Steps Bridge

Steps Bridge & Dunsford Woods

2^nd June 2009.

It was a lovely morning, and I was rather surprised that only four members and two visitors assembled in the car park. We went over the bridge, and went up the trail. There were Herring Gulls overhead and lots of Jackdaws, but no Crows, which was unusual; in fact the only Corvid seen were the Jackdaws. On the river we saw a family of Grey Wagtails busying themselves fly hunting. Later on a boulder we saw a Dipper, which was great, as they are not that common. We also saw a Kingfisher, with its straight flight up the river, out of the sun, so it looked brown not blue. Its loud piping-like shreak first alerted us to its presence. There were also some Mallards, and the females under the bank showed us how well they are camouflaged. We were able to watch a young Robin having a dust bath.

High up in the canopy there were many Wood Warblers singing, but we could not find them, and there were also several Chiffchaffs as well, but no Willow Warblers. We heard Goldcrests squeaking away. We saw lots of Blue Tits busying themselves among the leaves, and then a Great Tit pair who were feeding young, who were in a hole in a tree. At first we thought that they were Pied Flycatchers as the sighting was brief, and Flycatchers were calling; how confusing.

On the way back we watched a family of Chaffinches, catching Flies, and at first we thought that they were Spotted Flycatchers. Well they were flycatching and hovering in the air and going back to the same perch. They were fun to watch. We then went up the road, over the bridge, saw a single Swallow over the houses, and then a Great Spotted Woodpecker on a feeder of the Hotel. Interesting that there were no other Woodpeckers, Treecreepers nor Nuthatches. All in all a lovely morning, which many of you missed out on.

Number of species seen: 25

Ann Crawford

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mallard

Buzzard

Herring Gull

Wood Pigeon

Kingfisher

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Swallow

Grey Wagtail

Dipper

Wren

Dunnock (heard only)

Robin

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Blackcap

Wood Warbler (heard only)

Chiffchaff (heard only)

Goldcrest (heard only)

Long-tailed Tit

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Jackdaw

Chaffinch

Alphabetic order