Hawfully Frustrating!!! Forest of Dean 7th February

The title of this piece is not only misspelt (there is a pun intended) but is also not an entirely accurate description of our days birding in the Forest of Dean. The birdwatching was great as it always is in the Forest, the frustrations came about for the reasons detailed within....

Mrs Caley and I got up early and left before 06:00 so that we'd be on site at Parkend just as it became light enough to see. We'd already had a thrill as we neared the M40 junction close to Bicester when a barn owl flew across the road just a short distance ahead. This was going to be a day to remember. And so it was, although for all the wrong reasons.

Our purpose for heading to Parkend was to have a go at seeing hawfinches up close and personal. Inspired by the fantastic photographs that many of my Oxon birding friends had taken of hawfinches there, I was spurred (do I ever hate that word) on to get some for myself. Mrs Caley was keen to get these great views too. At Parkend there is a small village green that is surrounded on all sides by Yew trees. As we all know hawfinches absolutely adore Yew's and their berries so they congregate at this place. Birders and photographers alike have taken the extra step of providing a ready supply of seed which attracts the hawfinches and other birds in even closer and puts them in the frame for some crippling shots. So far so good. The downside to the location is that it is busy with traffic, joggers, dog walkers and, unfortunately, some idiotic birdwatchers.

We arrived at 07:30 and were delighted to find nobody else in attendance. We had the birds to ourselves. Immediately on turning into the unmade lane we noticed a lot of finches feeding by the track side. We noted chaffinches, greenfinches, dunnocks, robins and a nuthatch all gorging on the provided handouts. I pulled up alongside and waited. The birds were very jumpy and would fly back into the trees at every passing car but soon returned to their feeding. I began to scan around and locked on to a hawfinch a little further down the track so we nudged the car closer to it. We now had fine views of around a dozen hawfinches feeding in amongst the turned up turf where presumably wild boar had been active (wild boar are systematically digging up most of the forest). The birds were unperturbed by our presence and the only sad thing was that it was still too dark to get any reasonable photos so I just enjoyed watching them. They seemed settled so when the sun rose in a half hour or so then I'd get my shots.

hawfinch, in the gloom (sadly the only photo I got!)

green woodpecker

Before that the fun started or rather the fun ceased. Firstly it was a jogger that sent the birds scurrying. Still that was fine since they'd return to feeding after they'd regained their confidence. Which they did but this time resumed their feast underneath the trees where it was darker still. If they remained there then it would take even longer before being light enough for decent images. Our views were still fantastic and ordinarily I would have been more than delighted but I had come here to get those cracking photos that everybody else had so I needed more. A couple of hawfinches were edging closer and were just about to emerge into a lovely sunlit patch between the trees...and a dog walker came blundering past! Off the birds went again. After another 10 minutes or so I ached my neck around in the car (which isn't really built for wildlife viewing) and saw at least 2 hawfinches feeding out by the place where I'd first parked. Goodness this was becoming stressful. I reversed back very slowly and just as I sidled up to the birds a bloody great juggernaut rattled past and off they went yet again! Aarghh.....

We waited about fifteen minutes and although we could see hawfinches under trees further away and on the opposite side of the green none had resumed feeding next to the car. We had great views of nuthatches and treecreepers and a fine brambling put in an appearance but the hawfinches had gone from our viewpoint.

Nuthatch

Treecreeper

Then things really started to deteriorate. A mini-bus pulled up and parked in the lay-by opposite our position. A group of around ten or so "birdwatchers" emerged and all stood, under the direction of the tour leader, on a grassy bank a discrete distance away and scopes were trained on the hawfinches that were still underneath the Yews. Unfortunately the finches were too far away for me to photograph and I didn't want to move in the hope that the other folk would drive them towards our car. Another couple of cars bearing birders/toggers had arrived and they had gone down to where we had initially seen the hawfinches. That was good since they were out of my way. However, to my absolute astonishment, the occupant of one car got out and walked into the trees spraying sunflower seeds around. I couldn't believe it. The hawfinches bolted like bats out of hell across to the far side of the green. Why didn't he look first? The birds were already there! Because of his actions and because there were now no hawfinches to be seen the tour group decided almost en masse to look a bit closer. So we had half a dozen "numpties" walking in and out of the trees and out into the middle of the green. If I had any left,  I would have tore my hair out! I was in a simmering rage. What is wrong with people, why can't they behave? Don't they research first like I had done and realise that you can't get out of the car?! The final straw came when one so called birder, in total ignorance to us sat in our car, came and peered up the Yew no more than 10 feet away from where the birds had been feeding. We were done. The birds were probably in the next county by now. I had been well and truly thwarted in my mission to photograph hawfinches at close quarters. 

That's the birds gone then! The feeding area is in front of the tree!

Mrs Caley and I retreated to a nearby cafe and consoled in a coffee and a breakfast bap which calmed my nerves a little. I am a bit of a trier though (yeah, yeah I know), so despite the protestations I drove back to the green on the off chance that our luck would change. The tour group had backed away and the occupants of the cars were all ensconced within so all was quiet again. We parked and the brambling briefly showed again, maybe we would be lucky? We weren't, since no sooner had we settled in than a lady with two big Husky dogs ran full pelt into the middle of the green. My head felt like it would spin off! Double aarghh.... She then plonked herself down on a bench next to the trees and proceeded to spend the next half hour, until I finally gave up, grooming her charges. 

grey squirrel (equally as bemused!)

Maybe we were just very unlucky that day. Others had managed to get the shots after all. But I drove away totally frustrated, exasperated in fact, by the whole experience and vowing never ever to return.  I'm going to continue on my merry path of birding first and taking photos of what I find rather than try to become a photographer which I clearly do not have the patience required or the necessary luck! As I said; one very "Hawful" morning!

We redeemed the day by visiting Crabtree Hill and seeking out a great grey shrike that we'd failed to find on our way back after seeing the rock thrush last October. We trod the now familiar path noting some nice crossbills high up in the trees and marvelling at just how much earthworks that the boar had been doing! Halfway there, two of the "numpty" birdwatchers approached us and looked as if they wanted to start a conversation. They soon thought again and hurried along though when my face contorted into my best snarl! I know I should be nicer but they had done my flippin' head in earlier! 

No problem with the shrike this time as it flew across the track ahead of us and settled in a spindly tree as they do. We were still a way from it though but I at least steadied myself to grab some record shots. We watched it at length until it dived into the gorse bushes and disappeared. Thinking it must have gone over a ridge about a hundred yards away we made our way nearer to it but there was no sign of the bird. It then reappeared back behind us and I wondered, not for the first time that "how do birds do that?" I reckon they've mastered teleportation! 

great grey shrike

The shrike disappeared again and we searched out some more crossbills that were calling away in the tall trees of the nearby plantation. Having found them and after some more had flown overhead, we made to return to the car and had the shrike fly towards us carrying something in it's talons. It passed directly overhead and you could make out the shape of a poor unfortunate small bird that had become the shrikes next meal. For once our luck (in deference to the recently deceased bird) was in as the great grey shrike landed in a tree almost directly next to us and pinned the prey between some branches. It then proceeded to pluck the small bird, which we'd now established as a stonechat, of its feathers. At one point the ex-stonechat tumbled out of the branches and the shrike demonstrated remarkable dexterity in snatching it up again in mid-air. It wasn't happy with it's choice of larder though and moved further into the trees and out of sight. We were amazed to have seen the "Butcher Bird" in action and who knew that small birds were part of its diet. Great grey shrike's are incredible hunters it would seem.

great grey shrike (and ex stonechat)

We departed, just in time, since the whole posse of "numpties" came up the track towards us. I gave each and every one of them my rudest stare with "you ruined my morning" tattooed all across it!

stonechat (living exhibit!)

On our way out of the forest we paid a quick visit to Cannop ponds and to the mandarin ducks that regale on the water there. Handsome drakes and beautiful ducks!

mandarin ducks

So, in conclusion, a very good birdwatching day but equally one of the most frustrating birding (photography) experiences of my entire life!