Cuculus canorus.

Wednesdays are the usual day each week that I drive the 50 minutes south-westwards to the Surrey-Hampshire-West Sussex borders to visit my parents. Talking to my mother the evening before she indicated that they had a few tiring days and there were a few gardening jobs on the 'to do list'. With her approval I indicated that I might stop off at Witley Common for, no guesses, a bit of wildlife watching.  

After parking roadside I had a quick scan over the normal area that I walk but neither saw or heard any birdsong so decided to venture onto another part of the heathland on the other side of the road.

My route took me steadily uphill on an open track bordered by heather and a few Birch trees which hindered my view over the heath. Once again all seemed extremely quiet until I heard the distinctive loud call of Cuculus canorus (click below to listen) which sounded as if the vocalist was fairly close but out of view.

Using the foliage of the Birch as a screen I peered uphill and located my quarry and just manged two shots on auto setting before it decided to fly away probably to another favoured distant song post way out of sight.

Of course many will instantly ID this species just by its call but if you are any doubt then the way it perches with its wings hanging below its tail is also very diagnostic. In flight a Cuckoo can easily be mistaken for a raptor and I will freely admit that I have made that mistake on a few occasions while leading a bird walk! Having said that, in flight, the wings rarely lift above the horizontal plane so that is one method of distinguishing it from other similar flying species. Below is a cropped view of this long distant migrant that visits the UK to breed by brood parasitism of various species from its wintering grounds south of the Sahara Desert in Africa.

In my formative years this species was very common but Cuckoo numbers in the UK have been in serious decline since the early 1980's with a drop of 63% in England which is much greater than in Scotland or Wales. In order to understand the possible reasons the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) started the Cuckoo Project (click the link for more information) and the development of 5g tags is now enabling them to understand more about their migratory routes and the problems they may encounter. Of course there are many other factors, including the dramatic changes to our Spring and Summer weather patterns, affecting both the Cuckoo's breeding rates as well as many of our other smaller migrant birds that also winter in Africa. More individuals have been tagged this year so hopefully in time the increased data will assist this important research but of course we can't change what mother nature chooses to throw at them.  FAB.  

Migrating Wheatear.

During an unplanned visit to Witley Common last week I had faint hopes of catching up with a displaying Tree Pipit .......

.... but instead a female Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) provided a welcome distraction. I initially spotted her feeding on insects about a 100 yards away on open heathland with nowhere for me to gain any cover.

Fortunately the breeze was in my favour and she decided to take a rest on a nearby tree stump ... so the next question was how to get closer. I immediately laid down and adopted a very slow crawl towards the stump ... praying that she wouldn't fly away. 

  

This species of thrush winters in Africa and visits the UK between March and October to breed, usually on upland moorland terrain with grass fields and rock outcrops. Sighting in Surrey are therefore during their Spring and Autumn migration when they stop off to feed and rest during their very lengthy journeys.

Eventually she looked me straight in the eye before turning her back on me ... typical female!

Let's hope she finds her mate and successfully breeds before returning safely back to Africa in the Autumn.  FAB.

Linking to  WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Wonders of Witley Common.

A foggy start to the day as I headed south-west to carry out some much needed garden maintenance for my parents ..... hedge trimming!

Knowing that I had time to spare before my expected ETA I paid a visit to the sandy heathland at Witley Common where a Jackdaw was patiently surveying the scene as the sun slowly began to break through and burn off the fog and eventually lift the temperature to simulate a summers day!

The common comprises a mixture of dry heath with Common and Bell Heather plus Gorse; wet heathland where you find Cross-leaved heath and ponds that often dry outin the summer; grassland and rich woodland consisting of Scot's Pine, Silver Birch, English and Turkey Oak, Willow, Sweet Chestnut plus Hazel, Elder and Aspen. A rich habitat that promises much in the right conditions. Check out this link or more information on Lowland Heath.

During my 90 minute stroll across part of the open dry heathland and surrounding woodland edge I logged the following species; Jay, Carrion Crow, Cuckoo, Linnet, TREE PIPIT, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Common Redstart, Blackbird, Wren, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Robin, Woodpigeon, Nuthatch,  BRAMBLING, Stonechat, Common Whitethroat, Swallow, Pheasant, Kestrel and Yellowhammer. Most of my sightings were fairly distant so the following image have all been cropped.

Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis)

Obviously not the clear shot I would have preferred but sometimes you have to accept what is on offer. I watched this individual perform its distant display flight and parachute down to another lofty tree top perch unlike its close cousin the Meadow Pipit that generally lands on the floor at the end of its flight. 

Stonechat (Saxicola torquatus)

I am usually alerted to this chat's location by its repetative throaty clicking call and today was no exception. As soon as I lined up the distant shot it moved to another favourite perch ... ah well, patience I say to myself, it will probably come back in a few moments ... and it did.  

 Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus)

For once there were far more Willow Warblers around the heathland singing their descending verse than the Chiffchaffs on my local patch.

Three for the price of one ... Tree Pipit, Yellowhammer and Chaffinch.

Plenty of Brimstone on the wing in such lovely sunny weather.

So that was the easy part of my day, the following three hours wielding a hedge trimmer has left its mark on my arm muscles but tomorrow morning will hopefully be another relaxing few hours as I reconnoitre the landscape at Hatchlands Park in preparation for a 'Dawn Chorus' walk in two weeks time.   FAB.

For more WORLD BIRD WEDNESDAY images, please follow this link.