Warren House Inn and Challacombe

Warren House Inn and Challacombe

Sunday 23rd May 2010

A small band of enthusiastic people assembled near Warren House Inn, and was it not a lovely day? There was a breeze, which dropped after 2 hours and it became very hot indeed.

It really was the day of the Whitethroat and Redstart. We saw several glimpses of each after about an hour. They appeared and then disappeared. At Challacombe Farm we had excellent views while we had lunch fairly near a nesting box for a Redstart. I have never had some excellent views before. They are summer visitors, spending the winter in Africa. They usually breed in old deciduous woodland, occasionally in gardens and parks, where there are mature trees. They tend to hide in the trees and bushes, rarely going onto the ground and are usually very difficult to see, most sightings are of dark shapes in among the leaves. They are also found in stonewall country. They are slim, streamlined birds, with an erect posture. They have a grey mantle and a rusty red breast and undertail and a white forehead and black facemask. They nest in holes in trees or on loose stone walls. Laying of 7 or so eggs starts in mid May; incubation period is 2 weeks. They eat insects, beetles, spiders and caterpillars.

For almost the entire walk we heard cuckoos calling. They also were flying, and we saw two very clearly flying overhead, and also one in a tree. They really were exposing themselves. They are typically found near woodlands and farmland. They have bad manners as they are parasitic, laying eggs in Meadow Pipit’s and Dunnock’s nests. This is well known, but we still love them as they are seen as a harbinger of spring. The other bird we listened to all the way round were Willow Warblers which were singing their hearts out; most seemed to be in Willow Trees, which was very apt.

It was encouraging that there were lots of Whinchats. Last time I went there, two years ago, there were only about 6 pairs in the area. They are smart birds, brown on the back, orange on the chest and a strong white eye supercillium. We saw a lovely one on a fence in the sun. They are summer visitors, spending their winter in Africa. They are typically found in rough pastureland and tussocky grass. They eat insects beetles and craneflies. They nest at the foot of Gorse bushes. The nest is made of moss.

We saw some Spotted Flycatchers and they were my first for the year. There were several of them. No Pied ones were sighted, though. We even saw a Garden Warbler near some gorse bushes. It was a good sighting for once. The trouble is that they are so non-descript.

It was a lovely day out, and those who thought of going, and did not, missed a good days birding. Thanks go to Richard and Mark for finding and identifying birds and generally leading and keeping us in order.

Number of species seen: 39.

Ann Crawford

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Buzzard

Wood Pigeon

Cuckoo

Sky Lark

Swallow

House Martin

Meadow Pipit

Grey Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Dipper

Wren

Dunnock

Robin

Redstart

Whincat

Stonechat

Wheatear

Blackbird

Mistle Thrush

Cetti’s Warbler

Garden Warbler

Whitethroat

Chiffchaff (heard only)

Willow Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Nuthatch

Magpie

Jackdaw

Carrion Crow

Raven

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Siskin

Linnet

Reed Bunting

Alphabetic order