Yesterday went out for a saunter with the family bar one member who needed extra sleep. Depending on who’s view you read it was Britain’s shortest day. Newlands Corner on the edge of the North Downs was the destination. Ever since the kids were little we use to go there with another family and roll on the slopes, hang in trees and splat in the mud. This time was a little different with no rolling and no splatting but hanging around in trees – yes!
Parking up in the busy car park which thankfully remains to be free of charge, we headed down to the main lower path through the large spaced out oak trees. It wasn’t long after covering the sward that we headed back up into the mixed woodland. The trees were calling. Some fun was had from the boys as they carried Mum along! One of the lads, whilst we were looking the other way swung on a tree. There was a sudden crack and we turned to see him lieing on the ground laughing with said tree in his hands! He was alright. If you know us this is not an uncommon event!
Later after sitting on a rather large creatively designed wooden bench we discovered a depression or bowl in the woodland with lots of humps and bumps. Quite possibly a trail for bikes. There was an enticing rope hanging from one of the larger trees which most of us had a swing on.
We decided to move on. As we did there was a flurry of small bird activity around us higher up in the trees. Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), long tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus), nuthatch (Sitta europaeus) and wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) lower down.
A small bird high up in the trees caught my attention as it moved along a branch. It was quite a way up but my 10 x 50 Kepler Optik binoculars came into their own at this point. I managed to glimpse said bird and immediately was taken back. I knew what it was. The last time I saw one was a number of years ago. I turned to tell the family but we’d become spread out. Debbie was nearest. She and one of the boys thought they heard drumming but my hearing is not as good as theirs.
From that expression drumming you may have guessed what it was. There was a nuthatch nearby but as I didn’t hear either I couldn’t say whether it was that. Tapping often comes from them but the bird I spotted wasn’t that. It was small – yes it was a long way off. The beak not particularly outstanding. It was the barring on the back and sides that got my attention. Biggest clue as I considered it later was the fact it had no big long spot going down the body. It was in fact a lesser spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus minor).
We were on the move so there wasn’t chance to have a longer look. When I had looked the second time after turning to Debbie I’d lost it.
There have been only a handful of times I’ve seen this bird. The majority of times in Surrey and one time in Hampshire around Frensham Little Pond. When I say Surrey I mean quite local to where I live. The last time I recorded seeing one was eight years ago (see this post) This little bird is redlisted on the UK status list and down to 500 pairs in 2015. (I checked the statistics on the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) page).
The walk had turned up something uncommon and had lifted all our spirits in ways the countryside so often does.