SPRING MIGRANTS IN THE FOREST OF DEAN

It's usually at this time of year when I make a trip to the Forest of Dean to see some of the summer visitors to the woodland at rspb Nagshead. It's a bit early for spotted flycatchers but I hoped to see pied flycatchers and maybe a redstart when I drove over to the rspb reserve early this morning. At 7.45 am., I was the first car in the car park which did actually surprise me but at least I would have the best choice of seats in the Lower hide!  It was quite chilly, only 4 degrees when I arrived although their was some hazy sunshine. 

In the Lower hide , which is reached by a walk through some conifer woodland, I could hear lots of birdsong, and great tits and blue tits were busy chasing each other through the trees. A stock dove stopped for a while at the top of a dead tree, and I had a glimpse of a grey wagtail flying through the woodland, which actually was the first I'd seen this year. 

After an hour or so I eventually saw what I was looking for: a male pied flycatcher appeared amongst some distant holly. It flew to a nearby branch and back a couple of times before disappearing from view. Shortly after, I noticed the female fly into a small tree on an island in the pond. She flew out and back several times, presumably after insects but always perched the other side of a leafy branch. Then she, too flew off. 

Suddenly I saw a splash of red in a small tree growing at the edge of the pond - a male redstart had made an appearance. lt perched for a while, then flew down to a small  area of wooden boardwalk  before flying off into the woods again. 

The pied flycatchers came back to their original area and flittered about as before but never came any nearer to the hide. On previous visits I have  watched them right outside the hide but not today.

Meanwhile some more visitors  came into the hide; they had seen some flycatchers at the other hide so I decided to leave my current position and go and check out that hide. 

There were a couple of people already there, who informed me they'd seen some pied flycatchers as well as siskin, nuthatch,  and blackcaps.  In fact as I sat down, I could see one of the flycatchers was investigating a nest box but then flew off.  It seemed quite a wait before we saw anything else of interest, but eventually we had some nice views of a tree creeper, a song thrush having a bath as well as siskin, goldcrest and a male blackcap. 

Both male and female pied flycatcher appeared from time to time, the male was not particularly obliging for photos, but the female perched on a  small log by the pond before having a drink. 

Having seen what I'd come for, I decided to leave, hoping to return in a month or so to look for spotted flycatchers. I stopped for my picnic lunch at New Fancy Viewpoint, but  although I climbed up to the viewing area, there was little to see so I   returned home.

tree creeper

song thrush bathing

male redstart

female pied flycatcher

male pied flycatcher

BOOMING BITTERNS AND CALLING CETTIS AT AVALON MARSHES

It was a glorious spring day for a trip down to Avalon Marshes in Somerset, where I visited the rspb reserve at Ham Wall. After a fairly early start I arrived at the reserve carpark just before quarter to nine, and it was already getting warm. I put on my coat but quickly abandoned it in favour of a gilet, having considered it was probably worth putting up with a little chilliness until the sun warmed things up rather than  have to carry a coat around. 

Soon after I walked onto the reserve itself, I heard a bittern booming and cettis warblers calling from the reeds. In fact, there was a constant sound of booming bitterns throughout the day, although I didn't actually see one. The cettis warbler was slightly more obliging and I actually got a  photo of one!

Most people seemed to be congregating around the first viewing platform where there were a good selection of waterfowl to be seen, including various duck species, little and great white egrets, black tailed godwits and three glossy ibis feeding at a distance.

I visited most of the hides and viewing areas, seeing great crested grebes, including one on a nest, marsh harriers and my first dragonfly, though I couldn't tell the species. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs were singing everywhere, and I caught a glimpse of a reed warbler singing amongst the dense reeds. Surprisingly I didn't see or hear a sedge warbler. 

As the day warmed up, butterflies started flying and I logged a couple of new ones for the year, including green veined white and small tortoiseshell.  

canada goose

nesting great crested grebe

cettis warbler

glossy ibis

small tortoiseshell

peacock

orange tip

green veined white

 

WHITE WAGTAIL AND A FIRST SWALLOW

 I haven't been over to Farmoor Reservoir for a while so as the wind had dropped a bit and changed to a more westerly direction after the cold blast we've just had, I drove over there on Thursday afternoon.

The wind was blowing but it wasn't unpleasant in the light cloud/hazy sunshine. Along the causeway there were some wagtails, mainly pied but with a few subspecies 'white' wagtails among them. This one had a pale grey back and distinct contrast between the black on its head and its grey back which defines it  as 'white' compared to the black back of the pied wagtail. 

Down at the hides it was peaceful, I could hear  sedge and reed warblers singing but they kept out of sight.  A pair of gadwall  were in the water in front of the Pinkhill  hide, together with a mallard and a couple of ducklings - my first of the year. At the Shrike hide, a  heron was  fishing amongst the reeds on the opposite bank and a female blackcap flitted about the branches in the  tree to the left of the hide .

I also saw my first lone swallow of the season fly over the reservoir. The sun wasn't particular strong or warm and I saw no butterflies on my visit.