Friday, January 27, 2012
Dorney
Despite having a cold, I couldn't resist an afternoon walk in the sunshine along the Jubilee River.
Two Cetti's warblers were calling and singing from the Roundmoor Ditch near the weir. I was able to watch one bird as it made its way along the opposite bank of the stream, in and out of the undergrowth on the waterline.
The brambles also held wrens, dunnocks, great tits and a surprise goldcrest.
As I walked back a reed bunting was singing in a leafless bush and I could just make out a pair of stonechats, still on the north bank near the cattle.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
After a quick walk round Egypt Woods I was returning to the car when a lesser spotted woodpecker flew from behind me and swooped into a tree quite a distance from the path, not far from where I saw a female last weekend.
Through loads of twigs and in bad light I got a poor shot which at least proves the bird was a female.
A walk by the Jubilee River this afternoon produced a small flock (15-20) of golden plovers, on the field bounded by Amerden Lane.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Egypt Woods
Within five minutes of entering the woods I was lucky enough to see this lesser spotted woodpecker but I was looking into the sun; so I walked on, turning when the light was right. It took some time to relocate the bird and then I had a good view through the bins of a definite female. I managed only one shot before she flew off.
I saw no redpolls or siskins and although I happened upon a huge flock of chaffinches, I was unable to pick out a brambling among them. There were still reed buntings on the farm fields and a male bullfinch was in the hedgerow.Sunday, January 08, 2012
Burnham Beeches and adjoining woods
In Egypt Woods I caught sight of a lesser spotted woodpecker while looking for siskins. I watched him for a good ten minutes, losing him as he flew further into the woods.
An hour or so later I had a second lesser-spot sighting in dreadful light on the edge of Burnham Beeches. This time I couldn't see the red crown of a male, although looking at the very poor photos, the bird appears to show a whitish crown which may or may not have hints of red.
Anyway, the bird is clearly not the one seen earlier in Egypt Woods, whose red crown was bright and conspicuous.
But in actual fact more than one bird was present, though I didn't realise it at the time! A poor video clip just shows a second bird feeding at the bottom of the picture, and then a third bird zooming in from the right causing the second bird to fly upwards. I wonder if this straight-up flight is unique to lesser spots; I've also filmed one flying straight down.
I could kick myself now, because although I crossed the road into Dorney Wood as at least one of the woodpeckers had done, I then allowed myself to become distracted by an immense chaffinch flock. The chaffinches, and at least one brambling, were making a lovely soft rustling sound as they searched through the dead leaves for beech-mast.
So all three woods were involved today; and I'm sure now that there were three lesser spotted woodpeckers interacting in my very poor video clip. But was the original male in Egypt Woods one of these, or was he additional? Did I in fact record four lesser spotted woodpeckers today? Fascinating stuff - to the extent that it's now nearly four o'clock and I still haven't had my lunch!
Sunday, January 01, 2012
New Year Crossbills
Scanning a large chaffinch flock on Abbey Park Farm's fields, I was surprised to see some bright red birds on the ground. These turned out to be male crossbills.
There were about a dozen birds (roughly half were female) and they kept up a constant twittering until flying off north.A walk through parts of the three woods brought nuthatch, treecreeper, half a dozen lesser redpolls and a brambling.
