On Wednesday I met Jeremy just after dawn in the Wyre forest to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. To cut a long story short, a few hours searching where they have been in previous years only yielded two sounds of them drumming somewhere but no confirmed sightings. There was quite a nice selection of backup birds to keep us entertained, good flocks of Siskin, a few Redpoll and my first singing Chiffchaff of the spring. Just to prove they do sometimes show themselves, here’s a picture taken in the forest two years ago. Come mid-morning we relocated to Dowles Brook to look for Dippers where we had much more success. We spotted two very active birds almost immediately collecting nesting material with huge beaks full of moss. Assuming they were the same pair, they had chosen a new nest location compared to previous years, possibly because the water level was much higher. This led us to speculate how big a territory is and whether there could be more than one pair. Somewhat unhel
Dartford Warbler This Wednesday just gone I planned to meet Jeremy at dawn in the Wyre forest to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. On Tuesday the forecast was for fog for the first couple of hours so, as this is exactly when these diminutive little Woodpeckers are most active, we decided to postpone the trip. Instead I decided to pay a visit to Thursley Common in Surrey which is normally a top spot for Dartford Warblers and Wood Larks in early spring. The forecast for Thursley was also mist and fog for the first couple of hours so I planned to arrive at 10:00. Dawn broke on Wednesday in Pirton to reveal a lovely bright early spring day – typical! The weather did deteriorate to heavy fog as I drove down the M5 so perhaps it was also foggy in the forest. The forecast for Thursley was mist clearing to light cloud but in fact it was again a lovely sunny spring day right up to sunset. My wife always laughs when I check the forecast for birding - she says wait and look out of