This time of year I sometimes find I have some free time, as the Christmas season is over and the garden is fairly tidy. I have already visited a good number of local birding hotspots so wanted to find somewhere a bit further afield to add gain some additional sightings. After scanning the local twitter feeds, I decided that a visit to the Forest of Dean would be a good place to look for some bird species that I hadn't seen for a while.
I have been to the FOD of Dean several times now, and have a good idea of a few birding hotspots. I usually start by heading to Parkend, then follow that with visits to New Fancy View, Cannop ponds and the Nagshead RSPB reserve.
It was quite bright when I left home but as I drove beyond Gloucester, a blanket of fog suddenly came down and I really wondered if I was going to see anything today! It lifted a little as I entered the FOD but it was several hours before it lifted completely.
At Parkend there is a row of Yew trees where it is often possible to spot hawfinches. Birders regularly put out seed under the yews and it is a case of parking in a road known as Crown Lane and using your car as a hide and waiting to see whether or not anything turns up! I arrived at 9.30, expecting there to be a row of cars already there but the road was empty! I hadn't brought any bird food with me as I had expected others to have already spread some on the grass but it seemed as if there was some left from previous days as soon after I arrived various small birds flew down in ones and twos and began pecking at the ground. These included blackbirds, blue tits, great tits, a nuthatch, robin and chaffinches. However, after I'd been watching for about 20 minutes, I suddenly realised that a slightly larger bird was perched about a couple of metres up in the yew - a hawfinch! I was very pleased when, it too, dropped to the ground and began to feed. I could never get a full view of the bird but it stayed around for several minutes before being disturbed at which time it flew off. I waited longer but sadlyt it didn't reappear but I was pleased to have seen one at a close range without having to wait too long.
My next stop was at New Fancy View where, after making the short, steep climb to the view point, I realised that I could hardly see anything though the fog! I could hear and just make out goldfinches through my binoculars but was unsure if there was anything else as there had been reports of crossbills recently seen from there. However, shortly afterwards as I turned around to look behind me, I spotted a silhouette of a bird on top of a branch which on closer inspection turned out to be a male crossbill. It was the only one I saw, even when the fog did start to lift, but was another satisfying sighting!
Cannop ponds is a popular beauty spot in the FOD which at weekends and holidays can get very busy as people enjoy the walk around the pond and through the woods but there were only a couple of cars parked there today. A bird feeding station is situated on the entrance road which attracts a range of small birds, including marsh tit so I stopped to watch for a while before continuing to the ponds. My main aim today was to see the mandarin ducks which regularly swim on the ponds. I soon found them hidden away in in little inlet but was able to get some photos as they swam around.
After this short visit, I drove the short distance to RSPB Nagshead. There are two main trails, the short trail and the long trail, but I took the shorter one today. There had been recent reports of a lesser spotted woodpecker but I didn't hear or see one, or much else actually! However, a couple I spoke to were able to tell me how I could find a dipper which I'd heard could be regularly seen near the Fountain Inn in Parkend. Firstly though, I decided to check the lower hide and as I walked through the gate, I asked a couple coming out if they had seen much. They told me about some siskins which were around a small pond on the right so I turned down a short path and sat on the bench with my binoculars to wait. Almost immediately I found two siskins feeding on the alder ahead of me on the island which I enjoyed watching for a while before heading down to the hide. The hide is usually a good place to see flycatchers in the summer months today it was very quiet and I returned.
Back at Parkend I decided to follow the instructions to see if I could find the aforementioned dipper. I parked a short distance away from the Fountain Inn and entered the pub garden through a small red gate signed 'public footpath' . I crossed the garden then turned left to take a path to the stream which I started to follow; but suddenly I spotted a small brown bird flying back along the stream in the direction I'd just come! However, retracing my steps I couldn't see it again so decided to continue on to see if I could spot another. Eventually I reached a bridge leading to the main road and stopping to look upstream, immediately made out the familiar white bib and brown body of a dipper, which bobbed up and down a couple of times as it stood on a rock. It was then motionless for a few minutes before suddenly taking off and going further upstream out of sight.
Having managed to spot all five of the birds I had targeted, some of which I hadn't seen for several years, I felt pretty satisfied with my day out and look forward to returning in the spring to hopefully see flycatchers and possibly my first wood warbler!
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