Kingley Vale Trip Report, Guided Birdwatching 8th December 2020

A glorious winters morning at Kingley Vale saw many birds revelling in the still air and surprisingly warm sunshine.

Walking along the tree-lined footpath between the car park and yew forest, the sound of the rookery and accompanying jackdaws set the scene for the day. Alongside the footpath thrushes of various species were feeding on the berries, and digging around in the leaf litter. Blackbirds, song thrushes, fieldfares and redwings were all seen on this section, there was no mistaking that it was winter.

From within the trees a firecrest emerged, busily feeding on minute invertebrates. It found its way into a now leafless wild privet hedge and allowed us beautiful close-up views. A far larger bird was perched up in a distant tree, a buzzard. It was soaking up the morning sun before beginning the days flying activities.

Common Buzzard.

The firecrest’s even more diminutive cousin, the goldcrest, also put in an early appearance and gave an opportunity for comparison between these two species.

Goldcrest.

Approaching the National Nature Reserve of ancient yew trees the busy twitter of linnets could be heard in a distant tree. While heading towards the linnets, the gentle but far-carrying call of a bullfinch was heard. Two male bullfinches appeared in a bare tree, nibbling away at the leaf buds.

Male bullfinch.

Heading into the forest it was clear there were many goldcrests in the area. They were present in amazing numbers. Within them were more firecrests, one appeared extremely close to us and low to the ground, we got to view it for an extended period of time at such a close distance that binoculars were more of a hindrance than a benefit! Slightly later on another one was found and this posed very nicely indeed in a sunlit position. Four firecrests were noted but I am sure there were more hiding away in the forest.

Firecrest.

Several greenfinches were perched in the top of a tree. They all flew off to our right and blackbirds and song thrushes joined the exodus. A jay flew towards the tree and called with its typically harsh vocalisation. All of this indicated a predator was in the vicinity. A sparrowhawk suddenly emerged from the aforementioned tree and circled delightfully above our heads before drifting away. Fortunately we are now in a position to sometimes see goshawks in this area, so with an obliging sparrowhawk we went through some features that can separate these from their far larger relatives.

Walking along and more bullfinches could be heard, we spotted them up ahead and it turned out that there was a cracking group of five in a small area. Again, they were feeding on the buds, munching them up in their chunky bills. The bullfinches flew into a bush in the large clearing of chalk grassland habitat, so we made our way into the clearing. The bullfinches moved around and many thrushes were flying to and fro.

Male and female bullfinch.

Male bullfinch.

Stopping in the clearing for a drink we were struck by the silence of such a still day. This made it all the more dramatic when the deep guttural bubbling cronk of a raven filled the arena. The raven drifted over the ridge of the bowl-shaped topography of the vale, and as it came towards us the sounds continued. The terrain echoed the sound of this baritone raven to spectacular effect. A second raven drifted through the same section of sky, calling away as it went. This one, whilst still definitely deep in the register, was noticeably higher pitched than the first.

Thrushes continued to move, crows called, and a kestrel hunted. Aside from this it was noticeably quieter than within the wooded section of the reserve so we headed back into the trees. It was around midday and the birds had seemingly gathered into roaming flocks. We found such a group within the forest and it contained a great array of species. Amongst the different birds nuthatches, a treecreeper, coal tits, more bullfinches, and of course, goldcrests, were all to be found in a small area.

Back on the path toward the cars a bright male yellowhammer posed above clematis seed heads, and a remarkably tame robin ate up the crumbs that we could find in our lunchboxes.

Yellowhammer.

In total 42 species of birds were noted, an excellent total in a woodland area. Photos were taken and kindly provided by Les Phillips.

If you are interested in attending a guided birdwatching session such as this one, the upcoming events can be seen on the ‘Events’ page of this website. Or to stand the best chance of a space being available, you can get the information emailed to you prior to its publication online by joining my mailing list. To do so simply email me at baggaleyhugh@gmail.com

- Hugh Baggaley