Sunday 12 February 2017

Combe Wood and Acres Down, 12th February 2017

A convivial day out with David D-L, Lee B and Adrian W saw us first visit Combe Wood, on the edge of Berkshire, where we located at least four Willow Tits. This is the furthest south that I have seen this species and the first time I've had them alongside Marsh Tits. As the 'ray-gun' and 'sneezy' calls bounced against each other through the dank woods, I daydreamed that I had stumbled upon a wormhole to a Britain whose avifauna hadn't yet been ravaged by habitat and climate change. Nice flight views of a Tawny Owl was another highlight.

Acres Down was up next but the weather hadn't improved nearly as much as we had hoped. Still, we managed to track down a fabulous flock of 29 Hawfinches, an adult ♂ Goshawk (the others also saw a female when I strayed away for a while) and four Crossbills of note.

adult ♂ Goshawk at Acres Down
Hawfinches at Acres Down