Wild Winkworth, late February/early March

Plenty to report from the second half of February and early March at Winkworth. Things have turned altogether more chilly in the past couple of weeks although this hasn't slowed down the approach of spring as bird song and woodpecker drumming is increasing every day it seems and there is now a fair bit of early spring colour around the arboretum - but more on that later.

First off, a few bird highlights. Down at Rowe's Flashe Lake it was good to welcome back a trio of Pochards on 28th Feb - two drakes and a female, at least two of which are still present as I write this on 5th March. On the 22nd there was a Bar-headed Goose honking away in the drizzle first thing - only the second time I've seen one here and, as I've mentioned before, clearly an escape from somewhere.

Firecrests were seen near the boathouse on 27th Feb and 4th March. These little birds never stop flitting about which makes them hard to photograph, so John Rowland did a great job of getting this picture.

Firecrest - John Rowland

I got a bit of a surprise on the morning of 2nd March when I went down to open the boathouse only to find two Grey Wagtails flying about inside. They bred in the wall last year so perhaps they were investigating possible nest holes for this year when they inadvertently ended up inside the building. Canada Goose numbers are increasing - there were eleven present on 27th Feb. Ravens have been seen and heard on several occasions recently and on 18th Feb I photographed one cronking (giving its distinctive bellowing call) low over Furze Field.

Raven - Matt Phelps

Buzzards have been up and displaying on sunnier days along with the odd Sparrowhawk and Red Kite. Meanwhile, Red-legged Partridges are becoming a more regular occurence in the arboretum, seemingly venturing further from the neighbouring Wintershall estate - on 4th March there was one calling right up the slope on the western side of Bluebell Wood. Finally, the Yellowhammer that flew west on 18th Feb was only my second record of this species here.

Buzzard - Matt Phelps

In other news, eagle-eyed volunteer Ann Jacobs has been out and about with her camera capturing all manner of shots around the place, from the tiny...

Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus) flower - Ann Jacobs

...to the not so tiny...

Roe Deer - Ann Jacobs

She's also been photographing the now numerous flowers opening up, and one of the many creatures that rely on them as an early source of pollen.

Lesser Celandine - Ann Jacobs



Salix laevigata buds - Ann Jacobs



Honey bee on Snowdrop - Ann Jacobs

If you've visited Winkworth recently you can't have failed to miss the golden swathes of Daffodils all over the place: they really are looking gorgeous when the sun shines now.

Daffodils on Sorbus Hill - Matt Phelps

Considerably harder to find though are the very early Bluebells, as there's still only the odd flower here and there amongst the carpets of green spikes, but they are coming!

Bluebell - Matt Phelps



February at Winkworth: some recent photos

Less words and more photos is the theme of this blog post, as there's not been a massive amount of new wildlife sightings to report since my previous post.

Worth a mention though are the seven Red-legged Partridge which were in Rowe's Flashe Meadow early on the 10th Feb - the highest count I've seen at Winkworth to date. Then on the 13th I was lucky enough to witness two Stoats scurrying around the gardeners' bonfire and compost area, just up the slope from the viewing platform. They were in view for several minutes and it was wonderful to watch them running about and diving in and out of the various piles of logs and things. Just typical I didn't have my camera to hand at that moment!

Luckily, both I and volunteer Ann have had chance to get out in the arboretum with our cameras recently though, and here's a selection of photos from the past couple of weeks.

Singing Robin - Matt Phelps

Long-tailed Tit - Ann Jacobs

Song Thrush - Matt Phelps

Grey Heron - Ann Jacobs

Hazel catkins - Ann Jacobs

Cherry blossom - Ann Jacobs

Ribes sanguineum (flowering currant) - Matt Phelps

Daffodils - Matt Phelps

Willow catkin (presumed Salix laevigata) - Matt Phelps

Wild Winkworth, 2015's swan song

And so we reach the end of 2015, as what is touted to be the warmest December on record draws to a close. The strongest El Niño event for many years has in part led to a rush of warm air from the south-west, bringing with it a series of Atlantic storms to our shores. This has meant lots of wind and rain but also exceptionally mild weather for the time of year, with temperatures in double figures for most of the month. On the 19th a high of 16 celsius was recorded here in Surrey. The mild winter isn't just affecting Britain though as unusually high temperatures have been recorded across much of northern Europe and North America, and even the North Pole where the temperature reach a balmy +1 celsius this week; over 20 degrees warmer than average for this time of year.

The consequence of all this spring-like weather in midwinter has been some exceptionally early flowering plants, and even some fresh leaves emerging on some of the trees already, but more on that later.

As usual though I'll start with a round-up of the bird life at Winkworth in the past couple of weeks.

There have been noticeably more gulls moving overhead recently, mostly Herring Gulls and mostly heading south-west first thing in the morning.

Herring Gulls

 In amongst the gulls a couple of Egyptian Geese also flew south-west over Rowe's Flashe Lake on Christmas Eve. 

Egyptian Geese were also recorded flying over on the 21st and the 27th. Other noteworthy flyovers recently have included Raven, with one west on the 27th and another south-west on the 31st, and single Red Kites east on the 23rd and 24th.

Whilst opening the boathouse on the 26th I heard a 'te-zek' call high overhead and just briefly caught a glimpse of a roughly Chaffinch-sized bird disappearing over the trees, heading south, before it called again: 'tchuu'. I can't say for certain but the only bird I can think of with a call that matches that is Lapland Bunting. The sacrificial game crop fields across the Thorncombe Valley do, I know, attract good numbers of Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers at this time of year, so who's to say this bird hadn't stopped off there before heading further south?

Down at Rowe's Flashe there have been noticeably more Tufted Ducks recently, with over thirty recorded on some days towards the end of the month. Volunteer Ann Jacobs captured this nice shot of some on the 28th. 

Meanwhile a Kingfisher continues to maintain a regular presence, as do the roosting Reed Buntings in the reedbed on the eastern side. There were at least three in there first thing on the 23rd

Pheasants are a familiar sight all around the arboretum, particularly so at this time of year when there's rather less vegetation for them to hide in. Volunteer Ann photographed this male in Badger's Bowl recently.

Moving on to woodland birds, and there have been plenty of Redwings, Siskins and Bullfinches around, as usual. On Christmas Eve I noted five Bullfinches along the Spring Walk, including one singing. There's also regularly been a singing Dunnock here in recent days.  

Single Bramblings were noted on the 17th when one flew east and the 26th when one briefly alighted in a tree near the car park before flying south-east.

There was a Firecrest calling in the vicinity of the boathouse on Christmas Eve while on Christmas Day I was told there was one calling along the footpath just on the south-western edge of the arboretum.

The local Buzzards and Sparrowhawks have started to display over the arboretum in recent days; another surefire sign that spring is getting nearer.

Male Sparrowhawk

Meanwhile, I noted the first drumming Great Spotted Woodpecker of the season by Rowe's Flashe early on the 31st.

Also on the 31st there was a Red Admiral on the wing, flying high around the treetops in The Bowl. The last butterfly of the year!

The more open landscape at this time of year provides more opportunities to catch a glimpse of our resident Roe Deer. I had a close encounter with this group on Sorbus Hill the other morning.

If you've visited Winkworth recently you won't have been able to miss the swathes of golden daffodils around the upper arboretum, but they are not the only floral signs of spring to be found, as the mild weather has induced many plants to flower weeks or, in some cases, months earlier than normal. Here's just a small selection of some I've noticed this past week or so:

Primrose (Primula vulgaris) - Usual flowering time: March-May

Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis) - Usual flowering time: February-April

Wild Strawberry (Fragaria vesca) - Usual flowering time: April-July

Common Vetch (Vicia sativa) - Usual flowering time: May-September

However the biggest surprise for me was during the Boxing Day walk when I noticed these newly-emerging leaves on a Pedunculate Oak (Quercus robur) in Badger's Bowl. 

Previous El Niño winters have ended with a blast of cold weather in February and March. If this winter follows suit then much of our flora and fauna is in for a rather nasty shock!

Wild Winkworth, October snippets

'The summer-flower has run to seed,
And yellow is the woodland bough;
And every leaf of bush and weed
Is tipt with autumn’s pencil now.'

The opening lines of John Clare's 'Autumn', and now very apt as the season is well and truly upon us. The trees are turning some wonderful shades around the arboretum and some of the early ornamentals have already lost many of their leaves, smattering the ground with dots of red and gold.

The misty hazy mornings this month have already brought with them the odd touch of grass frost and ripe berries are fast disappearing from the hedgerows and trees, gobbled up by hungry creatures. Jays become more conspicuous at this time of year, flitting from Oak to Oak, collecting acorns to store away for the cold winter months to come - did you know that a single Jay can gather five thousand acorns in one autumn?

It's not just the landscape that is changing though, as the autumn migration season is now in full flow and birds are sweeping across Britain in their hundreds of thousands and there has been much evidence of this at Winkworth recently.

The early Redwings I mentioned in my last blog post have now been joined by many more - on the 20th I noted over a hundred over the arboretum in the first hour of the day alone, mostly heading south and west, some very high so presumably had just arrived from Scandinavia overnight. Check out the Sorbus and other berry-bearing trees in the Bowl to get a closer look at these handsome thrushes. The first Fieldfares, meanwhile, were a flock of thirty or so which flew west on the 17th.

Skylarks too have been moving in numbers. Up until this month it had been weeks since I'd seen or heard one here, but I've recorded over a dozen over in the past couple of weeks alone.

There have also been noticeably more Reed Buntings around lately and it would appear they are using the small reedbed next to Rowe's Flashe Lake as a roost site as I noted three flying from there early on the 20th followed by six doing the same on the 22nd.

On the morning of the 27th it was a very nice surprise to find two Pintail (a female and a young drake) and two first-year drake Wigeon on Rowe's Flashe Lake - both new species for me here. One of the Wigeon flew off early in the day while the Pintail and remaining Wigeon stuck around for the rest of the day. All had gone, however, by the time I returned to Winkworth on the 30th after two days' training at Polesden Lacey. Both of these species breed in Northern Europe, Iceland, Scandinavia and Russia so these individuals were presumably tired first-time migrants stopping off for a rest en route to their wintering grounds, perhaps somewhere on the south coast.

In keeping with the Siskin invasion going on all over Britain and indeed Europe at the moment, there have been loads here in the past few weeks; many seemingly just passing through but others lingering. The Alder trees on the eastern side of Rowe's Flashe Lake are a reliable spot for them, while on 8th October John Rowland got some nice shots of some of a flock of at least forty which were frequenting the Western Hemlock trees along the edge of the overflow car park.

Butterflies are getting very scarce now, but the warmer days towards the end of the month have seen the odd Red Admiral on the wing in the arboretum, while on the 13th visitor Graham Dash reported seeing a Small Copper. 

There are some lovely moths to be seen around this time of year and I've been finding a few around the place recently, like this Angle Shades I found on my car door handle when I was leaving work the other evening...

...and this Feathered Thorn which had decided to take refuge in the public toilets!

I've been finding a lot of Common Frogs around the arboretum recently, particularly in The Bowl, so keep an eye out if you're kicking through the fallen leaves! 

While the autumn leaf colour is (rightly!) taking centre stage in the arboretum at present, there are still a few splashes of flower colour around - this Nettle-leaved Bellflower is putting on an unusually late show near the top of the Fiona Adam Steps.

As ever Roe Deer are a common sight around the arboretum in small numbers, particularly the Badger's Bowl lately where these two were hanging out early on the 6th.

And to finish this blog post, how about this for a cool-looking bug? It's a Hawthorn Shieldbug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale) which I luckily spotted before I sat on it as it had taken a shine to the seat of our off-road buggy!

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Baby boom, beetles and butterflies - early May at Winkworth

Lots to talk about again from the past couple of weeks. It's been a mixed bag on the weather front, with some good spells of sunshine mixed in with showers and more prolonged spells of rain, frost and some high winds which led to the arboretum closing early on 5th May. Nonetheless, the place is looking incredible - so much colour, scent and new life. The shift to south/south-westerly winds during the first week of the month brought with it more new migrants and by the 6th there were at least four singing Garden Warblers around the arboretum - this one showing (and singing) very well by Rowe's Flashe Lake.

We now have at least one pair of Cuckoos on site, both seen well together by the garden team on the edge of the Phillimore Wetland on the 13th, although I am certain there have been two singing males around. The senior gardener captured this video clip of one singing right by the main gate early on the 10th.

On the subject of singing, the dawn chorus walk on the 3rd produced a total of thirty-eight species - not bad given the rather miserable conditions, although Jonnie's engaging leadership and Tina's fried breakfast made for a very enjoyable morning despite the weather!

Up above the arboretum, meanwhile, the first Swift of the year was noted flying east on the 5th, while Sorbus Hill is proving to be the best spot to see House Martins with at least eight hawking around low over the trees on the 11th. Swallows remain a common sight flitting low over Rowe's Flashe Lake.

Talking of Rowe's Flashe, that brings me on to the babies mentioned in the blog title...

The second week of the month saw a burst of new life, with at least twenty-three Mallard ducklings present on the 11th, including this family group on the meadow side of the lake.

The female Little Grebe is still on the nest towards the southern end of the lake, although she vacated her position just long enough on the 11th for me to catch a glimpse of at least one chick.

 Meanwhile, on the 12th there were five Mandarin ducklings to add to the list (sadly I wasn't able to get a photo), along with our first Canada goslings of the season. In the trees along the dam there was also a family party of Long-tailed Tits. Other birds I've noted clearly gathering food for nestlings include Robin, Coal Tit and Blackbird, while there are at least three active Jackdaw nests around the arboretum now - listen carefully down in Bluebell Wood and you may hear the muted squawking of the young emanating from one of the Oaks. 

Roe Deer remain a common sight around the arboretum, most frequently seen along the Spring Walk or in Bluebell Wood, while on the 11th a regular visitor told me she had seen a Stoat with young in Rowe's Flashe Meadow. 

   While erecting a fence in the upper arboretum this past week the garden team encountered two very striking beetles. Firstly, this Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris)...

followed by the Black-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa coccinea)

Some warmer spells towards the middle of the month have seen more butterflies taking to the wing in the arboretum. Species seen so far in May have been Holly Blue, Orange-tip, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Peacock and Speckled Wood (pictured below).

As a final point, if you're interested in reading a short piece about the arboretum I penned for local magazine, The Bridge, you can find it here.

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