First Dartford Warbler for quite some time!

I really fancied going to the New Forest in search of dartford Warblers but the weather forecast for that region was terrible. However, the weather at Ashdown Forest was supposed to be a little better so I hoped to find my target there.

On arrival I got soaked! The rain was a persistent mist and I searched pretty much vainly for birds, although I did find a Whitethroat, some Coal Tits and a Treecreeper, always a nice bird. The habitat was very nice though with gorse, bracken and open woodland, mainly Scots Pine and Oak.

Eventually the rain began to ease off and the birds came out with a pair of Stonechats providing some welcome colour to a grey day. Soon, though, plenty more species were around with a couple of Yellowhammers, Linnets, some singing Goldcrests, Blue Tits, Great Tits and a Green Woodpecker. With the weather improving I had a chance to take a couple of photos of some Bog Ashpodel in habitat that was put me more in mind of northern Britain rather than a location just 20 minutes from Gatwick airport!

Bog Asphodel

I took an early lunch in the car and headed to a second part of the forest with lots of open heathland. I had a lovely walk in the sunshine! It didn't take long before I came across a pair of Woodlarks which foraged around on the ground, giving me excellent views before they flew off. A little further along a family of Long-tailed Tits were feeding in trees and a distant Tree Pipit was in song. However, a suden influx of Meadow Pipits, a couple of Woodlarks a number of Skylarks and another Tree Pipit, all in flight at the same time, but not singing, gave me a real identification headache.

Moving down a valley into some woodland another Green Woodpecker flew off, uttering its ridiculous laugh and a whole load of other common species were in evidence including a distant, but noisy Whitethroat.

It is also worth mentioning how common Stonechat was on the heathland around here. I lost count of how many I saw, with lots of juveniles being fed by their parents. Still, by now I was getting a bit frustrated at not seeing any Dartford Warblers, but just as I was taking a break I heard some raucous chirpring coming from a gorse bush. After several minutes of searching I found 2 very young juvenile Dartford Warblers - seperable from Whitethroat by the dark upperparts. However, this was not really as good as getting the adult.

Just a few hundred metres further along I stopped to watch some Linnets, another Tree Pipit and countless Stonechats and Skylarks when suddenly an adult Dartford Warbler flew straight at me and landed in some nearby gorse. What a view! I watched this female for ages as it hunted for food and saw it very clearly catch a small green caterpillar and eat it. Here is a fairly poor record shot of the bird.

Dartford Warbler

Dartford Warbler is a special bird for me as it is what got me interested in bird watching. I remember seeing one with my dad on some cliffs in Cornwall when I was just 7 years old. I couldn't believe that dartford (where I come from) had its own bird - I thought that was brilliant and was good enough to make me buy my first pair of binoculars the next day. Dartford Warbler is probably still my favourite bird of all, maybe one day it will find its way back to what is left of Dartford Heath.

Plenty more birds on the way back to the car including 7 flyover Herring Gulls, a Willow Warbler, a couple of Blackcaps and a whole load of Swifts as well as a monster Mistle Thrush.