WINTER THRUSHES AT STONECOTE

Well the  weather has certainly been cold, but it has brought additional  birds into my garden. For the past few months I have had one fieldfare regularly visiting the orchard part of my garden feeding on fallen apples. Now they are finished I have been putting out some apples from my uneaten stores, and just in time, as yesterday I had two fieldfares and just now I looked out the window and was somewhat stunned to see around a whole flock of them (20+)   together with at least one redwing and some blackbirds all attracted by the apples. 

a flock of 20+ fieldfares in my garden this aftenoon

fieldfare and redwing

fieldfare with apple

fieldfares

WILD BOAR AND A GREAT GREY SHRIKE

With a forecast of cold temperatures under sunny skies, I put on five layers of clothing for my day trip to the Forest of Dean. I planned to visit four different locations all in close proximity, starting with the RSPB reserve at Nagshead. 

I duly arrived there at 9.15 a.m. and found that the visitor centre only opens from April, but I managed to pick up the last available map of the reserve. I headed firstly to the lower hide, but apart from robins and a few great tits and blue tits, all was quiet and the pond was frozen.  I then decided to walk the short trail, lesser spotted woodpeckers have been seen there but none were about today, so I then made my way to the Campbell hide, which is a raised hide overlooking a pond where sometimes deer or wild boar come to drink. 

A couple from Luton were in the hide; we saw mistle thrushes, great tits and blue tits, robins and a short glimpse of a hawfinch.  I opened the window on the opposite side and in the distance spotted some movements behind the trees.. some young wild boar!  We watched up to four of them and then saw a large dark adult  pass them  which they followed, and then we realised there were not four but a dozen young following them!

view from the first hide with a frozen pond

the raised Campbell hide

Another frozen pond in front of the hide

a glimpse of a wildboar piglet

My next stop was New Fancy view , a  panoramic viewpoint which looks across the tops of a mainly coniferous forest where it is often possible to see goshawks displaying at this time of year as well as species such as crossbills, and ravens. However all was quiet and I went away disappointed this time, possibly the cold wind was a factor.

It was lunch time by the time I arrived at Speech House Woodland carpark, and at the entrance some photographers immediately caught my attention; they were photographing four wild boar which were foraging in the ground between the carpark and main road. They appeared very used to people and took no notice of them, even taking food from their hands!  I hastily got out my camera and took some shots although they seemed reluctant to move anywhere else. Among the piglets were numbers of thrushes, including redwings and blackbirds which were obviously attracted by the turning over of the ground by the wild boar 

song thrush

 redwing

After eating my picnic lunch, I asked the way to Crabtree Hill where I hoped to catch sight of a great grey shrike which inhabits the area during the winter months. I was told to follow the path, and I'd find the way as there were sure to be lots of other birders.  

Well, I saw hardly anyone, and ended up at an area close to Woorgreens Lake which I visited a year or two ago. I knew I was not too far away but was unsure which path to take, but thankfully a warden was on hand to tell me to back track a little and then follow some steps down through some open heath land and to a track where I would need to bear left. 

I did this and arrived at a track; having taken a left turning  I then spotted a path on the right which looked as if it might lead me to the place I was looking for. I took this path but still no photographers in sight! I continued walking and began to wonder if I was in the wrong place... then I saw it... a white shape at the top of a small fir tree about 50 metres ahead. 
Looking through my binoculars I could see that it was the great grey shrike I was looking for!

I managed a few photos before it flew off as a man and his dog were on a path the other side of the shrubby area. I was able to get nearer again before it flew off and landed at a distance. Meanwhile I had been joined by another birder.  Yet another photographer appeared from the other end of the plantation and the bird then flew in a direction back toward the way I had come.  I didn't spot where it had landed but kept walking and then looking back realised that the two photographers behind me had stopped and were looking at the top of the tree I had just passed under.. . there it was sitting at the top, silhouetted against the blue sky and I was in a prime position with the sun behind me.  A few photographs later and I was happy to return to the car park, where the wild boar were still around, but having moved to the other side of the carpark.

great grey shrike

My final stop was at Cannop Ponds, a beauty spot next to a couple of large ponds which are known for their mandarin ducks. It had warmed up quite a bit and it was in fact turning into a very pleasant afternoon.  I took a few photos and walked a little way around the ponds, before deciding to make my way home again.

views across Cannop ponds

female mandarin duck

male mandarin duck

mandarin duck pair

 A quick stop at Plock Court to see if the penduline tit was there, but from the car park I could see that no one was taking any photos or looking through binoculars but rather were looking hopefully around or returning to their cars, and I realised that it was obviously not there. 

All in all an enjoyable day out.

STONECHAT BUT NO PENDULUINE TIT

I had been meaning to revisit the pond at Plock Court , near Gloucester where the penduline tit has been present for nearly two months.  Having finally got around to going, on arrival at the site, I  was going through the gate as a few others were returning with rather glum faces... the bird in question had not been seen since 7.30 am!

I decided to wait around for a bit but decided the chance of seeing it were slim; others had clearly been waiting for several hours or more, having come from other parts of the country.  In the end I had to make do with a stonechat which has also been frequenting the area and which was rather more obliging. 

If it does reappear I will try and make another attempt...

 A few  photos of the stonechat are below.

OTMOOR RSPB

I visited RSPB Otmoor today, it was milder than of late and dry with some sunshine. The ground however was soggy and it was a squelch rather than a walk along the bridleway! 

As I left the car park the first birds I saw were bullfinch and longtailed tit, with other tits and common birds at the feeders. 

Along the bridleway were greylags and canada geese and a few stonechats on the reed heads in the distance. At the hide I sat at the window for quite a while watching large numbers of linnets and reed bunting feeding on the ground where food has been provided, joined by blue tits, yellow hammers and goldfinches. At the slightest movement they would quickly retreat to the hedges either side but then return to their feeding seconds later.  A kestrel flew by and a pheasant and moorhen made their way along the track towards the hide. 

As I left the hide I spotted a siskin but it flew off before I could take a record photo (heard that one before!) . 

greylags

linnet

linnet flock

path alongside hide, lots of reed  buntings feeding on the ground

pheasant and chaffinch

female reed bunting

male reed bunting

view from hide window

yellow hammer and linnet

WINDMILL HILL AVEBURY

I joined a group of birders from a U3A group this afternoon for one of their fortnightly walks, this time it was to Avebury and a walk to  nearby Windmill Hill. 

After meeting in a very overcrowded NT car park we took a path which led us along a quiet back lane and up a track past farmland. 

We logged the usual common birds on the way but our main destination was to  locate an area where tree sparrows are encouraged to breed by local farmers using feeding stations and nest boxes. After strolling along for an hour or so we reached some hedgerows where we could see long feeding tubes, at first many of us mistook them for fence posts in the hedgerow, but a closer look showed us otherwise and we soon realised that these were being frequented by a range of finches and hedgerow birds including tree sparrows, chaffinches, goldfinches, green finches and yellow hammers. We could see dozens of tree sparrows and at least a dozen yellow hammers brightening up the hedgerows.

It was becoming slightly chillier as we made the return trip to our cars, but the afternoon had been an interesting one with beautiful weather and a further couple of ticks for my year list!

DUNGENESS RSPB

Whilst staying in Kent for half term I made the trip south to Dungeness to the RSPB reserve there. To be honest there weren't huge amounts of birds there, neither were they particularly close so I'm afraid no decent photos,  but I did manage a few more ticks for the year, including slavonian grebe, male smew and a marsh harrier .

It was blue skies all morning, though a bit chilly but a nice walk nevertheless. The reserve has a 2 mile walk around the reserve with hides  sited along the way. plus an additional short walk to a hide and a viewing screen across the road from the entrance. 

Birds of note included:

golden plover, wigeon, reed bunting, great crested grebe, slavonian grebe, little grebe, cettis warbler, greater black backed gull, lesser black backed gull, goldeneye, smew, tufted duck, gadwall, shoveler, shelduck, oyster catcher and lapwing.

KINGFISHER AT COATE

I returned to Coate Water today in the hope of getting some photos of the kingfisher and today the kingfisher (a female) was very obliging, making short flights between branches of overhanging trees and various reeds providing some good views from the path. She did one unsuccessful dive while I watched. Already taking photos,  was a gentleman who in his own words was 'addicted' to kingfishers, so it was nice to have someone to make conversation with while we waited and watched it. 

Also there were the usual birds taking food from the fence posts just behind us.

kingfisher

blue tit

great tit

long tailed tit

marsh tit

nuthatch

On the way to school this morning this buzzard was perched up in a tree enjoying the morning sun.