On 21 March our bird expert, John, took a walk around the wood. These are his observations.
Plenty of bird-song, of course. Main birds to note were:
- A good many Chiffchaffs singing – not sure if these are early-arriving migrants (they do arrive late March) or some of the minority that over-winter here – I suspect the former.
- No Blackcaps yet, but they arrive a week or so later. I heard one singing near my house a couple of days ago, but I suspect it was a winter visitor practising song before migrating back to eastern Europe.
- Treecreeper (by north path, zone 2) (see photo).
- Greater Spotted Woodpecker heard drumming (zone 2).
- Green Woodpecker heard calling several times (zones 1 and 2).
- Nuthatch heard calling (zone 2/4 boundary).
- Flock of Goldfinch and Linnet moving around between David’s house and the top of the hill.
- Thought I heard a Mistle Thrush singing (northern edge), but surprisingly I didn’t detect a single Song Thrush.
- Skylark singing again over field.
