A
couple of months back I was nature-spotting from the 71 bus; but I seem to see a surprising amount of
wildlife even from my car, especially at this time of the year. Our delayed spring has meant that the trees
and hedges have stayed leafless longer than usual, and, though many of our
summer visitors are understandably late to arrive, they are coming at last -
the chiffchaffs can be heard again in the woodland - while some of our winter
birds have yet to leave.
I’m
always glad when I hear chiffchaffs, often among the first spring arrivals -
but in fact all the birds I’ve seen of late from my car have been birds of
prey. (I suppose a chiffchaff counts as
a bird of prey if you happen to be an insect, but you know what I mean!) The first of these was a barn owl. Our small fields, good old hedges, barns and
other old buildings mean that this part of the world is still barn owl country,
and I often see them at night, not least because they frequently course along
our lanes and hedgerows, which make for good hunting. But this barn owl was hunting by day, as I
left Guilsfield one morning. It was a
sunny morning (though extremely cold, which is probably why the owl was out in
the daylight) and the pale plumage of the owl positively shone as it lifted
above the hedge to my right.
A
few days later, I was literally just getting out of my car when a sparrow hawk
hurtled past me, with quite a large bird securely held in its talons. It was, I think, a thrush - one less, sadly
to join in the dawn chorus. The speed
and precision of the hawk’s flight hugely impressed me - there wasn’t much room
for manoeuvre. Folk with bird tables
often moan about sparrow hawks, but there is a natural balance between predator
and prey (one result of which is that if you artificially increase the prey
population by garden feeding you’re bound to increase the predator population
as well - and why not? It’s a beautiful
bird). Last week, as I parked my car
outside a house in Pontesbury, I had a good view of another sparrow hawk, this
time certainly a female - quite a large bird - which sailed across to a nearby
roof which gave it a good view all around.
The
final bird, glimpsed near Arddleen, was a bit of a star if I’ve got it right,
and I’m fairly sure of my identification.
I was driving home when I saw a large bird flying across, and being
mobbed by smaller birds as it did so. I
thought in terms of buzzard or kite, but it certainly wasn’t either of
those. Herons are often mobbed too, as
are large gulls like lesser black-backed - but, again, no. Though it was only a brief sighting, I was
able to get a good view of the colours and, crucially, a side view of quite a
distinctive head. I’m pretty sure that
what I saw, on quite a cold and cruel day, was an osprey on migration. They do pass through this area (and these
days, of course, they do nest in Wales), and the week I saw this bird there
were sightings coming in of returning ospreys arriving at traditional nesting sites. So, however unexpected, I’m fairly sure of
what I saw. It’s amazing what you get to
see from your little tin box on wheels!
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