10/05 Greenham Common C19 Walk

Greenham Common C19 Walk: 49 days (seven weeks) since I started doing this regular count. I missed four days due to rain. The route is from my house along Pinchington Lane, to the the Pyle Hill car park, on to the the common, through the woods to the heath, passed the western enclosure, over to where cattle are fed in winter, along the bunker fence, then the west side of the Fire Plane Gravel path south through the woods, down and around Aldernbridge Gully and Heath, back up to the main path on the east side of the Fire Plane Gravel as far as the main east west path then, west until turning north across a fire break through the lozenges, next west through the northwest lozenge and re-trace steps back home; just over three miles and about 8000 steps. It took from 2 to 2.5 hours and I started the list again about halfway through where I entered the second OS 1KM square that contains much of the east portion of the common. When returning over the west portion I added any species not detected on the way in.

78 species in total is not bad but disappointed that no scarce migrants apart from a Black Redstart were found by me, given the frequency of my walk and it being during spring migration. I finally got Swift and Firecrest quite late on but other species such as Hobby, Reed and Sedge Warbler, seen by others on the common, also Redstart, Ring Ouzel etc all eluded me. The pair numbers refer to those detected along the route, most are calculated from the median of the counts and so are probably on the low side. There is some adjustment by observation, usually for the less common species.

A species that surprised me is Chaffinch. I knew they were becoming scare, but the only territories detected were along Pinchington Lane in the larger gardens far fewer than expected. A further singing male could sometimes be heard in the distance somewhere towards Peckmore Copse and another on Greenham Industrial Park; Chaffinches were ubiquitous not so long ago. Buzzards were also surprisingly few, just a few sightings of lone birds over the heath, whereas Red Kites were everywhere. The Cuckoos were very distant and possibly not on the common. Dartford Warbler were quite difficult to separate as they are quite mobile, moving around the heath, much further than you might expect. I think four pairs is about right plus or minus one. There were many Great Tits frequently out on the heathland, seemingly some distance for any of their normal habitat given the time of year. Two sighting of Lesser Spotted Woodpecker early on was a nice surprise as I have not had one here for some years now. Possibly two different birds as the first flew south from the woods by the Pyle Hill car park and the other flew into the woods west of Aldernbridge Gully on consecutive days. It may have been drumming at the latter for a couple of days after but was not easy to separate from their bigger relatives. The Nightingale territory singing was not that close to my route, so I did not always hear it. Once two were singing and may have done so on three other occasions but I could not be sure. Little-ringed Plovers had a fraught time. One pair tried to establish on the gravel around the pool by the the bunkers, but as this is a favourite pool for dogs did not sustain more than a few hours I suspect; they tried on at least two occasions a few days apart. The usual site on the Fire Plane Gravel had a pair establish there three times. It may be a coincidence, but they all disappeared over the weekend. The first attempt lasted about five days then they disappeared for about three days. The second attempt was more successful, and the female could be seen sitting until the dreaded weekend when they disappeared. I thought that would be it but a few days later a pair arrived and to date the female is sitting a metre or so to the left of where the second attempt establish a nest and it has survived the three day weekend so finger crossed. Most other species were as expected.

Ones that got away. A probable Black Kite on a day when there was a lot of kite activity. I saw this one soaring over Aldernbridge Heath, viewed it from about halfway along the Fire Plane Gravel. It had a different jizz to the other kites, more compact. It was quite windy, so the tail shallow vee was not reliable. It had a dark tail though and no rufous or beige, like a red Kite in monochrome. Around the same time up to six Black Kites were said to be roaming the south coast so maybe! The other was a bird singing very loudly from the middle of a gorse clump at the west end of the common. Lots of chattering, clicks and chips interspersed with bits of song, some mimics of song thrush, garden warbler and others. It sang for about five minutes then stopped. While it sang, I scanned and circled the clump searching for movement or any sign of it but could not find it. Then it stopped, I searched for another few minutes but did not even see a brown job leave. My guess is that it may have been a hippolais species or more probably a confused thrush.

Towards the end of the period song for many species began to subside, also doing the same walk every day, sometimes the memory played tricks and I was not sure if I had just heard or seen a bird or it was the day before? That is why I decided about a week previously that I needed to stop soon.

The Full List of species detected 23rd March to the 10th May 2020, often heard rather than seen.

Month	Mar	April				May	Week Count	Status or Pairs
Week Number	13	14	15	16	17	18
Species	Days	Days	Days	Days	Days	Days
Black Redstart				1			1	Passage?
Blackbird	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	22
Blackcap		4	7	6	7	5	6	10
Black-headed Gull		1	1				3	Passage
Blue Tit	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	Foraging
Bullfinch	1	1	2		2	1	6	Unknown
Buzzard			1	1	2	1	5	1
Canada Goose		2	3	3	1		4	Transit
Carrion Crow	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	5
Chaffinch	4	5	6	6	7	4	7	3
Chiffchaff	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	13
Coal Tit	6	7	6	6	7	2	7	Foraging
Collared Dove	2	5	3	4	5	5	7	Unknown
Cormorant	1	1					2	Transit
Cuckoo					2		2	Unknown
Dartford Warbler	3	3	3	2	5	2	7	4
Dunnock	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	12
Egyptian Goose			1		1		2	Transit
Feral Pigeon	1	2	2	1	3		6	Unknown
Firecrest							1	Unknown
Garden Warbler			1		7	5	4	7
Goldcrest	5	6	7	6	5	5	7	4
Golden Plover	3	7	5				3	Passage
Goldfinch	6	7	6	5	7	4	7	3
Great Spotted Woodpecker	5	6	7	2	7	3	7	Transit
Great Tit	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	Foraging
Green Sandpiper					1		1	Passage
Green Woodpecker	4	7	7	3	7	4	7	3
Greenfinch	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	10
Grey Heron		3	1	2	3	1	6	Transit
Grey Wagtail	1	1	1				4	Transit
Greylag Goose			1	1			2	Transit
House Martin			1	1			3	Passage
House Sparrow	1			2		1	4	1
Jackdaw	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	18
Jay	2	3	5	3	1	2	7	2
Kestrel	1	5	4		2	2	6	1
Lesser Black-backed Gull		1	1			2	4	Transit
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker		1	1				2	Unknown
Lesser Whitethroat				1		1	2	Passage
Linnet	5	7	7	6	7	5	7	26
Little Egret	1					1	3	Transit
Little Ringed Plover		2	4	2	6	5	6	1
Long-tailed Tit	3	4	4	5	4	3	7	Unknown
Magpie	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	7
Mallard	2	1		1	1	1	6	Transit
Marsh Tit						1	2	Foraging
Meadow Pipit	5	7	7	6	7	4	7	3
Mistle Thrush	3	1	4	3		2	6	2
Moorhen					1		1	Unknown
Mute Swan	1	1					2	Transit
Nightingale			3	2	7	3	5	1
Nuthatch	6	7	7	6	7	4	7	3
Peregrine					1		1	Transit
Pheasant	1	2	5	5	5	4	7	Unknown
Pied Wagtail	1	2	4	2	1	1	7	Foraging
Raven							1	1
Red Kite	4	5	4	6	4	3	7	2
Red-legged Partridge		1	1			1	4	1
Redwing	4	1					2	Passage
Robin	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	22
Skylark	4	6	6	4	7	4	7	3
Song Thrush	6	5	7	5	7	5	7	3
Sparrowhawk							1	1
Starling	5	4	7	5	4	4	7	Foraging
Stock Dove	5	7	6	3	7	5	7	3
Stonechat	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	9
Swallow			2	1	3	2	5	2
Swift						1	2	Passage
Tawny Owl			1				1	1
Treecreeper	1						1	Unknown
Wheatear			2	2	2		3	Passage
Whitethroat			2	2	7	5	5	10
Willow Warbler			7	6	7	5	5	9
Woodlark	4	7	7	6	7	5	7	4
Woodpigeon	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	Unknown
Wren	6	7	7	6	7	5	7	16
Yellow Wagtail				1	1		2	Passage
Species Count	47	52	59	53	55	54	78	-