Yarner woods, Sunday 8th May, by Ray Lovett

Yarner Woods, Sunday 8th May, by Ray Lovett

There was an excellent turnout and around 20 of us met in the car park at 9.00. With so many it was decided to split into two groups taking separate routes. The target specials that we all hoped to see were Pied Flycatcher, Wood Warbler and Redstart. It may have been May but even with some sun it was still a chilly morning and at first the birds seem rather reluctant to do much. For the first half hour or so our group, led by Richard, had little success. Quite a few birds were identified by sound, especially Blackcaps, but very little was being seen beyond the odd Blue Tit. Things started to look up when we got into the section where the Pied Flycatchers were using the nesting boxes. Suddenly we were rewarded with lots of sightings and everyone had good views, often at quite short range, of their smart Black and White plumage. The nest boxes are often right beside the path and the birds did not seem to be too concerned about all these people with their binoculars. Less eager to display itself was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which lived down to its' name when only one person caught a fairly fleeting glimpse of it. Apparently some of the other group also had sightings so it made the 'Official' List even if not in my personal one.

Around here we passed the other group which, as always, seemed to have seen more, including good views of two Tawny Owls. Naturally we were unable to find these Owls when we passed the place but we did get excellent views of Wood Warblers. They seemed to be involved in building a nest on the ground right beside the path so again we had several sightings and everyone had a good look at this attractive little bird. I had been looking forward to hearing its call again as it is a highly distinctive and striking one but, alas, only incomplete parts of the call were heard.

Later many of the group had sightings of a male Redstart and possibly of a female disappearing into a hole. As with the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker I was not one of those looking in the right place at the right time. The final stretch of our route across the open heath section provided two final pleasures with a clear sighting of a Tree Pipit and excellent views of a pair of Redpoll.

The final list was not impressively long, less than 30 species, but we all had good views of some species not to be seen everywhere. Thanks to both leaders for a most enjoyable morning.

Footnote. A few days later, at the spot where the Owls had been seen someone pointed out to us a fledgling Tawny Owl, still very fluffy, perched right beside the path, obviously having managed to fall out of the nest. It's possible that this is why the parent owls had been visible as they kept an eye on their errant offspring.

Number of species seen: 34

Birds seen, in BOU order or alphabetic order

BOU order

Mallard

Buzzard

Wood Pigeon

Cuckoo

Tawny Owl

Swift

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Barn Swallow

House Martin

Tree Pipit

Wren

Robin

Redstart

Blackbird

Song Thrush

Mistle Thrush

Blackcap

Wood Warbler

Chiffchaff

Willow Warbler

Pied Flycatcher

Long-tailed Tit

Marsh Tit

Coal Tit

Blue Tit

Great Tit

Treecreeper

Carrion Crow

Raven

Chaffinch

Linnet

Lesser Redpoll

Yellowhammer

Alphabetic order