I had a good three hours down the Gaywood Valley this morning. I wrapped myself up against the biting easterly wind and went to see what I could find. I had visited the valley on a very windy day last week, only to find that the birds had more sense than me and had tucked themselves away well undercover. It wasn't so bad today, but I still didn't expect to find anything much.
I found my concerns well founded as I started, with just the occasional 'regulars' to test my pencil control in my freezing fingers. The warmth of last summer seemed so far away as I braved the cold wind, but it was almost warming to hear many of the birds singing now. A sure sign that some warmth will soon be returning once again.
The main valley area was farmland 5 years ago, but it has since been left to return to nature. There are reasonable sized reed beds that follow the drainage ditches around the former fields and sedge and rush tussocks are now growing unchecked in the more boggy areas. This place has such potential for the future and the only thing that could make it any better would be if there were some wader pools - and I know the Internal Drainage Board, who now own the land, have plans to dig some in the next year or so!
There is a line of silver birches that line one side of the valley that I have personally named Redpoll Row, after seeing a small flock on several occasions earlier this year. There weren't any there today, but there was a lovely brambling mixed in with some chaffinches using the small stand of hawthorn growing just behind.
Just a little further forward from Redpoll Row is Willow Corner. This is so named because 1-there is a willow copse and 2-it was a regular singing spot for a willow warbler last summer. I walked around the corner, yearning for the warmer weather again, when just in Bullfinch Bend (no prizes!) I came across a singing male reed bunting and another reminder that warmer weather isn't too far away.
After Bullfinch Bend, there is a long path that leads to what I have cunningly called The Top End (it's not the top end now, but it was when I first started birding the area), where a flock of swallows were seen last autumn flying overhead, then coming around to skim the grass between the taller vegetation that lines the path and then pulling back up high to swing around and repeat the process again and again. No surprises, then, for guessing that I now call this part of the valley Swallow Straight.
It was the main place last year for the summer migrants and contained good numbers of reed and sedge warblers, whithethroats, willow warblers and chiffchaffs. It isn't so good in the winter, however, and it was very quiet as I walked along. Then, just before reaching the Top End I noticed what I, at first, thought was a gull. But it banked slightly as I looked away and I managed to notice it was a very white gull, if a gull it was. So I looked properly, and felt I had been rewarded for my suffering in the cold throughout the winter with a little egret that was flying overhead.
It looked like it was getting ready to land, but I lost sight of it when it dissapeared behind one of the many thickets of hawthorn that grow in this area of the valley. This is the first time I have seen little egret in the valley, and is yet another example of the Gaywood Wow Factor - something you can only get from having your own Local Patch.
I then went on a hunt to see if it had actually landed somewhere, but failed to find any further sign of it. Time was running out by now and I started my walk back towards home, warmth, and dinner. There is a spot along this route where I regularly see a little owl, but there hasn't been any sign of it for a couple of weeks now. I stopped for another look today, but it was notable by it's absence once again. I know there are reports of owls dieing because of the cold weather, and although I have seen it since then, I am still a little concerned about it.
To make up for the dissapointment, though, there was a stunning male bullfinch glowing in the middle of a hawthorn hedge. A beautiful bird and a great way to finish what turned out to be a really good mornings birding.
Right. Toad-in-the-hole, here I come!
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