HarzBirder: Spring run .......

As Springs turns into Summer it worth reflecting on the wonderful run of birds I saw in Germany and in England. I spent much of early March looking fruitlessly for Lesser-Spotted Woodpeckers (LSW) (Kleinspecht) and eventually found one in a small wood on a former Bundeswehr training area near Langelsheim, Goslar. A friend of mine said that he knew people who were yet to see a LSW and he was therefore quite excited and very keen to visit the site, especially when I found a second bird. The woods in question held Black, Greater, Middle, Lesser-spotted and Green and, later as spring progressed, a Wryneck - more on which later.

Female LSW - Appelhorn

Middle-spotted Woodpecker - Apelhorn

Male LSW - Appelhorn

Early spring is a great time to see woodpeckers as the trees are not yet in leaf. However, LSWs are really difficult to photograph as they flit around high in the canopy. My next success occurred in April in Langton Herring, Dorset. Whilst eating Sunday lunch outside in the garden enjoying the beautiful anti-cyclonic spring weather, I could have sworn I heard a Hoopoe calling. 3 minutes later my neighbour called me over to his house excitedly explaining that a Hoopoe - he thought - was in his garden. Sure enough, there it was very happily feeding on his lawn.

Hoopoe - Langton Herring

The Hoopoe stayed all afternoon watched by half the village which was nice. I got word out via Bird Guides and Twitter, but since it was mid afternoon and the bird was in a private garden, no one else was able to see it. The next morning it had gone. Where to, no one knows. Interestingly, my bird's arrival coincided with a mini local Hoopoe invasion by 4 birds encouraged to cross the channel by the warm fine weather and it is, I believe, the second Hoopoe hosted by Langton Herring in the past few years.

Pair of Wryneck - Steinberg, Goslar

Wryneck - Steinberg, Goslar

My next find was a pair of Wrynecks on the hill behind my house. Heard one morning in early May whilst walking the dogs, I quickly found one bird calling incessantly and soon heard a second which presumably was a female. Being so close to my house I was able to indulge myself and spent hours watching them, Later, I fixed a movement camera on a hole in a dead tree and was rewarded by confirming the pair excavating a hole in preparation for breeding. At the same time, I found a third bird at the Appelhorn site but was unable to establish whether it was breeding. Wryneck seem to be quite widespread and relatively easy to find at least when they are calling.

Wryneck - Appelhorn

A routine spring visit to Frosse delivered a beautiful Honey Buzzard, Grasshopper and Savis Warbler. Conditions were cool and breezy and so the warblers were difficult to see let alone photograph. Also present were Great Reed Warblers, a female Golden Oriel and a booming BIttern.

Honey Buzzard, Frosse

Savis Warbler - Frosse

Grasshopper Warbler - Frosse

My local sewage works came up trumps with a Bluethroat which really pleased me because last year I didn't manage to see any and the several sites I know of. A pair of local Blue Tits decided to nest inside a traffic light pole much to the delight of dog walkers.

Bluethroat - near Goslar

Blue Tit - Goslar

Back in Dorset in May I had occasion to help look after an ill friend in his beach hut on Christchurch Harbour's beach. The birds were wonderful with my favourite of all, Dartford Warblers, breeding on the heathland on Hengistbury Head. The tidal pool behind the hut hosted all sorts of waders and gulls including these wonderful Bar-tailed Godwits and immaculate Grey Plovers. After several million frames, I managed one half-decent shot of a Sandmartin. A beautiful place even though my visit was under sad circumstances.