Robin training

It's all go in my garden at the moment, lots of fledgling activity going on now. An explosion of House Sparrows has taken place, everywhere I look I can see little youngsters hopping around and the Robins have finally fledged, leaving the ivy that grows up my neighbour's garage to take up residence in the dense conifers. The Starlings have young too, little grey things that are very demanding, beaks wide open as they scream out their begging calls.

During all this the Robin parents have become more and more confiding, one still a little shy but the other coming down to hop around my feet as I sit in the garden and watching attentively as I refill the feeders. Their favourite food are suet pellets and as an experiment this morning I tried crouching down near one of their perches with an outstretched hand, a few pellets in my palm. The bolder bird was very interested and fluttered from perch to perch, looking alternately at me and my hand, before hovering with fast wingbeats in the air in front of me, building up courage. After repeating this a couple of times there was a quick dart and a pellet was grabbed, then taken to the chicks in the conifers. I kept still and the bird returned and after a little gathering of courage took another!

After a couple more visits I put some pellets and other food in the ground feeder tray and left the birds in peace, but I have been out a couple more times with another handful of pellets for a little more hand feeding... the feeling of little Robin feet touching down on your fingers is rather cool!

Painted ladies

An influx of Painted Lady butterflies is underway in England, the fragile insects having flown from north Africa, through Europe and across the channel. They are making their way northwards but were seen here in mid-Essex this morning. I found a very ragged and faded butterfly at Manor Farm near Chelmsford drinking nectar from a dandelion and I saw a number of others in the area but none close enough to see if they were in a similar state as this one.

Painted Lady butterfly

A Walk Through Dedham Vale

Yesterday morning I took the train to Manningtree and met my brother at the station, originally planning to wander around the Manningtree/Mistley area but when I got to the station I suggested we might want to go along the river to the west, out to Flatford. I'd heard cuckoos there before and since my sighting in Writtle my brother has been saying that he hadn't heard one... he soon agreed when I suggested there was a possibility that there could be some over there!

Before I left the platform I'd seen Chaffinches, Whitethroats, Rooks, Carrion Crows and rabbits and as we walked along the trackway to the river we also saw Swifts, Pied Wagtails, Wrens, Canada Geese, Dunnocks, Blackbirds and more Rooks, this time feeding youngsters in a field. At the river where the path junction takes you left to Flatford we could hear more Whitethroat, Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers (according to my brother... I can't yet id Reedies by their song), and yet more Chaffinches on the posts nearby.

Turning left we could see Rooks flying back and forth, there must be a rookery nearby but I'm not sure where, plus Canada Geese, Grey Herons and Cormorants flying overhead. Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers were calling from the reeds nearby and on the river we could see Shelducks, Oystercatchers and Mallards. Reed Buntings were flying in pairs from the reeds, sweeping high into the air before plunging down into the reeds again, calling to each other as they flew. Pheasants were heard too, out of sight in the fields to the left, while cows were lowing in the pasture across the river.

As we approached Flatford we could hear a Cuckoo in the distance, lovely to hear one again, particularly now knowing my brother had finally had heard one. We saw lots more Whitethroats and Reed Buntings here, one Whitethroat hunting caterpillars in a hawthorn had six wrigglers in it's beak and was still hunting for more! We sat down at the wooden portage near the mill and watched the ducks on the river, a female steaming along with a trail of ducklings in her wake and two male Mallards coming to us in hope of a little food and nibbling our fingers as we gave them some crumbs from a cereal bar.

At the millpond Swallows were zipping around, flying amongst the buildings, across the water and through a gap in the hedge to the field beyond, coming extremely close to us as we stood on the track! Always a wonderful sight, we spent some time enjoying the spectacle, then walked out a little way along the river path that leads to Dedham, watching more ducks and ducklings, a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the trees and attempting, not very successfully, to photograph the Swallows on the wing. Turning back we stopped at the lock gates to watch a pair of Grey Wagtails flitting around, gathering the many flies that hung above the water and seemingly playing chase with each other. All the time the Cuckoo was calling in the distance and we could hear its calls moving around.

Back along the track towards the concrete river gates we caught sight of the Cuckoo flying from the west behind the Willows, perching in a tall tree out of sight and calling once more. We moved around along a side path that followed the river and managed a few glimpses of the Cuckoo moving about from tree to tree. Lots of Orange Tip butterflies and damselflies and dragonflies too, a really nice spot. Walking back to the river gates my brother spotted some Linnets, Reed Buntings and Whitethroats in the reeds and brambles behind the gates so we spent a little time trying to photograph those before walking back along the path towards the train station, spotting a very distant wader down at the river's edge which I think was a Redshank and also a brief glimpse of a Yellowhammer along the hedgerows.

Sedge Warbler

Return to Writtle

Having woken up early, around 4am(!), I decided to get out early and go to Writtle in search of the huge crow/unlikely Raven I saw on Saturday. I took a circular route to the Agricultural College via the footpath leading from St John's Road to Fox Burrows Lane, then west along the lane to Lordship Road and the start of the east/west bridleway. I saw a few crows here, flying off from the college heading south-east. I just had time to get my binoculars on them before the disappeared behind the trees, just time to notice a larger one had a chevron shaped tail, but too brief to say if it was a Raven or just wishful thinking. Truth be told the rarity of Ravens here leads me to doubt I have seen one. The crow I saw on Saturday certainly was an order of magnitude bigger than the other Carrion Crows I've seen and comparing tails of other crows the chevron tail was definitely different, but different enough to be a sign it was a Raven? I'd only believe it if I got a photo of the bird and it was corroborated by an experienced birdwatcher.

Heading on along the bridleway through the college I stopped at the new reservoir, a foolhardy Swallow overhead blown around by the gusting winds. Very quiet here, no sheep in the field behind today and very few birds around on the water - a few Tufted Ducks, a mallard with her large collection of ducklings, a few lesser black-backed gulls. I scanned the water's edge slowly and could see no sign of the Little Ringed Plovers. I watched a mallard close to the near bank and then some movement caught my eye and what had been just another lump of mud became a rather angry plover! It was so small and had sat so still among the foam at the bank that I hadn't even seen it, even in motion it pushed my 8x binoculars to the limit to watch it! A stretched wing and a flurry of action sent the mallard off and the Little Ringed Plover disappeared into the weeds out of sight below the rise of the land. The action was rather defensive and I wonder if these plovers are nesting here - would be great if they are!

Moving on, past the hiding Whitethroats (even more elusive among the foliage blown about by the winds) and a lone Stock Dove in a ploughed field, near the end of the bridleway I saw a few insects flying as the clouds had thinned slightly. I wondered if this might bring out the swallows and then as I thought it I saw a House Martin flash by! Ok, so not a Swallow as such, but pretty good timing all the same! Some more followed and I watched them for a while then walked on to the gate where I'd watched a Cuckoo on Saturday. I could see the large tree where it perched but all was quiet, just a Carrion Crow feeding down amongst the crop stems. I turned back along the bridleway and a Pied Wagtail was energetically wandering around the path, a bird I always love to see, one of my oldest favourites. By now there was quite a crowd of Martins swirling overhead so I tried to see if I could get a few photos of them in flight. Very difficult, their flight was so quick and erratic but I managed a few shots that came out ok.

Further along the path I spotted a Yellowhammer in the hedgerow, it's beak stuffed with nest material - a very encouraging sight and the best view of a Yellowhammer I've ever had, I usually only hear them calling for their 'little-bit-of-bread-and-no cheeeese'. Back to the reservoir I could see a Grey Heron had arrived but couldn't see the Little Ringed Plover, either out of my view or keeping still. I walked on through the college and then back to the village green, sitting at a bench by the duckpond with a jam sandwich... which meant that I was soon in the middle of a scrum of ducks and geese! Some of the smaller hybrid bibbed Mallards were very sweet and bold, standing almost on my shoes and as I offered them a morsel they nibbled at my fingers, something I wouldn't have wanted the large domestic goose to do!

I walked up to the junction of Ongar Road and Lordship Road and took the public footpath past the allotments and wound out through the college land again, crossing the stream a couple of times and looping back south to Great Oxney Green, attempting to photograph an Orange Tip butterfly along the way and managing to misfocus my little camera. I tried to get out my SLR but the butterfly flew off before I could. Ah well, another time perhaps. Still, as passed horses in a meadow and approached Victoria Road I saw a fox jump up from the long grass off in the empty meadow to the right and dash towards the high weeds by the fence! I didn't see where it went, I lost it when it disappeared into the tall weeds, but was really great to see a fox out in a slightly more rural area! That was the last nature of the day, I reached the village and walked back to Writtle along the main road and from there took the bus back home.

A House Martin against the overcast sky

A busy weekend

The May Day weekend was a busy one for me, three walks in four days! On Friday afternoon I walked around the Chelmer Valley Nature Reserve with a few friends from work. Not too much going on that day but we did see Mistle Thrushes gathering worms for chicks, a glimpse of a Blackcap, some Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats, Comma and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and quite a lot of rabbits.

On Saturday morning I took the bus to Writtle, another birdwatcher had posted to birdforum.net that Little Ringed Plovers were at a new reservoir on the Writtle Agricultural College land. I walked quite a bit around the area and got pretty sunburnt as it was really a lovely day. I missed the Little Ringed Plovers (but actually found one in one of the photos I took at the reservoir!) but saw a pair of Common Terns, a Grey Heron, lots of Tufted Ducks, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Mallards with ducklings and along the rest of the walk I saw lots of Swallows, a Cuckoo in a tall tree off Cow-watering Lane, Whitethroats everywhere and the air was full of Orange Tip butterflies too, more than I'd ever seen! As I walked north past The Orchards along a field edge beside a stream a huge crow flew out of a tree ahead! I see lots of Carrion Crows around but this really was a BIG bird, far larger than the ones I regularly see. I didn't take in the details but size alone suggested it may have been a Raven, indeed the guy who'd told me about this place was around that morning and saw a huge crow he thought might be a Raven too. Rather tantalising!

On Monday I woke very early and left before 6am to walk to the Chelmer Valley Nature Reserve again, hoping I might see more than I did on Friday. At the automatic weir on the river by the Essex Record Office I saw a Grey Wagtail, the first I've seen so far this year, and at the river near Tesco on Springfield Road I saw a Moorhen with two young and a female Mallard with a large flotilla of ducklings in tow. On the north side of Victoria Road I saw a family of Song Thrushes by the river behind MacDonald's, at least four dumpy fledglings there keeping close to the protection of the nettles. Across the river a Song Thrush and a Blackbird were being harassed by a Blackbird fledgling, a very hungry chap, he was begging from any bird that came near (perhaps abandoned?). At the viaduct were lots of rabbits (there were huge numbers out all around the reserve this morning), one having lost an eye in the past, just healed-over skin where the right eye should be. Along the footpath in the wooded part of the reserve I watched a pair of Chaffinches courting and mating - the female leaning forward with her tail raised as the male shuffled in s-shapes around her with head and wings lowered, then they mated and he repeated the shuffling before mating again.

On the rough ground nearby lots of Whitethroats, greenfinches, more rabbits and lots of crows and magpies overhead. Green Woodpeckers calling from the trees and a possible Stock Dove on the meadow on the far side of the river, Swallows hawking for insects above. Walking back along the main path to the weir and bridge I took the riverside track and saw a pair of Blackcaps in a willow, too flighty to allow me long enough to raise my camera but a great view of the female through my binoculars, the best view I've ever had of these shy birds. Then in another willow a Wren belted out his ear-splitting song, only a few feet away. I took some photos of him singing and then headed back into town, watching a long-tailed tit taking insects to a hidden nest near the Riverside outide pool while a Sparrowhawk circled high overhead.

Not a bad weekend all told!

Singing Wren in a riverside Willow