A walk from Bennett’s Cross to Challacombe
Skylarks singing and fluttering signalled our meeting point at Bennett’s Cross on Dartmoor. Eleven of us hiked down the valley towards Challacombe on a warm, breezy day.
Early in the walk, some members of the group spotted two lifers – cuckoo and whinchat. We had many more views of these fantastic birds along the way, including cuckoos being mobbed in flight by pipits. As we walked, we frequently saw and heard meadow pipit, willow warbler and stonechat, with occasional fly-overs by herring gulls. We saw a buzzard hovering, not unlike a kestrel, in the wind near one of the tors. All blackbirds were studied to make sure we didn’t overlook them in our search for ring ouzel.
We enjoyed elevenses to the sound of garden warbler, chiffchaff and robin, the former only heard and not seen. We spotted many butterflies and insects in the area, including green-veined white, small copper, small pearl-bordered fritillary, peacock and painted lady.
Continuing the walk through the old mine buildings and on to Challacombe Farm, we found a perfect picnic spot surrounded by swallows and house martins. We watched the house sparrows collecting nesting material and heard a couple of cuckoos. As we wandered along the stream we had great views of a spotted flycatcher – a first for the 2022 list for many of us. It was hard to know where to look, as we were also surrounded by siskins, goldfinches, wrens and warblers.
Along the route we saw several species of corvids, including magpie, jackdaw, rook and carrion crow. At this time of year, the birds were paired up for breeding, and we had good views of a pair of posing redstarts, nuthatches flying in and out of a nest hole and mallards going overhead. Some of us were lucky to spot the sleeping troll under the bridge, luckily no one disturbed the beast.
During the walk we saw many common songbirds, such as chaffinch, pied wagtail, dunnock, great tit, long-tailed tit, blue tit and blackcap. Woodpigeons cooed and we had a brief glimpse of a great spotted woodpecker. Four linnets perched on the heather, and we spent time watching a treecreeper climb tree trunks in a little copse.
Beyond Challacombe Farm we headed toward Headland Warren farm through the fields of bluebells. It was here we had our best views of wheatear and whinchat, along with some interested alpacas. We had been hearing reed bunting along the walk but were able to add to the list of birds seen, along with kestrel, near the farm itself. After enjoying the view at Birch Tor, we headed back to the car park. A couple of the group disturbed a male adder, which soon disappeared under the heather. In all, we recorded 40 bird species. The weather stayed bright and warm, and some enjoyed a drink back at the Warren House Inn to reflect on an enjoyable day.
Emma Whitton
40 species of birds recorded (H indicates heard-only): Mallard, Cuckoo, Wood Pigeon, Herring Gull, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Kestrel, Magpie, Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Skylark, Swallow, House Martin, Long-tailed Tit, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Garden Warbler (H), Wren, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Blackbird, Spotted Flycatcher, Robin, Redstart, Whinchat, Stonechat, Wheatear, House Sparrow, Dunnock, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Chaffinch, Linnet, Goldfinch, Siskin, Reed Bunting.