Trip reports

TRIP TO BY BROOK - Wednesday March 18th 2009

Wednesday, 18 March 2009

18 people gathered at Box on a stunning early spring morning in search of dippers which breed here at the eastern edge of their UK range. Success was immediate, as, within 100 yards of the car park, a nest-building pair was discovered at the end of a tunnel under the railway. Even better views were enjoyed of another pair 500 yards downstream. Here the female was gathering nesting material whilst the male bobbed nearby encouraging her efforts!! The backdrop to this was the surprisingly loud song of another brown and white bird - the treecreeper. Several were vocalising during our walk.

The climb up to view Box tunnel and the adjacent farmland gave us plenty of stock doves to study, plus 3 ravens and 7 soaring buzzards. The subsequent riverside walk was noticeably quiet, but nevertheless enjoyable.

After lunch, 13 drove the short distance east to Corsham lake, beautifully set within the grounds of Corsham Court. Here, waterbirds included both little and great crested grebes, 4 species of gulls, plus mallard, tufted ducks and a lone male shoveler. The parkland trees yielded 2 bramblings amongst the goldfinches, whilst the reedbeds were host to several calling male reed buntings.

In total 51 species were recorded on this unseasonably warm, calm day.

Little Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Pheasant, Moorhen, Coot, Black headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser black backed gull, Herring Gull, Stock Dove, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Green Woodpecker, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Dipper, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Fieldfare (1 calling over the Corsham car park), Song Thrush, Chiffchaff (several heard but not seen), Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Long tailed tit, Nuthatch (h), Treecreeper, Starling, Jay, Magpie, Jackdaw, Raven, Rook, Crow, House Sparrow (h), Chaffinch, Brambling, Siskin (JV only), Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Reed Bunting

Reported by Steve Oakes