Early winter bird surveys - Dec 2017

A round up of our early winter bird surveys (and a photo series of Tom F looking very cold in different habitats at Gatwick).

North West Zone

Tuesday December 12th: 8am

We hopped out of the car to find the ground was pretty much frozen solid. At around -3.5 degrees, this was the coldest morning of the year so far.

All seemed very quiet, with our first record being Blue Tits feeding on seed heads along a tall herb stand. Down within the channel of the River Mole, a flurry of activity and some strange calls indicated that we had just spooked a Water Rail...

Taxiway Juliet, adjacent to the River Mole

Further along the river, we came to a wet field with stands of rushes. Along the hedge line, a group of three Roe Deer carefully squeezed their way through a broken fence. As we walked steadily through the field, we kept our eyes peeled in case we flushed some winter visiting waders. The lumbering ecologists enjoyed a partial success with one noisy Common Snipe...

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) RSPB

Further along the river, Dunnock, Wren and Reed Bunting called from the reed beds and a small group of Fieldfare shot over our heads, their colour catching brilliantly in the morning light. Several more Common Snipe nipped off as we headed further down into the floodplain and upon reaching the water's edge a small group of Teal took flight. This is the first time we've seen Teal here since our bird surveys began in 2012.

River Mole floodplain grassland

In the grassland and scrub adjacent to Brockley Wood, we flushed another winter visiting wader; a Woodcock looks rather similar to a Snipe, except that it is a much bulkier bird and they prefer to feed under the cover of scrub and woodland.

Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) RSPB

Winter sun, northern edge of Brockley Wood

Rounding the north of Brockley Wood, a pair of Ring-necked Parakeets were calling loudly and then making quieter sub-vocalisations. This non-native seems to be increasing its range along the transect, and so might soon become a new breeding species in Brockley Wood.

Ring-necked Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) RSPB

Fieldfare and Song Thrush put on a good show along the lines of scrub of the River Mole valley, with only a few Redwing apparent today. Mixed flocks of smaller birds such as Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests were also enjoying the dense scrub. A Great Spotted Woodpecker torpedoed past us while a pair of Goldfinches were feeding busily on the river bank teasels.

River Mole floodplain grassland

Toward the end of the transect, things seemed to go rather quiet again. Pushing through the woody vegetation on the riverbank, we caught a view of a group of small birds pursuing a Sparrowhawk above the treeline. The group about-turned and passed back over our heads, their calls identifying to us a victorious band of Goldfinches.

Final count: 36 species (just one off our winter bird survey record):

Blackbird

Blue Tit

Bullfinch

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Common Buzzard

Dunnock

Fieldfare

Goldcrest

Goldfinch

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Great Tit

Green Woodpecker

Jackdaw

Jay

Kestrel

Magpie

Mallard

Meadow Pipit

Moorhen

Nuthatch

Pheasant

Pied Wagtail

Redwing

Reed Bunting

Ring-necked Parakeet

Robin

Snipe (Common)

Song Thrush

Sparrow Hawk

Teal

Treecreeper

Water Rail

Wood Pigeon

Woodcock

Wren

Land East of the Railway Line

Thursday December 12th: 8am

Flood attenuation area, Gatwick Stream

A marginally warmer day, but with a stronger breeze meant the cold was still felt by this weather-hardened ornithological pair. 

Bring zipped right up to the top helps stop the teeth chattering

Being coffee-d up to the eyeballs certainly helps though, and it is always with a sense of excitement that we stomp our way through the relatively young grassland habitat here. Sadly, we didn't manage to flush any Snipe this morning, instead just a few Wood Pigeon and Carrion Crow were about as exciting as it got, and a flock of Goldfinches bouncing over our heads.

Flood attenuation area, Gatwick Stream

Things took a quick upward turn however, when I found us a new species to the airport! It was while standing next to a thick stand of Soft Rush that I saw something my brain refused to register... 

'Erm, Tom, is that a melanistic Long-tailed Tit, or a Dartford Warbler?!'

Dartford Warbler (Sylvia undata) RSPB

This feisty little bird put on quite a show, so Tom clapped me on the back and I felt that warming smugness of being the first to spot a new species on a survey.

The dense stands of Soft Rush in the flood attenuation area

We left the low lying floodplain and trekked into the Upper Picketts Wood, the entrance of which was busy with ground-feeding Song Thrushes and Redwings. The center of the woodland was much quieter, and some sudden Blue Tit alarm calls caused us to look up high; a Red Kite was skimming low over the tree tops. This is another new species for the transect.

Red Kite (Milvus milvus) RSPB

A roving tit flock moving through the canopy included a noisy group of Lesser Redpolls, which are becoming a more frequent occurrence here in recent winters. A skirmish between three Nuthatches caught our eye, with undersides flashing orange in the sunlight, causing us to give a double take...

But this was not the orange-coloured bird that we were looking for.

Bee hotel and dead hedge in Goat Meadow

Pushing through Goat Meadow, we unfortunately didn't turn up our trusty Marsh Tits, despite hearing them here regularly. In a clearing next to Lower Picketts Wood, I was distracted by a loudly alarm-calling Fieldfare which I then followed, hoping to spot a bird of prey. While I was busy looking the other way, it was then that Tom F spotted something sitting up proudly on a massive old Hawthorn bush...

Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) RSPB

This was most definitely a new species to the airport! Hawfinches are incredibly elusive around these parts, with most being winter visitors and very few resident or breeding in the UK. They are rather shy and their calls are almost Robin-like, making this a tricky one to I.D. by sound. We knew there had been an unusually large influx of birds flying in from the continent this winter, with many sightings across Surrey and Sussex.

I have known Mr Forward a long time now, and he is a very honest chap, so let the record state that he recorded Gatwick's first Hawfinch (but I got the first Dartford Warbler).

Twisting Hornbeam, Lower Picketts Wood

Continuing through the woodland strip, we turn up our trusty Chaffinch calling from the same corner every year. The other finch species frequently present here is Bullfinch, and we glimpsed of a pair of white rumps disappearing away from us. At the end of the transect, by the railway line bordering the western edge of Horleyland Wood, we were treated to a mega-flock of Long-tailed Tits, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits, Tree Creepers and Goldcrests.

So that makes 3 new species to the survey; Red Kite, Dartford Warber and Hawfinch, the latter 2 being new to the airport. These surveys never get dull, and I'm already excited about the next ones in February!

Final count = 36 species (again)

Blackbird

Black-headed Gull
Blue Tit
Bullfinch
Carrion Crow
Chaffinch
Chiffchaff
Coal Tit
Collared Dove
Common Buzzard
Dartford Warbler
Dunnock
Fieldfare
Goldcrest
Goldfinch
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Great Tit
Green Woodpecker
Grey Heron
Hawfinch
Jackdaw
Jay
Long-tailed Tit
Magpie
Meadow Pipit
Mistle Thrush
Nuthatch
Pied Wagtail
Red Kite
Redpoll (Common/Lesser)
Redwing
Robin
Song Thrush
Stonechat
Treecreeper
Wood Pigeon
Wren

Gatwick Wildlife Recording Day 2016

At a new site along the Gatwick Stream, Land East of the Railway Line, under the friendly banners of the Sussex Wildlife Trust and Gatwick Greenspace, a merry band of water-proofed biological recorders were gathered.
    Events like these are a great way to bring together people from all backgrounds, abilities and interests, introducing them to their local wildlife. The bonus part is that we get a big boost to our data, in the form of a massive species list for the site!

The area underwent a massive change as part of a flood attenuation scheme in 2013; thousands of tons of soil were scooped out, creating a huge bowl with an area of around 18ha (44 acres). This was retained as meadow grassland and will function as a river floodplain during extreme flooding events.

Friday 17th - 8.30pm

After a slight downpour-delay, the action kicked off with surveys for small mammals...

A keen crew of mammal surveyors gathered to check the humane (longworth) traps in the misty evening...

(Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Our first find of the day... (Photo by Katherine Quinlan)

The longworth traps were mostly full... with slugs! They are very adept at getting stuck under the trigger bar, and the subsequent slug-release programme is a long and slimy business.

Wood Mouse (Apodemus sylvaticus) 

Photo by Lucy Groves

Fortunately, we did find 3 very cute, non-slimy Wood Mice.

(Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Martyn Cooke kindly led the next walk, introducing us to the bats of Gatwick. The cool mist meant perhaps fewer insects were on the wing, but that didn't stop intrepid Common Pipistrelle and Noctule bats putting on an aerial show...

Noctule Bat (Nyctalus noctula) heard on a bat box duet detector

An abundance of these strange Ghost Moths were fluttering up and down in the long grass, adding to the atmosphere (and food for the bats).

Ghost Moth (Hepialus humuli)

The rain started up again just as the batwalk came to a close. We covered up the moth traps, keeping their precious contents dry for the grand reveal the next morning...

Saturday 18th - 7.30am

The next morning dawned rain-free, and we started off the day with a well-rounded breakfast of date and chocolate flapjacks made by Katherine and magnificent pancakes cooked by Kevin...

Base camp was incredibly soggy underfoot, but Kevin pulled a blinder by getting up early to spread barrow loads of bark chip, absorbing the worst of it. The two Toms collected in moth traps, placed out kit to dry and started up the generators for the all-important round of hot brews.

Basecamp (photo by Lucy Groves)

7.30am: Small mammals and birds...

Basecamp was alive with bird song, and in a very short time Tom Forward had us picking out several species in just one spot, such as the highly rythmic, yet variable notes of the Song Thrush...

RSPB: Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)

Gatwick Stream flood attenuation area and grasslands

Reed Bunting is a new species to this area since the re-landscaping of the Gatwick Stream; it has a sweet, unobtrusive song...

RSPB: Reed Bunting

Our mammal traps showed success this morning, with several Wood Mice and Yellow-necked Mice in residence...

We collect data such as weight, sex and breeding condition before releasing

Along with another haul of slugs...

Lucy's new pal (Arion sp.)

In fact, we then got quite into the slugological (?!) side of things, as no reptiles were to be found under the damp refugia...

Leopard Slug (Limax maximus)

Can anyone confirm if this is Deroceras reticulatum ?

Our trail camera (which we placed out the night before, baited with old biscuits and breakfast cereal), picked up another common type of mammal. Sadly, the infrared trigger seemed to startle it and it was off like a shot...

The shy and retiring Thomas simpsonii,

Back to basecamp for a caffeine stop, then it was time for the moth-showdown! Uncovering the traps,  we had Bob Foreman (Sussex Biodiversity Records Centre) leading the species identification, while Josh Baum (Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre) entered the data into the iRecord app...

The following are just a small selection of what we caught...

Burnished Brass (Diachrysia chrysitis) (Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Elephant Hawkmoth (Deilephila elpenor), yup, that's a real moth! (Photo by Lucy Groves)

Pine Hawkmoth (Sphinx pinastri) - this massive moth is a new species for me! 

(Photo by Helen Cradduck)

Buff Ermine (Spilarctia luteum) female (Photo by Lucy Groves)

...and considering the ridiculously un-June-like weather, we bagged ourselves a good haul of species.

Next, we targeted day-flying invertebrates such as butterflies and dragonflies, which were not so much out on the wing, but instead could be spotted and sweep-netted from the long grass.

Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus)

Broad-bodied Chaser dragonfly (Libellula depressa) 

(Photo by Katherine Quinlan)

Josh impressed the masses by holding this male (therefore stingless)
White-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus lucorum)

Neoscona adianta is a beautiful and rather uncommon orb-weaving spider

I've just caught myself trying to identify different people's fingers from the pics... those are mine are above. Yuck - poor spidey!

We stumbled across the experienced fungi recorder, Nick Aplin scrabbling around in a small scrape. We thought he must have turned up an exciting new species... .

But it turns out he was just looking for a lost camera stand. A short time later, he had an impressive list of new fungi species for the site!

Our records for lichens at Gatwick have been a little on the sparse side, shall we say... So two other great additions to our day were lichenologist Simon Davey and bryophytologist (?!) Brad Scott, purveyors of the tiny world of micro-greenery.

Various recorders-of-the-future were in attendance, including recent ecology graduates, environmental and ecology students, local volunteers and a couple of the Gatwick Greenspace Youth Rangers. 

It's always uplifting to have fresh eyes and ears along; future recorders, we salute you! 

Rosie Daines, an Environmental placement student at Gatwick Airport, 

with colleagues Troy and Tom Simpson

The afternoon finally unveiled the sun, and we headed over to the wildflower meadows, west of the Gatwick Stream. This site looks stunning now, full of nectar and pollen-rich plants for a fantastic diversity of invertebrates.

Oxeye Daisies were in abundance, along with a rich mix of trefoils, clovers, vetches, vetchlings and tares...

Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis)

Grass Vetchling (Lathyrus nissolia)

Arthur Hoare is our botanical Yoda, opening our eyes about to the light-and-dark-sides of conservation grassland seeding. A gentle teacher, who's invaluable botanical knowledge provided us with a comprehensive plant species list -  thank you again Arthur!

All great days must come to an end, and just before packing up we tallied the species count so far...

There are still plenty of records to add to these lists, once the various specimens and photographs have had closer examination.

A huge thank you to all who helped us to set up and run these events, and thanks again to everyone for your bravado in the face of most unpredictable wet weather I've ever experienced. We are already looking forward to next year!