Bird watching, An early interst and local species.

For as long as I can remember I have been interested in birds. As a small boy living in my home town of Ware in Princess street , I used to sit upon an old wall that separated our garden from the maltings that were behind us and watch for hours the swifts,swallows and housemartins that were attracted to those old buildings. The twitterings of the swallows and martins and the screams of the swifts as they hurtled around the old maltings defined the long hot summer days as they hunted for the insects that seemed more abundant in those far off days , I remember too my parents waking me up to hear the song of a nightingale that was singing near the old dairy that was down the bottom of Francis road, its hard to imagine that happening now! I started work in 1966 as a nursery hand at Chaplin brothers rose nursery (now Van Hages garden centre) next to the nursery is Post wood , working in the fields you would hear the Cuckoos in and around the wood as soon as they arrived back from Africa in April until June when their "tune" changed.

"In April I open my bill

In May I sing night and day

In June I change my tune

In July I fly away"

Sometimes I would be asked to do some ploughing or cultivating with the old Fordson Major tractor and work a particular field ,it was not long before I was followed by flocks of Rooks ,Jackdaws,Lapwings and hosts of Seagulls and Sparrows,it was a spectacular sight!One year I remember thousands of Starlings settling on a recently cultivated field, they stayed for a short time before taking off and filling the sky with those shape shifting patterns.

The hedgerows that were common in those days provided nesting sites for the now rare tree sparrow, every bush seemed to hold an untidy looking nest, and as the grain was beginning to ripen on the ears, flocks of hundreds of tree and house sparrows would feed on it in their hundreds, sadly modern farming methods have decimated their numbers. Another favourite bird of mine is the yellow hammer , you could not walk far along a lane with out hearing its song "a little bit of bread and no cheese", sadly this member of the bunting family has dropped in numbers and is now on the red list of endangered species, however, during the winter good numbers can be observed in Thundridge along the old church path towards the old ruined church.

Greater spotted wood peckers can be found in and around the villages of Wadesmill and Thundridge and in the early spring you will hear them "drumming" in the local woods, try and entice one in to a tree near you by choosing a nice sized stone and then start tapping vigorously on a tree or a wooden fence post.

Look for Tree Creepers and Nuthatch along Poles lane or along the old church path just past the mill house in the willows that grow along the rivers bank. The stream is home to the Kingfisher, mallard duck, Coots and Moorhen, Heron. Grey wagtails and if lucky spotted flycatchers! A recent new arrival is the Little Egret whilst in winter, Teal occasionally drop in for a feed.

A walk through Youngsbury park and on towards the air field following the track to Barwick ford you can find Green woodpeckers, Rooks and Jackdaws ,Magpies and Carrion crow and in the sky listen  for the "mewing" of Buzzards, in the early autumn you will often see the parents with their offspring wheeling in the sky, the collective name for them is a "kettle."

Kestrel can be seen hovering along the verge of the villages bypass, tawny owls are common in and around our villages, a rather vocal bird from the breeding season March to May then they moult and are quiet from June to July then vocal again from around August through to the winter months.

The fields around the villages are also home to the Skylark, their numbers have dropped considerably since the 1990s and are still falling. There are some breeding pairs on Moles farm and their song can be heard high above, see if you can find the cock bird as he proclaims his territory then watch him "parachute! down.

"Hail to thee blythe spirit!

Bird thou never wert,

That from heaven, or near it pourest thy full heart

In profuse strains of premeditated art.

Higher still and higher,From the earth thou springest

like a cloud of fire;

The blue deep thou wingest,and singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest."

Percy Bysshe Shelley

The hedgerows around the villages of Wadesmill, Thundridge , and Highcross support good numbers of Whitethroats and Blackcaps , the Black cap is also known as the northern nightingale and is increasingly spending winters in the UK. The Whitethroat is more migratory spending the winter south of the Sahara, I was lucky to take a photo of one along the old church path that on a closer look could see that it had been ringed.

Wheatears have been seen on Thundridge allotments and on the track that runs from Gore lane parallel to the village bypass, these birds are members of the chat and thrush family and are usually passing through to more western and northerly breeding grounds, although a small number do breed in south and eastern parts of the country. Another summer visitor often seen dashing through the sky and resembling a giant Swift is the Hobby, they arrive in April and leave for Africa in September and October, this bird of prey is about the size of a Kestrel and takes its prey on the wing which includes Dragonflies, and small birds and will even out chase the Swallows and Martins.

The latest arrival is the magnificent Red Kite, a medium to large raptor with a 5.5ft wingspan,primarily a scavenger it will take small mammals and can now be seen regulary drifting lazily over our villages. Once common throughout the UK it was hunted to extinction in England and Scotland, they were left with only a few survivors in their rugged Welsh strongholds. In 1903 the first Red Kite commitee was formed amid concerns for their future survival, it was soon joined by the RSPB. From their early days of nest protection to modern day breeding and release programs this beautiful bird of prey is recolonising its ancient homelands