Schrodinger's Birdwatch.

One of the philosophical conundrums that Quantum Mechanics raised when it first appeared was on the nature of light. Is it a wave? Is it a particle? And the answer, roughly, is that if you are looking for it to be a wave, it's a wave, and if you are looking for it to be a particle, it's a particle. Waves and particles are concepts, and reality is under no obligation to exactly line up with your concepts.

Anyway

Off I went for my daily patch watch today. Overcast, dull, overnight rain, surely some migrants? Well, no. The pair of Mandarin in their usual place, some Blackcaps and Chiffchaff singing, a Whitethroat, then over the railway line and up to the fields. The usual Yellowhammers and Linnets, then a stop to scan the horizons noting a Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk over, then four Fallow Deer marching out of a hedgerow, giving me a look up and down, and slowly trotting off. A pair of Red-Legged Partridges, the solitary bird now having found a mate. Then back down past the scrape and home with a stop to look for a singing Sedge Warbler from the river-side by the scrape.

Now Steve Gale, over at the excellent North Downs And Beyond, doesn't think birding the patch is really on at the moment. Or rather, he says the lockdown law says it isn't on. The guidelines are for exercise only, not to carry on birding.

So...

Off I went for my daily exercise today. Overcast, dull, overnight rain. The pair of Mandarin in their usual place, I heard some some Blackcaps and Chiffchaff singing, a Whitethroat, then over the railway line and up to the fields. The usual Yellowhammers and Linnets  then after what was a decent stretch of walking up an incline, a brief rest during which a Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk flew over. Then four Fallow Deer marching out of a hedgerow. Clearly I had to stop then to avoid spooking them, and I watched as they looked me up and down, then slowly trotted off. A pair of Red-Legged Partridges, the solitary bird now having found a mate. Then back down past the scrape and home. I stopped for a brief rest opposite where a Sedge Warbler was singing and stepped back into the wood to let a jogger past and maintain distance.

So. Birdwatching? Exercise? I guess what you see is up to you.

a Spring in my step

8:30 and I'm out on the patch again, and there's nowhere else I'd rather be*. First up is two Sparrowhawks displaying over the village. I have a feeling they are nesting along a tree-lined brook as I frequently see them in this area. They both look like females to me so maybe they are marking the edge of joint territories.

Down by the river and the first Lesser Whitethroat of the year bursts into song just a few feet from my head. I peer through the foliage trying to see it, and see a bird fly off after which there is no more song ...

Then its business-as-usual, singing Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and a Whitethroat, all down by the river area. Then up the path toward the farmland and its Yellowhammers and Linnets and a very distant Red Kite, and then as I'm having my umpteenth scan of a ploughed field Boom! There, about 100 yards away, is a male Wheatear.

Wheatears are on the patch list, but not for about ten years. There was a distant spring when a pair were on an adjacent field for a few days, and another spring day a couple of years later when there was one by the river, but then nothing. I've had them over the other side of the valley at Tharbies on a few occasions, and Mike had one up there yesterday, and top local birder and photographer Jason Ward had one a few miles south at Latton Common, but here, up to now, nothing. Not a peep. Or a chackk.

It just sat there for a while. It looked cold grey colour. Now I'm no expert as you will have gathered by now, but it looked the normal type, not one of those Greenland varieties. I looked a way for a few minutes whilst I sent a quick text to Mike to gloat inform him, and when I looked back it was sat there again, but a metre or so to the left.

After a while of this I wondered if there were any more Wheatears. It was a heavily ploughed field, and after some scanning another male revealed itself. They were soon running around, and I left them feeding. I had spent so long watching them I think I may have gone over my government-mandated hour so hurried on home.

It's the kind of sighting that makes you wonder how many you've missed. It was hard work, a lot of scanning, and they could easily get in a rut left by the deep plough. Anyway I didn't miss them. And they are on the patch and year list. Fantastic.

* This is a lie. There are a lot of places I'd rather be.

Do You Really Know What a Sedge Warbler Looks Like?

Or, more correctly, do I?

It was towards the end of a reasonable but unspectacular patch walk. Three Redwings the highlight, perched quietly in some trees, possibly the last of winter. But other decent sightings; a Jay in a tree giving that Buzzard call, some nice Yellowhammers, good views of Linnet, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, distant Red Kite, then on the home stretch along the navigation a lady pointed out a pair of Mandarin under the opposite bank (from a safe distance), and then a Willow Warbler singing unseen from the middle of a thicket, probably the same bird I heard yesterday.

I noticed a movement down by the water's edge. A Chiff. And a second one. Oh hang on...

The two bird were silently picking their way through a mass of twigs all just coming into leaf. The second was a Sedge Warbler. Normally, Sedge Warblers are easy, bursting up from bushes giving their distinctive rattling churring song, but this was the first for a few months, and wasn't singing. In the end it was reasonably straightforward; heavy eyestripe, which was what first gave it away, browner and dumpier than the chiff, rusty rump, slight streaking on the back, and a stout tail. But it was good to have a decent look at it. It is seeing birds in unexpected places at unexpected times that makes for mistakes. Now, I obviously have no independent adjudication to point out that its was something else, but it was nice to slowly unpick this bird and get all the features. And that Chiff? The supercilium was quite strong continuing well behind the eye, longish primaries and pale legs, so if I had to guess I'd say Willow Warbler. But I don't have to guess, I can leave it as a Chiff.

This lockdown lark is making me think again about our birds. The everyday birds, the Blue Tits, the Linnets, the Mallards, are all spectacular in their own way. With nothing else to do it's a pleasure to spend time enjoying them.