Weather: bright & sunny; more clouds & haziness. 11:15am to 2pm.
Another attempt to see my hoped for woodland trinity, in particular I hoped to see the elusive redstarts I'd heard from the day before.
Great Tit, Blue Tit, Song Thrush, Nuthatch - all seen &/or heard as yesterday.
Bullfinch - two flew in front of the car as I drove up the road to the car-park, flashing distinctive white rumps.
Lower Hide:
Spotted Flycatcher - in the same place as yesterday, busy catching flies & visiting its nest.
Mistle Thrush - one scraggy bird preening itself in a tree next to the dead spotted flycatcher's tree; later I heard a mistle thrush singing for the first time.
Wood:
Pied Flycatcher - after leaving the lower hide & heading up the path I joined a small group of birders that were looking intently into the trees from the path. It didn't take long for me to also connect with another pair of wonderful 'pied flies' as they busily foraged through the low-levels of the woods, at one point the pale perched on the fence posts & the fence wire that lined the path providing great views.
Meadow:
Garden Warbler - in the shrubs next to the small meadows I spotted a couple of nondescript warblers active in one of the bushes, one feeding the other; later the distinctive song confirmed the sighting.
Long Nature Trail:
Willow Tit - heard at a few points along the path from the thick trees, though unfortunately I didn't see any.
Long-Tailed Tit - a couple flitted through some saplings.
Wood Warbler - a loud piping call alerted me to something in one of the large oaks next to the path & after a few minutes a warbler moved out into view & then another, again one was apparently feeding the other. They were both in silhouette & I was not familiar with the call however a little later on I heard the wonderful & distinctive call of wood warbler & along with it the same call I had heard earlier.
Raven - just after seeing the wood warbler I heard a distinctive & familiar 'grok' call, soon followed by the bird itself as it flew over & away. A quite unexpected sighting from the middle of a wood though I was aware they nested in the Forest of Dean.
Fallow Deer - as I made my way back I heard a shuffling from the leaves of the understorey & was rewarded with a sighting of three deers moving discreetly through the woods, which I found evocative of earlier times when forests such as these covered much of the country & which must have teemed with the biodiversity a fraction of which I'd experienced in the last 24 hours.
Stock Dove - a pair flew away through the trees.
Wren - buzzed away from the path.
Chiffchaff - heard as I approached the carpark.
Buzzard - another scraggy specimen overhead this time as I left the meadow for the carpark.
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