The cold wet weather hasn't made the best of starts to the season, but I think all the species have now been ticked off on the reserve lists, with one nightjar so far recorded at Russell's Inclosure. An unexpected bonus for Lewis when out looking for these over the weekend was a barn owl hunting over the area - too say he was pleased is an understatement!
Pied flycatchers seem to have settled down to breed, and there are good views of them to be had from the paths around Nagshead. Redstarts seem to be thin on the ground this year, but wood warbler have returned in better numbers than last year, and I was even listening to one singing near the car park this afternoon. There are plenty of records coming in of tree pipits, and garden warblers and spotted flycatcher have also returned around the site. All of this means that on those fine days there is plenty to be heard, even if catching a glimpse may be hard now the trees are almost fully in leaf now.
If the birds prove too hard to spot there are always the bluebells to be admired, although the carpets at Highnam are slightly more impressive than Naghead. When the temperature rises a little we should get a few more butterflies around too, at the moment it is just too cold unfortunately, but a few can be seen making the most of sunny spells around both reserves. Highnam is adorned with plenty of flowers ready for the butterflies when they emerge, including wood forget-me-not, ground ivy, garlic mustard and bugle, the general colour has blended from the white / yellow of early spring to a mass of blues now - quite spectacular.
Nightingales at Highnam have, as always, proved to be a draw to visitors. We have confirmed 6 males singing this year, mostly close to the path, and one in particular seems to not be shy and is frequently seen near the first bench along the nature trail if you follow it in a clockwise direction. A single willow warbler is also singing in that area, it is lovely to hear it singing in amongst the sound of the chiffchaffs and the blackcaps.
Woodpeckers seem to be doing very well this year, and yesterday Lewis and I hear at least 3 broods chattering from holes, probably great spotted, but we know of a few other holes which we hope might be in use by green woodpecker which are still active through the woods.
The paths in both sites still have some wet and muddy patches, but in the main are now firm again as they dry out.
HM
The weather may not back up such a claim, but if you venture out in the sunny spells or simply ignore the sky you will find that Highnam Woods is in the midst of spring. The bluebells are out, so it must be true!
The cuckoo flower (lady's smock) has been out for a while now too, and is providing much needed food for the orange tip butterflies which are easily seen when the sunshines. Other butterflies seen in the last week include peacock, holly blue and small tortoiseshell, all showing that the general temperature is beginning to rise a little.
The definitive example that spring is here though is, without doubt, the birdsong. The first nightingale was reported on 16th April, and I found 5 before the weekend. Yesterday was a real treat though, standing on the path in the sunshine at around 11am, listening to a single nightingale calling. We also had a willow warbler singing right over our heads, as well as blackcaps and chiffchaffs a little further away. The green woodpeckers are still active, although a little less vocal than they were a couple of weeks ago.
With the blue tits, great tits and nuthatches now tending nests in boxes, and marsh tit still active near the hide there is always something to be seen at Highnam at the moment. Nagshead is an equally exciting place to be too, with the bluebells about to burst, and many of the migrant birds settling down to breed, even the wood warblers have returned now.
Well, it has been a very exciting start to spring at Nagshead. Our first Chiffchaffs arrived on March 21st followed by Blackcaps on the 26th. We were all pretty shocked by the early arrival of a male Pied Flycatcher on March 31st though! This is the earliest ever record for Gloucestershire! Congratulations to Ann, one of our dedicated volunteers who found him on the Short Trail. This beats our previous earliest by five days, which remarkably was the Nagshead April 4th bird from last year. It will be interesting to see what the arrival date is in 2013. The first Willow Warblers arrived on April 1st followed by a Tree Pipit on the 2nd. The poor weather since then seems to have caused migration to stutter a little, but we currently have at least one singing Pied Flycatcher, four Willow Warblers, two Tree Pipits and lots of Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps around the reserve.
Summer migrants haven't been the only cause of excitement though, some of our visitors have been treated to fantastic views of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a stunning and elusive little bird which is high on every birders 'must see' list.
Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, RSPB Nagshead (Photo: Lewis Thomson)
We have also managed to prove breeding by Crossbills on the reserve, I was lucky to witness a pair feeding a very recently fledged youngster which could barely fly on March 26th.
Male Crossbill, RSPB Nagshead (Photo: Lewis Thomson)
It has been a fantastic week on the reserves and looking at the list of sightings you would be forgiven for thinking we were in a remote area of Eastern Europe or Scandinavia rather than Gloucestershire! Hawfinches performing courtship displays, Brambling flocks feeding on beech mast, nest building Crossbills, displaying Goshawks, drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Wild Boar sows with tiny piglets have all been seen recently.
We ran two successful Hawfinch walks at Nagshead last week, both of which were fully booked. It was great to share some rare views of Hawfinch courtship behaviour with people on the first walk and knowing some had never seen the species before made it even more exciting. We had tantalising views to start with and then eventually everyone managed to get good scope views of eight Hawfinches at the top of tall lime trees. As if that wasn't enough we were then treated to views of a pair lower down around 15 metres away. As we watched, the male faced the female, drooped his wings, snaked his head from side to side with his crown feathers raised and then gently fed the female...... brilliant! Suffice to say everyone was chuffed to bits and with the pressure off we managed to see a Goshawk, three Bramblings and two Crossbills as we continued the walk.
I walked into Campbell Hide at Nagshead at the end of last week only to be told by a couple who were already in there that I had just missed three Wild Boar sows with 11 small piglets. Just my luck I thought, but I got my camera ready just in case. I had only sat down for a few minutes before the boar returned. The piglets were indeed very young and it was great to watch them playing together and lined up to drink from the pond before the sows led them away once again. The return of these animals to Britain is still a very controversial subject, but when the young are like this it is very hard not to fall in love with them......
Wild Boar piglets - Sus scrofa, RSPB Nagshead 2012 (Photo: Lewis Thomson)
With the weather being so up and down in the past two months I was convinced that our first nest record at Nagshead would be an early Robin or Mistle Thrush but, to my complete surprise, I was lucky enough to witness a mating pair of Crossbills last week and watch the female busily collecting nesting material closely followed by the male. This is fantastic news as Crossbill breeding is notoriously difficult to prove in Gloucestershire, fingers crossed they will be successful in fledging young. Crossbills can nest at pretty much any time of year as long as there is a bumper crop of pine cones in the area to feed their young.
Other recent wildlife highlights on the reserve have included Wild Boar, Fallow Deer, Goshawks, Peregrine, Hawfinches and Bramblings. By far the most dramatic sighting occurred last week; a bat species was flying around the outside of the visitor centre at around midday. It look very much like a Lesser-horseshoe and had presumably come out of torpor due to the mild weather and was catching small insects which were quite numerous. It carried on hunting around the car park area for most of the afternoon until, as I was watching it with two visitors, a female Sparrowhawk sped past us and snatched the bat out of the air! The Sparrowhawk dropped the bat briefly before wheeling around and taking it again and disappearing into the woodland. I have heard of Sparrowhawks trying to hunt bats as they leave roost sites on summer evenings, but to witness this at such close range in broad daylight was quite incredible!