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Coffee and Chocolate with Wood Warblers

      

And that is, at least in my humble opinion, what life is all about!

 

It was an early start this morning to go back to the forest with the particular aim of hearing and seeing Wood Warblers. The Wood Warbler is one of the largest Phylloscopus warblers with striking bright yellow upper parts, throat, and upper chest and white under parts. It is widespread in deciduous European forests but in the UK it is mainly limited to the ancient oak woods of Wales and the west midlands. Mainly eating insects and spiders it is strongly migratory spending the winter in tropical Africa.

 

As I pulled into the small forest car park my spirits were immediately lifted by the early morning spring chorus with Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Blackbird, Song Thrush, and Robin song seemingly coming from all directions. The early morning forest at this time of year has an ethereal almost magical quality. As the early morning mist clears carpets of dazzling Bluebells and pure white Wood Anemones emerge. Wood Anemones are a particular favourite of mine and I paused a while to immersed myself in their simple beauty. I was reminded of the Welsh poet, William Henry Davies’, wonderful poem.

 

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs
And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.


Fortunately, in retirement I have all the time in the world to stand and stare! 


After a while I walked down to a small, rapidly flowing woodland stream with crystal clear water. A Garden Warbler was hammering out its rather shambolic song from a tree over the stream. Their song always sounds like a very angry Blackcap to me, individual bursts tend to last much longer than the Blackcap and lack the flute like sweet notes of its warbler cousin. A Dipper flashed by low over the water while a Grey Wagtail looked for nutrition amongst the stones at a much more leisurely pace.

I carried onto an area that I know is good for Wood Warblers and reacquainted myself with a fallen log I had sat on watching and listening to them last year. I didn’t have to wait long to hear their characteristic unique song which is often likened to a spinning penny slowly falling over. The songster landed in a tree a little distance from me and I watched him in full song through my bins. He would cock his head open his beak and spin his coin with all his might such that his wings extended and his whole body vibrated with the intensity and effort of his song. On and on he went jumping from twig to twig hammering out his song as if to say, look at me I’m so fit and healthy that I don’t need to do anything except sing to you! 


I cracked out the coffee and chocolate and relished the fact that I had time to stand , well actual sit, and stare at this little avian beauty.

 

 










Comments

  1. UnrepentantMay 5, 2022 at 11:06 PM

    Excellent pics as always Jim

    ReplyDelete
  2. MothMay 6, 2022 at 9:37 AM

    Ace! x

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousMay 7, 2022 at 9:20 AM

    I can almost hear the song. I saw one years ago in the Bialowieza Forest on a chilly morning producing clouds of steam with each burst of song.

    ReplyDelete

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