Thursday, March 29, 2012
On a brisk morning walk, I was treated yet again to a Cetti's warbler singing from the tree. Instead of flying straight down into cover, he remained sitting on the branch for some time. Enjoying the sun, perhaps.
Through a chaffinch's loud chattering came the sweeter song of a willow warbler, probably my earliest ever. 
In fact I was nearly impaled on a willow warbler's bill. Two small birds (probably both willow warblers) came hurtling towards me, only swerving at the last moment to pass within inches of my head. Fortunately they have incredibly fast reflexes; but what struck me (in a manner of speaking) was how this tiny bird, although newly-arrived after an immense journey, is already singing and fighting!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Mute swans aren't a favourite but this one looked nice against the dark water.
The Cetti's warbler sang in the open from his tree and then flew down to forage in the tangle of stems on the bank.
Just a bit further along was the water rail; I hoped to get both birds in the same shot but I wasn't lucky. The rail left the water, clambered up to where the warbler had been and then also disappeared. (The rail photo doesn't bear cropping any more, so it looks as though the bird is smaller than the warbler!)
I s'pose leaving your bottles in a nice neat group kind of makes up for thinking that it's someone else's job to clear up after you.
Apart from the rubbish, the chief feature today was the number of couples around the place canoodling. You can't help picking them up in your bins as you scan the islands from the opposite bank, and then you're the one who feels guilty and slinks away!Friday, March 23, 2012
I spent the morning of this warm sunny day gardening, seeing a Red-tailed Bumblebee and loads of ladybirds.
A walk early evening brought a lapwing hovering around a redshank as though it wanted to chase it off but couldn't be bothered.
The Cetti's warbler was pottering about, in and out of the dried whitened stems.
Sometimes when he emerges he strikes me as being slightly absent-minded.
"Now what did I come out here for?"
A water rail that I hadn't noticed slipped away into the undergrowth; but evidently deciding I was harmless, left the shadowy banks and treated me to fabulous views as it foraged along the waterline.
Two chiffchaffs were seen which might have been new arrivals. Dunno. How do you tell?!Wednesday, March 21, 2012
On a walk round the village this evening, I thought I heard a lesser spotted woodpecker but only saw a great-spot. The kestrel was hunting in his usual place.
Two helicopters flying together looked significant so I snapped them; Greger informs me they're Apache Attack Helicopters, which are pretty racy.
A firecrest was heard singing but it was on private land where I couldn't hang around too long. A Peacock and several Brimstone Butterflies were on the wing, and a chiffchaff was singing.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Like many other observers, I've been hearing a blackcap singing at home for a couple of weeks. Hearing him at the front today I looked out to see him in the japonica, and a female across the road fly-catching from a sunlit branch. She then flew over to join the male.
It's too early for summer blackcaps, so these must be wintering birds. But are they a true pair? Will they stay and breed? The parakeet was feeding on buds on the edge of Dorney Common this evening.
Framed by the hide window on the wetlands, an Egyptian goose imitates a goosander.
Very fetching from the back.
There were four of them, and they made a nice splash of colour on one of the islands. 
Suddenly there was a violent honking and two Canada geese (which had been sitting up on the north bank perfectly happily for some time) came flying down and landed among them.
With all four Egyptian geese in the water, the Canada geese paddled about a bit at the end of the island, then took to the water themselves and sailed serenely off into the sunset. The Egyptian geese meanwhile all waddled back onto the island and carried on preening. So what was all that about?!Sunday, March 18, 2012
An earlyish walk at the wetlands brought this wren, singing from the Cetti's song-tree.
The Cetti himself was around as usual, unaware that he's s'posed to be a skulker.
Firecrest was my target bird for the afternoon, so after re-grouping at home I joined the throng at Cliveden. I love this classy new gate replacing the old wooden one; I took the photo last September when I'd been watching a firecrest close by.
I found a singing firecrest in the same place last Sunday, saw him again on Wednesday, and he was still there today. I had an idea he wasn't alone. He was foraging quite low for a while in what I'd always thought was a wayfaring tree; in fact it's another kind of viburnum: Leatherleaf (V. rhytidophyllum). He was also favouring a yew.
Lots of people were passing and some glanced up at the trees, but no one asked me what I was looking at. So I didn't tell 'em. Thursday, March 15, 2012
Dorney singers
I didn't have great hopes of getting a shot of a song thrush, singing right next to the path; and sure enough, when I raised the camera he flew. But he flew towards me and continued to sing overhead.
A Cetti's warbler was singing unseen from brambles as I stood on the bank looking over the Roundmoor Ditch. To my surprise he flew up into the tree and sat in full view long enough for me to grab an out-of-focus shot.
Not only that; he hopped around a bit and then burst into song again. 
I say "he" but the female sometimes sings as well (Birds of the Western Palearctic). Anyway, it was the first time I've watched one as it sang.
Monday, March 12, 2012
Despite appearances, the ladybird isn't in danger. Adult wasps evidently feed on nectar and fruit and only catch other insects for their larvae. This queen has possibly emerged too early. At the moment she's having a wash and brush-up.
A queen bumblebee was also in the garden, wolf spiders (which apparently hunt in packs) were seen running about among the dead leaves, and a small hoverfly was on the wing.Sunday, March 11, 2012
The three woods
The first thing I noticed this morning was that the wood ants have woken up. Old stumps and nests were alive with them; so all carefree, leisurely birding is over for now (unless you don't actually mind having them swarm over your feet and up your legs!)
I was hunting for lesser spotted woodpeckers, but I'm happy to say that a flock of finches distracted me from what is becoming a bit of a monomania.
Hearing the constant twittering of siskins, I followed the sound to a plantation of larches. The siskins however were mostly in the beech trees, flying down to drink now and then from a puddle in the rut of the track.
This siskin was very interested in a hole in a mature beech, where a large branch had broken off.
A redpoll was also diving into the hollow. The bird almost seems like a candidate for common (mealy) redpoll; but it's more "creamy" than "frosty" in appearance and it's probably an unusually pale lesser redpoll.
A brambling was high in a beech, catching the sun nicely but mostly obscured by twigs. A couple of whistling "swit" calls alerted me to Mandarin ducks, and three of them were glimpsed as they went scudding over the tree-tops.
The verges along the country lanes between the woods were alive with small mammals. I initially thought this was a mouse; but I think with its rather blunt nose and small eyes it could be a bank vole. I never got a good look at the tail. Sometimes they run along under the leaves, so you just hear a rustling and then see the leaves moving above them.
Cliveden
In the afternoon I went to Cliveden. Waiting in the queue to turn into the car park while hordes of people trooped over the crossing, I opened the car window and heard a FIRECREST singing, exactly where I saw one in September last year. So, when I'd trekked back from the overflow car park to the main drive, I knew at least where to look. The bird was foraging restlessly and I couldn't get a picture.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Combe
As we drove west, the dreary grey clouds gradually broke up and we set off from the car park towards the gibbet in glorious sunshine. A stonechat fly-catching near the road was a good beginning.
The high arable fields were packed with vocal skylarks and several buzzards were circling. The bare oak trees in Combe Wood took on a snaky spookiness. There were a few patches of snowdrops, past their best, and a Brimstone Butterfly was on the wing.
A raven called from somewhere beyond the trees and then came out into the open and gave us a flying display.
There were several marsh tits. This one is ringed: red on one leg, blue and possibly a pale ring on the other. I s'pose it means something to somebody, but do they really need so many rings?
We heard willow tits in two places. This was the best I could do by way of a photo; I flatter myself that it does at least show the pale wing panels.
Nearby was this goldcrest which I snapped by chance without seeing it!
We were exhausted when we got back to the car, but it had been a great walk on the first really warm day of the year.Sunday, March 04, 2012
A mixed weekend
A room in Chichester booked weeks ago at a discount price meant no money-back cancellation, so despite a grim weather forecast we were committed. As it turned out Saturday was brilliant with unbroken sunshine and just a chilly breeze taking the edge off things, so we enjoyed our walk at Pagham Harbour.
Turnstones on the beach were very approachable, but in fact I got really close before I realised they were there. And they sometimes turn amazingly large stones.
We watched a police helicopter circling over the harbour, and then a coastguard vehicle came lurching onto the beach. They stopped and showed us a photo of a grey-haired man, asking if we'd seen him. We both longed to say "Why, what's he done?" but they probably get fed up with hearing that. In any case, he might have been just a poor old guy who'd gone missing from a nursing home rather than a hardened criminal.
The most notable sight in the harbour was a very large flock of knot, still looking winter-grey. Back at the visitor centre (it's now RSPB by the way) we found four coastguard vehicles and a bunch of blue-overalled men enjoying a cup of tea in the sun. We thought of walking the other way round the harbour for the paddyfield warbler but we were too tired.We had a reasonable meal at the hotel, although Greger queried the bill and got it changed, in an episode that will always be known as the Great Chichester Bread-and-Butter Scam.
The following day was a washout. But we stuck obstinately to our plan and drove to Farlington Marshes, walking out in pouring rain to the first bend in the sea wall. The tide was going out and there were loads of dunlin with some grey plovers feeding tantalisingly close; but the optics kept misting up and we got so cold we had to return to the car. A distant avocet was a nice find, and a site tick for us.
Stupidly, after a cup of coffee, I decided to venture out again. I let go of the telescope and tripod to take a pointless shot of some dunlin, only to hear them crash to the ground in the wind.
I spent some time searching the ground for a missing part to the mounting, only to realise that nothing was missing; instead it had been snapped off, rendering the tripod unusable and probably making it impossible to use the scope with another tripod.Making my way back along the sea wall against biting wind and rain and without gloves, my hands got as cold as I'd ever wish them to be. We decided to give up.
We drove home in relentless rain, although on a high part of the M3 a bit north of Winchester the fields were speckled with white, and the thermometer in the car showed an outside temperature of only 2 degrees.
Friday, March 02, 2012
Bits and pieces
Greger drew the curtains this morning and said there was a pair of mallards on the garage roof. This sometimes happens at this time of year. The ducks then flew down into our garden and wandered around pecking at this and that and looking totally daft.
Yesterday I saw my first Brimstone Butterfly of the year.
