Friday March 31

A largely sunny morning with one light shower. Mild again. I decided to return to Arrow Valley Lake fuelled by news of a recent sighting of the Cetti's Warbler which had been trapped over the winter by the Worcestershire Ringing Group.

It wasn't long before I was adding birds to my year-list. An Oystercatcher was pottering about in front of the yacht club. This was not as surprising to me as it might have been, because I had heard that the pair of Oystercatchers which visited Morton Bagot last spring had come from Arrow Valley Lake.

Oystercatcher

Shortly afterwards I heard a singing Willow Warbler, and it was to prove to be the first of at least seven around the lake. A similar number of Chiffchaffs and four singing Blackcaps added to the spring-like feel.

Willow Warbler

I invested a lot of effort trying to get a recognisable photograph of a Willow Warbler, and then spent some time trying to do the same with the Sand Martins, 70 of which were hawking insects overhead.

Sand Martin

More Sand Martins (not gnats)

While I was scanning through the martins looking for a Swallow, I found instead a House Martin. This was, I think, my first ever March sighting of a House Martin in the UK. Sadly it was too distant to give me any chance of a photo.

I then noticed that some apparent litter on the south end of the island was actually a Little Egret which had managed to impale its flight feathers on the bushes it was standing in.

Oh dear

I had resolved to phone the RSPCA, but I met another birder, a lady who was counting nests for the BTO, and she said she would contact the Wychbold Wildlife Rescue charity as they were very prompt in rescuing swans.

As we chatted, another new wader for the year flew over, this time a Lapwing. The Oystercatcher had been flushed by a man mowing the lawn in front of the yacht club. The lady told me she had seen and heard the Cetti's Warbler last autumn on the other side of the lake so I decided to head over there to try again.

I relocated the Oystercatcher on the heronry island, and did a broad sweep of the scrubby areas to the east of the lake without finding anything new. However, returning to the lake I noticed that the Black-headed Gull numbers had swelled to about 25, and that there was a first-winter Common Gull circling with them. I speed-walked up the lake path, but the birds must have been paying a brief visit, because they had mostly disappeared by the time I reached the north end.

I may have been a bit hard on this place in my post a few weeks ago. It's not so bad.

Thursday March 30

Lyn opted for a lie in this morning so I went for what was intended to be a quick walk up to the poplar plantation. The weather was cloudy and mild when I set out, and I was pleased to hear a number of Chiffchaffs singing in the various woodland patches.

By the time I reached my destination it was starting to rain. This got steadily heavier so I headed back home with the seed of an idea forming. Why not drive to the paper shop via Arrow Valley Lake so that I could have a quick scan for a Sand Martin.

I thus arrived as the rain was easing and scanning across the lake saw not one but at least 50 Sand Martins whirring around in the distance. I then noticed a Little Grebe lurking at the edge of the reed fringed corner where I was standing.

Little Grebe

At this point it started to pelt down again, so I decided to head back home as my camera really hates getting wet.

Not a bad return for minimal effort though.

Saturday March 25

A day spent in the house and garden had little to commend it other than wall to wall spring sunshine.

However, a  few minutes in the garden did produce 11 Black-headed Gulls flying north, while Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and three Buzzards were all soaring.

One or two Brimstones flew past, and several bumblebees also failed to stop. In fact the only thing that hung around long enough to get photographed was this fly.

A little research has led me to the conclusion it is a species of Cluster Fly, Pollenia sp, possibly Pollenia rudis. However, it appears that the UK Cluster Flies of that genus cannot be safely identified without the aid of a microscope.

Friday March 24

Mostly cloudy with a light to moderate easterly breeze. It's the one time of the year that an easterly is disliked by the birding fraternity.

I headed for a walk around Ipsley Alders this morning. Three Ipsley Alders ticks were seen, but they only served to emphasise how much I have neglected the reserve over the years. Tick one was Chiffchaff, and I eventually tallied at least five singing males.

Chiffchaff

The next "tick" was Coot, although I am pretty sure I have seen them on the little pond before whilst driving past. It was only a tick in the sense that I had not added one to my Birdtrack records before.

The walk through the woodland produced a singing Blackcap, a Green Woodpecker, and nine Lesser Redpolls which I spent ages trying to photograph.

Lesser Redpoll in a brief moment of sunshine.

A quick traipse into the marsh produced two male Reed Buntings and lots of what I believe is Hairy Bittercress. I dug up loads of it in the garden yesterday.

Reed Bunting

Hairy Bittercress

My final Ipsley Alders tick was also my most unexpected sighting of the morning. A flock of four Grey Wagtails flew over. The words flock and Grey Wagtail do not usually go together as this species rarely occurs in numbers exceeding two.

Finally, just a word on yesterday. I spent the morning gardening, seeing Buff-tailed and Red-tailed Bumblebees, plus a small bee which I cannot identify.

Bee sp

In the afternoon we went to Hillers near Dunnington where the highlight was a very low Red Kite. Unfortunately I hadn't taken either my camera or my binoculars. Kites seem to be quite regular there though.

PS: went to Birmingham as mentioned in previous post. No Waxwings seen.

Monday March 21

This post does not relate to the patch, which I left at 07.15 and returned to at dusk.

I have been adopting a supercool approach to this winter's Waxwing influx, and continue to hope that some find their way to Winyates East.

However, my journey to work takes me past an extremely promising red berry bush (I'm not sure of the species) in Birmingham, and this morning I broke my duck. The bush is about half way along Hollybank Road in King's Heath, and sits in front of a rather ugly tower block.

The council has decreed that the speed limit there is 20mph, which is rather handy if you are driving along looking at the treetops instead of the road. So as I edged along this morning, leading a procession of exasperated fellow commuters, a medium sized Waxwing-shaped bird landed in a tree across the road from the bush. As I debated what effect an emergency stop would have, another bird, quite definitely a Waxwing, flew across to join it.

I chose not to break my journey, safe in the knowledge I had seen enough to secure an identification.

I saw nothing on the return commute, but will have another look tomorrow and will take my camera on Friday as Lyn has another appointment with her hairdresser handily close by.

Watch this space.

Sunday March 19

Not much to report.

I found a ladybird in the kitchen yesterday and identified it as a Harlequin Ladybird.

This morning three Meadow Pipits flew north, thus making it onto the year list, as I made my daily stroll to the paper shop.

Thursday March 16

A cold cloudy day.

On my first visit to Arrow Valley Lake this year I made the bold statement that the place looked like being the jewel in the crown of my patch. Two months on, that is looking like a very rash statement. Indeed I have come to realise that although the site has plenty of water, it does not attract wildfowl. In short, it's a disappointment.

Today I made a very brief visit inspired by hearing a Chiffchaff singing when I went to the shops at Matchborough (just off patch). Sure enough I arrived at the lake and heard probably two Chiffchaffs singing away.

But that was it. No new wildfowl, hardly any gulls, and no other migrants. The camera stayed in the bag, and I left feeling pretty disgruntled.

Poop.

Friday March 10

A complete contrast to yesterday weatherwise, grey skies and a light drizzle.

Still, the walk to the paper shop nabbed me a singing Blackcap. Given the dearth of local Blackcaps this winter it is tempting to call this a newly arrived migrant, but there were a couple of possibles in December and January so there is sufficient doubt there.

My walk around Ipsley Alders produced all the usual suspects including four Reed Buntings (one of which was singing), a Lesser Redpoll, and a dozen Goldfinches. The light was too poor for photography, but I had a go any way.

Bullfinch

Starling

Female Reed Bunting

Ho hum.

Thursday March 9 - American Wigeon twitch

It has been gnawing away at me for some time that I really ought to go and see the female American Wigeon which was expertly picked out by Brian Stretch on his local patch at the end of February. Having promised myself I would twitch one species each month, I was then held up by poor health, social commitments, and work. This morning was my only window of opportunity.

I have to admit that twitching doesn't hold the glamour it once did. As I headed for Grimley, now characterised by a series of flooded gravel pits a few miles north of Worcester, I considered the reasons for going.

The bird itself is a duck, and a pretty dull one at that. An identification challenge if you are lucky enough to be its finder, and only the second to have occurred in Worcestershire, but essentially just a tick on the checklist.

The other reason to consider twitching is the social scene, the chance to meet up with your birding mates. However, to do this effectively your should be quick out of the blocks, something which I most assuredly am not any more. Although I knew the bird had been seen yesterday, I was effectively driving there without knowing whether it would still be present, and whether it was still generating sufficient interest for anyone else to be there.

I needn't have worried. As I stepped from my car another birder ambled up and confirmed it was still here. At the site I found a small group of birders, including Andy Warr who I actually knew. The Wigeon flock was on the far side of the pit, and the bird was fifth from the right, and fast asleep.

It's the one in the middle

There then followed a period of distraction chatting to Andy and trying to get shots of the three Scaup, which had been present for several days and seemed to spend as much time under the water as on it.

Adult male Scaup

First-winter male Scaup

First-winter female Scaup

At this point there was a disturbance among the ducks and I had a brief view of the American Wigeon awake before everything took off. I made a cursory attempt to see it in flight with the 50 or so Eurasian Wigeon, but I couldn't pick it out.

Fortunately they all landed on the next pit, and it was quickly relocated, now 22nd from the left and still asleep.

However, several minutes later it put its head up for a few seconds, and I got the shot.

Awake at last

I decided to scurry off back to Winyates Beasts territory, where I was pleased to see several Brimstones, my first butterflies of the year, enjoying the warmer temperatures. It was 15 degrees centigrade.

The afternoon was spent pleasantly enough off patch, this time at Hillers Garden Centre, Dunnington where I saw another butterfly, this time a Comma, and photographed a number of common birds.

Common Buzzard over the restaurant at Hillers.

Oh, I've given up fly-watching. I caught some kind of house fly on the landing last night. It had all but expired by the morning and has defied my attempts to work out the species.

Saturday March 4

Plans have been shelved and events postponed this week as Lyn and I continue to suffer from our tummy bugs.

This morning we are both feeling a bit better, but we've had a few false dawns since Tuesday. The morning was quite sunny, so I felt inspired to stick my nose out of the back door to see if any mini-beasts might have landed on our south-facing brickwork.

This minimal effort produced two flies and a Common Wasp. The latter flew off before I could grab my camera. However, the flies were reasonably co-operative.

I wasn't planning to include any flies in this blog because most are not identifiable from photographs, but you can often get to a conclusion of sorts, so here goes.

Bluebottle - probably Calliphora vicina

The Bluebottle under the kitchen window turned out to be one of two species; either Calliphora vicina or Calliphora vomitoria. Given our week I was really hoping it was the latter, but by the time I had discovered that I needed to establish whether its "cheeks" were orange it had disappeared.

I then found several flies which fitted the House Fly group and in fact turned out to be Phoania tugriorum which is apparently a typically early-year fly.

Phoania tuguriorum

My fly-spotting was brought to a premature end by the disappearance of the sun. But I can already see some slivers of blue sky so more thrilling insects may follow.

Thursday March 2

We are still not at our best.

I decided to walk around Arrow Valley Lake this morning, and spent a somewhat disappointing hour there seeing a Little Egret, a Goosander, and 16 Great Crested Grebes on the lake.

A Raven was, according to my Birdtrack statistics, the first I had seen at the locality.

I was almost back at the car, without having felt inspired to get my camera out, when I heard a Mistle Thrush. I followed the rattle to find two Mistle Thrushes and 23 Redwings hunting worms on the close-cropped parkland sward.

Mistle Thrush

Back home, literally on my doorstep, I had the frustrating experience of seeing a possible first-winter Common Gull dip below the level of the rooftops never to reappear. It would have been a house tick if I could have been sure.

Cup half empty today.

Wednesday March 1

It's been a strange week.

On Monday I fell ill at work and was packed off home in a taxi, leaving my car and wellies (in the boot) in Birmingham. Ever willing to share, I then past the bug to Lyn. So I have been at home, but with limited opportunities to see any wildlife.

This afternoon, feeling a bit better, I spotted my first moth of the year and quickly potted and photographed it, hoping to work out an identification.

Oh yes, it wasn't very big.

Mompha subbistrigella

Many thanks to Michael Southall who confirmed my identification, although he cautioned that there was a similar species which the photo struggles to completely eliminate.

Roll on Spring.