We set out on Saturday morning with four species on our target list: hawfinch, goshawk, dipper and black redstart. Kev (@kev07713) and I stopped for breakfast on the way as we tend to on more distant trips, but were still pulling up in the parking beside Parkend Cricket Club not long after 8.00am. We watched from near the car for a short while and then popped across to talk to a couple who were now sitting on a bench to the side of the trees – this is apparently where hawfinches have been seen and are regular each year – the couple had been in the area for a couple of days and had previously seen birders watching so thought they'd have a look too. After a short while they left to have breakfast themselves. Another birder arrived – apparently a local - we joined him under the canopy of the trees on the roadside and he told us which trees the hawfinches favoured. It was only a few minutes, and we were on four … and then eight. Kev had his scope set up and we had good views but with lots of branches in the way. The birds being distant and high, photos were at a premium.
As we watched, another birder joined us, and then two more. We tried to give the birds space in the hope they'd drop down to feed but they never did. We thought to give it some time and dropped down to the bridge over the stream to see if any dippers were showing (Kev's sister Karen and her partner Dean @hobbylovinglife @worlebirder has seen two when they visited last). We gave it time but no such luck. We returned to the hawfinches and set up again to be joined by another birder - the birds were in exactly the same spot as when we'd left. We waited for another quarter of an hour and decided to call time and made for the church to see if we could find any crossbills. We parked up and waited - nutchatches, coal, blue and great tits, robins, blackbirds and song thrush all showed but every few minutes some dog walkers would pass through and flush the birds and it took five minutes to reset. After a few of these occurrences we decided that we should try our luck elsewhere and decided upon New Fancy to see what was showing at the viewpoint.
We left the car and bumped into the birder we'd seen in Parkend first thing. He said that he'd had a couple of crossbills quite close at the viewpoint but when there we would see any at all, close or far. We saw siskins fly over as we made our way up - I'd never visited here before and so was amazed by the vista ahead. We had ravens cronking, and flying in the distance, but few other species really. A bullfinch called to our left but never showed. Two couples joined us - we were strung along the viewpoint when one chap called a very distant goshawk - first one and then two. We watched as they separated, and one was lost from view - another ,or perhaps one of the two, was then seen over towards Cinderford. I took photos but the birds were only specks to the naked eye - bins or scope were required - Kev followed them as they displayed.
We dropped into RSPB Nagshead but found little of note, although we did encounter numbers of song thrushes, great-spotted woodpeckers, a day-flying bat and a couple of roe deer.
We enjoyed the visit but failed to add anything we hadn't seen elsewhere and so eventually jumped into the car and made for our final target of the day, the long-staying black redstart at Gloucester Cathedral (since mid-November). We pulled up in a parking space alongside the Cathedral and grabbed our kit from the car and as we did so a vicar passed by carrying three boxes of food. Kev stopped him to ask the best route to get into the Cathedral and he said that heading in either direction from where we were would work just as well - Kev joked with him that we could share the food, three boxes and three of us ... he'd been to a meeting with lunch to finish and with too much food they'd distributed it and he would have it for dinner too.
We turned into the Cathedral from the SE side and scanned as we went. Not really stopping as the sightings a couple of days ago had been on the W side. We felt slightly conspicuous with a scope, bins and a camera but we might need all of these if we found the bird. At the W side the number of people increased, particularly at the front entrance where numbers gathered around a statue. The statue is commonly known as Knife Angel, or to give its full title, the National Monument for Serious Violence and Aggression and is displaying here through February. The 27-foot sculpture, made from over 100,000 seized blades from 43 UK police forces, was created to highlight the negative effects of violent and aggressive behaviour. It is stunning and is lit by a rotating colour palette.
While I photographed the statue, Kev hooked up with a couple who were also searching for the bird - they'd already made one complete circuit and were on a second. They told Kev that the bird hadn't been reported since Thursday ... mmm.
We soon scanned in detail, slowly returning round the way we'd come, looking to make a complete circuit. We overtook the couple Kev had been talking to and when we got to a courtyard on the SE Kev called the bird on a rooftop on the opposite side. Tick! We watched as the bird dropped and returned along the apex. Kev went looking for the couple he'd met but they had vanished - what a shame since the bird was showing well.
We soon lost the bird and retraced our steps to see if we could get a better angle of the area it had dropped into. It then appeared and flew along a light stone wall, landing on a perch and moving like a wallcreeper.
Overjoyed with our views we watched as id departed onto the roof beyond and out of view. I walked round and stopped by a walled garden to see if I could catch the bird as it returned to the roof. A couple taking photos of the building joined me at which point the bird appeared on a wall right beside us - what a result.
We then watched as the bird worked the other way round and was lost from view.
We were delighted with our views, Kev had managed to take a photo through his scope, and so we packed up and returned to the car. We'd perhaps stop on the way home to look for field birds around Hawling.
We reached the area and stopped to watch a handful of red-legged partridge feeding, pheasants, a handful of hares, crows and ravens. There were small flocks of finches, largely linnet and significant numbers of redwing. It was a lovely end to a cracking day.
The following morning Charlotte said she wasn't going to get up early and so I popped out to Great Tew where up to eight hawfinches had been showing - the first sighting of the winter was from Ade Buckel on Thursday but up to eight were seen on Saturday. This is around the same time as we had up to twenty in 2022.
I walked along the entrance to the church and held back under the tree by the first bench to keep pressure off the yews in which I presumed the birds were feeding. I found four hawfinches almost immediately in distant trees and then, as they flew left, I saw that there were at least eight. I reported their presence on the Banbury Birds WhatsApp group. I was joined by a birder from Oxford and we waited, adding further distant views. Another handful of people arrived, and I managed to hold them back for a while but eventually they broke forward to view the birds from a position level with the church. Others were arriving, as were dog walkers and everyone ended up milling around. There was little chance that they'd drop down now. I joined them at the church, watched a couple of jays, and eventually walked back and down through the village to see if any were feeding on the yews along the roadside. I walked with the Oxford birder who had decided to make his way back to the car - left in the village car park by the Falkland Arms.
The hawfinches were nowhere to be seen and so I eventually bid the chap farewell and made my way back to the churchyard. Even more people had arrived, and they were now standing at the rear of the church with at least seven hawfinches sitting in the high branches of a relatively nearby tree. Still out of reach for the camera - 'environmental' / record photos would be all that people would be getting. Time was getting on, so I returned to the car checking on the opposite side of the wall and around the corner, then hopped into the car and home.
Year List: 138
No comments:
Post a Comment