What to Look For and What I Saw

Saturday 26th August 2023

I still have my copy of the Ladybird book What to Look for in Autumn that I had as a child in the 1970s. I would linger over the detailed illustrations by C F Tunnicliffe and wish I was there for real. One depicts swallows and house martins spread over the tiles of a roof and lined up on telegraph wires. Yesterday, I was ‘there’ for real. There must have been 60 or 70 martins and swallows, some on the lines but also lots on the roofs of a small row of farm terraces, half an hour’s walk up the road. It was fabulous to see them – although with a tint of sadness that they will soon be off on their long journeys.

The Team in a Pied Kit

Friday 17th August 2023

I went for a run and decided to use the local recreation ground for a little speed work. There I was joined by no less than 14 pied wagtails that were pacing about the football pitch – enough for a starting 11 plus subs!

They didn’t seem to be bothered by the runner doing laps but then all took to the air at once in a flurry of alarm calls. I looked up and saw a sparrowhawk pass overhead.

*Interesting – just realised I made an almost identical post on 26th July last year – an indication of both my own and the wagtails’ behaviour patterns in late summer perhaps.

Popshot Quarterly – Poem Published

August 2023

My poem Personal Best has been published in Popshot Quarterly, the autumn edition with a ‘magic’ theme. Available from W H Smiths or online. Sadly this is the last print edition of the “The Illustrated Magazine of New Writing” that was first published in 2009. And I love Ester Zirilli’s illustration that accompanies my poem.

Popshot Quarterly (WH Smiths, Cambridge, UK)

Diddly, diddly, diddly deeeee!

Thursday 15th June 2023

On my cycle commute into town this morning I passed six male yellowhammers, each repeating their call. Each gave a slightly different rendition, not one exactly replicating the ‘little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheese’ mantra suggested in guide books. And one sounded as if it was saying, “Diddly, diddly, diddly deeeee” – just like in my poem, Camping Song, recently published online at The Dirigible Balloon, a site for children’s poetry: https://dirigibleballoon.org/poem/Camping-Song

The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful

Friday 21st April 2023

This month has been fulfilling the April showers expectation and cold winds have made it chilly even on sunny days, but it’s been good to see and hear the first of the summer visitors.

On the 3rd I came across a willow warbler – luckily it was singing as I don’t think I would have been able to differentiate it from a chiffchaff otherwise. It’s difficult to describe their call but to me its meandering refrain seems to float on the air, and I particularly associate it with warm summer days in the countryside. This association, at least in part, may be due to the fact I’ve noticed the song in the background on many rural summer TV and film sequences. In the last two weeks there’s been more than one singing, in the same area. Now the tree leaves are emerging it’s not so easy to spot them.

One swallow may not make a summer but does three? I saw three by the stables where swallows usually nest a week ago but no more than that so far. I didn’t see any until the last day of April last year so they are a little earlier than that and hopefully there will be a lot more soon. In recent days I’ve seen and heard both whitethroats and lesser whitethroats, mainly singing, but there’s also been the occasional tell-tale scratchy sound from deep within brambles at times.

A month ago, yellowhammers had appeared to be staking out territories in the hedges along the farm road where they have previously been prevalent. However, most seem to have moved on unless I just happen to be passing at the wrong time. As I often walk and run here and it’s on my cycle route to work, I don’t think the latter is true. But there are a lot of yellowhammers near another footpath close to home, along the river meadows. I wonder if being near to the river is a factor after last years extreme heatwaves.

The river meadows area is good for birds and animals. There are hedges and tangled brambles, uncultivated meadows where the grass is left to grow long, trees and, of course, the river. It’s a lovely place to walk. But that brings issues too. There seem to be more dogs being walked here than ever and a lot are allowed off lead. There has been a lot of publicity regarding dogs being kept on leads in nature reserves to avoid disturbance to nesting birds. But surely this should apply to areas which are not designated reserves too? There is evidence that repeated disturbance can cause birds to abandon nests. Yellowhammers, reed buntings, and whitethroats, are just some of the species that nest close to or on the ground. The reason I don’t walk the river paths as much as I would is it makes me sad to see dogs crashing through the undergrowth or running across a field where skylarks may be. While the drastic bird number declines seen in recent decades are due to other factors, out-of-control dogs in sensitive areas can’t help and is easily avoidable.

On a more cheering note, a recent highlight was watching a barn owl hunt alongside the river. It then landed on a post and stayed there for quite some time. I noticed a ring on its leg when looking at my photos later.

Stop-Start Spring

Friday 31st March 2023

The last month has been a time of transitions. Now spring by both meteorological and astronomical definitions (1st and 20th March respectively), it has been a stop-start beginning to the season with some milder weather and very chilly conditions by turns. And a lot of rain. After a dry February that, according to the Met Office, was the driest in England in 30 years, March has been the wettest since 1981. Cambridgeshire has been no exception.

Cherry plum blossom seemed to falter in the wet conditions – early to show, emerging in late February, this non-native but now naturalised plant in the UK, didn’t seem to fare very well locally in gusty winds and heavy downpours and has faded quickly. On a soggy run this morning, I noted that the blackthorn flowers are starting to bloom. I hope that the weather will be kinder to them.

A couple of weeks ago fieldfares were still around, congregating in a large group on the edge of the village but they have moved on now, possibly the last I’ll see of any until next autumn. We’ve had a male brambling visit the garden – a first for us. These birds are winter visitors, staying in Britain until April when they head back to breed in northern Europe. I also saw a female stonechat on my cycle to work, in the same location a pair visited for a couple of weeks back in January 2021. Presumably it was just passing through on the way back to the east coast or Breckland breeding areas, but I was delighted to see it. Chiffchaffs seem to be everywhere, singing their name whatever the weather. I often stop to try to pick them out – it should be easier as the tree branches are still bare, but these slender birds can be hard to spot. Not so hard to see are the yellowhammers – while singing they show up well on the top of hedges, telegraph wires or even on the ground.

Brambling (male) (photo taken through window)

Stonechat (female)
Yellowhammer (male)

Yellow Signs of Spring

28th February 2023

It has been wonderful to see large flocks of yellowhammers and corn buntings wintering on a nature-friendly farm a couple of miles down the road, where stubble has been left. Milder weather ten days ago seemed to prompt some of the yellowhammers to break away from the flock to return to previous territories. I’ve seen and heard a few males singing from favoured spots of past nesting seasons. A bit like humans though they may have got their hopes up for the arrival of spring a little prematurely as it currently feels more wintery again but their behaviour is a sign spring is close nevertheless.

Blue January

Tuesday 17th January 2023

On my frosty cycle commute to town today I was listening to some music (my hat has built-in headphones and I can still hear exterior sounds). As I approached the bridge over the M11, it was fitting that the insistent repetitions of Traffic by Tiësto came on. But it was then drowned out by the road noise from the motorway as I crossed above. By the time I was able to hear my tunes again it was the turn of Enya and the rather more serene Caribbean Blue (it’s an eclectic playlist). And all around was a Cambridgeshirian blue sky.

Cambridge Blue – Mill Pond, Newnham