- Another beautiful morning with some warmish sunshine, lots of Birdsong this morning,
calling unseen this morning, no sign of the Bullfinches unfortunately ,but plenty of other birds seen along the trails,
flying over the woodland, strangely the first I have recorded on my mornings walk.
seen quite high on a chestnut tree. after a long absence I seem to be encountering these more frequently now. twenty species in all today.
- Beautiful blue skies this morning, but cold hard frost still covering the undergrowth where the sun has not reached. the usual
This little Cuckoo Flower or Ladies smock is always the first of its kind to flower, it's growing on top of an old decayed tree trunk, I have noticed its tiny flowers appearing for the last couple of years now.
were seen high in the treetops, I could just not auto focus in the right spot to get an photograph, so with a bit of imagination and for record purposes only an impression of a Bullfinch, you can just make out the rosy pink breast,white rump, slatey grey back and black cap.
Very frustrating that, I have never photographed a Bullfinch before ,maybe next time, that's two occasions in the last few weeks our paths have crossed.
feeding around some old Hornbeam trees, first one seen this year, although I have heard them calling in the woodland. A few
, no sign of the Little Owl.
- The frost did not seem as extreme as the weather forecasters had foretold, and most had dissipated by the time I arrived at the woodland, some serious undergrowth cutting going on this morning by a huge tractor , so a lot of disturbance around the Two pond area, in fact no birds seen at all.
s are very common at the moment all around the woodland trails. always nice to see.
near the glades, no sign of any Stock Doves at the moment. Two
s near the orchards no sign of any Fieldfare. Lots of
Song Thrush this morning, a single skulking
Dunnock, small roving Tit flock with
Blue, Great and
Long Tailed Tits moving through the trees. a female
Chaffinch, three
Jays in the Little Owl tree but no sign of the Owl today. Large bird flying over the woodlands turned out to be a
Grey Heron (35)heading towards Henhurst lake in the park
. Great Spotted Woodpecker heard drumming in the woodlands.
9th February - Although the sun was shining there was still a chill to this mornings walk, there seemed to be more birds on show today, as I walked towards Two ponds I was greeted with a Blackbird and Song Thrush searching through the grass alongside the trail, in fact Song Thrush song was very prominent this morning with various birds competing with various chords from there song repertoire. Robin and Wren were also quickly added to the day's tally, Jackdaws were seen exiting a hole high up in the trees, three Carrion Crow were searching intently for something in the mud, seemed reluctant to leave as I approached. a Few Wood Pigeon perched high up in the Sweet Chestnuts along with a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming on a dead branch of the same tree.
the male
Kestrel was seen once again within the wood, probably the same one seen a few days ago.
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| Kestrel |
The
Little Owl was on view outside its nesting hole, not sure if this is the same one, looks a little lighter in colour possibly a female, most likely a trick of the light.
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| Little Owl |
No sign of any Siskins near Ashenbank Ponds, a single
Dunnock seen in the hedge.
As I walked back through the woodland a few
Blue Tits, Great Tits were moving through the trees , a small bird caught my eye, which turned out to be a
Goldcrest,
(33) very hyper, moving very fast through the undergrowth.
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| Goldcrest |
As I watched the Goldcrest, another bird caught my eye moving up a nearby tree trunk, a Common Treecreeper moving swiftly up the trunk and out of sight, nice bird to finish on.
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| Treecreeper |
All in all an interesting morning with 15 species seen around the woodland. lots of birdsong, woodpeckers drumming, echoing around the wood, more and more Daffodils coming into flower, shouldn't be too long before the first Bee's wake from their winter hibernation.
8th February - Storm Imogen was still buffeting the trees this morning, once again birds were keeping there heads down, a few
Jackdaws flew from their nesting tree near Two ponds, Two C
arrion Crows were calling noisily close by.
Blackbird and
Song Thrush were seen with just one
Robin sighting. The
Little Owl was tucked into a small crevice in its favoured tree, and another surprise sighting today the
Siskin flock were back, seen feeding in a small stand of Alders opposite Ashenbank pond, some good views,but unfortunately the wrong lens on the camera.
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| Siskins near Ashenbank pond. |
6th February - Another eye-watering walk in a cold wind today with very little being seen, I did notice some willow buds bursting through on a young willow tree. Spring growth is certainly showing its face around the woodland if you look closely.
This animal trail leading from the woodland ,under a fence, and out across the fields comes from an area I believe is frequented by some of our unmentionable friends of the woodland.
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| Tracks & Signs |
5th February - Not much seen on today's walk, a Green Woodpecker was disturbed from the glades, a
Nuthatch(32) was seen flying from a Chestnut tree, the usual
Great Tit, Blue Tits, Robin, Blackbird, Jay Magpie.
Snowdrops still doing well with a few more Daffodils bursting out into flower, the same goes for Lesser Celandine.
Not much on the fungi front, I have been checking last years sites for Scarlet Elfcups but nothing showing at the moment, some examples of 'Cramp ball' fungi were seen,together with this old fungi specimen, which I wondered if it could be the Hoof or Tinder Fungus.
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| Possible Hoof or Tinder Fungi ? |
4th February - Another bitterly cold morning, as I parked up in the car park I could see two
Blue tits very interested in a hole in an old Ash tree, probably house hunting, once again the
Song Thrushes were very vocal,
Blackbirds scurrying through the undergrowth and
Robins perched just above the trails watching me go by. other birds noted were
Great Tit, Dunnock, Carrion Crow, Magpie and
Jay.
Great spotted Woodpecker could be heard drumming this morning, and another seen high up in the tree tops.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
On the path to the Bronze age burial mound I bumped into a
Fox coming the other way, not sure who was surprised the most, he didn't hang around, these woodland foxes seem much more wary than their urban cousins.
A high pitched call, which I can just manage to hear these days, alerted me to
a
Common Treecreeper making its way up the trunk of a nearby tree, a couple of distant photographs were taken.
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| Common Treecreeper |
3rd February - Bitterly cold wind blowing around the woodlands today, with an occasional view of the sun, once again Song Thrushes were very prominent with lots of territorial singing going on. a few Robins seen along the trails, small flock of Tits seen, Blue, Great and a few Long Tailed.
Along the edge of the woods some Blackthorn blossom was showing.
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| Blackthorn blossom. |
A walk down to the pond at Jeskyns end of the country park produced a single Black Headed Gull (28), a single Moorhen(29) in very bleak conditions. two Jays were in the plantation
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| Black Headed Gull |
In the fields a few Skylark were seen.
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| Skylark |
Back in Ashenbank woods a male Kestrel (30) was seen high up in one of the Chestnut trees,strangely as I was trying to photograph the Kestrel, I could hear some mobbing action going on, A Common Buzzard(31) drifted over the trees, allowing a quick photograph before it disappeared.
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| Male Kestrel |
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| Common Buzzard |
2nd February - Another cold morning with a light rain shower, a few more birds on show today,
Song Thrush seemed to be more prominent than usual with at least six seen along the trails, most digging through the leaf litter on the woodland floor. The one in the photograph seemed more interested in another singing Song Thrush near by.
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| Song thrush |
Blackbird, Robin (4) , Chaffinch, Blue Tit and a single
Great Spotted Woodpecker were all seen, but the surprise sighting of the day, were two
Bullfinch (27), their white rumps and slate grey back showing well as they flew away from me. I haven't seen many of those here at Ashenbank for a while.
A couple of primroses have burst into flower near Two ponds.
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| Primroses near two ponds |
1st February - Storm Henry was still gusting through the woodlands this morning, once again the birds were keeping their heads down. A
Great Spotted Woodpecker was drumming from somewhere deep in the woodland, the first drumming I have heard this year. A pair of
Jays were chasing each other through the treetops.
Others birds noted were a few
Robin,
Wood Pigeon, Blackbird.
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| Daffodils February 1st |
Wild flowers are restricted to
Snowdrops which are appearing all around the woodland,
Daffodils are still mainly at the bud stage with just a few odd flowers here and there, a couple of
Lesser Celandine flowers now showing and still some
White dead-nettle in flower.
Some of the cut hawthorn hedges are beginning to show new leaf growth, spring is definitely
not far away.
