Trip reports
Thursley Common - by Frank Clark
Sunday, 7 December 2008
This was the first club visit to the reserve since the fire and a number of the group were apprehensive about what they would find. Arriving at the moat car park, the first thing we encountered was an almost completely frozen pond. The few Mallard and Coot present were huddled into the one remaining open area of water in the south-east corner of the pond. It has been many years since I have seen a body of water frozen in this way and it was possibly the first time I had encountered this since I moved down from Scotland in 1994. The poor ducks thought that we might be about to feed them and they flew towards us, skidding and sliding across the surface of the frozen pond as they landed - funny but not for the poor ducks.
We arrived a little early and decided to explore the trees around the pond. We had good numbers of Blue, Great, Long-Tailed and Coal Tit. A single Jay flew across the pond and a Great Spotted Woodpecker worked its way up a near by tree, feeding as it went. Returning to the car park to meet the rest of the group, a juvenile swan flew over our heads. It was a rather small bird and I thought that it might not have been a Mute Swan, particularly as the few wing flaps it made were silent. As it disappeared out of view, I thought it might have been a juvenile Whooper Swan. Then, it circled back over the pond and landed / skidded across the surface of the frozen pond, before falling through a thin patch of ice. Having a good look at the bird, it proved to be a juvenile Mute Swan after all, albeit a slightly small one.
As so often is the case on many of our commons, they can appear deserted but when you do find a bird, then often there is more than one. This was to be the pattern today. As a lot of the common was cold and frozen, we began looking for birds in the slightly more open parts of the common, where the frost and ice had disappeared. This proved to be a good tactic for today adding several Stonechat and a Green Woodpecker to the list in the first area of de-iced common. As we moved towards the trees and the path that cuts down towards the pools, a small group of birds landed in the heather. Finally, we identified them as Meadow Pipit.
Just as we were about to cut down to the pools, a small bird flew up from a small patch of heather to our left. Landing in a tree about ten feet in front of us, the size of the bird and the cocked tail automatically made me think it was a Wren. However, as it turned a fraction towards us, I caught the white eye ring and the reddish breast and throat - this was a male Dartford Warbler. Only Neil and I saw the bird so we followed it as it moved through the trees, so the rest of the group could see it. Unfortunately we never did get on to it again. However, a single call to my right caught my attention. Scanning all the trees I found the bird I was looking for - a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I called the bird and got my scope onto it. Everyone in the group got excellent views of this bird, particularly Brian who had not seen this species before. This was a female bird and she remained quite for the rest of the time that we all watched her - thanks for that single call!!
In the same area we also had Reed Bunting, Chaffinch and Robin. It was rather difficult walking away from this bird but this is exactly what we had to do as time was moving on. A number of larks flew over our heads as we returned to the car park, most probably Woodlark but we could not get a 100% identification. The last species we encountered was a male Pied Wagtail in the car park. Although we only managed 21 species, the quality of the birds we did see was very special. Thanks for all those that attended this half day trip and thanks for the mince pies Geoff - yum yum.
Frank Clark