Disconnecting to Reconnect

I've been reveling in the glorious colours of autumn over the past week or so. It's really one of the best displays of turning leaves I've seen in a long while! Driving down the A24 is a real treat at the moment, with the bordering trees either side showing an array of golds, reds and russets that look stunning in the sunshine.

I spent the morning at Pulborough Brooks as a hides and trails volunteer again. This is the first time I've gone out on my own as I've had Graham, a much more experienced and knowledgeable volunteer, showing me the ropes these past few weeks. I was glad of the chance to see how I got on with identifying trickier species without a seasoned birder to help me. Of course, I had my Collins guide tucked in my backpack but I didn't need it today. So far I've been lucky with the weather on the days I've been on the reserve and today was particularly lovely; what I'd call a proper autumn day. There were a few raptors about, including a couple of sparrowhawks and male kestrels, and one female peregrine bathing in a small pool in front of Winpenny hide.

That is a peregrine-I promise! These terrible photos were snapped on my phone through the scope.

I had an especially close encounter with a pair of goldcrests which were busy picking insects of leaves only a couple of feet above me. I was close enough to see the reflection in their eyes and that fantastic streak of yellow on their heads. They weren't fazed at all by me stood so near which is pretty unusual for what is normally a very shy bird!

At Hanger View, I stood with a group of visitors and watched two healthy-looking male bullfinches flicking between the sloes. A buzzard circled over the pools for a while but was seen off by a rather brave and determined lapwing. From Nettley's hide, I managed to identify five black-tailed godwits which I was pleased with as I'd never seen them in the flesh before, although I knew they were about having checked the sightings book when I arrived. Myself and the visitors in the hide also picked out three snipe with some difficulty; boy, those birds blend in! It certainly helped to have the scope with me.

Fuzzy Snipe.

Wigeon

Black-tailed Godwits

When I got back to the visitor's centre, it occurred to me that, apart from taking a few photos, I had just spent four hours completely away from technology. I'll openly admit that I use my phone far too much normally and it's become one of those bad habits that I hate but find very hard to break. Part of the reason I use social media a lot is to do with my portrait business as I always have messages to reply to and I don't like to leave those too long. However, I know full well that I check Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/Insert preferred platform here too many times in a day and it's something I try hard to avoid. The fact that I didn't once feel the need to hop online while I was out and about on the reserve today proves that I am capable of cutting back. I actually felt really good about having been off grid for a short while and just spending time in the fresh air doing something I genuinely enjoyed, something that didn't involve a screen. 

30 Days Wild Day 7: Dawn Chorus

As I'm typing this, I'm starting to feel the impact of this morning's random act of wildness. I'm tempted to go to bed and catch up on my rest but it's only 6.30pm! I got up at 4am, just as daylight had started to filter through the trees and the first robins had begun to sing. Listening to the dawn chorus is something I meant to do back in April/May but I just never got round to it. I'm not great at getting up extremely early and usually I associate 4am with going on holiday and getting to the airport to catch an early flight!

I started with just opening my window and letting the fresh, clean early-morning air drift in, along with the keenest of singers, the robins and blackbirds. Their calls dominated the chorus initially, with the song thrush's rattle rattle tseep tseep whistle weaving in between. What I noticed straight away was the unmistakable cuckoo cuckoo of that well known but sadly less common bird. I've only heard the cuckoo twice this year before this morning and it's a sound that emanates warm spring days for me so I was naturally pleased it was included in the chorus.

A few woodpigeons added their cheap cuckoo imitations to the mix and several rooks flew overhead, cawwing at each other. The thrush's song became more pronounced and the variation of phrases grew. I'm fairly certain I heard a goldfinch join the chorus at this point, the sort of rattly tseeep at the end of his song giving him away.

As sunrise grew closer, I moved out into the garden where the great and blue tits were jumping around the bushes and singing merrily. Several pairs of blackbirds performed their laughing calls before chasing each other across the driveway. Activity had picked up and birds were flitting from branch to branch. I was pleasantly surprised to hear the call of a buzzard right above me, obviously hoping that the early bird (of prey) really does get the worm!

On an overhanging branch directly across from where I stood, a beautiful male chaffinch took his place and began his rendition, the creeping light just catching his peachy chest and white wing stripes. By this point, the sun had just started peeking through the trees and was painting the oak leaves with orange. The woodpigeons' call created a blanket of soft noise underneath the higher, chirpier songs.

I do think that if I had managed to listen to this wonderful spectacle earlier in spring, the sound would have been triple what it was this morning. Obviously many of these birds have already found mates, laid eggs and even raised their chicks by now, so the object of singing is not so competitive as it would have been in April. Having said that, it was lovely to stand and listen, with no other noises interfering. It was very peaceful and a relaxing way to start the day.

30 Days Wild Day 1: A Date With the Peregrines

Well. I don't know about you, but that wasn't quite what I was expecting from the first day of June! It certainly didn't feel like Summer is around the corner, that's for sure. I hope that, despite the slightly dismal weather, you managed to commit a random act of wildness on day one of 30 Days Wild!

I was rather lucky to spend my "Day One" in Chichester with the peregrines; what a fantastic way to kick off the month! I was in volunteer mode in the marquee and thoroughly enjoyed chatting to a steady stream of visitors throughout the morning. Since I last blogged about the peregrines, the chicks have been growing at an incredible rate and are now three weeks old. They were ringed yesterday by a trained ringer from the Sussex Ornithological Society so we now have confirmation of two females and a male. I still cannot get over the speed at which they are changing! They have been demonstrating lots of wing-flapping, moving around the turret and are now being fed larger strips of food by the female; I've even seen the odd starling leg being swallowed whole!

Wing-flapping on 30/5/15

Image credit: Chichester Peregrine Facebook Page

The adult birds were very active today, definitely the most active I've seen them since I've been working there. Early in the day, the female took off suddenly from on top of the turret and began squawking an alarm call, before pursuing a buzzard that was gliding directly above our tent. We had a fantastic view as the falcon took several low swoops on to the buzzard and she earned a few gasps from the spectators as we saw how close she came to the intruder. While this was happening, the male remained perched inside the top band of tracery on the cathedral spire, obviously content that she was taking care of things sufficiently. 

Later on in the day, I was fortunate to witness a great example of a food pass between the male and female. Thankfully these events are always preempted by some form of noise from the birds so I was able to look up at the right moment to catch the act. For the remainder of the day, the female remained very alert, frequently taking off and circling the cathedral before returning to the turret. She even chased off a herring gull and pigeon on separate occasion, the latter while she was still carrying food in her talons! This is unusual as normally the peregrines don't take any notice of these smaller birds. We expect she was slightly on edge after yesterday's ringing, as any conscientious parent would be.

The chicks are all at healthy weights, are getting fed frequently and their adult feathers are coming through rapidly, and it will only be between two and three weeks more before they are ready to fledge. I have to admit, that is the part I am most looking forward to seeing. Once they have a full set of juvenile plumage and they take their first flights, what a sight that will be!

Chichester Chicks and Intruders!

Today marked day 30 of incubation in the Chichester peregrine nest. I was on volunteering duty and really felt like today would be the day we would finally begin to see signs of hatching. Each time there was a glimpse of the eggs as the parents shifted around on the nest, myself and the rest of the RSPB team would be peering intently for any suggestions of pipping, which is when the chicks begin to make small holes in the shell using their "egg tooth". Even on our high-quality HD camera, we saw none. The female was incredibly fidgety at times, struggling to get comfortable on the eggs on several occasions and this is out of character for her, as she would normally be straight down on them with one little wriggle before settling in for a few hours of incubation. We were almost convinced that the fidgeting was a positive sign of imminent hatching but so far, we haven't been proved correct!

 A poor-quality snap of the male during a shift-swap with the female this morning

This didn't mean the day was a wash-out. In fact it was the opposite if we are being literal, as the sun was definitely making up for yesterday's horrifically strong winds and rain. The warm weather seemed to bring a lot of other feathered species out to play, including a lone sparrowhawk early on in the day. It didn't hang around but simply drifted across the city before heading off to the East. A flock of six or seven swifts spent the day twisting and diving through the sky just above our marquee, their scree scree calls punctuating our conversations with the visitors. One of them showed interest in an old nesting sight set inside the brickwork of the building connected to the cafe which suggests that hopefully they will choose to nest their again this year. This will be a fantastic bonus sight to see for visitors, volunteers and staff alike.

The biggest event of the day was the return of an intruding female peregrine. Over the past few weeks, there have been two different individuals identified, both female, although one is a juvenile, and both have been seen off by the parents. Today, the intruder arrived above us, followed closely by our male who had only come off the nest an hour and a half before this appearance. He was absolutely intent on getting rid of her and managed to execute several collisions with her which seemed to do the trick. It was quite a spectacle and I was pleased to have been there to see it as I've managed to miss all previous intruder occurrences this year! There was a small group of the public with us at the time who were all thrilled to see it too.

I think we were all surprised that there were not more buzzards and red kites out enjoying the thermals during the day. There were none of the latter but of the former there were only two appearances. During the first half of the day, a pair were gliding very high up showing no interest in the nest site and this resulted in only a brief spell of chatter from the female on the nest. Another one arrived in the afternoon, flying lower this time and with the male peregrine in tow. He didn't need to waste his energy on chasing the buzzard off as a rather brave herring gull had this covered. I was quite amazed at how close the gull was getting, as he swooped down on the raptor but never made contact. At the same time, I was presented with my first ever example of a peregrine falcon in a stoop. As the buzzard headed away from the site, the male peregrine remained airborne and quite suddenly he went from a glide to tucking his wings tightly in to his body and dropping into the characteristic dive. It wasn't a fully vertical one but still fairly steep and it brought him quickly and neatly on to the North side of the cathedral spire, out of our eye line.

The garden of the Cloister's Cafe, where we are set up, is a haven for various species of songbird, many of which are simply not fussed by the presence of humans. A wren, who has nested in the roots of the lilac bushes, spent much of the day to-ing and fro-ing with a full beak. Based on the frequency it was visiting, it was determined that it must be feeding chicks. We were serenaded all day by a very chatty blackbird who spent most of the time perched on the wall beside our marquee. At one point he flew across the garden so low that he almost brushed my head-not an easy task given that I'm only 5' 3"! A pair of blue tits hung from the bottom of low-hanging tree branches, picking off insects from the leaves. A dunnock jumped around the undergrowth before flying to sit on top of a low roof and released a brief but beautiful stream of song. A charm of eight or so goldfinch were also in the trees for some time, chattering and chasing each other through the air.

So although we are still waiting oh so patiently for the tiniest sign that these chicks are starting to arrive, today was certainly not uneventful. It is heartening to see such a broad range of species inhabiting a space that is only the size of an average suburban back garden.