Galleywood Fields

I've been doing some wildlife exploring over the last week, taking some walks around the south end of Great Baddow, Galleyend, around Parklands Farm and Galleywood Common. A walk on Thursday took me to a little wild area off Vicarage Lane, along the Vicarage Lane bridleway (nice hornbeams, field maples, hazel, oak, ash, hawthorn, blackthorn and sweet chestnut trees here) to Brook Lane where I spent a little time watching a gathering of Blue Tits and Great Tits in a tree, accompanied by Chaffinches, Dunnocks and Wrens! After a quick scan of the fields along Vicarage Lane I walked south to the footpaths around Parklands Farm, through a small spinney of ancient woodland and along the field boundary tracks to Rignalls Lane. I saw a sign on a fence along the track mentioning the wild borders here, put in to encourage wildlife and mentioning specifically brown hares, badgers and barn owls - that caught my attention!

At the end of the track by the road I saw a huge gathering of birds, lots of yellowhammers, young Goldfinches, Chaffinches, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Collared Doves and Woodpigeons, plus a pair of Sparrowhawks flying overhead.

Young Goldfinch

On Friday morning I got up very early and headed back to the same spot off Rignalls Lane before dawn and walked through the fields south to Galleywood. Lots of woodpigeons and gulls on the tilled soil and near one of the larger woods I saw hares up on the crest of the hill. I took a look around the wood, dominated by hornbeams and oaks then walked on south along the edge of the fields, spotting a Great Spotted Woodpecker in a big tree near a horse paddock. At the smaller patch of woodland I paused to watch a young Rabbit on the track and past the wood I found an entrance to a badger sett right on the edge of the field, spoil dragged away to the hedgerow and scrape marks at the tunnel slope suggested it had been in use very recently! As I looked around I saw a silhouette on the far side of the hedgerow, a fox running along the edge of the meadow and disappearing in the undergrowth... this was turning into a good day for mammals.

Further along I passed a large flock of Long-tailed tits and left the fields at Ponds Road where I saw what I 'think' was a Barn Owl flying north along Lower Green. The angle was bad and it may have been a gull or a collared dove but the shape and the flight style seemed wrong for either of those and really said owl to me. I know from the signs I'd read that there are Barn Owls here but I can't be sure this was one though, I didn't get a good enough view of it. I headed along Ponds Road to Galleywood Common and walked around the heath, which was pretty quiet save for the dog walkers. I did find a Small Copper butterfly though, which seemed to have been laying eggs on the grass. I took a few photographs of her, wandered through the wooded part of the common then made my way back to the Stock Road and from there back home.

Small Copper

Out on the Common

I had decided that a birdwatching walk around Galleywood Common was undoubtedly overdue, so I set my alarm to get up at 5am this morning and had an early(ish) night. I left before 6am and set of for the two mile walk there. The walk was pretty quiet, a few early Robins, Tits and Blackbirds along the way, some woodpigeons in the meadows and a brief glimpse of, I think, a Sparrowhawk. I reached St Michaels church about twenty past six, still early but quite light under an overcast sky. I sat on a bench in the churchyard and waited for any developments. I could see rabbits on the old racecourse just outside the church grounds and some squirrels feeding amongst the tombstones. Suddenly a female Sparrowhawk flew down and tried to attack one of the squirrels, beating it's wings as it tried to work out how to attack but then flying off into the surrounding trees, leaving the squirrel to dash off into the undergrowth. It was all over in seconds and I was amazed that the hawk attempted to take such a large mammal, although it could have been an inexperienced young bird.

I left the church and walked through the woods, winding my way around and just exploring the tracks that crisscross the woodland here. I came out on the grass next to Margaretting Road, lots of rabbits here. I walked along the edge of the wood to the heath and paused to watch some Tits flying around between the trees then noticed a Greater Spotted Woodpecker in one of the trees tapping away on a branch. As I moved around slowly to get a better angle I saw two more birds fly into the tree and refocusing I saw a fairly plain greyish bird, rather Robin-like with darkish legs and a dark-tipped bill. It was definitely not a bird I'd seen before and it looked rather like a Flycatcher, but I had no idea if those were found in this part of the country. As I pondered if I would be able to get my camera from my backpack the bird started looking a little agitated so I tried to memorise it as well as possible and then it flew off across the heath to the other woods. I checked my field guides when I got home and searched for images of Flycatchers and any other similar birds on t'internet and am fairly sure that they were Spotted Flycatchers after finding some images showing similar bill colouring and indistinct spots and talking to my brother about them.

I walked on through the heath and through the woods to the south, lots of fungi around and Robins singing and piping out their alarm calls amongst the trees, Green Woodpeckers yaffling in the canopy somewhere. I crossed the remains of the Napoleonic defences near a carpark and followed an overgrown trackway until I eventually came upon a clearing close to the Stock Road where a large dragonfly was patrolling, too fast and erratic in flight for me to get a close look to hazard a species, but my impression was that of a Migrant Hawker or something similar. Carrying on along the track I passed a large pond, little more than a boggy hole at the moment, a family of Moorhens looking for food amongst the mud. I watched a Dunnock searching for morsels of food under the bracken nearby then headed across the grassy sward to the narrow wooded strip on the western side of the common where a little road was found.

I followed the road to a trackway that ran west between a garden and an area of slightly more open woodland, where I stopped to watch another flock of Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tits. The Warden of the Common reserve was passing and stopped to chat for a minute before hurrying off to church and I turned west down a little track and then at the bottom struck north into the woods, across London Hill and then into the woods again along a small track that led around Mill Hill but was clearly very little used as it was terribly overgrown and a large bough blocked the path at one point - I needed to drop down to my knees to squirm underneath it. After a while I came to a rough bench, clearly a spot favoured by the local kids judging by the scrawls on the wood, where I stopped for a peaceful moments rest... until an unnoticed Green Woodpecker on a tree right behind me launched into an explosive yaffle that gave me quite a shock and I spun round and scared off the bird, which had been amazingly close! I headed out across the road to the heath and after wandering around a little headed back to St Michaels Church and from there up Watchhouse Road and Brook Lane to the south end of the bridleway that leads to Vicarage Lane in Great Baddow.

Along the bridleway I saw and heard lots more tits, and at the east side horse paddock I watched a large group of Swallows feeding on the wing, possibly gathering in preparation for the flight south. Just north of there I found a big dragonfly patrolling a section of path, another Hawker but again I couldn't get a clear view of it to attempt an identification. I then found a Hazel beside the track, the ground covered in nut shells that were cracked in half or had a hole chiseled in one end. At the north end of the bridleway I found a Blackthorn covered in Sloes and nearby a baby Wren was skulking in the thicket, a gorgeous little thing still with the yellow gapes at the sides of its bill. I then packed away my binoculars and camera and tramped through Great Baddow and off home...

Blackthorn Sloes

An early start

I got up early this morning and was out just before dawn, walking into town and off to the Chelmer Valley reserve. At the canoe club in town I spotted the Kingfisher yet again, the third time I've seen it recently! I think it must be taking advantage of a good fishing branch I'd noticed some time ago sticking out over the water at what looked like a good diving height. Very cool that there is one taking up residence in the town, how long it will stay I don't know as this is right next to a regularly-used footbridge... only time will tell but it's great to see it.

On through town along the river, past Riverside ice rink where greenfinches and tits were feeding in the hedges that surround the outside pool, then across Victoria Road to the start of the nature reserve. Lots of rabbits feeding amongst the willows and I spotted a completely bald-headed male Blackbird nearby, then a couple of young Blackbirds with slight balding too... could this be something they got from Dad? Coincidence? In the main wooded part of the reserve I met plenty of dogwalkers but also saw and heard lots of Long-tailed tits, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Dunnocks, Robins, Wrens, Crows, Woodpigeons, a few possible Chiffchaffs and Green Woodpeckers. Walking along the walled edge of the reserve I looked at the tree I'd photographed previously and discovered was a Hornbeam, then found a couple more close by, along with White Poplar, Sycamore, Horse-chestnut, Ash and Hawthorn (and those are just the ones I could identify) - a good mix for a tiny grove of trees.

Out onto the playing fields and around to the wild ground bordering the reserve, I paused for five or ten minutes at the boundary, watching two big oaks for any activity (I'm hoping but not expecting to see a Nuthatch, I doubt there are any but I'll keep looking) and found a Greater Spotted Woodpecker hammering away at an old branch, really knocking chunks out of it as it looked for a hidden grub. After a while it gave up and flew away, off down the line of oaks and into the reserve. I turned and walked to the raised banks of the old reservoir, walking around it's edge where greenfinches called from the thicket on the bank. I walked up to the rim and looked down to find some Magpies hopping around and a Grey Heron attempting to eat something unidentifiable but failing as it was enormous. I couldn't make out what it was through my binoculars, something it found rather than caught, it looked as though whatever it was had been expired for a while! The Heron looked at me rather nervously and then flew off towards the river, leaving the Magpies to peck at the 'thing' it had regurgitated. I carried on around the reservoir, more rabbits and lots of wild roses festooned with red hips but very little bird life.

As I walked across the rough ground back to the playing fields I could hear a commotion and turning back I could see a lot of crows in the air making a din. Looking towards the low sun it was hard to make out what was going on but as they moved away from the sun a little I could make out two Kestrels that were being mobbed by the Crows, the little falcons having to invert in the air and brandish their talons to see off the dive bombing Crows. After a while the group disappeared behind the trees and I walked on to the two oaks, pausing again to see what might appear. I saw a blur of bluish grey flash into the left oak, too quick to see what it was. I trained my bins where it had gone but the leaves were too dense and after a few minutes I gave up the hunt. It didn't quite look like the usual tit flight and the feel was wrong for a blue tit (seemed too big for one thing) but I know how the mind can convince you when you want to see something! It would be nice to think it could have been a Nuthatch and it seemed a good tree for them but I'll just have to keep looking.

Walking through the Alder wood to the river gave a close encounter with a Squirrel, which ambled towards me then doubled-back when it saw me before climbing a tree and approaching while flicking its tail in agitation. Very few birds other than a couple of Great Tits, hopefully as winter sets in the Siskins will return. Following the riverbank footpath back to the south end of the reserve I saw very little but near the university buildings I saw a family of mute swans and some of the youngsters were harassing a poor Moorhen sitting in the middle of a floating patch of weeds. I wondered why it was staying there but then realised there were some very young chicks with it! Thankfully the adult mute swans moved off a short distance and the juveniles followed, leaving the mother Moorhen and her chicks in peace. Just past there I also found some large hoverflies and a Comma butterfly, presumably this was one of the later generation that are likely to hibernate through the winter. I also saw how widespread the hop plants are now, really spreading out with lots of flower cones about.

From there it was back under the railway viaduct and back to town, not a bad morning all told and I had some really lovely close views of the great and blue tits.