Birding in the Forest of Dean, yet more reminiscences of academia and dip of the year

 

Nuthatch

We are now very settled into our new home near Pirton in Worcestershire that we share with our 2 dogs, 3 horses and 2 chickens. We are pretty much unpacked and, lockdown 2.0 permitting, are in the midst of planning various home improvement projects in the house, stables, paddocks and garden. Birding wise our short time here has been notable for the large flocks of winter thrushes feeding on the numerous berries in the hedgerows. The large mixed flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare are very restless and noisy and often fly straight over the paddocks and house as they move from one autumnal feast to another. There are certainly many more winter thrushes here than I ever observed in Oxfordshire. I’m not sure if this is usual for this area or whether this is an exception year. We have had a Kingfisher perched on a fallen dead tree in our largest pond and a fly over Peregrine. The hedgerows around the fields adjacent to our house are home to a nice flock of Yellowhammers, a reminder of my childhood in the Wiltshire countryside when they were much more common.

 

With the inevitable lock down 2.0 almost upon us I suspect it is game over for my birding trips this year. To date I have managed to achieve a semi respectable year list of 215 including a very pleasing 23 UK lifers.

 

Last Friday I drove the 40 or so miles to the Forest of Dean, primarily in search of Hawfinch which were lacking from my year list. I had a quick look around a rather damp and dreary RSPB Nags Head but the hides were closed so I quickly moved onto Parkend. On arrival I found 3 Hawfinches perched high up in a tree adjacent to the cricket ground. Bird seed had been spread under the trees by other birders but I must confess to preferring pictures of the birds in their more natural tree habitat rather than on the ground surrounded by sunflower seeds. As it turned out the Hawfinches seemed completely disinterested in the free meal provided and spent most of the 3 hours I was there having a good old preen in the treetops. The end of October is earlier in the year than my previous trips to Parkend and perhaps the abundant natural autumn harvest was the source of their indifference.

 

Here is a typical view I had last week of the Hawfinches.

 

 

And here is the kind of view I was hoping for from the same spot last year.

 

Consolation for the views of the Hawfinches came in the form of 2 rather showy Nuthatches. Although a comparatively common woodland bird I see many times a year, I still find these little hyperactive slate blue and blush gems very appealing and enjoyable to watch.

 

While packing for our move I came across a set of reprints of the last every academic paper I had published before I moved over to the dark side of industry. My research field was quantum liquids, a subject I became fascinated with after a related third year undergrad project.  Reading through the paper it felt as though I was reading a book in some odd foreign language that I was once fluent in but now, due to lack of practice, I could barely recognise a few words. The language in question here is mathematics, the universal language of physics. While I think I could honestly say I still have some residual aptitude for mathematics, the significance of most of the maths in the paper was totally lost on me. I guess this is the inevitable consequence of my decision some 34 years ago at the ripe old age of thirty to let the dark force take me. Interesting enough I think I was the only one of my university colleagues who made this choice, one strangely enough, I have never regretted.

I leave you with what is now bound to be my (double) dip of the year, 16 hours driving and 16 hours staring at a hedge hoping for a view of a Rufous Bush Chat, the first in the UK for 40 years. It was found the very day after I left Norfolk and I could not return until the following Tuesday by which time it had given up performing for the assembled masses and had become very elusive. Being a total glutton for punishment I went back for a second beating two days later with exactly the same result!

Physics gobbledygook



Footnote – my blogs are posted with sometimes rather imaginative spelling and grammar due to my extreme dyslexia!