Spring Flower Walk 2023 with Friends of Hillhouse Wood
This is one of a few guided walks the Friends of Hillhouse Woods run each year. They work with The Woodland Trust to look after this beautiful remnant of ancient woodland.
Last years’ Spring Flower Walk identified nine flowers in the first few yards, also many birds and other natural delights. The stars of the walk were Early Purple orchids that were flowering in profusion on the bank above the top pond. Walkers saw a total of 29 plants and trees in flower, which shows what a rich little patch of nature we are lucky enough to have.
Don’t miss this years’ walk!
For this years’ guided walk, meet up with Steve Hallam who will lead you from the Old Church, to Hillhouse Wood. The walk will be on Saturday 15th April starting at 2 pm. If you would rather go at your own pace you can also get a map, nature trail and guide from the Friends’ Information Point at St Mary’s Old Church.
Winter Bird Walk
The 2023 Winter Bird Walk took place on 4th March this year and Steve Hallam reports as follows:
Excellent Turnout
This Winter Bird guided walk took place on the 4th of March to provide more time for ‘winter’ to arrive. Preparatory scouting had indicated that there was a good variety and number of birds in the area. The big question was would all these be in the right place on the day of the walk?
The mighty Friends marketing machine had delivered plenty of publicity in advance of the day, which resulted in an excellent turnout of 24 people. This was despite the weather being distinctly unwelcoming, with thick cloud, a cold northerly breeze, and unexpected rain coinciding with the start.
Finch Flocks
The track to the wood was not particularly productive – one or two Blue tits, a singing Robin, and a Chaffinch. As we walked down the side of the wood, we encountered the first of flock of mixed finches. This flock comprised of Chaffinches, Linnets and Goldfinches. These have been attracted by the areas of seed-bearing plant mixes that the neighbouring farmer has sown. These finch flocks appear to have increased during the winter and are a most welcome addition to the local bird population. They spend their time flying to and fro between the sown areas and the tops of adjacent trees and shrubs.
But no Siskins or Redpolls
Walking down the grass field towards the stream revealed that, as has been the case for the last few years, the attractions of the seeds of the Alder trees along the stream have failed to bring any Siskins or Redpolls to feed. Luckily, we did find another mixed finch flock, along with a slightly hesitantly singing Song thrush. Crossing the stream and passing through the metal gate into the field beyond, I had high hopes of seeing a flock of Fieldfares and Redwings (winter visitor thrushes) that had been present here on each of the previous three days. However, the inherent unpredictability of wildlife worked against us on this occasion, and they were nowhere to be seen.
Next Target – Yellowhammers (& more mixed Finches)
We pressed on to my next ‘target’; this was a field boundary hedge that was serving as the home to a group of about half a dozen or so Yellowhammers. Although they have declined markedly over much of the country, they are doing well in this part of the valley. And this time we were not to be disappointed. There was even a brightly coloured, canary yellow, male sitting obligingly on the top of the edge. As a bonus, we were entertained by our third mixed finch flock, twittering in the tops of the trees overhead. One thing we did not see, despite my promises to the contrary, were any of the local Buzzards. The best I could do was one isolated and distant ‘mew’.
More Tits & Back to the warm
We then walked through Hillhouse Wood, on the lookout for roving flocks of tits; hopefully accompanied with one or two Goldcrests, Nuthatches or Treecreepers. Although we did see some Blue tits and Great tits, we did not find any of their ‘fellow travellers’. On the other hand, some of us had good views of a foraging Jay. We also came across our fourth finch flock.
After that, it was back to the old church, and then home to warm up.