Thursday, June 12, 2008 - Combe Wood and Bury Down
It was time for one of my fortnightly outings and as there was not much that was twitchable within striking distance I decided once again to work on my summer hit list. Having successfully seen the nightjar, woodcock and dartford warbler I thought that I would have another crack at the willow tit. I say "another" as I had tried a few weeks ago with a brief Sunday afternoon trip to New Bottle wood just over the border in Northants. It was a very nice little wood but on a Sunday afternoon it was full of families walking and whilst there were plenty of goldcrests, treecreepers and the commoner warblers about, there was no sign of any willow tits. I may well return there in a quieter moment to see what I can see but for today I thought that I would try Combe Wood, which was supposed to be a "sure thing" for willow tits in Berkshire and was apparently often used by bird racing teams to tick off this bird. Given that it was mid June I was thinking that no bird is going to be a sure thing as they are all skulking around feeding their youngsters but it would be nice to visit somewhere new and I thought that I'd give it a go anyway.
I set off at around 9am and about three quarters of an hour later found myself navigating lots of tiny single track roads in deepest darkest West Berkshire. The countryside was very pretty with lots of fields, and meadows interspersed with deciduous woodland and pretty villages with reassuringly large houses and manors. The start of the walk was by an old 12th century church at the bottom of a hill so I put on my walking boots and set off up the footpath. The path is initially surrounded by a narrow corridor of trees and bushes on one side with open fields beyond that. I had swotted up on the willow tit calls the night before and was listening out carefully but it was rather windy and there was very little bird calling going on at all. After a short while I reached the top of the hill and there was a field to one side with a thin strp of quite large trees heading off at right-angles. Within this strip there was a bird calling which sounded "interesting". By that I mean that it wasn't one of the common species whose calls I know. In fact it sounded closest to a tree pipit but rather than the full song, just the last few notes. Unfortunately it was only singing intermittently and there was no obvious path in that direction so reluctantly I decided not to pursue it further.
I didn't have a map with me as I always study the terrain carefully in advance and can usually remember where I need to go. In this instance however I was somewhat stumped as I'd reached the top of the hill and yet there was no obvious wood. I wasted about 20 minutes going down a side track to a small wood but though I got within it there was no path at all and I decided that I could not be in the correct place. I did manage to see a red-legged partridge for my troubles though.
I eventually concluded that I had to go down the other side of the hill a little way where I could see some trees in the the distance and this proved to be correct. The wood was a pleasant mix of tree types and fortunately there was in fact some bird activity within it though once again it was mostly contact calls and subtle movement within the tree canopies. I managed to see several flocks of feeding great tits, a blackcap, I heard a treecreeper and saw a couple of nuthatches. There were several pheasants calling in the undergrowth and I saw a willow warbler/chiffchaff briefly. After a while I came to a natural point where I could turn around and decided that I would do so. With so little calling it was going to be very hard going finding a willow tit if I were to carry on so I headed back to the car, keeping my ears open hopefully all the while. It was a nice little site and I would certainly like to return when the birds are more cooperative.
I quickly nipped over to Walbury Hill, which was a local "viewing point" to see the view. Since it had now started to rain there wasn't that much to see but I did see a red kite and a kestrel without having to get out of the car. At that point I decided to head on for home and drove back through the villages to the main road. I had been contemplating opping in at Greenham Common on the way back just to see what it was like but as time was getting on I decided to leave that for another time. Back on the A34 I had just passed the M4 turn-off when the traffic ground to a halt. There had obviously been an accident up ahead and for the next half an hour or so we crawled along very slowly so I decided to pull in at West Ilsley and to nip up to Bury Down until the traffic cleared.
The downs were looking great in their summer "attire". I'd last seen them when I came for the dotterel and the main field was bare and full of stones. Now it was full of rape and the surrounding areas sported tall grasses with summer flowers. What was more, the air was full of bird song! After the effort of trying to see anything at all in the wood it was refreshing to hear skylarks and corn buntings every few yards. There were also a few meadow pipits including one doing its parachute flight. Now that I was more experienced in this matter it was easy to see and hear how different it was from a tree pipit's. In fact the song was rather boring compared to the excitement of a tree pipit song! There were a few finches around (mostly linnets), a pair of dunnocks and a whitethroat. Overhead a red kite was being mobbed noisily by a pair of lapwings and a buzzard was soaring in the distance. A very enjoyable little walk with a great variety of birds. What's more, once back on the road the traffic had cleared and I was able to head for home at a reasonable pace.
No new ticks today but at this time of year that's only to be expected and I'll come back another day to try for the willow tits again. I've got a trip to the downs coming up to look for stone curlews and quails in the next few weeks to look forward to and in the mean time, unless something twitchable turns up, I've got nightingale, redstart, firecrest and mandarin duck still to find from my hit list.
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Tuesday, June 17, 2008 - Combe Wood |
| Posted by Robin Dryden |
Hi Adam,
Willow (and Marsh) Tits are much easier in the autumn. You can get them along the path from the church going up if you are lucky.
Did you see the Spotted Flycatchers in the churchyard?
ATB
Robin |
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About Me
I used to be a birder in my youth but rather lost interest in my teens as other things became more interesting. However recently I've rediscovered this interest and would like to share my sightings and thoughts in this blog.
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