A grand finale

To me, June always signals the end of the exciting spring birding season. This is inaccurate, really, as many overshoots can still appear right through the month. But the intensity of daily sessions in the field will soon fizzle away, for a few weeks at least, until the first returning and failed waders will begin to appear from July. It’s been a long old spring this year but if we are in the final throws, then there was a grand finale this week.

This Marsh Warbler was a most welcome surprise in Kent.

Perhaps the highlight came when – while social distancing of course – I ventured out of the county for the first time since March, teaming up with Sam J on the north Kent coast. A very early start paid off, with flight views of Cattle Egret and a seemingly migrant Turtle Dove, before the real reward was picked up not by eyes, but ears: a singing Marsh Warbler.

We enjoyed cracking views of this apparently fresh-in individual.

We’d essentially twitched the weather for this sort of discovery, with gentle north-east winds reaching from central Europe overnight, combined with dawn cloud. We were treated to superb views of this, perhaps the most intense and fascinating songster in Europe (and beyond?), picking out various mimicked species which varied from Goldfinch and Blackbird to Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and Black-backed Puffback. Listen here for some song. I’ll upload more recordings to Xeno-Canto in time.

From the time we found the warbler we both knew we’d be unlikely to top a county rarity, but still had a most enjoyable day, with other notable species including late singles of Knot and Greenshank and breeding, non-Surrey delights such as Corn Bunting, Marsh Harrier and Yellow Wagtail. Very nice.

One of several breeding Yellow Wagtails ...

A shy Greenshank, much unlike my recent one at Tuesley.

 Singing Corn Bunting. A species I'd love in Surrey.

A Lapwing chick, one of several seen.

A dapper sum-plum Med Gull.

The rough-edged beauty of the North Kent Marshes.

Avocets were in good supply.

A non-reedbed Reed Warbler.

Sam was a lot more excited by this Hairy Dragonfly than I was.

This morning another warbler took the limelight, this time much closer to home – a hyper-territorial male Wood Warbler. This bird was singing and display flighting like crazy and, much to my surprise, ended up chasing a second bird around several times. I guess it may have been a non-vocalising male, but a female seems more likely (and more exciting, too).

The High Weald population of Wood Warbler is essentially extinguished, but males do turn up every year or so and sing, usually very late in the season. Have they failed elsewhere and, on the way south, dropped into the once apparently perfectly suitable habitat in this part of the world? It’s a mystery. But it’s also seemingly a species to keep on the June radar in the future. A recording is here.

This active male Wood Warbler was tricky to photograph as it flitted around under the canopy.

Unsurprisingly, given COVID-19, I haven’t managed any Surrey lifers this year. So, it was nice to finally get off the mark on Sunday when news broke that the Rosy Starling invasion had reached the county. The bird, which I make out to be an adult female, was frequenting feeders and water in a private garden near Horley, close to the Sussex border.

Having chatted to the homeowner (Christine) prior to setting off, it was agreed I could take a look, but when I arrived the bird had last been seen an hour and a half ago, when it flew east. My plan was for a quick look here and then to the surrounding area, so it was quite nice to locate the bird sat rather motionless in a bush in said garden on the first binoculars scan.

The shorter crest, duller plumage and brownish colouring on the back suggests the Horley Rosy Starling was a female.

A couple of intrepid Surrey birders had craftily worked out where the house was based on the initial tweet from Christine, but had been turned away. Once it was relocated, Christine very kindly allowed them to come and look and, for an hour or so, we were all treated to cracking views (albeit into the sun, hence the poor photos) of this Surrey mega – the 14th, in fact, and first since 2008. 

It initially looked rather unwell but eventually perked up, feeding away, before bolting off to the east, not to be seen again. Hopefully another one or two show up and become available to the masses. I’m now 212 up for the vice-county – what will be next? A big thanks to Christine too, for her understanding and general friendliness!

My 212th Surrey bird.

There hasn’t been heaps else to report, apart form the above. I’ll quickly whizz through some highlights, in chronological order … on 24th, a Lapwing pair at Painshill Farm, Dunsfold, teased at the idea of late breeders, but subsequent observations of singles at Shackleford (29th) and Unstead SF (30th) point to post- or failed breeding dispersal being underway, which does (sadly) tend to happen early in the season around here.

On 25th I was awoken by a Willow Warbler – not what one expects to be singing in Farncombe. Later that morning another fun trip to The Hurtwood yielded a surprise Nightingale, a Crossbill, food-carrying Tree Pipit and the Spotted Flycatcher pair. Another Spot fly was at Golden Valley the following day. And on that subject, if you want to see Spotted Flycatcher in Surrey, check out my brief article for Surrey Bird Club here. Another Crossbill was at Hindhead Golf Club on 27th and it’s safe to say this species is now back in business in the Surrey Hills, after a woeful winter. 

One species that has become a bit of a revelation during my travels this spring is Yellowhammer – a common bird in Low Weald farmland! While walking the Hambledon area on 30th I tallied no fewer than 14, a great total for late May. Nine of these were along a 0.8 km stretch of the Greensand Way between St Peter's Church and Vann Hill. Only two females were seen, both at Court Farm – one nest building and one taking grit from the path. But surely at least a few are sitting at the moment.

A showy Yellowhammer at Hambledon.

A visit to Unstead SF on 31st revealed the Stonechat pair that have been there and on Unstead Water Meadows during the past few months and they seem to be breeding. The female was busily collecting food, while the male mobbed nearby corvids. My guess is that the nest is somewhere in the South Meadow …

This male Stonechat seems to be part of pair which are the first to knowingly breed at Unstead SF.

Finally, it’d be wrong to not comment on the recent fire at Thursley Common, one of my ‘special’ places. The human pressure on the site is simply too much nowadays – even during the past five years, the clear increase in recreational visitors is alarming. It is now, at times, akin to a London park – dogs off leads, groups of joggers and cyclists yelling to each other, kids running off the paths, people having BBQs … I have had more than one heated conversation with arrogant dog owners (who are the minority, I might add) this spring.

Natural England have to act or the common (which is a flipping SSSI and RAMSAR site!) is in long-term trouble. Since lockdown was eased, the car park has often been full by 9 am. I’d say that eight or nine out of ten visitors come to simply ‘walk the boardwalk’. A full-time warden (at least during the summer) or halving the size of the car park seem like sensible ways to go. Some 25% of the common was lost in the blaze and it’ll take two or three years to recover. Who knows how popular the site will be by then. It might sound miserable, but I look forward to a leaden grey November morning when I can walk the common in peace!