A single day Brecks Tour, the second of two back to back tours this weekend. After a slightly misty start, it was another lovely, sunny early spring day with lots of blue sky but perhaps a little more patchy cloud than yesterday. Warm again, with temperatures up to 18C by early afternoon. With much cooler weather forecast for next week, we needed to make the most of it!
Our first destination for the morning was Santon Downham. Given it was still misty and cool, and there was nothing singing when we arrived, we decided to walk down the road first, towards the river. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming in the distance.
Looking back across the grazing marshes, we could see a Kestrel perched in a dead tree. Lots of Chaffinches came up out of the surrounding trees and flew up towards the pines beyond and we could see one or two Bramblings in with them. There still seemed to be more finches in the branches and we presumed they would be commuting in and out of the pines, feeding on the seeds which are dropping out of the opening cones in the warm weather. We decided to walk back round via that way.
Further on, two Siskins dropped down into the bushes over the ditch, followed by two more Chaffinches. Presumably coming down to drink. We could hear Stock Dove calling and found one perched on the top of a poplar trunk.
Down at the bridge, we could just see a few tits on the feeders by the river. A Grey Wagtail was singing nearby and we realised it was perched in one of the alders by the bridge. Sadly it flew just as we found it, over the bridge and further upstream where it landed on the bank and was joined by a second. A couple of Egyptian Geese were standing up in one of the poplars downstream. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew in calling.
Most of the feeders in the garden beyond the bridge seemed to be empty. Again, there just seemed to be a few tits coming in to the ones closest to the house. Two Greenfinches flew up into the alders but otherwise it was slightly surprising not to find any other finches here. Apparently the Redpolls had been in the trees here yesterday. We figured most of the finches must be feeding in the pines at the moment.
We walked back along the road and turned off just before the railway. Walking through the trees, several Chaffinches flew up from the ground and more were hopping around in the branches overhead. Several small flocks flew off over the tracks and we spotted a couple of Bramblings in with them as they went. There were a few Goldfinches and Siskins in the trees here too and a smart pink male Redpoll landed in the top of one of the birches ahead of us.
We could see a couple of Bramblings in the trees here too but they were hard to get onto at first, moving around in the tangles of criss-crossing branches. Eventually a male stopped in one place long enough for everyone to see and as we walked on it stayed in the branches above us.
Further along, a Treecreeper flew in and landed on the trunk of an oak tree ahead of us. We watched it work its way up and then along the underside of a couple of the side branches.
As we cut through the underpass, we found a couple of dog walkers on the path through the open area the other side. Perhaps it was no surprise there were no birds here now. A passing car on the road earlier had stopped to ask us if we were part of the Essex Bird Club group. Now we realised why, as we could see a large coach parked by the road and a huge group of people walking down the path towards us. We decided to move on somewhere quieter!
It was still a bit hazy, but it felt like it was starting to warm up. We decided to go straight up now and see if we could catch up with any Goshawks before it got too busy there. On the way, we stopped briefly to look at a field which was full of Fieldfares and Starlings, with a single Mistle Thrush too. When we arrived in the lay by and got out, we were told one was up already. We looked over to see a Goshawk circling over the firs opposite. A second Goshawk came up below it and now we watched the two of them displaying.
We were also told that there were three Stone Curlews in the fields behind. We set the scopes up on those. They were a bit distant and there was already a bit of heat haze but we could see what they were. Two Eurasian Curlews were in the grassy field in front – part of the very small lowland remnant breeding population in the Brecks. All this time, the two Goshawks were still displaying the other side. We didn’t know which way to look!
After a while, the Goshawks dropped down and we lost sight of them behind the treetops. There were a few other raptors up in the sky. Several Common Buzzards included one striking bird with very white underparts, a regular here and a pitfall for the unwary. We could see a Kestrel, a Sparrowhawk, a couple of Red Kites and a Marsh Harrier which circled up behind us. There was not much wind though today, and after an initial flurry, the raptor activity seemed to drop off a little.
There were a few birds in the pigfields here too. A couple of Shelduck were down on the muddy pool in the bottom and two Greylag Geese flew over. There were lots of Red-legged Partridges (they obviously are not very good at shooting here!), a couple of Pied Wagtails which flew round from time to time and several Linnets. There were Skylarks singing on and off, one fluttered up behind us and a couple flew past in front.
A Woodlark had sung briefly earlier but it was distant and we couldn’t see it. Once other things had calmed down, we walked along the road to see if we could find it in the field further along. Stopping to scan, we eventually heard a Woodlark call briefly, still further down. As we walked on along the road, it probably came up from behind a tree on the verge as we heard it start to sing. Only once we could see round the other side could we find the Woodlark fluttering up into the sky. It kept on going higher, then seemed to stop singing quite quickly and flew off further. We eventually lost sight of it behind the trees.
There was still a bit of Goshawk activity but the birds were a bit more distant now. We had good views through the scopes of them displaying, white undertail coverts fluffed out, slow flapping and even some bursts of the full rollercoaster, male and female together.
Eventually we decided to move on. We had a quick look at the fields where we had seen the Stone Curlews yesterday, but there was no sign of any there this morning. Further on, we found a few Fieldfares still in the field where we had more last week. Despite driving slowly through the area with the windows open, there was no sound of any Woodlarks singing here again.
It was time for lunch when we got back to Lynford Arboretum. The car park was very busy now, but we found somewhere we could park. Thankfully the picnic tables were empty – everyone seemed to be in the queue for the loo or for coffee at the Shepherd’s Baa! As we ate in the sunshine, a Brimstone butterfly fluttered round.
After lunch, we had a walk round through the Arboretum. We found several Goldcrests in the trees, and a selection of tits, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits and Long-tailed Tits. There were several Nuthatches calling.
We cut back across to the main path by the gate. There were lots of people already standing there – the Essex group had caught up with us! We stood and scanned for a few minutes. There were a few Yellowhammers and several Chaffinches feeding on the ground. A Nuthatch flew down occasionally to grab a sunflower seed and a Marsh Tit came in briefly, but there was no sign again of anything more unusual. The highlight was the pair of Treecreepers, which came in to investigate the dead tree here again.
Moving on, there was some food already on one of the bridge pillars but nothing coming in today. We decided to walk on round via the lake. The Little Grebes were laughing at us again and one was diving along the edge of the island. The Canada Geese were sleeping in the grass on the far bank today and a Mute Swan was out in the water.
Walking down along the far side of the paddocks, we scanned the trees but there seemed to be few birds in there. Some Chaffinches were flying in and out to the pines beyond. At the far corner, we had a quick look along the sunny edge of the next block where it was sheltered. A Comma butterfly was basking in the sunshine and a Chiffchaff flitted around in the ivy-covered trees.
With one of the Hawfinches in already when we got back out to the paddocks yesterday, we decided to get there a few minutes earlier today. We had just set up the scopes to scan when a couple of birdwatchers walking past told us there had already been one Hawfinch in the firs and one in the trees in the paddocks, but both had dropped down. We looked over just in time to see one fly up out of the ash trees and disappear off west. Surely we weren’t too late?!
Thankfully, we only had to wait about twenty minutes before another Hawfinch appeared in the top of one of the fir trees. After we all had a look at it, it took off and flew down towards the ash trees in the paddocks. It landed in the top where we got it in the scopes again and, as it dropped down to the ground, a second Hawfinch dropped with it.
We walked round to the other side of the paddocks and positioned ourselves in case the Hawfinches came back up. They did, and we had really good views of a male and a couple of females in the trees. When a couple of them flew back and up into the top of the firs, they were joined by a fourth Hawfinch. We could still see the other perched in the top of the ashes.
There were lots of finches in and out of the pines above us here. Eventually, a pair of Siskins flew in to feed in one of the trees right above us. We had good views of them as they fed on the cones. There were Coal Tits in the trees too and a pair of Marsh Tits briefly in one of the small trees by the path, before they flew out into the middle of the paddocks. A Sparrowhawk flew in and landed in the ash trees, at which point everything else flew out.
We decided to move on and make our way slowly back up through the Arboretum. It was very busy with people. The trees were quieter here now, mostly in the shade with the late sun only catching the tops. We decided to have a quick walk along the road, which was still in the sun. All we could find was another Goldcrest, but we had the right idea. As we walked back, apparently a Firecrest had just been heard singing by the car park, but had now gone quiet.
We stopped to scan the trees for a few minutes. There were a couple of Long-tailed Tits feeding high in the birches and yet another Goldcrest, but no sign of anything else. After a lively day in the Brecks, then it was time to say our farewells and head for home.
