Westdean Woods Trip Report, Guided Birdwatching 18th Jan 2020

A simply glorious day in the areas surrounding Westdean Woods lived up to expectations with a wealth of interesting sightings. Those familiar with the area may have heard of the ‘little owl tree’, well this tree had succumbed to a recent storm and was totally uprooted and lying on the ground. I wonder where the little owls will choose to roost now.

Walking on the track leading slightly uphill a marsh tit was happily feeding on the path in front of us. Despite not being the most colourful I find these to be one of the most attractive of the tit family, with neatly marked plumage understated in its subtle hues. A song thrush was in full voice, and we heard many throughout the day.

Further along a small bird caught our attention and its identity could only be one of the two crest species. This one was the slightly larger and more colourful firecrest. With a complete absence of leaves on the deciduous trees, viewing this tiny bird was straightforward and we enjoyed wonderful views of this little gem.

In addition to marsh tits we saw coal, long-tailed, blue and great tits. All of these were also calling, and we could therefore compare the differences in the sounds that they make. The tit species, in particular great tits, make a wide variety of sounds and it is not an irregular event to hear a new sound made by a very familiar bird. As we neared a clearing the gentle but far carrying call of a bullfinch became audible. It was in a similar area to where a minimum of seven were seen on the previous guided walk. Once at the clearing the deep, bubbling utterance of a raven could be heard. This was a sign of things to come.

Ravens were congregating in the area and built up to around six individuals. We sat and enjoyed the ravens, the views, and our lunch for a while. The ravens gradually moved off and were replaced by buzzards, at least six, and a couple of red kites. Crossbills were heard but couldn’t be located, tricky as usual!

Enjoying the sun in a sheltered area was a flock of long-tailed tits, a goldcrest, several goldfinches and a pair of stonechats. Moving back downhill a flock of redwings whizzed through the trees surrounding us. This is always an exciting event as many birds fly past you at close range and high speeds. And as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.

A slight change in location instantly yielded a couple of hawfinches. They moved off behind some trees so we started to move to different viewing point. On the way there I was amazed to see another hawfinch sitting no more than four metres in front of us quite low in a bush! Once at a good viewing spot we could see a few more hawfinches as well as greenfinches.

Upon looking over some distant trees a large gathering of ravens struck me. They were playing in the air and tumbling around.  I counted through the ravens several times and there were no fewer than 15 in this flock. What a sight! Other corvids seen were jay, magpie and carrion crow, none of these exceeded the number of ravens seen, and it’s not often you can say that!

Heading back a bullfinch called once more, only this time she emerged and perched beautifully in the top of a fruit tree. One final check for hawfinches ended up in us watching several individuals lazily feeding on buds in the treetops alongside a couple of greenfinches. Now, greenfinches are a fairly chunky finch, but the hawfinches could not be out-chunked and made the greens look positively slender in comparison.

It was a wonderful day with great weather and even better wildlife. These were just some of the highlights of a bird filled outing. Check out upcoming events here. 

- Hugh Baggaley