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Article 1

Nature Notes

Sometimes one hears of a bird that one wants to see in order to add to ones county list of birds seen. Such a bird was an osprey, the Scottish fish-hunting eagle with a brown and white body and strong talons for holding fish that was reported loitering around Symonds Yat. Ospreys are seen on passage migrating to and from Scotland usually in May, or returning in September. When I heard the news I zoomed over on a Friday morning; on reaching the Yat rock I learned the osprey had been seen earlier but now was roosting in some trees below the Yat and not visible. I spent two hours waiting, but no sign. I returned again on Saturday and Sunday, each time to be told it had been seen earlier. I made do with hunting pere­grine each time and roosting cormorants and remained miffed. The follow­ing Saturday I was walking up the Wye from Hotme Lacey church towards Mordiford: we started with views of peregrines, hunting sparrow hawk, a hovering kestrel, soaring buzzards and a family of hobbies, but better was to come. Not even views of kingfishers and reed buntings could prepare us for the slow lazy flight of a raptor following up the course of the river. It was of course an osprey, no doubt the one from Symonds Yat as a few hours later we saw it returning down river.

The moral "don't scoot around, just wait and enjoy what you find", as happened when I went for a walk around Garway Hill on a gloomy morn­ing with mist in the valley. As soon as I started walking robins were sing­ing, not one but many, and in a two hour walk I recorded fifty robins; a green woodpecker yaffled, ravens croaked and meadow, pipits dived in and out of the bracken, whether they were on passage or the resident population was difficult to distinguish. A day time tawny owl got his noctur­nal clock mixed up and hooted, probably disturbed by the mobbing of smaller birds as there were agitated tits and chaffinches around. I walked on past the mast and down to the Kentchurch boundary - more small birds in the hawthorn - long tailed tits as well as blue and great tits, also two chiff chaff, a female blackcap and a thrush, very speckled with a small eye stripe. I needed to look more closely but unfortunately it soon flew off so I didn't see under its wings as it flew so was it a redwing? My suspi­cions were soon confirmed by a small party feeding in hawthorns and making 'sissing' sounds. So eyes open for the other wintering thrush the fieldfare, a more pleasant surprise awaited me -not returning winter thrushes but a small flock of returning finches, mostly siskins plus the odd calling redpoll. What an interesting bird morning, but more was to come. I had seen no buzzards so I avidly scanned the skies, but instead I found a soaring raptor with a fork tail - a red kite.

J.R.P.