Long Tails in the Dene

After a fruitless search for our Northern Long-tails on the cold side of the Dene yesterday, I decided to try looking on the sunnier cemetery side and was not disappointed.

After parking up in the rather limited pull-in space, I first decided to check out the area around Upper Hays Wood but the only birds here were Blue Tits and Dunnocks.

I then continued towards the cemetery where I was rewarded with a couple of Redwings feeding in the holly and a Great-spotted Woodpecker in the nearby gardens. From here I doubled back and headed in the direction of the Lodge but stopped to film a male Bullfinch in roadside hollies by the Lowes. The fields here were alive with birds...and rabbits. Blue Tits, Great Tits and Chaffinches were the dominant species feeding in the scattered trees and scrub...hollies, brambles etc. and there were around 4 Jays kicking around towards the back of the field and a Green Woodpecker nearby.

I then decided to walk on towards the Lodge but found that there were fewer birds this far down so I returned to the field opposite the Lowes where I figured that our Long-tails might hopefully, put in an appearance. Sure enough, at one o'clock a tit flock came steaming through from the direction of the Lower Lodge. I heard the Coal Tits first, the Long-tails being surprisingly quiet. It was difficult to estimate numbers because there were plenty of other tits and finches around and I was busy trying to get a text out in what is a bit of a mobile dead zone. In amongst a flock of normal Long-tailed Tits were at least two white-headed northern caudatus sub species. Sadly, the birds were too mobile and too distant to get any footage and they flew up-hill towards Castle Carr Road where I lost contact. I then tried to re-locate them further down the road towards the cemetery, but was disappointed to discover that this was not the case. Just in case they had doubled back, I tried to locate them down by the Lodge but found nothing. I can only think that their early afternoon foraging flight takes them right up the valley towards Saltonstall Lane or even Caty Wood. They did not appear to be using Upper Heys Wood unless they were out of site, towards the back. The North-east side of the valley is sunnier and warmer so should have the odd insect amongst the brambles or in the tree canopies.

Shortly after this, I was joined by Jim Welford who brought negative news from the South-west side, and Niall Roache who had been looking along Castle Carr Road with no success.

A long stake out of Lows Lane came to nothing until after Jim left, (Sorry Jim), when I picked up on a Long Tail call coming from the direction of Upper Heys Wood at 3.30. This was the precursor to a flock of around 12 LTTs flying as if on a mission towards the Lodge. They flew directly towards the canopies of some tall trees at the bend in the road before the Lodge. Most were up in the canopy, but one or two were moving through the scrub under the wall by the stream. Niall and I could make out at least one northern form amongst them, but in a flash, they were gone. They appeared to go up towards Catherine House Lane but we failed to re-locate them. It was still fairly light, and perhaps a little early for them to go to roost but they just vanished. Perhaps they are roosting in this general area, feeding up in the morning and moving on to the sunnier North-east side to forage towards noon and into the afternoon. It would certainly be worth checking any bramble patches along Castle Carr Road and Saltonstall Lane.