stonechats in different fields also bodes well for the breeding season. A pair of Teal and the two drake Gadwalls remain on the nearest flash, and a pair of Tufted Ducks on what remains of the Kingfisher Pool were the first for weeks.

I'm hoping warmer weather on the horizon will get the spring rebooted.

Monday April 22 - Earlswood and Mappleborough Green

 There is a saying "April is the cruellest month" TS Elliot I believe (miserable bugger). I would like to refute that by asserting that April is the month that keeps on giving. I love it.

What it gave me today was an early morning "bleep" of the phone. Thirty-five Redshanks had circled Earlswood at 05:48, and five Common Scoters were on Windmill Pool. Naturally the Redshank were gone in a flash (its easily the largest number ever seen there, and also the biggest flock in my circular recording area), but the Scoters sounded twitchable. 

I arrived as the drizzle which was no doubt responsible for all this activity continued to fall. Undeterred I made it up the steps from the road and was quickly able to find the birds, three males and two females, huddling together not far from the causeway.

Common Scoters

These birds are sea ducks, but also night migrants, and evidently a proportion of those migrating back to their northern breeding grounds in spring are quite happy to take a shortcut from the Severn to the Wash. Only damp weather will slow them down and give the Midland birder a chance to see one, or in this case five.

I didn't have very long, but there was still time to see two Common Terns which had also arrived overnight.

April can be like this. Migration happens in fits and starts, days of not much and then suddenly there are birds everywhere.

By late morning I was itching to give Mappleborough Green a look. Those Redshank had got me dreaming of waders, and the flash seemed like a good bet. 

The plan paid off, but not for waders. A Little Ringed Plover was still present on the overspill flash, but I had heard a Yellow Wagtail call, and to my delight found it was showing brilliantly.

Yellow Wagtail

It's not my first this year, but it is the best view I've had of one for years. Decades ago they were pretty common and perhaps I took them for granted, but sadly they are on the decline and every opportunity to see one is a little victory.

PS: I put the trap out overnight. It remains too cool overnight though and I attracted just two moths, both worn Brindled Pugs.

Sunday April 21 - Morton Bagot

 It remains on the cool side. Dave and I were joined by Andy G. He had been on site for an hour by the time we arrived and had been rewarded with views of a Tawny Owl in the hedge running down the hill from the north-west corner of Bannams Wood. Unfortunately for us it was being chivied by mobbing birds and had flown off.

We persuaded Andy we should walk along the road to check out Bannams Wood in the hope of finding a Wood Warbler or a Pied Fly. Needless to say we failed to find anything remotely that good. 

Plenty of Whitethroats are now singing away, and we also accumulated four singing Lesser Whitethroats, six singing Blackcaps, and two Grasshopper Warblers, but could find no new summer migrants. A pair of Stonechats was present again, the male is the colour-ringed bird and it seems likely that they will try to breed.

A pair of Little Egrets led us to the flash field where the Avocets were absent (it's a weekend!) but we did have a year tick in the form of four Gadwalls. Initially they were on the furthest flash and my ropey record shot was at least enough to show that they were three males and a female. Later two of the males landed on the nearest flash, briefly joining two pairs of Teal.

Gadwall

The four together (but distant)

A single Sand Martin and a Swallow was flying around, but the local House Martins have not yet returned.

I will probably not take part in the West Midlands all-dayer this year because I no longer have an X account, but maybe I'll gatecrash team Earlswood. 

NB: At about the time we were leaving Morton Bagot, a White Stork was seen flying high over Lower Bittell. Wrong place, wrong time....for us anyway.

Friday April 19 - Morton Bagot

 This morning I had arranged to take a friend, Jason, around the patch so he could see what I keep going on about. Ideally I would have picked a warm sunny day, but what we got was a cloudy, frequently damp, start and a fresh north-westerly wind. 

This was a shame because Jason was particularly hoping we would see a Grasshopper Warbler or two. We even tried a quick visit to Morgrove Coppice with them in mind. Well there were none there, and at Morton Bagot we had to settle for a brief distant snatch of the reeling call.

Basically it was hard work to get views of anything. A singing Lesser Whitethroat showed only fleetingly in flight, the numerous Common Whitethroats were mainly out of view. A pair of Willow Warblers were nicely visible, but were only calling and not singing.

Willow Warbler trying to hide

Fortunately Jason professed to be thoroughly enjoying his morning. A Red Kite was flying around, two pairs of Avocets were on the nearest flash, while four Teal and a pair of Lapwings were further to the back.

Towards midday the sun came out, and we saw a few butterflies; Speckled Wood, Green-veined White, and Brimstone before Jason spotted some Green Longhorn moths, my first of the year.

Green Longhorn Moth

Also present in the same area were several bees and hoverflies. These included a Nomad Bee sp, and the following:

Syrphus ribesii/vitripennis (and a Melanostoma ag)

Melanostoma ag (scalare/melinus)

It looks as though hoverflies are going to be tricky. My photos fail to show various important features to fully identify them.

However mediocre our visit had been, we'd had a lot better day than a certain Helmeted Guineafowl whose feathers we found spread across the path.

An ex-Guineafowl

If anyone's lost one, we know what became of it.

Tuesday April 16 - Rough Hill Wood and Mappleborough Green

 Since the weekend the doorway to spring has been slammed shut. Cold northerly winds have set in and it seems likely that there will be fewer new migrants getting through until warm winds return.

Today I decided to pay another visit to Rough Hill Wood in the hope of finding some interesting woodland species. The result was just a few Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps, and Willow Warblers. But arguably the highlight was a Marsh Tit which was, just about, photographable.

Marsh Tit

Distinguishing between silent Marsh Tits and Willow Tits has always been difficult. This one was calling (and obviously Willow Tits appear to be locally extinct), but one "feature" which is said to be pretty reliable is the presence or absence of a white mark on the upper mandible. I've never really looked for it on a fast moving live bird, but a camera helps to freeze time. I believe that this photo does show that feature, further confirming that it is indeed a Marsh Tit.

Upon leaving the wood I drove up the road to Mappleborough Green to see if there was anything there. This proved to be a good move. The Cattle Egret was absent, the only Egret being a single Little Egret, but I was really hoping for waders, and there was indeed something new on the main flash. Ok, it was just a Common Sandpiper, but it was still a sign that birds are moving despite the weather.

Common Sandpiper

Also present was a Green Sandpiper and three Little Ringed Plovers. These were mainly on the overflow flash, where I also noticed a Pipit. I'd left my scope at home so it took me longer than it should have to establish that the only Pipits present were Meadow Pipits (four of them).

However, whilst I was creeping about, an interesting Alba Wagtail appeared. I immediately suspected it was a different sub-species from the several Pied Wagtails which were also present. It was indeed a White Wagtail.

White Wagtail

Female Pied Wagtails can look pale mantled, and indeed there was a pale mantled female Pied with the black-backed males, but it didn't look quite as pale as this bird.

For the removal of all doubt it is desirable to see how far down the rump the pale grey extends. For a White Wagtail it needs to go almost down as far as the tail. This bird passed the test.

Lots of pale grey on the rump, though the bird's a bit distant

That'll do

It appears to be still in winter plumage, and maybe it's a female because of the extent of grey leaching onto the crown. 

This bird is probably en route to Iceland, which shares the nominate race with the rest of western Europe. Our Pied Wagtails are almost restricted to the British Isles.

White Wagtails are fairly frequently encountered in mid April, but I rarely see more than one or two a year around here.

Sunday April 14 - Spring comes early at Morton Bagot

 Today was again on the warm side, and this time the sun shone all morning. The patch is getting popular, we saw two other birders.

It didn't take long before we started adding spring arrivals to the year list. A Sedge Warbler was singing from near the pond where the ringers often set their nets, and the first of two (or three) Grasshopper Warblers was singing from the hedges bordering the Chat field beyond. Frustratingly, none of the above was actually visible, and the same could be said of a Lesser Whitethroat which sang briefly in the distance. Common Whitethroats, Blackcaps, and Willow Warblers sang across the patch, and we actually managed to see some of those.

One of six Willow Warblers we logged today.

Shortly afterwards a pair of Shelducks and a Little Egret flew north, a Red Kite circled, and we located the ringed Stonechat in the scrape field (so not the one I saw on Thursday).

We met up with Gary J near the flash field. Another pair of Shelducks was present on the nearest flash and also another Little Egret, but the Avocets were absent. At least one pair of Teal and a few Lapwings lurked towards the furthest flash, and four Sand Martins briefly appeared. This became more significant later in the morning as another seven flew north, pushing the record Morton Bagot count into double figures.

Scanning the tree guards has been proving profitable and today was no exception. In the distance we could see three Chats. Two were Wheatears, and the third something smaller.

Can you see them?

Clearly we needed to check them out. Edging closer, we eventually established that the mystery Chat was a stonking male Whinchat. This was easily the earliest Whinchat I have ever seen in the UK.

Whinchat

There was some uncertainty about the sex of the Wheatears, personally I thought they were both females, but on reflection one was probably a first-summer male. 

Apart from seeing a Marsh Tit along the Morton Brook, we didn't add anything else of significance birdwise. However, butterflies were on the wing; Orange-tips, Peacocks, and Speckled Woods, and numerous bees and flies hummed and buzzed across the blossom filled hedges. It really felt as though spring was a week early.

Tawny Mining Bee (one of easy ones)

My new interest in hoverflies was given a fillip by the discovery of a particularly striking one.

Tiger Marsh Fly Helophilus pendulus (with a Bluebottle sp)

Nearby a nondescript solitary bee reminded me that bees are too hard.

Bee sp

I love the spring.

PS: The other main prize at Morton Bagot eluded us. Mike Holley saw a Common Swift during the morning. This is easily the earliest ever for the site, and is an excellent early date for the West Midlands. Fortunately Mike puts his records on Birdtrack, so it will be published in the WMBC Annual Report in due course.

Well done Mike.

Friday April 12 - Morton Bagot

 Not every visit to Morton Bagot is going to result in the discovery of something unusual, but at this time of year expectations are heightened, and even the ordinary can make you feel good.

This morning I was out a little earlier than usual. The weather has warmed up a little and I was feeling optimistic. A couple of Willow Warblers were my first here this year, but after an hour I hadn't found much else.

Willow Warbler (fortunately it was singing)

I'd been hoping for a Grasshopper Warbler, or at least a Sedge Warbler, but neither seems to have arrived yet. But all was not lost, the rattling song of a Lesser Whitethroat signalled the presence of my first of the spring, and it was quickly followed by the "chuurr" of a Common Whitethroat. At least I managed to see it, and later two more singing birds, but they were too flighty for me to get a shot.

Scanning the large field next to the scrape field eventually paid off as a male Wheatear and a pair of Stonechats were visible in the distance.

Wheatear

Two Egrets flew off as I approached the flash field, one was definitely a Little Egret and the other presumably also one (but you can't be sure nowadays). Two pairs of Avocets, two pairs of Shelduck, and five Teal were also present. The usual pair of Red Kites were being mobbed by a Raven. It's amazing how times have changed since I first started birding here just fifteen years ago. None of these birds would have seemed at all likely, although for balance, I would have seen more than the single Lapwing present today (and would certainly have seen a pair of Curlews, and plenty of Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows). Three Sand Martins were flying around, and I heard a Yellow Wagtail call three times as it flew north.

As I turned to head back along Morton Brook I watched a dog-walker whistling at her free-roaming terrier as it dashed around, disturbing the breeding Skylarks in the field. Another change. 

At least I noticed the male Stonechat had ignored the disturbance, and this may mean that one in the ridge field later on was a new bird. It was also showing very well. One other noteworthy species was a singing Marsh Tit at Stapenhill Wood. It's good to be reminded of its simple song once in a while.

Stonechat

My earlier start meant that I was almost back at my car before the sun had started to properly warm the day, and as a result I only recorded one species of butterfly.

Speckled Wood

This Speckled Wood was my first this year. The plan is to add to it with a few garden moths, so I'll be putting the trap out tonight.

The result of that was 22 moths of nine species. None were particularly scarce, but White-shouldered House Moth, Oak-tree Pug, Muslin Moth, and Early Grey were new for the year. Here are the most photogenic:

Muslin Moth

Early Grey

Lunar Marbled Brown

The only surprise was that I attracted two Oak-tree Pugs. The date is a little early, but the oddest thing is that I have yet to catch its close relative, the Brindled Pug, this year. It's a bit like seeing House Martin before Swallow.