I saw my first ever dartford warbler at Thursley Common in Surrey last April, but have heard that it is possible to find them amongst the gorse bushes on Greenham Common, Newbury although so far I've not had any success.
Recently I spoke to a birder who assured me that it was possible to find them at this time of year and to look along the central runway area ( it was previously an airfield). So with milder and brighter weather than of late, I headed there after I finished work at lunch time today.
It was still slightly chilly and cloudy as I left my car in the control tower carpark, but after about an hour the sun came out and I began to feel quite warm in the winter sunshine. I headed west along the runway but there was little about really, apart from some groups of grazing cattle, which I tried to avoid! The only birds I saw were magpies, a robin and some crows. After walking for over an hour, taking a circular route, I found myself back near the control tower without any notable sightings so decided it might be worth walking a little way in the opposite direction just in case.
After about 15 minutes I spotted a small bird as it flew across a gap between some bushes and dived into the undergrowth a short distance away - I couldn't identify it but noticed it's long tail as it disappeared - a dartford warbler? As if to clarify that for me, I heard its scratchy song coming from within the bush and then some movements at the top. I could just make out the pink and grey colour of the dartford warbler as it showed its head occasionally behind the gorse but failed to show itself completely. It seemed to move along the bush but then I heard nothing more, despite listening and waiting and moving around the bush a little. I wondered if it had flown from the other side of the bush where I could not see it or was simply hunkered down?
Happy to have found a dartford warbler on Greenham Common I moved on a bit to an area of shorter gorse bushes where I spotted a stonechat fly up to perch on top of a spike of gorse, just as another bird shot down into the undergrowth. Could it be another dartford warbler? I had heard that often the two species could be in the same vicinity, with stonechats sometimes acting as 'look out' for the 'dartford'. Finally I was rewarded with a second sighting, although it was at a distance this time and was only in view for a few seconds.
Now that I know these birds can be found at Greenham Common, I will try and pay another visit one morning later on, and hope that they show themselves more readily. I will be also on the look out for golden ringed dragonflies which, again, are said to be found at this location but I've not seen them as yet!
A few blurry shots below just to prove I saw the bird in question! Hopefully I'll get some more acceptable ones one day!
dartford warbler
stonechat
