Weasely Recognized

Today it was cold, but dry and bright with some sunny patches, so I decided to head for Bestwood Quarry. I was up and out quite early and walked behind the houses in Warrenhill seeing many birds in and around the hedge of the garden next to Big Wood School Field. These were mainly tits, but three Great Spotted Woodpecker were there and a Dunnock too. I walked on and saw a Wren at the junction of Woodman's Path. Then I headed down the path known as First Valley. A little way down I came to an area with lots of chirping sounds that showed a Wren and some very close sightings of two Goldcrest - I'm starting to recognize their calls now.

I came out on main drive right before Alexandra Lodge where the double "fence post" gate is. Before getting to the lodge, a Sparrowhawk dived into the large pine on the right, where three or four Woodpigeon flew out unharmed. I tried to get a better view of the Sparrowhawk, but it flew out of view almost immediately afterwards. I walked on through Alexandra Lodge checking all the action around its gardens. Lots of tits were on the feeders along with some Chaffinch too. Blue Tit and Great Tit mainly, but one or two possible Coal Tit too (not clear enough to see for sure). Another Wren around the feeders and lots of Long-tailed Tit in the trees around there, but none on the feeders. I had good views of a Nuthatch in taller trees behind the gardens to the left. It's the first time I've seen them this far down into Big Wood. I saw a couple of Robin chasing each other by the Woodman's Cottage, and two or more Goldcrest here too. I also heard an unknown "wi-pit wi-pit wi wa poo" call, that stood out above chirping of tits - I doubt I'll ever know what that was from that description!

I carried on to the entrance of Bestwood Quarry, seeing more Blue Tit and Great Tit in hedgerows. I also had a good view of a juvenile Dunnock in the hedge next to me (about a meter away). There were lots of Blackbird in the hedges. I walked into the quarry and took the red path all the way until it split to the sandy path, which I followed up to the top without seeing much - just one or two Magpie and the odd pigeon. I heard what was probably a Skylark singing over the main quarry, but couldn't be sure from the distant views. I carried on to the top and followed the path down to the small wood behind Mushroom Farm. I didn't go into the wood at first, but spotted two thrushes on a overhead wire running through the adjacent field. I spent some time trying to VidiBin them for an ID. Most probably they were Song Thrush, but I'm not certain. A smaller bird joined them on the wire for some time, but it was too distant to even hint at an ID.

After about 10 minutes of failing to VidiBin or ID on the thrushes, I walked into the wood only to see what I first thought was just a small reddish-looking squirrel. It turned out to be a Weasel, but had partially hidden itself in a tree hole by the time I had the video camera on it. It did sit up for a while before hiding further in the hole [see video still]. It's the first time I've seen one! I walked on a bit in the wood, but it was getting late so I didn't want to head too much further. I turned back, but took a slightly different route, sticking to the red path and turning off where it looked like there was a cut-through straight back into Big Wood.

It turned out to be a big time saver, bringing me out by Warrenhill Plantation (probably on the horse trail though). I walked a little way along Collier's Pad and cut down the middle path to Main Drive again. I walked back up to Big Wood School Field along the Second Valley path, but spent some time at the bottom watching Goldcrest, tits and with great views of a Nuthatch (couldn't get the video camera on in time, though). When back at the School Field, I had good views of male and female Chaffinch in the hedge of the same garden from earlier. Walking back home also showed a couple of Collared Dove., which meant a total of 18 species... not too bad for the woodland.