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Report of Stapleford Bird Club - March 2016

For the second month in a row, the meeting scheduled for the 5th was postponed for a week due to poor weather on the day.  Heavy rain turning to sleet, with snow falling at the top of the Down, set in just before the intended start so the walk was abandoned.  An impromptu survey of the car park from the car with windows wound down revealed that there were very few birds flying about or singing, in such inclement conditions. 

Saturday 12th March was cold and cloudy but was dry with only a slight breeze from the south-east.  From the outset it was clear that spring is on the way, with breeding territories being established: we constantly encountered  birds in song although only seven species were actually singing.  We counted as many as twelve singing robins, their melancholic song contrasting with the strident notes of the three song thrushes that were in full song.  The car park and picnic area held robins, a song thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, chaffinches, and a skylark was singing over the North Down on the other side of the hedge. In Youth Wood, blue tits and robins were the main species seen (or heard), and we noted our first great tits, wren, and magpies in Magog Wood.  A second skylark was singing over the North Down, and a “chissick” call alerted us to a pied wagtail flying overhead.  Little Trees Hill must surely be a nesting site for the green woodpecker which we saw flying into it, and our first singing chaffinch for the day was singing well there.  A flock of 220 woodpigeons were settled in Feoffee’s Field and a wren sang from the hedge-line of the Parish Pit.  Blue tits and a dunnock were seen in Villedomer Wood and a flock of fieldfares flew north, perhaps on the way to their breeding grounds north and east of the UK.  South Down was rather quiet with only a single carrion crow and jackdaw, along with two skylarks and a second flock of woodpigeons.  A flock of 25 linnets rested in the outermost hedge-line of the arable area, and two dunnocks were blasting out their songs from the hedge-tops just 20m apart from one another.  Two common gulls (which in fact are not too common in inland areas) were feeding in the winter wheat crop.  No new species were noted in Vestey Wood, but a long-tailed tit and jay flew in front of us along Memorial Wood.  The overwintering wild-bird seed strip held a reed bunting and a pheasant, and on our way back to the car park a second green woodpecker flew low in front of us.  Altogether twenty-three species were seen during this pleasant two-hour walk.

Mike Foley