22nd March

Bushy Park

This chilly day turned out to be quite rewarding. Instead of sitting in at lunch I decided to walk along the Nature Trail. This area isn’t open to the public but it does run alongside the Longford River as it flows through the Woodland Gardens. Though the light wasn’t that good I attempted to take some photos of a couple of pair of Goldcrests and Long-tailed Tits that were feeding in brambles and bushes by the river. Something small and greyish flew to the opposite bank and began feeding on insects amongst the bankside vegetation. I took a couple of distant shots and thought that it looked a good candidate for Siberian Chiffchaff. A call from close to me had me looking up into an Alder the light was very poor. I couldn’t believe my luck, looking down at me was a male Firecrest. I watched him for a while, as it moved from low vegetation into Ivy covered Oaks and back to low vegetation. It was very obliging and was only spooked when the pair of Long-tailed Tits hassled it. Walking back to try and find the chiffy I was surprised to find two birds, one slightly greyer in appearance than the other but not by much. They would separate at times but were very quiet. It was only once that I heard a call that reminded me of Siberian Chiffchaff, somewhat like a quieter less frequent call of a Kingfisher. I have only seen this species on 3 other ocassions but am reasonably sure that is what at least one of the birds was.

Other News

Meadow Pipit: 25 feeding south of Upper Lodge Road.

Redwing: 180+ in the Paddocks and along Chestnut Avenue.

Fieldfare: 10 in the Paddocks.