On a fine afternoon on a Sunday in November, I decided to go for a walk rather than garden. (There are not too many fine Sunday afternoons in November!) Starting from Iden Green I walked towards Eaglesden. On descending the hill a huge flock of corvids rose into the sky squawking as they alighted. Most of them were Jackdaws with a good percentage of Rooks. It made a good sight as they wheeled about looking for another feeding site. At the bottom of the hill I walked along the stream towards a flooded scrape. Robins Blackbirds and Dunnocks were in the scrub when all of a sudden a bird took off out of the ditch zigzagging as it went. It was a Snipe and it flew higher and higher as it disappeared over the adjoining wood. On the scrape itself there was a Mute Swan, Mallards and Moorhen. A small flock of birds alighted on a hedge next to the scrape, which contained five Meadow Pipits and one very handsome male Reed Bunting. Across the field to the paper mill a Pied Wagtail accompanied me and then turning up the wooded lane towards Hinxden Farm there was a small flock of Long-tailed Tit in the alder trees together with a noisy Nuthatch. Back across the fields towards Iden Green there were quite a few finches in the hedgerow including a superb male Bullfinch with his brilliant scarlet breast against the bright blue sky making it a really colourful sight. As I was walking across the next field, I was aware that the resident Blackbirds were making their noisy alarm calls. All the noise was coming from a hazel nut tree. I wondered what was up setting them. Chaffinches joined in the frenzy with their ‘pink pink’ calls. I was quite sure there was a Tawny Owl in the tree. I approached very slowly and cautiously to see if I could see the owl. I knew it would see me before I it. It was not until I was nearly under the tree that the predator flew out. It was very quick and certainly not an owl, all I saw was a grey back speeding into the distance which was just enough to realise that the predator was probably a Sparrowhawk. Just as I was leaving the fields before entering Coldharbour Lane a lone Redwing flew over followed by a small flock of Fieldfare giving their distinctive chuckling calls as they passed over. After about an hour and a half I was back home having seen thirty-three different species everything from a Mute swan to a Wren.

I have started to carry out winter atlas surveys for the BTO’s project which I mentioned earlier in the autumn. There are two findings which have surprised me. Firstly, the number of Mandarin ducks I have found in small ponds in local farmland has been nearly matched the number of Mallards. One very small pond had ten Mandarin. Since their escape from wildfowl collections their population has grown rapidly. I came across three or four families last summer. The first escaped into the wild quite a few years ago but it has only been in the last year or two that their numbers have really multiplied. The other not so surprising finding is the number of grey squirrels, which have out numbered the birds on occasions. During my two-hour survey I have in excess of thirty in 2 x 2km square. The numbers have grown phenomenally and are cause for concern regarding the effect it will have on other wild life.

A short walk in Hemsted Forest one morning came to an unexpected and exciting conclusion when I saw a small bird climb up a tree. Expecting to see a Treecreeper, I saw to my astonishment a female Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I think this is the first female I have ever seen as I usually only see the male after having been alerted by his drumming. I watched this bird for a good five minutes as it behaved like a Treecreeper by going to the bottom of trees or branches and working its way up searching for little morsels to consume.

Charles Trollope