Old Lodge

 With Margie recovering from her toe problems and my back starting to improve we decided that a walk around the Sussex Wildlife Trusts Old Lodge Nature Reserve would be in order, rumours of Brambling and the possibility of large amounts of winter Thrushes motivating me more than Margie!😲, things didn't start well, Margie spent her usual 5 minutes deciding and then undeciding what to wear on her feet, initially going with walking boots, discovering she had forgotten to bring the socks for her  walking boots, trying to blame me for her forgetting the socks from her walking boots😲,(I was having none of that!!) humming and hahing whether to go with wellies that she did have socks for (pooh-poohing my idea of wearing her welly socks in her walking boots) deciding to go with walking boots and just ordinary socks, walking 50 yards moaning the whole time that her boots were rubbing on her ankle then going back to the car to put on her welly socks, returning saying how much better she felt and what a good idea she'd had of wearing her welly socks with her walking boots!! unkinbelivable!!!!! See what I put up with, I'm a saint really!!😀 Worse was to come at the gate was a Sign!!!😱😱😱😱😱😱

What is it with conservation organisations and their obsession with putting large Bovines unfettered on their reserves!! Have they not heard of Strimmers!!

Despite my many previous encounters with such beasts, I bravely decided to carry on as I have put my entirely rational fear of these killing machines behind me now!! As I was waiting for Margie  to reappear from her epic Boot problems, various birds flew over, a big flock of Redwings, a couple of Blackbirds, a Coal Tit, several groups of Woodpigeon, a few lone birds which I couldn't identify due to being useless at calls, though one could of been a Crossbill, a couple of Pipits, which I presume at this time of year to be Meadow though they land on the top of a tree at one point! The scenery as ever on this reserve is spectacular although autumnal colours were thin on the ground!! 

Couple of Pipits

Scenery by Margie

Scenery by Margie

Margie duly limped into view and we headed down the hill towards the Beech Trees which I thought were the most likely location for the Bramblings, as we neared the bottom I heard a couple of calls, I confidently called as Crossbills, at which point Margie said, "sound more like Stonechats to me" Luckily before I could ridicule her completely 2 Stonechats appeared, damn!!😂 I quickly made the correlation doesn't mean causation argument and that the Crossbills had probably flown off at the exact time the Stonechats appeared but she was having none of it and I received a level of abuse and ridicule which was probably fully deserved!! However I redeemed myself by saying "ooh sounds like a Dartford Warbler" at few seconds before  a DW appeared on top of a gorse bush although only stayed a couple of seconds and Margie didn't see it,which prompted a sarcastic "sure it wasn't a Crossbill"? ( Ifear this incident may live long in her memory!!😢) However luckily I had managed to grab a couple of pics and she had to eat Humble pie!!

Not a Crossbill😁

The evidence, Dartford Warbler

We continued to the row of Beech Trees which were sadly Brambling free, they did have a noisy Nuthatch in and an acrobatic Squirrel, I suspended my ban on Squirrel photography due to the outstanding nature of the acrobatics😂

We had bumped into another photographer who had not seen any Brambling either, he informed us that the Cows with Bull were further up the hill, coincidently at this point I made the decision, purely on birding criteria you understand, to go the other way!! We tracked across the reserve, very quiet until we came to the bridge that crosses the stream, where we encountered another pair of Stonechats, where once again the old adage, if you want to find a Dartford Warbler find a Stonechat was once again proved correct, although this time there were no less than three of the beauties here, one of which posed ok! 

Stonechat in a rare bit of Sunshine

Dartford Warbler there were three in this small gorse bush think this one was the boss!

Flushed with success we headed on,but it was pretty quiet from then on, Margie found a Beetle, a couple of Dragonflies and a big fungus, a flock of 5 Chaffinch flew over and a small Tit flock which were mainly Great Tits and a couple of Blues went by, the Yew tree where I had hoped for some serious Thrush action was devoid of berries and looked like it was struggling to survive, we made it back to the car with out being gored which is always a bonus!!

Fungus

Beatle by Margie

Dragonfly by Margie

Fallen Giant by Margie

Another view of the Fungus by Margie

More scenery by Margie

So an unspectacular walk saved by a Dartford Warbler or two but nice to be out  and about!!!! Hopefully Margie will forget about the Crossbill/Stonechat debacle in the next couple of decades!!😂😂😂😂😂😂