Early Breeding Bird Survey: North West Zone 24/04/18

While I often deliberate wearing gloves and scarf, the chilly early mornings don't bother the breeding birds, and in April you are almost guaranteed a lusty dawn chorus.

Tom Forward beginning our bird transect in the North West Zone

We began our survey sometime after the dawn chorus ends, as this is when birds are more active and getting on with their day. Along the first section of the River Mole, one of the first species for the list was a warbler; a male Common Whitethroat in the scrub where the river pops out from under the runway. A loud scuffle between two male Reed Buntings caught our attention, then a moment later we heard something quite different; a manic chattering and trilling call from a hedgerow...

A Sedge Warbler! Our very first for this site survey (and hopefully not the last!)

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) RSPB

A Blackcap sang from another hedgerow, Blue Tit and Song Thrush were calling as we passed by. Rounding the bend of the river, Linnets were calling overhead and we spooked a Green Woodpecker, which shot off with a yaffling cry.

The wheel ruts along the track have become especially deep in the past year, which is good news for the frog population. We often get both Common Frog and Marsh Frog on site here, but these look like the usual Common Frog tadpoles.

While Tom is distractedly checking Reed Beds for our elusive Water Rail, I sneak a peak under one of our reptile refugia...

Grass Snake (Natrix helvetica) juvenile, less than one year old

Keep your head in the game Rachel, back to the birds! 

We were treated to the fluttering display flight of a Common Whitethroat on top of the riverside willows. Over in the scrub west of Brockley Wood, we added Chiffchaff to our list of warblers heard today, with it's easily recognisable, onomatopoeic song.

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) RSPB

Along the bases of these hedgerows grow the strongest smelling spring flowers; Wild Garlic or Ramsons (Allium ursinum) is an incredibly pungent plant, very much like onion or garlic in its taste. Much to Tom F's dismay, I can never resist chewing on a leaf or two.

We set off again in an oniony-fugue, with Tom determinedly keeping upwind of me. As the day was warming up, the scent of Bluebells began to hit us and they were smelling great (even if I wasn't).

Brockley Wood

At the woodland edge, we picked up another Chiffchaff and the excited song of a Goldcrest, our smallest bird species. We haven't had a single record of Firecrest at Gatwick, but as their range is seemingly expanding, I'm betting one will turn up here eventually.

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) RSPB

Firecrest (Regulus ignicapillus) RSPB

Back out onto the floodplain, and the Reed Warblers were chugging their songs from deep within the reed beds. Our first Swallow of the year flew low overhead, calling relatively quietly so we were lucky to spot it. We were a couple of kilometers into the transect when a strange rattling call came into range; the call of Lesser Whitethroat is pretty unmistakable!

We don't tend to get high numbers of Lesser Whitethroat, so it's always a real treat to hear one. Our next warbler on this warbler-fest was Garden Warbler, which was singing heartily while being chased around by a territorial Blackcap.

Adjacent to the reed beds of the River Mole are dense stretches of Water Mint and nodding heads of Cowslip... even the refreshing smell of crushed mint doesn't mask the Ramsons though.

Nearing the end of the final transect, we witnessed an incredible performance by a Reed Warbler incorporating perfect Blue Tit alarm calls into its song. We then came along another Sedge Warbler near the Long-horned Bee bank; could this be a new breeding territory? Our final warbler of the day was Willow Warbler, bringing our total number of warbler species to 8: Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Common Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler and Willow Warbler. That's quite a high number, so we think that perhaps this day was a 'fall of warblers' and some of them may only be passing through. It will be interesting to see what turns up again later in summer.

Full bird list (39 species):

Blackbird	Turdus merula
Blackcap	Sylvia atricapilla
Blue Tit	Cyanistes caeruleus
Bullfinch	Pyrrhula pyrrhula
Carrion Crow	Corvus corone
Chiffchaff	Phylloscopus collybita
Coot	Fulica atra
Dunnock	Prunella modularis
Garden Warbler	Sylvia borin
Goldcrest	Regulus regulus
Goldfinch	Carduelis carduelis
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Dendrocopus major
Great Tit	Parus major
Green Woodpecker	Picus viridis
Grey Heron	Ardea cinerea
Jackdaw	Corvus monedula
Jay	Garrulus glandarius
Kestrel	Falco tinnunculus
L.Whitethroat	Sylvia curruca
Linnet	Carduelis cannabina
Long-tailed Tit	Aegithalos caudatus
Magpie	Pica pica
Mallard	Anas platyrhynchos
Moorhen	Gallinula chloropus
Nuthatch	Sitta europaea
Pheasant	Phasianus colchicus
Reed Bunting	Emberiza schoeniclus
Reed Warbler	Acrocephalus scirpaceus
Ring-necked Parakeet	Psittacula krameri
Robin	Erithacus rubecula
Sedge Warbler	Acrocephalus schoenobaenus
Skylark	Alauda arvensis
Song Thrush	Turdus philomelos
Stock Dove	Columba oenas
Swallow	Hirundo rustica
Whitethroat	Sylvia communis
Willow Warbler	Phylloscopus trochilus
Wood Pigeon	Columba palumbus
Wren	Troglodytes troglodytes

An undisclosed amount of coffee

The blog has been quiet of late due to spending most of winter in isolation, constantly (plugging? Chipping? Hacking?) away at Gatwick's Five Year Biodiversity Action Plan Review, which now looks on track for being finished by early April. That means it should be fully done and out of my brain by the time this wee one hatches!

Brown Hairstreak Butterfly (Thecla betulae) egg on Blackthorn. 

Photo taken in the North West Zone, December 2017

Writing about report writing feels a bit meta...but I'll tell you a bit about it anyway. Putting this report together has been at once satisfying and infuriating, riveting and tedious. Reviewing my own work from the very start of my job in early 2012 was a weird, at times heartening and at other times a frankly excruciating experience!

Pulling together the data, compiling the species lists and finding out the totals for the different wildlife groups was the most enjoyable part; immediately it jumps out where we have done great work and covered all bases, and where knowledge gaps are still to be filled.

One of my many desks this winter: the Harris & Hoole cafe at Hookwood Tesco

The things which got me through this winter have included copious cups of coffee, late evenings spent in noisy pubs with my laptop and headphones, and many, many GIF animations of Sean Bean and Arnold Schwarzenegger (special thanks to Tom Simpson for those).

Me in November 2017

Me in December 2017

Me in January 2018

With my handy new Monzo card and the accompanying app, I have even been able to keep track of the obscene amounts I have spent on coffee while writing up this report... My total spend over the past few months (I earned over £20 in loyalty points at Costa!!), is so shameful that I cropped that bit out of the picture.

The incredible amount of help and feedback I have received from the ecologists and conservationists involved in this project has made the process infinitely more manageable, keeping my sanity in a better state than it otherwise would be! This reminds me how lucky I am to work in a sector where so many people have the same passion; no matter what our backgrounds are, or our interests on the side, our end goal to preserve nature is still the same.

I will post another update soon of all the action taking place under Tom S's guidance on the sites!