A Bramble patch providing shelter from the blizzard
March so far has been 'interesting', starting cold and dry with frost at night, allowing the ground to dry out at last, at least on the surface but turning warmer, cloudy and wet in the first part of the second week, then on the 10th becoming very cold with and increasingly cold N wind and snow in blizzard form on 11th.
Snow on the outer branches of the Brambles - but inside the dense thicket it was warm and dry, sheltering robins, territorial disputes forgotten for a while and house sparrows, wrens and dunnocks, blackbirds and song thrushes.
By 13th most of the snow had been blown away by the fierce winds and it became warmer
A bright surprise:
Tuesday 5th March 2013 was much warmer (for a short while) and quiet with no wind - quiet that is apart from the distant sound of a bird scarer gun over the horizon. The river bank vegetation very dry and brown except for the bright green shoots of Wild Garlic and the river itself was flowing well but low with less mud. A quick look along the river:
Many robins were singing (16) and great tits now calling loudly (17) more noticeable than the more numerous but quietly calling active blue tits (39). Chaffinches were calling but not yet singing (7) and only 3 greenfinches were visible, with more probably out of sight in a dense thicket. More singing, this time from goldfinches also mainly out of sight but 3 clearly visible, one displaying. Today, most of the house sparrows were in the bramble patches, flying out to chase around, then back under cover (20). A strong, clear tuneful song gave away a single dunnock and looking down onto the river, a wren silently flew along the water and up onto the bank, another gave an alarm call whilst two were singing full songs and others worked around tree roots and under brambles (7) prospecting for nest sites. Two long-tailed tits were seen chasing along the river, they will also be choosing a nest site soon. A single male mallard was dabbling on the river in an area where a pair raised 12 chicks last year.
Blackbirds were numerous along the river today, they often prefer to hide away in bad weather, choosing to forage under cover (17). Some of these are winter visitors and will be leaving soon. It was good to see 3 fieldfare too, flying out of a tree into a thicket as they have not been numerous here this winter and will also be off soon unless the weather remains cold.
A green woodpecker called from a rough field whilst at least 30 black-headed gulls landed on the short grass of the field, keeping their distance from a group of woodpigeons feeding on the same field. These smart gulls were in various stages of plumage, some in full summer plumage (dark brown head) whilst others were still in winter plumage or in-between. They will soon be off elsewhere to breed and only forage on inland fields during the winter. In a different field where another attenuation basin is due to be excavated this year, more woodpigeons foraged (41), together with a few crows (7) and 2 magpies, all keeping their distance. A Jay flew into a thicket - they are still present along the river despite the almost complete lack of acorns to feed on throughout the autumn and winter. Only 2 starlings were seen but there are large numbers further south along the Arun valley.
In a different environment, waterlogged mud, pied wagtails were enjoying themselves bathing in pools of rain water on the disturbed ground (9) - two crows arrived and after watching for a while, decided to do likewise, spashing about. Some birds do prefer mud! Noisy herring gulls (10) wheeled in the air then 2 buzzards appeared, gliding along at leisure on the thermals all the while looking down over the hedgerows, fields and river banks.
I looked down onto the steep river banks as well, where the low dry flattened grasses formed a mat just above the water level and spotted flashes of bright orange in the warm sunshine - these were two Comma butterflies just emerged from hibernation in their tree hollow for a while, basking with wings outstretched then suddenly taking off and chasing each other around in circles then dropping down to the grasses to bask again. I watched them continue this activity for a while, they remained in the same warm sheltered patch the whole time. It was a rare warm day but I was not expecting to see butterflies!
A bright surprise:
Tuesday 5th March 2013 was much warmer (for a short while) and quiet with no wind - quiet that is apart from the distant sound of a bird scarer gun over the horizon. The river bank vegetation very dry and brown except for the bright green shoots of Wild Garlic and the river itself was flowing well but low with less mud. A quick look along the river:
Many robins were singing (16) and great tits now calling loudly (17) more noticeable than the more numerous but quietly calling active blue tits (39). Chaffinches were calling but not yet singing (7) and only 3 greenfinches were visible, with more probably out of sight in a dense thicket. More singing, this time from goldfinches also mainly out of sight but 3 clearly visible, one displaying. Today, most of the house sparrows were in the bramble patches, flying out to chase around, then back under cover (20). A strong, clear tuneful song gave away a single dunnock and looking down onto the river, a wren silently flew along the water and up onto the bank, another gave an alarm call whilst two were singing full songs and others worked around tree roots and under brambles (7) prospecting for nest sites. Two long-tailed tits were seen chasing along the river, they will also be choosing a nest site soon. A single male mallard was dabbling on the river in an area where a pair raised 12 chicks last year.
Blackbirds were numerous along the river today, they often prefer to hide away in bad weather, choosing to forage under cover (17). Some of these are winter visitors and will be leaving soon. It was good to see 3 fieldfare too, flying out of a tree into a thicket as they have not been numerous here this winter and will also be off soon unless the weather remains cold.
A green woodpecker called from a rough field whilst at least 30 black-headed gulls landed on the short grass of the field, keeping their distance from a group of woodpigeons feeding on the same field. These smart gulls were in various stages of plumage, some in full summer plumage (dark brown head) whilst others were still in winter plumage or in-between. They will soon be off elsewhere to breed and only forage on inland fields during the winter. In a different field where another attenuation basin is due to be excavated this year, more woodpigeons foraged (41), together with a few crows (7) and 2 magpies, all keeping their distance. A Jay flew into a thicket - they are still present along the river despite the almost complete lack of acorns to feed on throughout the autumn and winter. Only 2 starlings were seen but there are large numbers further south along the Arun valley.
In a different environment, waterlogged mud, pied wagtails were enjoying themselves bathing in pools of rain water on the disturbed ground (9) - two crows arrived and after watching for a while, decided to do likewise, spashing about. Some birds do prefer mud! Noisy herring gulls (10) wheeled in the air then 2 buzzards appeared, gliding along at leisure on the thermals all the while looking down over the hedgerows, fields and river banks.
I looked down onto the steep river banks as well, where the low dry flattened grasses formed a mat just above the water level and spotted flashes of bright orange in the warm sunshine - these were two Comma butterflies just emerged from hibernation in their tree hollow for a while, basking with wings outstretched then suddenly taking off and chasing each other around in circles then dropping down to the grasses to bask again. I watched them continue this activity for a while, they remained in the same warm sheltered patch the whole time. It was a rare warm day but I was not expecting to see butterflies!
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