markgrubb
Leading a life of quiet desperation
I spent the last day of my spring holiday in Dumfries and Galloway and had time for a morning at the RSPB reserve at Wood of Cree near Newton Stewart. I had been there 2 years ago in autumn and it had been a bit disappointing birdwise though it is beautiful woodland.
At the car park I got out I heard a lot of song-first garden warbler-no, it then seemed like a blackcap. A bit unnerved by Paul's recent gardcap thread I watched patiently and soon discovered that there was one of each in adjacent bushes-result(unless I was getting them the wrong way round). A pair of sedge warblers were singing by the river.
On into the reserve and within 10 yards I could hear 2 singing pied flycatchers. Seeing them in the dense oak canopy was another matter and I had to admit defeat at this point. 50 yards on I heard the familiar spinning coin song of a wood warbler and I got really good views. The woodland was mostly old thinned out oak with a dense carpet of bluebells. The birding was exceptional. I counted 12 singing pied flycatchers with some revealing themselves to view, 7 wood warblers and slightly higher up 2 singing redstarts-these were meant to be numerous but I only heard the 2 singing. Higher up I got in the scrubland I got good views of a tree pipit and a cuckoo calling. There were plenty of other birds such as dipper, grey wagtail, song thrush, mistle thrush, treecreeper, willow warlblersand treecreepers. All too soon it was time to go. The path through the reserve only covers a small area of the woodland. As I drove along the road I stopped and listened and heard more singing wood warblers and pied flycatchers. Information boards stated that there are up to an incredible 70 pairs of pied flycatchers on the reserve and up to 40 redstarts.
Certainly it's an exceptional place in spring and I would recommend it to anyone-just one minus-it was a muggy, still warm morning and the midgies were fierce, so go prepared!!
At the car park I got out I heard a lot of song-first garden warbler-no, it then seemed like a blackcap. A bit unnerved by Paul's recent gardcap thread I watched patiently and soon discovered that there was one of each in adjacent bushes-result(unless I was getting them the wrong way round). A pair of sedge warblers were singing by the river.
On into the reserve and within 10 yards I could hear 2 singing pied flycatchers. Seeing them in the dense oak canopy was another matter and I had to admit defeat at this point. 50 yards on I heard the familiar spinning coin song of a wood warbler and I got really good views. The woodland was mostly old thinned out oak with a dense carpet of bluebells. The birding was exceptional. I counted 12 singing pied flycatchers with some revealing themselves to view, 7 wood warblers and slightly higher up 2 singing redstarts-these were meant to be numerous but I only heard the 2 singing. Higher up I got in the scrubland I got good views of a tree pipit and a cuckoo calling. There were plenty of other birds such as dipper, grey wagtail, song thrush, mistle thrush, treecreeper, willow warlblersand treecreepers. All too soon it was time to go. The path through the reserve only covers a small area of the woodland. As I drove along the road I stopped and listened and heard more singing wood warblers and pied flycatchers. Information boards stated that there are up to an incredible 70 pairs of pied flycatchers on the reserve and up to 40 redstarts.
Certainly it's an exceptional place in spring and I would recommend it to anyone-just one minus-it was a muggy, still warm morning and the midgies were fierce, so go prepared!!
