A bit of an update since mid- February with some spells of glorious sunshine interspersed with cold and grey days a northerly wind throughout and hardly any rain. 1st of March is officially the start of meteorological Spring... as opposed to astronomical Spring which starts on the vernal equinox around the 20th of the month. So has Spring arrived or not ? I tend to look at what's happening outside and there is still much of Winter on display, but the signs are there that we are advancing towards Spring rather than arrived. The Snowdrops and Crocuses have pretty much finished and the Daff's are starting to open up. There are Frogs and Toads in the Pond which have been present for a couple of weeks but no sign yet of any spawn and I had sightings of Brimstone and Peacock in the warm spell last week. The birds have been starting their territorial displays and the dawn chorus has developed from early Feb when it was just Robins and Song Thrush to now include all the local species a blend of Robin, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Dunnock, Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a few others. The Wrens that have occupied the gutter outside the bedroom window for the last few years and were rather deafening seem to have moved. Tawny Owls have been quite vocal at night the last couple of weeks along with screaming Foxes, barking Deer and snuffling Badgers.
My first serious Spring visit to Black Down was on the 26th, the highlight were the number of noisy Crossbills, well over 35 birds with several males in full song which is actually wonderfully tuneful and is a tonic compared to the incessant 'chipping' which is normally heard. Likewise there were a similar number of Linnets, I think only a few of these will stay to breed and are probably the remnants of the large flock just down the hill at Lower House Farm. There were 4 Woodlark territories, 3 Dartford Warbler and at least 3 Stonechat all of which I would expect to gradually increase as we go through March.
In the other direction I walked to Furnace Pond and then up towards Woolbeeding on the 1st and heard my first Chiffchaff of the year, albeit brief, and I haven't yet come across another. The highlight was a Hawfinch that was calling away at the top of an Oak before melting away, I think a female bird and my first one in the area this Winter. The Furnace pond held the usual 15+ Mandarin, 8+ Teal but also the pair of Kingfisher which have been around all Winter. A singing Yellowhammer was a surprise and the arable field held 2 Woodlark and maybe 3 Skylark.
There have been a couple of really good raptor days with up to 6 Goshawk (4 together in the same view was special) now performing their territorial displays along with a higher count of Common Buzzard, 2 or 3 Sparrowhawk, singles of Red Kite, Peregrine and Common Kestrel with frequent encounters with 2 Raven.
Despite the frequent visit to different copses in the area and what I would call suitable habitat there has not been a sniff of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, although I remain hopeful there is a local pair somewhere they are proving difficult to discover and are not in what I would term favoured spots.
The garden has continued to produce the goods with finches. From a peak in early Feb when the snow arrived, the numbers seemed to drop off but in the last couple of weeks there has been a steady increase in Brambling numbers firstly between 15-20 and today a count of 33 !!!, the highest I've had here in 10 years. Chaffinches are nearer 25 with 4 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Siskin 3 Greenfinch and now a very occasional Bullfinch.
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| Sunrise on Black Down through the pines. |
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Woodlark |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Some of the Brambling flock with Chaffinch (11 in this picture) |
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| smart male Brambling |
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| Brambling |
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