A morning walk at Yarner Wood

Nineteen members of the group met at 8.30am to begin our birding walk around Yarner Wood, which was led by Richard Dumelow.  However, it was a cloudy and cool start to the day, and we were initially a little disappointed not to see much bird activity, as it appeared that the group had got up earlier than the birds. As the morning progressed, we saw our first pied flycatcher of the day, birds such as blue and long-tailed tits, a jay, and a song thrush cracking a snail on the stone path in front of us.  We were fortunate enough to catch two sightings of a lesser spotted woodpecker, which was a first ever sighting of this rare species for some members of the group. 

By this time, the sun (and more birds) had come out and we made our way out to the heathland area of the reserve where we saw more open-habitat species including a tree pipit, yellowhammer, some linnets, and a garden warbler with a buzzard overhead.  So the visit ended on a high note, having seen a good selection of the star species of Yarner Wood.  At the end of the trip, about half of the group decided to stay around the car park to eat a picnic lunch, where we were serenaded by a willow warbler and treated to our first sighting of the year of returning swifts which was an extra treat of the day.

24 species were seen on the trip (excluding the swifts).

Claire Savaryn

24 species seen: Wood Pigeon; Herring Gull; Buzzard; Lesser Spotted Woodpecker; Jay; Carrion Crow; Blue Tit; Long-tailed Tit; WillowWarbler; Chiffchaff; Blackcap; Garden Warbler; Goldcrest; Wren; Treecreeper; Blackbird; Song Thrush; Mistle Thrush; Robin; Pied Flycatcher; Tree Pipit; Chaffinch; Linnet; Yellowhammer