Sunday, December 29, 2013
"Diamonds and rust"
As Joan Baez sang many years ago. Well, the girders are painted red rather than rusty, but the frothy water below the weir this afternoon really did look like diamonds sparkling in the sun.
East Marsh had a few patches of dry land above water....
......while West Marsh was almost completely submerged.
Several snipe could be seen hunched on what looked like rafts of vegetation, and pied wagtails skipped about foraging in damp places. As dusk approached a water rail ran from one stand of reeds into another; and that was about the best I saw today.
Thursday, December 26, 2013
The Jubilee River
A walk along the river brought a Mandarin drake, attempting to woo a female mallard on East Marsh. She was much more interested in feeding.
I can't recall if I've ever seen a Mandarin on Dorney Wetlands before, although I've certainly seen them at the "top" end of the Jubilee River in Taplow.
The common flood is back, and today hosted gadwalls and wigeon. The Eton Wick flood held lapwings, about twenty golden plover, and a little egret.
Near the weir, a Cetti's warbler flew unhurriedly across the path in front of me giving great views, and a kingfisher zipped along the Roundmoor Ditch.
Christmas Day
Although we were at home this year, we followed our now-established tradition and had Greger's Swedish food for the two days before Christmas Eve. We then had my turkey on Christmas Eve, so today we were free to go out for a walk.
I can't say parkland is my favourite sort of landscape or habitat but we chose Windsor Great Park because it's a short drive away and because we thought we'd get less muddy than up on the Ridgeway.
This is a view of the Queen Mother Reservoir from Snow Hill, just below the Copper Horse. The reservoir is a great birding site but I've never been there and it's unlikely I ever will go there. (Permit needed, telescope essential, windy and exposed......)
Greger seems to like seeing Wembley on the skyline, so he snapped this.
Swinging further west we looked for our house in the distance but it was hidden by trees. The picture shows Taplow Court on the extreme left, and on the extreme right, the distinctive copper spire of St. Nicolas Church. The higher ground beyond could be Wooburn Green and Flackwell Heath.
The Egyptian geese were by a puddle in the corner of a field.
And in fact, our walk was very muddy! Then it was back to Ranger's Gate and home for second helpings of Christmas dinner.
Sunday, December 22, 2013
I went into my office (at the front of the house) this morning and let the blind up, and was amazed to see a treecreeper on the trunk of the ailanthus tree - about three metres away.
The treecreeper stayed around long enough for Greger to have a look - his best view ever, he said. He hadn't realised they have such nice bright markings as we usually see them in dark woods, and then only briefly.
Friday, December 20, 2013
The Jubilee River
Some siskins at last! Two birds were feeding quietly in alder trees downstream of the weir. I'd never noticed before, but there is a clear difference between the untouched alder cones and the skeletonized ones that the birds have already plundered for their seeds.
There seemed still to be just the one redpoll. Today it was in the plantation next to the viewpoint over the flood.
The culverted bit of the Roundmoor Ditch was busy with a wren, a pied wagtail, and at least four chiffchaffs fly-catching round the bushes and on the ground.
The chiffchaff in the picture below appeared to have orange-ish legs; I noticed this at the time, but didn't realise I'd got a pic of it. However, the bird was strongly lit from the left by the sun and light can play all sorts of tricks.
I really wish we had more work, but I can't say I didn't enjoy my walk on such a gorgeous morning!
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
The Jubilee River
With rain forecast for the afternoon I took a walk along the river to the flood on this breezy, brightish morning, and found a redpoll again in the silver birch, although it eventually switched to one of the alder trees.
Otherwise, a little egret was on the flood, and lapwings kept going up for apparently no reason whatsoever. Perhaps they do it for the exercise.
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
The Jubilee River
An afternoon walk along the river in search of siskins and redpolls drew a blank in the alder trees. I finally found this lesser redpoll in a silver birch, but would have missed it if it hadn't been calling repeatedly as I passed. I thought it might be a goldfinch but it didn't seem quite right. The bird was feeding upright most of the time, and naturally stopped calling when I switched the camera to video mode.
The Concise BWP describes the bird's perched call as "a plaintive dsooee"; and the call I heard, though insistent, certainly had a fading, plaintive quality to it. A collared dove seemed bothered by the redpoll's presence and kept flying into the tree near it.
There were forty plus wigeon on the flood, and a little egret flew over to the south-east. Four chiffchaffs were feeding on a plentiful stock of flies in the Roundmoor Ditch.
Saturday, December 14, 2013
The Ridgeway
I felt ready for a bleak high walk out west once again and we did a shortish round walk from Warren Farm, Streatley.
Back at the car park I heard ravens calling and two birds came flying across the fields, landing on fence posts and the slope beyond. Red kites took exception to their presence.
The ravens flew off eastwards, having saved the walk from being a birding flop.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
After yesterday's dense fog, it was a relief this morning to see some hazy sunshine. A female blackcap flew into the false castor-oil plant, and then onto the spiny angelica trees to feed on a fast-diminishing stock of tiny black fruits. A male blackcap was also present, and these were my first of the winter.
The birds were at the front of the house and I snapped the wary female through the window.
Sunday, December 08, 2013
I paid probably my fourth visit this autumn to the woods, hoping for lesser spotted woodpecker. I was unlucky, and wished I hadn't bothered given the number of leaves still on the trees - particularly the oaks. There were loads of redwings, and I caught a glimpse of one brambling among some very elusive chaffinches. Two treecreepers were spotted and several nuthatches. A vocal marsh tit was a welcome find low down in holly, and a raven flew over.
The grey wagtail was in one of the Abbey Park Farm fields, foraging in the mud around the cattle trough in company with a pied wagtail. I saw it at the last moment as I was about to drive off from the pull-in; and I snapped it through the hedge.
Yesterday: I somehow couldn't face one of our bleak, lonely walks on the downs, and suggested going on a literary trip to Woking, instead.
I've had my Penguin paperback copy of The War of the Worlds since 1974 according to the inscription inside the front cover; and although a lot of it seems old-fashioned, the novel is sharply written and still bears re-reading today.
From the Six Crossroads Car Park on the A245, you walk through a fairly dense stand of pines.
This brings you out at the sand pit, near which H.G. Wells located the landing-place of the first cylinder from Mars.
Either the common wore a different aspect then (novel first published 1898) or Wells was using artistic licence, because I've always pictured the setting as being open heathland (more like Chobham), with pines and firs in the distance.
We walked across the common and found several open areas with heather; apparently some of the special heathland birds breed here, which surprised me given the number of dogs being walked. Of perhaps twenty-five cars in the car park, only three brought no dogs to the site. There was a nice couple with a young girl, whose cheerful greeting seemed to me to carry relief that there were other dog-less walkers around! Then there was a man carrying a toddler who asked where the car park was as he had lost his way. And there was us. Many people had two or more dogs, some had up to six.
Making our way to the northern edge of the heathland by boardwalk we came out onto an open grassy area known as McLaren Park, where you look one way towards the swish buildings of the racing-car manufacturer and the other towards Fairoaks Airport. A family was walking nearby with five dogs rushing about across the entire slope.
We were too tired to make our way into Woking to see the statue of the Martian tripod, and agreed that, interesting though it is, and probably pleasant in spring, we're not likely to visit Horsell Common again. No dogs were bothersome (although that could change if I were to walk here alone, as I know to my cost that dogs can be bullies); it was more their owners, constantly calling them or encouraging them to yap and bark and making it impossible for anyone else to enjoy a quiet walk.
And that's my moan for the week. (Greger remarked the other day that I might make history by being the first person to die of acute moaning.)
