Wild Wanderings

Diary Entry 22nd March 2018

Greats and Greenies

Spring returned briefly this week, well for a few hours anyway. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing and even the Daffodils were swaying gently in the breeze. It seemed everything was joining in and then the grey skies returned, and it was like winter again. To say it has been changeable is an understatement. One minute I’m planning the spring garden and the next I’m shivering and wrapped up as if I’m going on an expedition to the artic.

The birds however don’t seem to mind. They still seem to be paring up and they are all getting very territorial. I have had four Robins all at the same time squabbling and darting about the hedges. In and out they go before suddenly standing still wings twitching and head bobbing and seemingly chattering to their selves. They are quite relentless with untold energy for the chase.

I have heard both of our resident types of Woodpeckers high in the trees. The cackling laugh of the shy Green Woodpecker so distinctive and usually in the evening. The Greens very rarely come down, but I have been lucky enough to have seen them quite close a couple of times. They remind me of little green aliens in their bright green suits and fine red heads. They feed on ants and always stand in that familiar pose, as if startled, with their long slender beak pointing up to the sky. Head and beady eye always on the lookout. It doesn’t take much to ‘spook’ them and they take off for the cover of the trees.

The Greater Spotted Woodpeckers are now tapping away at the trees in earnest and the ‘drilling’ noise can be heard most days. I have a very successful community of GSW’s around me here and often see young ones in the summer. I have had five at a time in the past. This week four crossed the paddock flying in close formation and twittering frantically. I think it was a pairing ritual. Their undulating, start stop flight a very good diagnostic feature of the GSW.

I was also pleased to see a small group of Long Tailed Tits moving along the hedge rows in their familiar fashion. These little birds suffer terribly in the really cold weather. Numbers can fall sometimes by 70% in harsh conditions. Let’s hope they have survived the ‘beast from the east’. I would miss their little lollipop shapes dashing about in the Hawthorn.

The River has been high and fast flowing so not much has been happening there. A few Swans and couple of Mallard is all I have seen on my recent strolls to the riverbank. In a couple of months or so the scene will change dramatically. The river will shrink in size and a bank of Dock Leaf plants and a swarm of Damselflies and Dragonflies will be basking in the early summer sun. Reminding me of a primordial water margin.

Just that memory makes me feel a whole lot warmer. A summer sunset and a few Butterflies. A memory worth hanging onto during this cold start to spring.

Till tomorrow