Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Dorney
Today's late-afternoon walk was a bit more uplifting than yesterday's, with just a light mist on the river and a big red sun.
My first water rail of the autumn was preening itself in the Roundmoor Ditch. It continued to do this quite unconcernedly while I watched it through bins and took a batch of photos (none of which was any good!). Finally it turned its back and, with a flick of its white under-tail, disappeared into the undergrowth.
Two grey wagtails were disputing territory along the ditch, and near the weir there were at least four chiffchaffs. The flood held black-headed gulls, a scatter of teal, a grey heron, a pied wagtail, two snipe, about twenty starlings and at least 150 lapwings. A Cetti's warbler was vocal and the reed-beds and banks of the stream were alive with great clouds of midges.
A new feature of the wetlands (at least I haven't noticed them before this year) is the presence of grey squirrels. The plantations are lush and wonderful, but I suppose their saplings and large shrubs were bound to attract squirrels. One of them hadn't quite learnt the ins and outs of the place; it ran along the outside of the fence as I approached, continually head-butting the wire in an attempt to escape. Eventually it gave up and ran across the track in front of me, disappearing into a plantation without a fence.
A new feature of the wetlands (at least I haven't noticed them before this year) is the presence of grey squirrels. The plantations are lush and wonderful, but I suppose their saplings and large shrubs were bound to attract squirrels. One of them hadn't quite learnt the ins and outs of the place; it ran along the outside of the fence as I approached, continually head-butting the wire in an attempt to escape. Eventually it gave up and ran across the track in front of me, disappearing into a plantation without a fence.
Sunday, October 14, 2012
A sunny day on the heaths
My sore throat having vanished, I headed for one of my favourite places; but any hopes of an autumn shrike were to be disappointed.
Four Dartford warblers were seen during my walk, and two are just visible in this image.
This is one of a pair of stonechats; stonechats were often close to the Dartfords and quite a bit of chasing was going on.
Now, I know it's difficult to imagine being over the moon about the next picture - but I am. A small palish bird out in the middle of the heath fly-catching had looked good for whinchat, and I clicked off a couple of optimistic shots in its general direction. I thought it then flew to a dead fallen tree where two stonechats were fly-catching, but this bird turned out to be a meadow pipit. I couldn't relocate the whinchat and assumed I'd misidentified the female stonechat.
By chance, one shot caught the bird in flight (head towards the left). The tail pattern is pretty distinctive (if not diagnostic) and this, together with a striking white supercilium, points to whinchat. I'm chuffed because the bird was very distant and I only had a fleeting view, but it looks as though my initial ID was right after all.
Otherwise it was fairly quiet; and the walk back to the car was chiefly remarkable for my hobbling gait, since the lace on one of my boots had snapped and the other boot was rubbing against a sudden mysterious bruise on my ankle, making walking very painful. And still the expected flu hasn't yet materialised, so I'm pleased to have enjoyed another lovely day in the great outdoors.
Combe - Saturday
There were no longed-for ring ouzels on our walk today, so here's a picture of some of the hailstones that fell (and remained frozen for some time) just to show how tough we are!
We kept crossing and recrossing a pheasant shoot; they probably cursed us but it has to be said that they politely thanked us each time we stepped to the side of the track.
By the time we climbed to the road on Combe Hill the sun was out and it was a gorgeous autumn afternoon. A reed bunting was seen in scrub.
Three stonechats were along the main track on Walbury Hill, although I could only manage to get two into one shot.
At the end of our walk, Greger was agreeable to my setting off again past the gibbet and taking the footpath down to the road through the sheep field while he had a coffee and a read of the paper. The two stonechats we'd seen in the morning were still below the gibbet, so I think I saw five altogether today.
About nine ravens were riding the air near the gibbet, and one came over as if to check me out before returning to the game.
I was beginning to wish I hadn't started. I lost the path and found the going extremely difficult on steep, tussocky slopes; the grass was also quite wet. At one point all the sheep started to run towards me bleating; maybe they thought I was bringing food. And apart from the ravens, all I saw was a meadow pipit. Once on the road I phoned Greger who drove down to pick me up; he thought it was all very funny.
Friday, October 12, 2012
"Men" behaving badly
I have a headache and the beginnings of a cold today, so I've been surfing the birding net; and on the Fat Birder website, under the heading Twitcher's [presumably just one, then] Dictionary, I was startled to find this entry:
Old badger - a rough, ugly and well-used female birder.
Further down the list is:
Tart's tick.
The definition here is a bit muddled but I think it means an easy tick that "even" a woman could get. I've seen discussions on web forums, in which birders attempt to deny that this term is sexist and point out that men can also be called tarts. Hmm. Anyway, here they clearly assume the sexist definition because they add:
It also displays the misogyny of many twitchers who are stuck in a time warp where persons of the female gender are seen as sex objects only.
(Editing this post in 2015, I think I'll give up trying to compose a suitable response and just let it stand without further comment.)
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Dorney Common
I could see only two yellow wagtails with the cattle at midday, but the animals were a bit awkwardly scattered so there might have been more.
At least ten Common Darter Dragonflies were busy along the stream, with much mating taking place.
Six skirling skylarks flew over and half a dozen meadow pipits were foraging. A visit to the flood brought nothing new.
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Marsh Lane
A little owl behind houses near the rowing lake entrance was the only bird of note on a quick visit this evening.
On Dorney Common, water is again collecting on the site of the summer flood; but no delectable waders were there today. And Greger brought news that the Thames towpath behind the rowing lake is open again; so things are getting back to normal after the Olympics.
Saturday, October 06, 2012
A strange day at Combe
We arrived to find the sky full of ravens. There were fifteen to twenty of them tumbling and displaying (many of them, as Greger pointed out, in pairs) and the air was full of their ringing calls: a resonant, rising croak.
Two wheatears were near Chat Junction, but little else was seen until we were back on Walbury Hill. This is one of three stonechats along the main track.
The meadow pipit is preparing for a bath on the top of the chalky downs, although from the picture, this could be a wetlands scene; and as if to reinforce this illusion, a calling snipe zigzagged over to the south.
I thought that three or four small dark birds further along the fence were twite, but they proved to be lesser redpolls.
A yellowish warbler was also along the track; I think it was a chiffchaff.
It had been a nice walk on another lovely day, and we packed up and prepared to go. Greger turned the ignition key - and got just a whirring noise. Oh dear. He phoned the breakdown people who said they would be with us in about an hour; and we discussed what we would do. If we had to leave the car at a garage in Newbury, we could get the train to Taplow and then walk up into the village.
Meanwhile I watched the antics of a group of hippyish people filming some stunt or other with a pennant. The area was full of land-owners and their employees on account of the shoot, and when the hippies climbed the fence to do their stuff in the field, a Land Rover came swiftly lurching over to send them packing. They returned to the path and trudged up to the gibbet, where they stood in a group silhouetted against the sky while the pennant fluttered in the breeze. I couldn't read what it said on the pennant, but it all helped to pass the time.
Just as the hour was up, a cheerful chap arrived in a red van, attached jump leads to the battery - and the car started! Hooray! Greger will be buying a new battery next week.
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Dorney
At the flood this afternoon I saw the little stint plus one dunlin and one green sandpiper.
The lapwings all went up at one point and disappeared to the north over the Jubilee River. As they came back I could see a tiny wader among them and with my usual incurable optimism, clicked off a couple of shots.
I'm pretty sure it's the stint in the photo; I think a dunlin would have a longer, less dumpy profile. Anyway, the birds landed again and the little stint was on the pool when I left at about 3.45 pm. It was very windy and by the time I'd driven round to the lake to pick Greger up it was beginning to rain. Autumnal, but quite mild.
