Doves & Gales Knepp Adventure

As it’s only 25 mins from home thought a trip to Knepp was a legitimate trip out for some exercise. Talk of big crowds and full carparks decided us that an early start was imperative, nothing to do with the Covid-19 I just don’t like people!! Especially when birding, so we were up at 5 and on site by 5.45 sterling effort all round ,I generally park on Countryman Lane and enter the estate through the big gate, this is mainly because in previous visits I have struggled to find the car parks!

We get kitted up, the usual cardy/fleece debate is sorted quite quick and we are on our way.10 yards in and Margie already is onto a nice Pied Wagtail and herd of ,what I think are Red Deer , excellent start!! A few yards further on and there are a nice family group of Mistle Thrush running around the field, a Buzzard (the only Raptor we saw) is escorted off the premises by a Crow we hear our first Cuckoo of the walk, though it’s distant, as we walk a long we can hear ,Blackbird, Song Thrush, Whitethroat ,plenty of Wrens are singing and softly, again distant, we hear a Turtle Dove purring although the nature of the path here means we can’t see much, it opens up at the crossroads we can hear two Turtle Doves in this area although again invisible, a Whitethroat poses nicely having a singsong on top of a bush and we finally get a very distant view of a Turtle Dove sitting right on top of a dead tree, we can also hear a Nightingale here but it is also very distant, there seems to be a theme developing with the target species on this trip! Although Margie has found some “adorable Rabbits” here which are depressingly close!! No Buzzard or Kite drops in on these tasty morsels, so we move on!

Pied Wagtail

Red Deer

Mistle Thrush

Buzzard

Get offa my Land! (say in suffolk accent)

Mistle Thrush

Whitethroat

Adorable Buzzard food (by Margie)

We head north, we come across a hedge which has a Garden Warbler, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff all singing in close proximity typically it’s the Chiffy that poses well the others are buried in the bush!! We walk through a small wood at the end of which up to 3 Nightingales are singing ,maybe it’s the time of day or the fact that we are at the end of May but their hearts don’t seem in it and by Nightingale standards it’s a pretty poor show and as usual they are hidden from view. 

Chiffchaff

Wren

Different Wren in terrible light

We have a rather good encounter with a Cuckoo and then an even better one with the elusive Garden Warbler, we spot the Storks nest, but they appeared to have deserted it, no sign. At the lake, a pair of Canada Geese have “cute” Goslings and there are a couple of Great Crested Grebes and a few Tufties amongst the Mallards, a Grey Wagtail flies over too quick for a pic and likewise a couple of Swifts elude me! We start to head back the way we came a we go past a hedge I realise once again I have been caught out by large farm animals, some rather large Bovines with massive horns have sneaked around behind us and are looking menacing, (I’m sure these type of beasts come with a built in Evans detector) Margie of course is ahhing and cooing about the pretty calves and snapping away, when the nearest Bullock,3/4 of a ton of enraged beast, with suspiciously lop-sided horns, starts it’s charge!! I face it down magnificently and within 4 steps it backs down and goes back to calmly eating the grass, it knows who’s boss. Margie says “you alright hunny” I give a casual “fine” in reply, she’ll never know how close she came to death!

Empty Stork Nest

Cuckoo

Cuckoo in Flight

Linnet

Garden Warbler

Garden Warbler

Bovine (Mid-charge)

Calves

Geese with Goslings (By Margie)

We have now reached what I like to refer to as the comfort zone, this is the time between Margie feeling too cold and then feeling too hot, this usually lasts about 20 minutes but today was over in about 41 seconds. To be fair it was getting hot and I was glad I had me hat, my welsh heritage means I get 3^rd degree sunburn within approx. 2 mins of exposure and once got sunburn, in Wales, in March !!! ,I have two hats for these occasions, today I was sporting hat number 2 a trendy black cowboyish type with a fine mesh netting which allows in the breeze ,which I like to think makes me look a bit like a young Indiana Jones, not sure Margie agrees! When it gets really hot I have a Khaki Legionnaire type hat ,Hat number 1, however I’m not allowed to wear this when I’m with Margie but if I do I have to walk 10 yards behind her for some reason, not sure why!!. 

Anyway in rising temperatures we make the decision to head back to the car, we reach the main Turtle Dove area and I scan “Old Trusty” this is a tree which on every other occasion I have been to Knepp at this time of year has Doves in it, not this time ,I’m about to lower the bins when a bird flies into the top of the tree, Turtle Dove hurrah!! I fill me boots with pics as the bird puffs up and starts purring loudly, sits there for a good 3 minutes before decamping to a nearby telephone wire, excellent!! We follow the path, it goes between two lines of large oak trees and is quite gloomy, I’m walking along aimlessly mind drifting somewhat, listening to various birds singing, reflecting on an excellent trip when Margie whispers “freeze” there is such urgency in her voice I stop dead in my tracks ,what has she seen , I glance back at her she is focused in front camera clicking away , I peer into the gloom what has she seen, I can see nothing ,all my birding senses are focused, every sinew stretched to breaking point ,I go over the area inch by inch, what could it be ,the hoped for Hoopoe? There’s been a few about! Red-flanked Bluetail unlikely considering the time of year, Nutcracker?? “What is it” I whisper. In a low voice she replies, “Squirrel!! Isn’t it cute” SQUIRREL WTF!! Manfully resisting the temptation to dunk her in the adjacent pond I move on!! “you’ve flushed it now” she wails!! Luckily at this point a Bullfinch calls and flies into a nearby tree and I’m able to concentrate on trying to get a pic from the terrible views.

Turtle Dove

A different Garden Warbler

Turtle Dove

Blue Tit

Blackbird (loads about)

Bullfinch

Kin Squirrel (By Margie)

That’s about it, another great walk around the Estate, No Storks but not too bothered, we have seen them before and was more interested in the Doves and Gales, which came up trumps, we heard at least 4 TD and several Cuckoos were calling and zipping about although pics were at a premium for both. Nice to hear and see so many Whitethroats and at least 4 Garden Warbler 2 of which, unbelievably, I  managed to ID on song before getting views although Margie did point out if you say " I think that' a Garden Warbler" every time you hear something singing , the law of averages suggests you will be right at some point!!

We are home by ten and  bonus bird on our arrival is a Jay was under the feeders, somehow I managed to get the door open without spooking it and was able to get a few shots !

Bonus Jay 

  I realise that many of my international readers (I’ve had 15 page views in Belgium!) may not know about the Knepp rewilding project so have included a link to their website (below) which explains more including their attempts to reintroduce Storks into the UK  some 400 years after their local extinction! I have no connection to the Estate whatsoever except I walk around it a few  times a year and think it’s an excellent place for birding!!

 https://knepp.co.uk/

All pics by me unless otherwise stated!

Oh and made a fruitcake yesterday!!