Some further thoughts about Nuthatches and bird sounds

I posted about Nuthatches the other day having come across some in Clopton Park and being lucky enough to take some snaps. Idling away at the computer this morning I thought some might like to know of some resources that could be useful to find out more about our birdlife and can help locate them.

A good website is the British Trust for Ornithology. There are many sites providing information about birds but the BTO has 'unbiased information about birds' and undertakes research. For example, the tracking of Cuckoo Stanley has attracted nationwide interest after  it was found where cuckoos go for the winter. Stanley returned to the uk in early April from the Ivory Coast.

I went to the information about the Nuthatch and followed a link to recordings of its songs, calls, male calls, alarm calls and so on.

This was really useful to me . I hadn't really understood the range of sounds each bird makes and when I go for the walk this morning I'll be much more confident of locating the Nuthatches from their sounds.

I'm keen to get a decent picture of a Treecreeper. It's a small bird, moves quickly but has a distinctive song so I'm more confident now of finding one. That doesn't mean I will actually see one of course. Here's some not so good pictures of one I took a while ago.

I saw a Nuthatch

Nuthatch - Clopton Park April16

Nuthatch - Clopton Park April16

Nuthatch - Clopton Park April16

One of the places I'm often drawn to when walking up the Welcombe is in Clopton Park where the two old oak trees stand down and to the seasonal pond, the magnificent hornbeams and the ash trees that seem to be all decaying.

Those ash trees in various stages of degeneration provide a great habitat for green and spotted woodpeckers, jackdaws and crows. These birds nest in the many holes the ash provides and the spotted woodpeckers can be heard tapping the branches for grubs.

Anticipating a change in the weather we decided to take our walk as usual and found our way to the swimming pool where the run off from the hills was too much for the pool and had overflowed forming mini lakes and a healthy stream across and down towards Margaret's Well, joining the ditch there.

Nuthatch - Clopton Park April16

We followed the water flow up towards the hornbeams and stopped to enjoy the lace-like veil of catkins covering them. Looking up I saw this Nuthatch on the trunk of an old ash tree. The Tree Creeper is a quite common bird here but this is the first time I've seen the Nuthatch. The Tree Creeper is smaller, brown and white and favours moving up the trunk to search for food. It is unable to go down head first so hops backwards to achieve that.  In contrast the Nuthatch has a beautiful orange-red breast, is larger and moves both up and down the trunk head first.

A good spot you'll agree and the bird kindly paused long enough for me to fumble around getting my camera out and snapping a few pics.

I saw early flowering grass - the Field Wood-rush

Field Wood-rush - Luzula campestris

As this morning's sleet/snow gives way to more rain I'm reminded that of all the months, April can be relied on for the most varied and unpredictable for weather. Looking back, I've pictures from 6th April 2008 when we had proper snow. That brought out the toboggans, skis, plastic sheets and even bathtubs (really!) as Stratford's young raided their parents' garages for something to slide on.

In our garden the blackbirds have been feeding young in their nests for quite a while now. So, even though snowfall decorates the landscape and brings great enjoyment, I can't help but feel for the birds who will have yet another problem to deal with in rearing their young.

Clopton Field April 2008

Spring is well underway and the start of many a life cycle, not just for the birds but for our plants too. One of the first grasses to flower is the Field wood-rush. It's a common enough plant but easily overlooked due to its small size. The delicate flowers are in clusters and pale yellow. My picture shows it amongst the Cowslips I wrote about last week. Like some other small plants their beauty is not easily accessible but once you 'get your eye in' as they say these can enhance the pleasures of walking in the Welcombe Hills. 

Cowslips, celandines, violets as the sun sometimes shines

There's an area of the Welcombe Hills at the bottom of the opening leading down from the reservoir area toward the Welcombe Hotel. On one side is a sloping wooded area of predominantly hawthorn but with lime and two old beech trees. On the other side is Nursery Cover and between the two lies a fallen horse chestnut tree.

April 10th 2016

In the spring and summer the morning sun warms this area. Many of my butterfly and bee pictures are taken here (for example here) on the Woolly Thistles, blackberry bushes and the margins of the woods where the Lady's Smock thrive in the damp clay.

Violet in Nursery Cover April16

Nursery cover gently slopes down here. In the spring the leafless spindly Ash, crab apple and the few hawthorn allow the sunlight to penetrate to the ground layer and if anyone cares to walk this way you will find amongst the damp moss a wonderful display of bright yellow lesser celandine and violets of all shades from deep blue to white. 

Celandine, Nursery Cover April16

It seems wrong to walk over these but they do survive so I suggest a closer look. Stand still and you may hear a bumble bee queen looking for a nesting place in the ground. Follow the sound and you may see her on her quest. 

Nursery Cover, April 16

Look more carefully and you may treated by finding the  fungus I pictured below that grows here. It's not a true morel (Morchella) so don't get too excited. It won't harm you but is tasteless.

Mitrophora semilibera, April 16

Elsewhere the first Cowslips are flowering! These were catching that morning sun on a bank behind the seats at the top of Nursery Cover that look out over towards the Monument and Edge Hill beyond.

First Cowslips of the year, Welcombe Hills April 2016

Cowsliips, April 16

I saw some deer prints and thought about fun things to do this Easter up the Welcombe

I've had a few conversations recently whilst walking up the Welcombe Hills. Usually they start with the weather: 'isn't it cold?', 'isn't it lovely?', 'what's the forecast for tomorrow?' Sometimes  it's topical subjects that start with, 'when will the cattle arrive?'.

Some of us have been discussing the absence of rabbits up the Welcombe. This time of year usually sees the little bunnies out and the older ones venturing further from cover to get to  the best new growth. At first light and at dusk there are usually dozens of rabbits grazing.

Not this year it seems. Elsewhere the rabbit population seems to be good so we are wondering what has caused the fall in this one area. 

There do seem to be lots of deer about though. One friend saw fallow deer around the badger sets in the woods a couple of weeks ago and I've see the solitary muntjac breaking cover several times. Further proof is the hoof prints left by the deer. These are easy to spot, even amongst the many dog paw prints.

Here's a fun thing to do if you are up the Welcombe over the coming weeks. Try out your tracking skills. This is easy and good fun for children. Firstly help them to find deer prints so they know what they look like and then follow them and see how far they can be tracked. 

Places to look are in the woods down from the reservoir area and along paths. The pictures below that I took the other day should be enough to get you started.

 As you can see the deer leaves a distinctive print from its hooves. The smallest ones are likely to be muntjac and the larger ones probably fallow deer.

Children should find this fun especially a the prints often go around in circles and get lost on harder ground and more difficult to trace in the grass.

There are a lot of dog paw prints which you can see in the picture to the right. Note the 4 pads and marks left by the nails.

For more advanced trackers why not look out for badger prints? They are there to be found in the woods. One good place to look is in Clopton Field side by the two large oak trees. There is a track going down from the badger set past the oaks and down to the pond. Look carefully and you might get lucky.


Badger prints are distinguished by 5 pads of the toes and claw marks. Here's one I took the other day. More information is easy to get from the internet i.e. here. My pic seems to show just 4 toes but there is another (pinky?) lost in the slushy mud.

I saw a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly in Clopton Field

The weather pendulum tends to swing widely back and forth between extremes at this time of year. When it's overcast, wet or the northerly wind snaps at your ears and nose it's head down on the walks up the Welcombe Hills for some spoon carving, looking up only to check for obstacles. It seemed as if these days would never end. 

Yesterday the pendulum swung the other way and in the shelter of the Clopton Park side of the hills the heat from the sun encouraged many a walker to unzip top and remove hat.  As I ambled along the very top of the field parallel to the bridle path I looked up from my whittling to enjoy the bright, warm light. That very same light and warmth brought a beautiful Small Tortoiseshell butterfly to life and it lay on the bare soil, wings extended absorbing the heat. This butterfly would have been from the second brood of last year. These are the first to reappear having hibernated all winter. You may have found these in your shed or greenhouse. It may be this one had found a sheltered place in a hollow tree.

When I prepared to go out yesterday I toyed with the idea of bringing the camera with me in anticipation of what the seasonal change might bring. Below is a picture of a Small Tortoiseshell from last year and I will be with camera from now on.

I found bee orchids in Clopton Field

A number of us regularly look out for bee orchids up the Welcombe Hills. Usually, we look out for the flowers to appear. This is because once the spring growth gets going  the leaves can be difficult to spot in amongst the grass. They have also tended to appear singly and not always in the same place making discovery that much more of a challenge. 

I was walking up the Hills marvelling at the lushness of the grass which the weather hasn't told to take a winter rest. Here and there plants were starting to show and then, eyes glued to the ground, I came across a patch of bee orchid plants. They are quite distinctive with pointed finger-like leaves growing out laterally from a tight rosette in the centre. I counted 7 of these in one small area. I find that when you 'get your eye in' it becomes easier to spot things and judging by the number of other bee orchid plants I subsequently came across this year could be a good one for them.

How many will actually flower is another matter. Those with 2 and 4 feet will no doubt play their part in deciding which plants make it to  flower. Bee orchids are common in England but not so common up the Welcombe. This adds to the pleasure of finding them in flower.

I came across a blog link from a group mapping the orchids in their area. It might be fun to create a map of where these bee orchids are coming through up the Welcombe and then we can see just how many make it to flower. Here is some more information abut the bee orchid.

As well as the bee orchids which flower in June/July, look out for cowslips all over the hills and especially on the slopes that catch the sun and near bushes. The last few years have been good for them.