After a rather erratic beginning to the year in January, with it's mixture of wet and windy weather with singing Song thrushes and Robins and a male Blackcap sheltering from thunder, lightening and heavy rain in a garden, and high river levels recorded, it became steadily colder. Two Grey squirrels were seen collecting fresh 'duvets' of fallen leaves to repair wind-damaged dreys and Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard drumming on freezing tree-trunks. River levels dropped rapidly revealing bare clay beneath the topsoil as the weather brightened at the end of the month. February was less extreme but eventful in that a significant amount of planting was achieved in order to restore hedging and create a even more diverse habitat for wildlife here along the river. (See our HFCG News for February 2023 to come).
Survey - Monday 27th February 2023 was a cold day and very bright, sunny with a blue sky with temperature warming to 4 deg C from -2 earlier.
Riverside vegetation showed little change - Hazel catkins were growing and small leaf-buds were appearing on other trees with a few more green shoots of Wild Garlic but it will be a slow spring, unlike the previous few years. Little remained of the bountiful crops of fruits and berries - plundered by hungry birds - more trees to benefit wildlife have been planted now. There were signs of frog spawn in a small pond however.. Frogs are a valuable source of food for many birds in the spring.
The First Lesser Celandine plants seen flowering at the end of February - a very welcome sight this year!
House Sparrows first. As usual, given a sunny day, most were seen perching on the sunny side of the hedges especially in areas sheltered by the wind (85). There was one Chaffinch and one Goldfinch. The latter are usually more numerous - they may have flown off to forage on the remaining Dock and Thistle seeds. Three fast-moving Goldcrests were visible in a conifer whilst below a bright Kingfisher dashed across the surface of the river under the steep banks. One Dunnock was seen in usual habitat, an insect-rich footpath between rough hedges.There were 24 Robins evenly spaced in their spring territories, most were singing and easily seen in the bare vegetation. Blue ts (33), Great ts (22) and 7 Long-tailed ts were seen in various locations, the Long-tails in ones and twos obviously prospecting for nest sites or starting to build nests - not so easy this year as bramble banks and hedges are still so bare. They usually make an early start and spend several weeks on construction. It was good to see and hear wrens (12) singing loudly along the river banks, seemingly unaffected by the high water levels of the winter. Bare trees made it easy to spot a Treecreeper climbing along a horizontal branch upside-down and also to locate a quiet Nuthatch in an Oak. It will be finishing refurbishing it's nest by now. A Great Spotted Woodpecker suddenly started to drum close by on what was probably a springy branch, making a 'doinnnggg' sound. Again as with other birds today it was quite clearly visible.
Woodpigeons (20) were not very active, most sitting hunched on oak branches some cooing lazily. Starlings were scarce too with only 6 seen, most were probably keeping warm in their Day Roost. Later they may be seen all flying together in a mini-murmuration - or - is there another reason - as they were silent...? Carrion Crows were dispersed, mostly on the field margins (9). Magpies (6) were quiet for a change although not invisible and Herring Gulls (13) likewise. A single Black-Headed Gull was patrolling the playing fields - their 'scout' which remains behind when the flock decides to fly off.
Blackbirds (total seen 21) on the other hand were very active some picking over fallen leaves, several chasing each other, and others contact-calling or giving alarm calls, mostly males. Only one Song Thrush was seen and 2 Redwing, observing from a low thicket. Should they leave or wait until the weather is more suitable before the long journey back - maybe a warm westerly wind would be best. Upstream was a piece of foil litter glinting in the sun - just a flash of wing and it turned into a male Mallard duck foraging amongst a small 'island ' of twigs near the bank. Had it been a female it would have remained invisible as the twigs were moving with the fast flowing river.
A flash of brilliant white in a shallow less turbulent part fo the river was a Little Egret fishing quietly well out of sight under high banks. It suddenly flew up, it's bright yellow feet visible when it perched on a mossy branch in the tree above and continued to survey the river below.
The survey really started with a series of raptors. First a Kestrel sitting on a branch . It had disturbed two Carrion Crows and one Magpie just by flying from one branch to another. Next came a Red Kite flying up over where I was standing, over my head, drifting and circling, close with markings showing well, unconcerned by my presence. Then seconds later a Common Buzzard flew over me approaching from the north and circling low above, also unconcerned by my presence although creating more of a disturbance amongst other birds sending up woodpigeons and starlings from the trees.
Was this the reason why there were fewer starlings and wood pigeons about?
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