Hedgerow and Roadside Nightingales - all present and correct

Male Nightingale in roadside Hawthorn thicket, Shadoxhurst, 2015

Hearing is easy, but seeing Nightingales is very hard. This is one of the first birds I've seen in the last 5 weeks!

Despite a spring which refuses to settle into any regular weather pattern, (other than cold and windy) and also one of the worst springs many can remember for the late arrival of summer migrants, our local Nightingales have battled through to be present in good numbers.

Going by hearing song only can be difficult, this is especially so when the number of birds in a small area is high, but out in the open countryside it's much easier to calculate and register a Nightingale territory. In Shadoxhurst along towards Woodchurch then returning back to the trails of Orlestone Forest there are presently plenty of Nightingales in song.
Two birds in Packing Wood from 2014 are absent, but apart from these, there are dozens of Nightingales that have returned to established territories in roadside hedges and small isolated woodlands (Pound wood) around Shadoxhurst. The numbers of birds I'm hearing indicates a good healthy and widespread population quite surprising against a national picture of rapid and serious decline.
In Birchet, Long Rope, Stone Wood and Alex Pastures the last week has seen a noticeable number of birds singing at night on the periphery of the prime scrub nesting areas. Some of these Nightingales will be late arrival 'second wave' birds, and may not breed this year, but their singing will continue into mid-June.

Visiting the Orlestone woodlands at night and listening to the dramatic, loud song of such a large number of Nightingales is a highlight for me in spring and one of the joys of living in this small area of Kent. Listening from the back of the garden tonight the Nightingale song is distant and widespread but still a joy to hear. There are as many birds singing as I can ever remember.

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers - hanging on in Kent.

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at nest site, (600mm lens and a good distance away). 31/5/2015

In the wind and rain a grubby looking male Lesser Spotted woodpecker returns to its nest site

First the bad news, on my Shadoxhurst woodland walks, despite many hours of  looking and listening, I've been unable so far this year to find Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers. This is the first year (in fifteen or so) I've drawn a depressing blank, and it fits perfectly the national picture of a bird very much in decline and missing from large swathes of Britain.
Why Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers have gone from being a fairly common bird to such a rarity and threatened with extinction is complex. My belief was that it was something to do with competition from its larger and increasingly common cousin the Great spotted woodpecker, well known for  taking the chicks of other hole nesting birds. However this idea is flawed because this breeding pair of LSW is surrounded by GS woodpecker territories and they also bred at this  same site successfully last year too.

In France, Lesser spotted woodpeckers are fairly common in woodlands. When I'm there, they seem to find me  rather than me find them. Perhaps Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers once spread east to the UK but really their healthiest populations are in a broad range across continental Europe to Asia?

Now for the good news, a big thank you to Ade Jupp at Butterfly conservation -
http://butterfly-conservation.org/?gclid=CMfSwfft68UCFU2WtAodT0sA9Q 
because Ade has found this Kent-based breeding pair for the second year running. So far the chicks are very vocal and the birds are feeding regularly, the signs are good for a successfully fledged family of our rarest woodpecker.

Buzzard - a close encounter

A beautiful late spring morning had me back on the bike early today. I was brushed aside by this hotly pursued Buzzard. More gentle birds included Spotted flycatcher, Turtle Dove, many Nightingales and 2 Cuckoos all in the Shadoxhurst area.

Sparrowhawk?

I saw this distant bird yesterday and first thought it was a shot at Goshawk, but taking all pics into account the feeling is it is a female Sparrowhawk. Hard to believe pics 3 and 4 are the same bird, however all pics were taken in quick succession.

 

First village Red Kites of the Year

It seems along time since I've seen a Red Kite over Shadoxhurst, but today luck was with me, as it seems there's been a mini-invasion of them happening over much of Kent.

Dawn chorus in Shadoxhurst woodland

Early Purple Orchid, Alex Pastures, Shadoxhurst

Venturing down the garden at 5.30 this morning, my first thoughts were that the cold north-easterly winds had finally gone and so, too, had the crystal clear skies. Instead, it was raining steadily, the sky overcast, the air warm - perhaps a few more summer birds maybe around?. In the garden, a Green Woodpecker was calling loudly against a background of Song Thrush, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, and Chaffinch. I decided to do a dawn-chorus cycle ride, to Stone Wood in the hope of hearing most of our summer woodland birds. I headed towards Duck Lane and Stone Wood stopping regularly on the way to listen. In the village, Starlings and House Sparrows were everywhere, busy with broods under roof tops and eaves. As I left the village into countryside, no sign or sound of any summer migrants at all.

When I arrived at the top of Duck Lane, I walked slowly through to the woodland byway hoping to hear scarcer birds that I've missed so far year. Disappointingly, my list of absent birds continued. No Lesser Spotted Woodpecker this year and even the much commoner Nuthatch, and Great Spotted Woodpecker seem to be a hit-and-miss affair.

Once I'd arrived at the start of the byway there were at least 2 Nightingales in song from the woodland edge accompanied by the ever-present call of Chiff-chaffs - much more like spring, here. These two stalwarts seem to be the only common spring migrants that seem to be back in anything like the numbers to be expected for this time of year. Cycling slowly through to Stone Wood and Alex Pastures, a familiar pattern to my other visits this year, very little Woodpecker call or activity of any kind, and only one Blackcap (should be dozens). Stock Doves were calling and Jays, Crows and Pheasant were present all the way through the wood.

As I arrived at the gate for Alex Pastures, bird song improved immediately with Nightingale and Garden Warbler singing loudly from the entrance and the secondary woodland within the pasture. It's worth noting that the coppiced woodland opposite Stone Wood had no Nightingales present this morning. This area may well be populated by further migrants that may arrive in the week ahead.

Back inside Alex Pastures bird song was not as rich as I'd hoped (bar the Nightingales). Perhaps it was all down to the rain and grey overcast conditions dampening things down. The Turtle Dove purring here last week was silent or absent and there was no Cuckoo.  Blackcaps and Garden Warblers were singing, and engaging in some territorial display. Two pairs of Bullfiinch criss-crossed between the woodland and scrub.

The Nightingales in Alex Pastures have returned in good numbers this spring and there song seems particularly powerful and close in the second field. Despite the bird's physical closeness though, it's impossible to see them, just brief flashes of rufous plumage quickly disappearing back into scrub. Experience tells me that this is one of the highest density populations in the Orlestone Forest complex, its neighbour, Birchett Wood has many fewer birds back so far.

As I left Alex Pastures, continuing on the byway through the woods, there was little bird song variety, - sad as this area represents some of Kent's finest woodland habitat.

Continuing on a to a favorite area of area of scrub at Stone Wood, and expecting Nightingales, I was surprised to find none present at all. Another visit is needed to work out what maybe really happening here. To confuse my Nightingale numbers further along the byway into farmland, I was pleased to find three extra Nightingale territories, with other distant birds calling from farmland hedges too. I concluded, when I arrived home, that I'd ticked off 15 Nightingales in song. Near the end of my cycle ride, at last, another summer migrant present, a Lesser Whitethroat singing from a roadside hedgerow and on the surrounding farmland Skylarks were singing too.

When I arrived home, I was thinking more about the birds I hadn't heard, such as Cuckoo, Whitethroat and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that were absent from my ride. Perhaps May has time to get better yet?

Spring birds in the woods and in the garden

Blue tit foraging in the garden Blackthorn blossom, April 17th

 A good year for Blackthorn blossom.

Common Buzzard with Carrion Crow

During the last week I've made plenty of woodland walks around Orlestone Forest and Shadoxhurst. It's now the middle of April and with sunny skies and a rise in temperature, it's been no surprise our woodland migrants are slowly arriving here, all be it in low numbers. 

In Long Rope and Birchet Wood there were 2 Nightingales present in each wood on April 14th along with one Whitethroat in the former. In Birchet Wood there are 2 Willow Warblers present joining many more Chiffchaffs. Also on the 14th we heard our first Cuckoo from the garden and it was present near the fields of Duck Lane, Shadoxhurst. There seems to have been Swallows and House Martins in twos and threes around for about a week now. One day they're here, and then the next they're gone.

Usually by now spring breeding Blackcaps should be common and competing with Chiffchaffs for song across the forest, but so far this spring Blackcaps are just about absent from the woods. Luckily, we've had 2 Blackcaps calling and visiting the garden Blackthorn so they're present but not in great numbers yet.

In the forest, there is a impoverished sound to the dawn chorus with too many birds missing.  For instance I've found it hard to locate many Nuthatches, and Great Spotted Woodpeckers - they just don't seem to be as vocal and viewable in any numbers this year. Even worse, this spring, I've yet to locate our scarce and nationally declining Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers but in contrast Green Woodpeckers seem very local and are very easy to see both in the woodlands and pasture fields around the village. In Packing Wood, Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests are extremely numerous in the mixed pine woodland walk from Capel Road. Stock Doves are present in dozens in the farmland opposite.

The only surprise bird for me has been a Crossbill flying low over Alex Pastures April 12th. Crossbills are sporadic visitors and breeders in Kent and whilst last winter we had plenty of them around, there have been no sightings since then.

Birds of prey are well represented at the moment, Buzzards continue to be omni-present, and we have a pair of Kestrels displaying and calling close to the garden too. Friends are reporting Red Kites and Ravens locally but I've not seen either this year yet. A lone male Sparrowhawk has been displaying over Shadoxhurst for some weeks now, but it's looking increasingly lonesome as I've yet to see it flying with a mate, something you'd expect to see in early spring.

Tawny Owls are common and calling from every woodland I visit. Their presence draws me to the conclusion that they may have driven away the smaller Long Eared Owl, which I've not heard for a decade now. Little Owls are not difficult to locate around the village and Barn Owls are present in fields between Shadoxhurst and Woodchurch.

Walking through Birchett Wood last night, a Woodcock was flying and 'roding' across woodland rides, a sure sign that this was a breeding bird patrolling a territory. Sadly, with many breeding woodland bird species lost in Kent, the Woodcock could now be the rarest breeding bird in Orlestone forest, or will it be the next to vanish?