I rented a car for Thursday and Friday of last week.
This beautiful ancient woodland is a well-known Essex site for the very localised and fast decreasing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, the smallest of the 4 woodpecker species found in the UK (3 residents plus the migratory Wryneck) and the 10 woodpecker species found in Europe (I have seen them all!).
February is arguably the best month to see the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker since leaves have not yet appeared in the tree canopy and the birds are very active, calling and “drumming” as the breeding season approaches. I have previously seen 1 or 2 birds at this site but this was my first visit for many years.
As I drove down the short track to park, I noticed a Common Buzzard on the ground in the adjacent field. I would imagine it was probably foraging for worms in the very wet soil. As I parked up, I also saw 2 other raptors appear as they flew over the top of Shut Heath Wood and a quick look through the binoculars revealed them to be Red Kites. As they approached closer, they engaged in an aerial display with one or both of the birds calling. They also caused the Common Buzzard to fly up and interact with them.
With regard to other birds, I unfortunately failed to see or even hear a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which was disappointing but not surprising given that this is a very elusive species which is difficult to locate. I am not even sure if Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers still breed at Shut Heath Wood.
However, I had a very enjoyable walk around the wood and saw the usual and expected common woodland species including 3 Stock Doves. The main highlight was other woodpecker activity but of the Great Spotted Woodpecker variety. I saw at least 4 birds and there was much calling and “drumming” throughout my visit.
On Friday, I stayed “local” and visited 2 sites close to home that make up part of the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Langdon nature reserve .... see here, here and here. This is Essex Wildlife Trust's largest inland reserve comprising more than 500 acres of ancient and secondary woodland, meadows, ponds and former plotland gardens.
The first site that I visited was Marks Hill Wood. A walk around the wood provided sightings of Great Spotted Woodpecker and Green Woodpecker with both species regularly calling and the former “drumming”. Clearly spring woodpecker activity is well underway. In addition to the usual and expected common woodland species, I also saw c.20 Redwings, a reminder that winter is still here.
The second site that I visited was Dunton Plotlands and Langdon Lake. Again, I saw the usual and expected common woodland species including 2 more Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 3 more Redwings plus 2 Mute Swans, 6 Mallards, 2 Moorhens and 1 Coot on the lake. However, the main highlight was a small and noisy flock of c.15 Siskins in one of the alder trees by the lake.
I also managed to see a Badger and a Red Fox along one of the plotland avenues running east from the new but not yet open Nature Discovery Centre 😀
These figures are part of the Peter Rabbit Woodland Trail and include all the major characters created by Beatrix Potter. The Badger (Tommy Brock) and the Red Fox (Mr. Tod) appear in the children’s story "The Tale of Mr. Tod". This story is not part of my Red Fox and Badger library 😀
Close by is the The Haven Plotlands Museum, one of the many former homes on the Dunton Plotlands.
Finally, I had a very quick walk around the main lake at Gloucester Park where a contributor to Gloucester Park Facebook group had reported the recent presence of a male and female Goosander. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful so clearly these birds have moved on.
Nonetheless, my 2 days did enable me to add Red Kite and Siskin to my 2021 year list bringing it to 88 species, substantially less than at this time in 2019 and even in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in travel restrictions.
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