Yesterday was not a day for the fainted-hearted. So that let me out. The birding bravehearts were out there, suffering for their art, finding wader and tern passage everywhere they looked, and getting very wet in the process.
This morning I tiptoed out into the aftermath, dodging fallen saplings aplenty on my way to the patch. The wind was still a brisk south-westerly but lessened in strength with every passing hour. The calmer areas in the lee of the hedgerows were full of birds. Admittedly most of them were Blue Tits, but I did find handfuls of Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroats, Blackcaps, and Chiffchaffs along with at least three Willow Warblers.
So to the chat field where, instead of the half expected Whinchats, I found a family party of Stonechats. The male was in heavy moult, while the female had been ringed. The question is, was it the female ringed here in December, or is it a completely new bird which has been ringed somewhere else? Either way it would be fascinating to know.
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| The ringed female Stonechat |
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| The male Stonechat regrowing its moulted tail feathers |
There seemed to be six in total; the pair plus four juveniles. As far as I could tell, the juveniles appeared to be weeks old rather than days old, so they may not be the second brood of the pair discovered to have recently fledged young at the end of May. I pinged an email to the ringers, but the earliest they can get down is late next week, so the conundrum may remain unresolved.
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| Four in one shot was the most I could manage |
I continued to the flash field where, as expected, the water level remains too high for waders. Once again a single Green Sandpiper was on the furthest flash, and 42 Lapwings were getting their feet wet on the nearest. At least the two Shovelers had chosen to switch to the closest flash.
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| The Shovelers |
A Tree Pipit called as it flew over while I was counting Mallard (44 if you're interested), but I nobly continued with the count and didn't even look up. I probably wouldn't have seen it anyway.
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| Lapwings |
I haven't photographed many dragonflies this year, so when a typically inquisitive Southern Hawker decided to perch, the opportunity was not to be passed up.
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| Southern Hawker |
On the walk back I got the chance to have a good look at a Willow Warbler. This species was once extremely common, but its range seems to be shifting northwards presumably due to global warming. It is therefore quite likely that this bird is a migrant from further north although it must be said that the HOEF woods are full of birches and young growth, which is ideal for Willow Warblers to breed in.
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| Willow Warbler |
How do you tell them from Chiffchaff? Leg colour is useful but not diagnostic (pale is better for Willow Warbler), juveniles can have very yellow underparts or at least be quite pale like this bird. The supercilium (pale stripe above the eye) can be more obvious in Willow Warbler, and they lack the pronounced white eye-ring shown by most Chiffchaffs.
Also it helps if it sings, which this one did.
I spoke to my old pal Mike last night. He told me that he does have some wader habitat on his patch at Middle Spernal, although it never seems to get any. So I decided to investigate. It took me about 45 minutes to find the pool (I have been there before but the HOEF trees are very disorientating) so I was greatly relieved to find it, and not surprised to see that Mike was right. The extensive gravel edge looks great, but not a single wader had found it.
I did however flush a Barn Owl from a woodland ride, and a Shoveler, a Teal, and a Cormorant from the pool.
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