New reserves and lots of birds

Sunshine drew me to East Anglia yesterday with the prospect of some good birdwatching at two reserves that I'd not visited before.
I arrived first at RSPB Lakenheath Fen just after lunch and the visitor centre was abuzz with talk of overflying Cranes and a Red-footed falcon about the reserve. I had no luck in seeing either bird, nor the almost mythical Golden Orioles that frequent these parts, but my long and leisurely exploration did offer up a marsh harrier, whitethroats, reed and sedge warblers, a hobby high above the reedbeds, scimitar shaped swifts, reed buntings, and cuckoos calling in the poplars.

A Common Whitethroat enjoying lunch

Reed Bunting (m)

Sedge Warbler

Later, in pursuit of a singing Nightingale I headed cross country to Little Paxton Gravel Pits, near St. Neots in Cambridgeshire. In contrast to the open spaces of the fens, the paths at Little Paxton were enclosed by shrubs and trees and alive with singing warblers. The lakes themselves were dark and quiet - at first sight only black headed gulls were about, slowly swinging across the water, then dipping down to grab a morsel from the water's surface. I parked myself in the Kingfisher hide, positioned on a broken isthmus between two lakes on a tree cloaked promontory. From here the wide ranging views of the lakes allowed for better scanning of the water and after a few minutes I had found three common terns and the stirring sight of a hobby hunting a few feet above the surface, taking sustenance from the insect life rising from the lake. Walking back to my car a nightingale's song rose in a thicket to my left, close to the path. Unfortunately it moved on whilst I frantically pulled recording equipment from my bag so I can't share it's sweet music. I'm tempted to return again to capture it, perhaps later in the evening when it's voice stands alone, though I'll need to hurry - if I leave it longer than a couple of weeks the singing season will have passed and I'll have to wait another twelve months to hear the beauty of it's song again.

A Hobby over the water at Paxton

Sightings
Lakenheath Fen, Suffolk
Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Whitethroat, Swift, Crow, Great tit, Reed Bunting, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Cuckoo, Lapwing, Great Crested Grebe, Goldfinch

Little Paxton Nature Reserve, Cambridgeshire
Chiff-chaff, Nightingale, Common Tern, Hobby, Coot, Mute Swan, Black headed Gull, Great Crested Grebe

Cuckoo-Pint

The damp and burgeoning hedgerows yield many plants at this time of year that have been hidden away since last Autumn. One of the most striking is Arum maculatum, or as I know it, the Cuckoo Pint.
Like many of my first contacts with the countryside, these plants remind of me of springtime in Cornwall as a child, their unusual shapes popping up not long after the primroses in the tall Cornish banks and woods. Now I find it in the lanes close to my home in Hertfordshire.

First, purple-spotted leaves appear in April and early May, followed by the upright spadix, half-cloaked in a green spathe which leads the way down to the male and female flowers that ring its base. Just above the flowers a ring of hairs form an insect trap that attracts midges with a faecal odour. Trapped over night they have plenty of time to cover themselves in pollen before being released again to pollinate another Arum by the same process.
In Autumn, the pollinated plant produces a cluster of poisonous, scarlet berries, before the plant dissolves with the winter frosts back into the ground to await the warmth of the following spring.
Such a striking plant not surprisingly has a myriad of country names including Wild arum, Lords and ladies, Devils and Angels, Cows and Bulls, Cuckoo-Pint, Adam and Eve, Bobbins, Naked Boys, Starch-Root and Wake Robin. Unsurprisingly, many of these names link to the phallic nature of the plant but Starch-Root refers to other properties. Its root tube can be large and as the common name suggests, stores starch.
Located up to 40cm below ground, the root is edible when roasted well and was once gathered and traded under the name of Portland sago. Before the introduction of tea and coffee it was a drink popular with country people and the working classes called salop or salep, which was most typically made from orchid bulbs. Incorrect preparation can leave the concoction highly toxic so extreme care should be taken in preparation.

The Greylag Gosling Gang

This little gang of Greylag goslings paraded in front of the White Hide at Great Amwell last Saturday afternoon, closely attended by their doting parents. 

Other greylags and boisterous canadas kept them moving through the shallows.

Eventually, a bit of peace and a rest under a protective wing.

It was an unusual afternoon at Great Amwell. The light changed by the second, the weather playing dramatically with the colour and contrast of the vista before us. Towering prussian blue clouds sat to the south, sending stinging wet hail down onto the Lea Valley. Their deep colour reflected into the open waters in front of us, turning it to ink.

By contrast, bleached sunlight streamed low from the west throwing spotlights onto the feeding birds around the lake and picking out the lime green of the heronry against the dark skies behind. Tricks of light and weather rarely combine to produce such vivid colours and the spectacle is all the more memorable because of it.

On the island a pair of oystercatchers incurred the wrath of a nesting canada goose whilst three redshanks, legs and beak glowing flourescent as they paddled the margins with a little ringed plover close by.

A young muntjac, jumping through the vegetation

Chiffchaff

Wood Anemone

Woodland flowers are a treat of spring, taking their moment in the sun when the tree canopies above are naked to flower, bringing colour to the woodland floor. Later in May Bluebells will take their turn, but for now it is the primrose and the delicate Wood Anemone that take centre stage.

I found both species this afternoon as I wandered through Plashes Wood, scattered close to the footpath, sprawled across a bank. Plantlife.org.uk tells me that Wood Anemone is slow to spread across the woodland floor (remarkably only six feet in a hundred years) and often indicates ancient woodland.

Elsewhere I found two gooseberry bushes, new season leaves bursting from spiky old wood branches with tiny fruit just showing, like fairy's lanterns suspended below the stems. Wild native or feral cultivar are both possible, but thickets worthy of a few birds nests for sure.

The Rib Valley in early April

This sound recording was compiled from sounds captured on a recent circular walk in The Rib Valley between Barwick Ford and Latchford. It was an overcast day with occasional gusty showers. The route I chose took me through Cook's Wood, full of birdsong and the promise of spring, down to  the riverside as it burbled through an agricultural ford and then along the lane back down into Barwick where stinging drizzle squalled across the fields to remind that the sharp cold of winter hadn't long passed.

Wet and dry at Wilstone

A breeze-blown drizzle greeted my arrival at Wilstone Reservoir near Tring yesterday, giving a monochrome cast to the view across the water, the surrounding Chiltern hills rolled up in blankets of grey. I'd dropped in after lunch at The Valiant Trooper in Aldbury and determined to explore for an hour or two.

My first distraction was a singing Chiff-chaff in the hedgerow below the embankment. We spent a few minutes playing hide and seek before I moved on, turning the corner of the reservoir into the wooded path that led to the hide. Safely ensconced, I gazed out onto the peaceful water scape, floating silhouettes slipping in and out of view to a soundtrack of ambient wildfowl.

I was pulled from my meditation by a passing wren that picked through the straw coloured reeds and bramble below the hide. It's methodical inspection of each stem, leaf and crevice in search of food fascinated until my eyes were drawn away by the pull of huge raptor wings hoving a red kite into view. It circled confidently around the small reed lined bay before descending on what appeared to be an abandoned nest site in a cut in the reeds.

The nest site certainly looked abandoned though I suspect the predatory strike, by kite or crow, had happened quite recently as down and one remaining egg were visible. A couple of crows soon sent the red kite packing, but it returned again some while later, this team as a pair of greylags (the original nest owners?) were visiting.

A happy hour spent watching this watery vista came to an end and with skies brightening I retraced my steps, grabbing even better views of another Chiff-chaff in the hedgerow as I passed. 

Before descending to the car-park I pressed on to the northern corner of the reservoir, a decision rewarded by views of both a Pied Wagtail that perched on the concrete quay and a magnificent Wheatear that probed the grass path for insects on the crest of the embankment. Using the bank as improvised cover, some guerrilla maneuverings positioned me for a worm's eye view of this beautiful passerine, not long arrived after a winter spent in Central Africa.

Further information from the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust site....

Wilstone Reservoir is one of the four Tring Reservoirs, owned by British Waterways. Wilstone is managed by HMWT in conjunction with the Friends of Tring Reservoirs. Built in 1802, the reservoir supplies water to the Wendover arm of the Grand Union Canal. It is up to 18 feet deep and has a capacity of 240 million gallons.

The reservoir was made famous by the first nesting in this country of black-necked grebes in 1918 and of little ringed plovers in 1938.

Wilstone is one of the most famous birding spots in southern England. A walk round the reservoir's edges gives good views, and there's always a surprise in store, whether it's the impressive summer duck moult, rare passage migrants or the superb wintering water birds.

Surrounded by one of Hertfordshire's largest reedbeds and set in the lovely Chilterns countryside, Wilstone is a very special place. The other three Tring Reservoirs (Little Tring, Startops and Marsworth) are all nearby and also have footpaths and viewing areas.
Map of the Tring Reservoirs

Grey Wagtail at the ford

The yellow rump of this Grey Wagtail caught the eye at the ford this evening as it flicked and bobbed in the shallows in the fading light of the day. Spring yellow doesn't yet extend to the daffodils in our lane, though the cowslips have opened under the apple tree and looked glorious in the sunshine that burst through today.