Tag Archives: birdsong

A beautiful, but distinctly chilly, morning and about sixteen of us met with Steve Joul at 7 am in the car park of Old Leo’s Rugby club for our ninth (!) annual birdsong walk.

Unfortunately, your correspondent forgot to take any photos and so he will borrow some photographs from the RSPB website.

Steve made some introductory remarks, handed out some binoculars and bird sheets and we had a look round to see what we could see or hear from the car park. We certainly heard a chaffinch and saw a wood pigeon and carrion crows.

Our route

From the car park we made our way down the lane to the cricket pavilion, pausing to observe the birdlife on the fields. We saw or heard chiffchaffs, blackcaps, wrens, a song thrush, magpies , jackdaws and a mallard (flying overhead).

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From there, we passed behind the cricket pavilion and made our way down the path towards the Slabbering Baby. Before we reached the Slabbering Baby we ascended one of the paths up to Adel Moor. We crossed the moor and made our way round the western end and then descended to the Slabbering Baby.

At the Slabbering Baby, we were surprised to find that our nest box on one of the trees adjacent to the bridge over Nanny Beck had disappeared. We searched the ground but there was no trace of it. It seems extremely unlikely that the nest box had simply fallen from the tree because it was made of woodcrete and was very sturdy and very securely attached to the tree. The nest box has been a favourite because for several years it has housed nuthatches – see our blog entry for 27th January 2019.

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From Nanny Beck we made our way up to the pond and then along the path to Bridge Cottage. From there we ascended the steps to the Stairfoot Lane car park where, it being 9 o’clock, most people bid farewell. However, Steve, your correspondent and David, another of our committee members continued up to the Hospice Woodland, through Alwoodley Plantation before returning to the car park.

What we saw or heard

In all we saw or heard 23 species of bird – as listed below. Throughout the walk we were accompanied by the calls of chiffchaffs, black caps and robins.

We had a good sighting of a pair of black caps down by Meanwood Beck, but the highlights of the morning (at least for your corresondent) were sightings of tree creepers and a robin.

As we made our way along Meanwood Beck we were treated to excellent sightings of tree creepers on three occasions – on one occasion a pair. We were able to watch them at leisure as they systematically ran along the underside of branches searching for food.

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For those of us uncertain of the robin’s song, we had an excellent opportunity to learn it because as we approached the Stairfoot Lane car park we all stopped to listen as a robin sang his heart out perched on a branch just six feet from us. He seemed totally unphased by our presence.

We recorded the following 23 species of bird – including a cockerel in the neighbouring small holding:
– Chaffinch
– Woodpigeon
– Carrion Crow
– Wren
– Chiffchaff
– Song Thrush
– Magpie
– Jackdaw
– Mallard (flying overhead)
– Dunnock
– Black Cap
– Robin
– Great Tit
– Blue Tit
– Blackbird
– Bullfinch
– Tree Creeper
– Long tailed Tits
– Greater Spotted Woodpecker
– Red Kite

and after most people had left, Willow Warbler, Jay and Jungle fowl (a cockerel).

A turkey has been seen recently in Adel Woods (really!). Unfortunately, it did not make an appearance today.

Cocidius

We have a genuine ancient monument in Adel Woods – a Celtic carving made about 1700 years ago on a rock. The carving is believed to show a god called Cocidius. We had a clear view of the carving this morning – and for some reason it was even more clear when photographed – so here it is!