Another cracking day in the Forest of Dean!

Once again I was off with the West Midland Bird Club yesterday for our monthly trip, this time to the lovely Forest of Dean. I always look forward to this one, it's one of my favorite destinations!

As the weather forecast was not great for the morning, we decided to start off near Parkend to look for Hawfinches. Despite the drizzle, within a few minutes of arriving I had located 2 chunky finches in the top of some tall trees, scope views soon confirmed they were Hawfinches - the first of many seen by our group in this spot.

Parkend Hawfinches spot.

Very gloomy digiscoped record shot of Hawfinch!

We walked down to the Fountain Inn to look for Dipper which had been reported on the stream there. While I waited for them to put in an appearance, a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers bounced around in the trees above. Also in the vicinity was the Biking Birder Gary Prescott on his latest travels around every RSPB reserve in the UK, hoping to see birds aplenty and raise money for several charities while doing so. He was very pleased to meet a bunch of fellow West Midlanders! I also had a quick chat with him as he was interested to meet a young(ish) female birder, and enthusiastic about encouraging more young people and especially young women into birding, seeing as there relatively few of us.

Gary Prescott, a.k.a. the Biking Birder!

A pair of Dippers eventually showed too, carrying nesting material to a spot on the stream bank. We set off to our next stop, Cannop Ponds, feeling pretty pleased with our strong start!

We had a great walk around Cannop Ponds despite the continuing gloom and drizzle - Little Grebe, Tufted Duck and Mute Swan were around, and there were plenty of lovely Mandarins - although a man was feeding them bread (disapprove) it certainly brought them close in. 

Mallards and Mandarins on Cannop Ponds.

About the best photo I could manage in the terrible light!

On the feeders, as well as the usual tits and Chaffinches, Nuthatch and a pair of Marsh Tits were super. Also on the walk round we had Song Thrush, Treecreeper, Goldcrest and Siskin doing a song flight. And in the stream by the picnic area, as well as the usual Grey Wagtail which is always nice, we saw a hunting Kingfisher - smashing!

Nice spot for Grey Wagtails and Kingfisher.

After a quick lunch stop at the Beechenhurst visitor Centre, our next stop was New Fancy View. Fortunately by this point the drizzle had stopped and it wasn't long at all after we reached the top of the hill that we spotted the first of several Goshawks, and we had great views of them both flying around and perching in distant conifers. Also to be seen were plenty of Siskins, Ravens and a Buzzard or two.

From the top of New Fancy View.

Our final stop for the day was the awesome Crabtree Hill, where we had been last year for the overwintering Great Grey Shrike. We were hoping to replicate last year's success, and indeed we did, watching the shrike fly around to various perches and at one point, catch and cache a lizard!

Crabtree Hill.

Digiscoped record shot of the mighty shrike!

Also up on the hill we saw a herd of Fallow Deer, a pair of Stonechats and a Wren, and in the trees on the walk up were Coal Tits aplenty and yet more Siskins. We headed back to Birmingham feeling pleased as punch with our packed day of birding delights! 

Awesome times in the Forest of Dean!

Yesterday once again I was off with the West Midland Bird Club, this time on our annual spring jaunt to the Forest of Dean where we normally hope to partake of such delights as Goshawk, Mandarin Duck, Hawfinch and Peregrine among others. With fine weather forecast for the day we were feeling optimistic about our chances!

Our first stop was at Serridge Ridge near Brierley where we were on the lookout for Two-barred Crossbill. A slow walk along the ridge alas revealed none, but we did see some other nice species - lots of Coal Tits, Treecreepers, Nuthatch and a lone female Common Crossbill. It didn't help that the sun was coming directly at us through the Larches that were the Two-barreds' preferred haunt, so we were constantly being dazzled! The sun was good news for butterflies though, I saw several Small Tortoiseshells and a Peacock butterfly here.

Larches along the ridge.

Next we were off to New Fancy View in search of Goshawks, and possibly Adders too with which we'd had a memorable encounter a few years ago. On the walk up the hill, it wasn't long before we spotted some people crouched down scrutinising the grass and leaf litter by the fence. Twas not an Adder, but a beautiful little Common Lizard, sunning itself and scuttling around at the base of the fence! I stayed and watched for a good while, and a second Lizard appeared too - brilliant!

Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara).

Common Lizard (Zootoca vivipara).

Then just a few metres ahead - there was an Adder too!

Adder (Vipera berus).

The viewing platform at the top of the hill was pretty rammed by the time I got there, mostly with West Midland birders - so I decided to take it easy on the other side of the hill with a couple of other bird clubbers.

One of the downsides of travelling as part of a large group!

We got smashing views of a pair of Peregrines flying right overhead! Buzzards abounded but Goshawks seemed very hard to come by....however our attention was soon diverted by a colourful spectacle nearby. A male and female Common Crossbill and a male Brambling had been spotted in the Scots' Pine right in front of the viewing platform, so after finding a good spot on the platform we enjoyed amazing views of these bright characters foraging in the sunlit pines, for a good while! As my only previous views of Common Crossbill had been the female an hour or so earlier, and a distant flying speck elsewhere on an earlier occasion, I was super chuffed to see the Crossbills at such close range and in such good light. And the Brambling was practically in his summer plumage - his black head was only very lightly frosted! I tried getting some photos of them, but they were very mobile and constantly disappearing behind the pine needles, so my attempts were rather pitiful.

After a quick lunch break at Beechenhurst Lodge (where I added Brimstone to my butterfly list for the day), the next stop was Cannop Ponds, where normally we see Mandarins and Marsh Tits aplenty, however I think that today the good weather did not work in our favour - there were loads of people there (including some idiots letting their dog swim in the lake) and it seemed that the disturbance had probably been too much for the normally shy and retiring Mandarins. A few intrepid members of our group did manage to spot a few but they didn't stick around for long. At least I found another butterfly species, a Comma sunning itself in some brambles.

Rather bird-free Cannop Ponds.

Our final destination was a last-minute decision on the part of Ray, our esteemed group leader! Normally our last stop is Symonds Yat to see the Peregrines, but seeing as we'd already had super views of the speedy falcons at New Fancy View, it was decided we would check out Crabtree Hill, where the possibilities included Two-barred Crossbill, Hawfinch and Great Grey Shrike. This was exciting news indeed for me, as I'd been secretly hoping all week that we might be able to have a look for the Great Grey Shrike which had been in the area for some time! I'd only seen one once before, also in the Forest of Dean, a few years ago now and for some reason when I get a whiff of shrike, I can get a bit, er, irrational and obsessive. Well they are super-cool! In my haste to hot-foot it up the hill, I missed a Firecrest in the car park though - dammit! However all was forgotten when we reached the clear-felled area where the shrike had been loitering:

Nothing like some heathland in the sunshine!

Regular readers may know I particularly enjoy anything vaguely resembling a heath! Several birders already up there soon got us onto the shrike and I watched him for the rest of the time we had there :o) This was about the best photo I managed, I think it's a passable record shot at least:

The Butcher Bird! Digiscoped record shot.

He was quite mobile and kept flying around to perch in different spots, giving us a chance to observe some cool behaviour. On one occasion he flew up quite high then hovered for maybe 10 seconds or so! On another he dropped to the ground then returned with something long and thin, either a big caterpillar or a small lizard, it was difficult to tell at that distance. We also saw him being mobbed by Blue Tits. I did a few drawings of varying quality:

Great Grey Shrike sketches.

Great Grey Shrike sketches. Top left is my favourite!

I love how round and soft they can look when perched, in contrast to their fearsome habits and reputation! And I like the different shapes the shrike makes and the different angles of its tail with its body when it's balancing on top of a thin twig in the wind.

Even though I'd somehow managed to miss a good number of our initial target species, our encounters with lizards, snakes, crossbills and shrikes made this probably my favourite day in the Forest of Dean so far!