Blackthorn and Blackcaps

Today it really felt like spring had stalled temporarily, with temperatures barely breaking double figures. If only the mini heatwave we were teased with earlier in the week could have been delayed by just a few days. Although the cool weather was certainly noticeable when I set off for a walk around 11am, I quickly warmed up and regretted the number of layers I had opted for. 

There was a steady flow of birds throughout today's patch walk, with most of the usual suspects showing well. There are now at least three or four chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita territories spread across the site, after a steady influx in recent weeks. As always, chiffchaff are a fairly tricky species to photograph, either sticking to dense scrub cover, or singing high in the canopy, and invariably on the move, rarely settling for more than a few seconds. However they can be a relatively tame at times, and will sometimes make an appearance in low scrub for long enough that a few photographs can be attempted. 

Chiffchaff in Eynsham Wood

 
It was also a nice surprise to hear the arrival of the first singing male blackcap Sylvia atricapilla of the year, the 43rd species on the patch list for 2021. Despite its enthusastic song I couldn't locate the bird amongst the scrub in the north-western corner of Eynsham Wood. It was also nice to record two foraging song thrush Turdus philomelos in the sheep pasture field adjacent to the western boundary of Eynsham Wood, as well as a third individual in the central grassy ride. 

Coinciding with the arrival of the blackcaps, the blackthorn Prunus spinosa blossom is beginning to reach its peak in the hedgerow north of Field 4. 

Blackthorn blossom in hedgerow north of Field 4

As usual the song of a single skylark Alauda arvensis was filling the sky in this area. Fields 4 and 5 still haven't been cultivated, and I've got a horrible feeling that this will happen just as the skylarks have begun a nesting attempt. I really find it miraculous that skylark can be productive at all in arable farmland given the field management practices that they have to contend with.

21 species were recorded in total, and with the new arrival of blackcap, it felt like a satisfying first visit in April. 

Back home I've been playing around with various photography setups for the garden birds, with the aim of continuing to practice with my new camera and lens combo. This tame female blackbird Turdus merula (the same individual that I have featured in another recent post) was one of the few species that played ball and chose to feed on the wooden table that my camera was trained on. That said I was really hoping to get some shots of the birds using the log perch I had set up, but unfortunately no luck on this front as yet.

Blackbird feeding int the back garden.

We have also had a sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus flying overhead in the garden for the past couple of days, so it only felt like a matter of time before it made an attack on one of our regular small garden birds. Indeed yesterday we had some drama when we heard a panicked screeching call coming from a garden a couple of doors down, as the sparrowhawk had clearly made a hunting attempt on something. Although we never got a clear view of preadator or prey, a flurry of black feathers indicated that it had been a successful attack. From a look at the feathers, my guess is that the victim was a jackdaw Corvus monedula, with male blackbird being the other potential candidate. 

Tomorrow I'm hoping to do my early spring visit for my BTO Breeding Bird Survey square in Saunderton (near High Wycombe in the Chilterns), so may report on that here if I get the chance. Until then, Happy Easter!