In my preparation for Forest Church (and because I love to get out and be with nature) I have been visiting Fox Corner Community Wildlife Area. I have also been developing a sit spot.
I headed down to my waiting rustic bench, glad that I was alone. I had already reminded myself to slow down on entering the reserve as not doing so flushes out the residents too rapidly and takes a while for them to settle down or disappear completely.
It was early afternoon warm and still for March. Perched on the end of the log I sat moving only slightly if something came into view. Coming down the path I’d noticed a Green Woodpecker land on a tree down by the stream. It might not have been the same one; I heard it calling nearer from possibly the meadow, where I have seen a pair fly up from in recent days.
Something else caught my eye on the grass. Was it a big hairy catapillar? Puzzled I picked it up realising it was some kind of catkin not one I’d registered before.
I then realised there were several in varying sizes. It had to be from a tree. Looking up to ascertain which one, there they were right overhead. The path leading to the pond has numerous trees by it which I purposefully noted but not this one. Alders abound in this wet meadow being next to a stream, consequently so do their cones. This wasn’t Alder I had checked the buds to remind myself of their unique downy purpley brown covering. The buds on this were barely in reach, they were pointy greenish brown not rounded like Alder. It had to be Poplar, but which? At home the book stated that in March Grey Poplars have these kind of catkins.
Whilst in my reverie a lady with a little boy approached and asked seeing my binoculars whether there were birds at the pond as she’d not seen many. I answered with what I had seen and was seeing! At that point two Buzzards started circling up from behind the trees and came right overhead. She then mentioned possible Red Kite sighting and something caught my eye above us right on cue – a Red Kite.
The Granny and Grandson left the pond and as they did a number of the plant stems began to move. There wasn’t any wind to speak of so I scrutinized the surface and began to notice shapes of heads out of the water with their slit pupils and red iris’. A faint croaking sound drifted across towards me reminiscent of a distant Coot. I wondered to myself whether I had witnessed toads mating before – this was what the movement had betrayed. I can’t recall that I had. I have seen the results of mating in my former teenage local patch – that of strings of spawn drifting in the Cober stream. On my last count I witnessed 13 Toads in various states, either mounted, in a bundle or singly poised and still. The picture below is the best I could do with my phone.
The Grandmother returned and I pointed the activity out to her and her Grandson. She was as amazed as I was and sounded like she’d also not seen this before. It was a lovely moment to share. Frog spawn was also in a mass at the end of the boardwalk wonderful to see.
After they left me I continued slowly following the path round which includes the boardwalk. As I did so I heard light drumming and a high pitched kee-kee-kee. I peered through my binoculars into the bare tops of the alders just behind the pond to see an obscured blob. Excitement mounting – inside I was going ‘Please, please let it be a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker’. The blob flew onto the next but two tree tops, more exposed than the last and kee-kee-keed for me. It was what I had hoped a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker showing it’s barring and small size in the afternoon sunshine. Good news, this bird has become very uncommon and is difficult to see at the best of times, but here it was. The bird didn’t stay long but flew off towards the more woody bit at the Northern edge of the reserve. I think I heard it later but I had been having difficulty with Nuthatch calls. Nuthatch has varied calls which include a kee-kee sound but it’s more richer and penetrating. The woodpecker’s sound is thinner.
Still basking in the sighting I pressed further round to have a fleeting view of two Mandarin ducks – a male and female at the bend of the river. Roy who helps look after the sight who I met before Forest Church said that they have been seen there before but not for some time.
I spent a good two hours on the reserve seeing and hearing more birds and my fourth butterfly of the day and of the year – a Red Admiral flying strongly over the newly cleared area. (I’d seen two Brimstones driving between jobs in the morning and almost stepped on a Comma on the bank outside school where I work). What a memorable afternoon.