An early rise saw me on the road from Great Ryburgh at just after 6am with the hoots of Tawny Owls joining the wake up chatter of the Rooks and Jackdaws. My journey west was incredibly smooth and trouble free with a Sunday helping me know end this time. Red Kites and Buzzards were up early and on view on and off to the other side of Peterbourgh and a male Goshawk cruised across the road near eye which was a pleasant pick me up.
Whooper Swans were seen in the Fens and two Fieldfare but there were no Geese or Cranes to be had and just three Roe Deer noted. I made very good time indeed and once in Wales I had an hour spare to pop down to Goldcliff lagoons for a quick look around before the pick ups in Newport.
A pair of Goldcrest were getting frisky in the hedge where Long-tailed Tits were foraging and a Chiffchaff was in full song as I walked down. I could not resist looking for Stigmella aurella on the Brambles too!
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| Stigmella aurella |
The Curlew Hide did not have of it bendy billed namesakes but did have about 400 Black-tailed Godwits in various states of dress from cold greyish winter birds through patchy and up to glorious brick red sum plum ones and all eager to start the journey to Iceland. They were very fidgety despite the lack of anything to spook them. I found one Bar-tailed Godwit with them and could hear a Greenshank amongst the Redshank but could not find it but had better luck with the silvery Spotted Redshank who was busy feeding in the shallows.
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| Black-tailed Godwits |
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| Black-tailed Godwits |
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| Spotted Redshank (right), three Redshank and three Teal |
Skylarks sung and there were a few duck but little else so I pushed onto the seawall where Avocets, Oystercatchers and Curlews were on the mud with Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Pintail and rather oddly, quite a few Shoveler. My time was short so I retreated and made my rendezvous at Newport station on time.
Once back in the Forest of Dean we offloaded at Speech House, collected the other six bods and headed out into a gloriously warm and still March afternoon. I headed straight for New Fancy View which was not rammed despite the car park being full and we enjoyed a fine hour surveying the rolling pine, larch and broadleaved landscape. Goshawks eluded us but we did see quite a few Buzzards. The usual woodland birds put in an appearance along with Siskins and a group of three females and a male Bullfinch which gave some the best and most prolonged views I have ever had of the species as the fed at eye level high in a Larch for at least ten minutes. Truly an exceptional encounter.
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| New Fancy View |
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| Buzzard |
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| Bullfinch - wondrous in the scope |
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| Coltsfoot |
The Gorse was flowering and warm enough to be scented as we walked back down and had a just a few Honey Bees in attendance. From here I chanced my arm and gave the Parkend Hawfinches a go. I have never looked for them this time of day but within just a few minutes we had heard two or three and then a stunning male dropped down under the Yews with the Chaffinches and stayed put for scope views. I think that some of the crew had not seen one before and were surprised at just how big it was. The purple in the wing and metallic steel bill gleamed. Nuthatches were noisy and a Green Woodpecker yaffled away while more Buzzards were overhead.
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| Hawfinch and his little buddies |
The day was rounded up at Cannop Ponds where several gaudy Mandarins paraded (although they were not quite as heart racing as that party on the snowy river at dusk on Honshu…) and a psychotic cob Mute Swan spent the whole visit picking on a single Canada Goose but ignored two others and chased the poor thing from one end to the other and even tried to pull it out of the air in mid chase.
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| Mandarins |
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| Deranged |
As the day waned Blackbirds, Song and Mistle Thrushes started up and gave the opportunity for useful comparison while one of the Song Thrushes was busily stripping Ivy berries that the every hungry Wood Pigeons had missed.
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| Song Thrush |
Marsh Tits joined Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tails on the list and blue triangular Nuthatches were visiting the feeding area along with yet another amazingly obliging male Bullfinch. A pair of Grey Wagtails included a female that sat up a tree and preened for a while and Goldcrests sang but did not show.
There were no spring flowers here at all and only the Wood Spurge was even contemplating it. Scarlet Elf Cups were found while we were looking at a Blackbird with some white feathers exactly where I saw it last year and just minutes after we had been talking about partial albinism in the species being quite common.
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| Wood Spurge |
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| the mine of the fly Phytomyza ilicis on Holly |
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| Pied Blackbird |
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| Scarlet Elf Cup |
It had been a long travel day for everyone so we called it a night and headed the short way back to Speech House passing a couple of Fallow Deer on the way. Hopefully the next morning would be a Goshawk kind of day.
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| Dinner was exceptional as usual and the chocolatey rice pudding with blackberries and peanut brittle was decadent. |
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| Not sure if this shows up on here well but there was an amazingly huge halo around the moon. You need to click on the image for the halo to appear! |
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