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Saturday, 7 March 2009

Woodland Wanderings ........

The weather, for once, behaved itself and gave us a clear still morning. From the car park we heard Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming and 2 Nuthatch gave us good, if somewhat distant, views. Off we set - sounding like a herd of elephants as we crashed our way through the undergrowth - going through areas of the wood which were ideal for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but seeing Long-tailed tits, Nuthatch, treecreeper etc.. and some distant views of Great Spotted Woodpecker instead. The terrain was difficult but we coped admirably with the various ditches, fallen trees and branches whilst still managing to keep a look out for birds in the canopy. As we walked we could hear Robins, Blackbirds, Dunnock, Wrens, Song Thrush and various Tits all calling away. Suddenly the wood went quiet and shortly we knew why - a Sparrowhawk lazily soared over the wood looking for an early morning meal.

Onwards we went towards the lake and were rewarded by seeing a pair of Mandarin Ducks sitting on a branch - obviously looking for a suitable place to nest. The wood around the lake gave us more views of Long tailed Tits plus excellent close views of Nuthatch and Treecreeper. A Great Spotted Woodpecker also gave a the group good views although it was rather high up a very large tree ! We could hear a Green Woodpecker calling but despite moving towards its location we couldn't find it. On one of the paths we came across a male blackbird which had a white head - causing many a racing heartbeat as some thought they had come across a first for Britain but alas it was only a partially albino blackbird but still a very unusual find !

After a short break in the Cafe for a bacon toastie and tea, we set off towards the car park but unfortunately only added Jay to our tally for the day. Despite missing our main 'target', we all agreed that the morning had been well worth getting out of bed early for.