There are some birds that quickly become favourites and remain favourites forever, birds that I never tire of seeing and birds that I just have to see every so often to put a smile on my face. Dartford Warblers are one of those birds and seeing one of them never fails to thrill me. The first DW that I ever saw was on Dunwich Heath just after Mrs Caley and I had "got into" birdwatching. Every bird encountered back then was thrilling but the enigmatic and peculiar looking little bird of the heath absolutely enthralled and will forever be placed in my "top birds" list.
Picking a "top birds" list is tricky, a bit like picking your favourite songs or bands because "tastes" change according to circumstances and over time. However there are always favourites that remain favourites no matter what. Most people if choosing their favourite birds tend to select the flashy types, Kingfisher, Puffin, the humble Robin, and Eagles all rate highly. My own choices tend to be what I consider to be more enigmatic and cryptic species, birds that are hard to find or see or are just plain strange, birds such as Capercaillie, Grasshopper Warbler, Wryneck, Dotterel and of course the Dartford Warbler.
Luckily we no longer have to travel as far as the Suffolk or Hampshire heaths to see Dartford Warblers because the species is thriving, if any bird species thrives any more, in nearby Berkshire where there is still remnants of heathland. Oxfordshire despite having many place names that incorporate Heath has little or no such habitat left and Dartford Warblers are only encountered irregularly as very scarce migrants. I've yet to see a DW in my home county. We'd usually take the trip to the heath later in the year, by April and May the breeding season is in full swing and the male Dartford Warblers will be singing to attract mates but we thought we'd have a crack at seeing them early in the year for a change so ventured out into a chilly but fine morning well ahead of our normal yearly schedule.
There is another bird that inhabits heathland that is almost, but not quite, as alluring and that is the Woodlark, again very rare in Oxfordshire, and yet breeding in reasonable numbers just a few miles from the county border. Woodlarks are the scarcer cousin of the familiar farmland loving Skylark, similarly decked out in subtle browns and creams and hence hard to find unless singing when on their lofty song flights. The song of the Woodlark is a beautiful flute-like yodel, "tluee, tlueee" which carries far over the open heaths. I had seen a few tweets during the past few days announcing that Woodlarks were singing in the New Forest and other areas. I must admit that until recently I had thought that Woodlarks migrated away south during the winter returning to the heaths to breed but apparently in many parts of southern England they are actually resident and thus begin their pair bonding and breeding cycle earlier than migrant birds would. As we wandered, quite aimlessly, through the heath I picked up the melancholic song of a Woodlark. For the next ten minutes the bird sang almost non-stop, often joined in song by another, and yet we just couldn't find any of the singers. Normally you would expect the Woodlark to sing while displaying in flight but these birds definitely were not airborne. Neither were there any obvious birds perched on bushes or in the few scattered trees so we realised that we were looking for birds that were on the ground and owing to the aforementioned nondescript brown plumage meant that finding them would be a difficult task indeed. We gave up trying to find the Woodlarks and walked off aimlessly towards another part of the heath and continued listening out for the "maar" call of the Dartford Warbler.
As we neared a more open part of the site, where the gorse bushes thin out we heard another pair of Woodlarks singing. This time as I homed in on the song, we were in luck when I spotted the two birds engaged in some display flight. We walked quickly towards them and enjoyed the spectacle where one bird would shadow the other as they both "tootled" away at each other. I took my first shots of the morning as the birds flew closely past only just above head height.
The birds descended to the ground, not too far away but it still took a few minutes to locate the birds on a bank of flint and sparse vegetation, that camouflage certainly helping to conceal the birds. The Woodlarks were still singing softly and it was now clear why we couldn't find the earlier pair!
The Woodlarks briefly flew up again and then landed apart, one choosing to perch in a scrubby bush, the other on the ground but closer to where we stood. The grounded bird continued to sing in between bouts of pecking at the ground, presumably to eat the seeds of the low growing plants. I crawled my way towards the birds in order to get some better photos. When seen well, Woodlarks are really beautiful birds.
After feeding away quite contentedly for some time, seemingly unalarmed by my presence just thirty feet away, the Woodlark that I'd been photographing suddenly stood upright and flared its head feathers, not as pronounced as a Skylarks crest but still impressive. The bird was alarmed by a Kestrel that was flying overhead and soon both birds, after calling softly to each other flew off away across the heath.
We had enjoyed our time with the Woodlarks but we had come to the heath hoping to find a Dartford Warbler so we returned to the main area of gorse bushes again. The heath was bathed in sunshine which we also hoped would entice a DW out into the open and away from their spiny refuge within the gorse. We have a favoured area on the heath where we've found Dartford's before but a great swathe of the gorse there had been eradicated, presumably during the autumn. The gorse is cut and burned periodically to remove unwanted scrub and to reinvigorate the growth of desired plants such as the gorse. The heath is large though and there are many other areas of surviving gorse stands so we walked off to another likely looking spot. As we walked into an open ride between patches of the gorse I heard that familiar "maar, maar" call that usually gives a Dartford Warbler's location away, at least the call gives the location of the gorse bush that the Dartford Warbler is in away, whereas actually seeing the bird requires much patience. Over the years we've discovered that DW's react quite readily to "pishing" that American practise of making "pish" and "hiss" noises through the lips and teeth which, for some reason, many small birds like to investigate. They also often react to my own "maaring" calls and after I'd tried that for only a few seconds a fine male Dartford Warbler popped up onto the top of the gorse. It was a good view, not perfect because we were looking towards the sun and a gorse branch was in the way, and only for just a few seconds but it gave me a chance to grab a couple of shots.
The Warbler fluttered off across the gap that we'd just traversed into another small clump of gorse. I could still hear it calling but it no longer appeared interested in my responses to it. We did see it again when it briefly appeared in a straggly hawthorn bush and then it was gone. A fleeting view of a fabulous little bird that will always be a favourite. We'll be back later in the spring when the male Dartford's should be singing and showing more openly.
As we walked back to the car, another Woodlark sang softly from a small bush and I got close enough for another record shot.
The small herd of cows that perform essential daily maintenance on the heath were stood blocking our path and would not be moved so we had to walk around, unlike the Magpie that had decided to take a break while perching on one of the beasts back. I stopped to admire a particularly well marked and handsome face of one of the animals.
Almost at the car we watched a Kestrel fly past and alight in a tree. It was instantly harassed by a Magpie and after a bit of bickering in the tree the Kestrel was ousted and escorted out of the Magpies territory. A bout of aerial jousting ensued with the Magpie at times almost riding on the back of the Kestrel although of course the Kestrel is a much more adept flier and easily outstripped the Magpie when it needed to.
Having thrown off the shackles the Kestrel went into hunting mode, hovering above us and treating us to a masterful flying display for a while. I have lots of hovering Kestrel photos, most bird photographers do, but a few more wouldn't hurt.
I'm already planning for the a reasonable still and sunny day to return to the heath and find some more Dartford Warblers, and Woodlarks.
Fabulous write up and pictures nick, saw my first DW and Woodlarks last year thanks to you, super birds which we will be visiting again soon, as for favourite birds, for me Whitethroats are up there but DW are striking birds forsure.
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